Dear Diary,
The remembrance of Teacake is still fresh in my mind. When I first met him, I thought he was a sight for sore eyes. He was everything a woman could want; tall, dark, handsome, and not misogynistic. He was so much different than my other husbands. Teacake was the type of man you easily became comfortable around. He fell in love with me before I even thought about loving him. He was the only one of my husbands I actually loved, that’s why I will never forget him or anything about him even the way he died. When the warning of that faithful storm was coming, was the day we should have left but we didn’t think the storm would get that far. I would rather have died with him in that storm than to have stayed in Eatonville and never have met him. That stormy night, fear began to take over our bodies as we realized how bad it was. Teacake eventually decided we needed to make a break for it, I wanted to stay but he convinced me to leave. Motorboat, Teacake and I left to find higher ground. While we were running we saw the true power of the storm behind us. The lake had swollen and was flooding the entire area, workers were drowning. It was such a painful sight, the three of us found shelter but Teacake wanted to keep going. We left but Motorboat decided to stay and take his chances. Time had passed and we were still running. We saw death everywhere; I was praying that it wouldn’t be our fate. Teacake ended up collapsing from exhaustion. I got blown into the water. I feared I was going to drown so I decided to grab the tail of a cow that was nearby. There was a dog on the cow’s back and as I was grabbing for the cow’s tail, the dog began trying to attack me but it was afraid of the water. Teacake saw the vicious attempt and went in to save me. He ends up killing the dog but before he does the dog bit him. Four weeks after we returned to the everglades, Teacake began to show signs of sickness. I called the doctor in concern. He listened to my story of what happened during the hurricane and diagnoses Teacake with rabies claiming it was probably a mad dog that bit him. Teacake has a slim chance of living and I was told to stay away from him but I just couldn’t live him like that. I couldn’t give up so I clung to hope. As his sickness worsened, I eventually knew I would have to lay my husband to rest. One night he walked back into the bunk with this sickening and frightening demeanor. He wanted to know why I didn’t sleep with him anymore. He had his gun in his hand and just as I planned three clicks with nothing happening but as went for his fourth shot, I shot him with my pistol. The look on his face was filled with sadness and confusion, this made my heart ache. I had killed my beloved Teacake, but I knew it was only a matter of time before his sickness would have driven him to kill me. The pain I felt was killing me inside but, I knew in my heart and mind I had to leave. But I will never forget my loving Teacake.
Janie
Janie