Tamika Thompson annotates an excerpt of her the opening chapter of her novel The Curse of Hester Gardens. The sections in italics are from the novel, and the numbers in parenthesis correspond with the footnotes in which Thompson explains her thought process. The footnotes are not all at the bottom of the page for ease of reading online.

May 28, 2002

Nona never enjoyed being apart from her boys. (1) When they were asleep, she missed their giggles. When they bravely entered their classrooms on the first day of school, she was the one in tears as she exited the campus. So dropping them at their neighbor’s for the afternoon was no simple task. She spent 10 minutes just hugging and kissing her babies goodbye.

“Don’t go, Mom. I can help you cook dinner.” Her oldest, Kendall, had recently started calling her Mom instead of Mommy. She was still getting used to the new name. Now that he’d completed first grade, she had to call him “little guy” instead of “precious baby,” and he allowed only a light peck on the forehead.

“I can help you clean the house too.” He rested his tongue in the space left by his missing top tooth. He smelled of the waffles she’d made for breakfast.

“I know, Little Guy. You’re always my big helper. (2) But the time will go by so fast.”

Footnote 1: I love prologues. I love writing them, and I love reading them. When they exist, for me, they are the true beginning of the story. Not of the plot, but of the story. This opening line in the prologue sets up the entire novel. I open with Nona never enjoying being apart from her boys as a signal that the story will cause that very separation.

Footnote 2: The firstborn in an African American family, particularly a family that originates in the American South, has a special role, and functions as a junior parent in a lot of ways. As the oldest child, Kendall faces added pressure and responsibilities, and the reader can already see he takes his duties seriously. Kendall as Nona’s big helper foreshadows the guilt she will feel for relying on him too much and not allowing him to soar and claim his future for himself.

Morning sunlight poured into the front door as Kendall slumped his shoulders and shuffled into the home, several housing units across the courtyard from their own. Before too long, the day would be unbearably hot. (3)

“Mommy, stay.” Her middle son, Marcus, at 4 years old, squealed and squeezed her as she pulled him into a tight bear hug and plastered smooches all over his forehead, his cheeks, and the tip of his nose. (4) A bandage covered his skinned knee. His sandals were on the wrong feet.

Footnote 3: I place two important world-building details in this paragraph. The reader will soon learn that sunlight appears unevenly throughout Hester Gardens and that an unbearably hot day is an encumbrance for the residents.

Footnote 4: The affection Nona feels for her boys is two-fold. She cherishes motherhood and enjoys her boys for who they are and who she hopes they will become. She also is acutely aware of what they will face in life, and she overcompensates by ensuring she is their safe space and their fortress.

“I’m not going far. Just to the store and then back home to make a special dinner for Daddy. (5) I won’t be gone long.”

Marcus poked out his bottom lip, but no whining this time. With Kendall as his guide, Marcus was maturing so quickly.

And even in his 5-month-old baby sleep, her youngest, Lance, silently grinned when she gave him a soft kiss on the forehead, careful not to wake him.

“The store’s gon’ be closed by the time you finish loving on these boys,” Mother Lincoln said. She knelt and gathered Kendall and Lance into her embrace as they filed into her living room. Moles and wrinkles crowded around the outer edges of the woman’s eyes; her floral-patterned housedress seemed too warm for the weather. (6)

Footnote 5: The McKinleys are a nuclear family, and there is no indication yet that anything in Nona’s life is amiss. Even Nona is unaware.

Footnote 6:  Mother Lincoln serves as Nona’s mother figure, and the two of them are raising Kendall, Marcus, Lance, and Mother’s grandson Peter side by side. I show the women helping each other with childcare and financial support because this relationship will shift as the story develops.

Nona didn’t know what she’d do without her neighbor, who watched her boys with little notice and sent them home filled with food and love.

“I have the Madden game,” Peter, Mother Lincoln’s grandson, said. (7) The boy lived with the elder whenever his parents were in jail or on the streets, (8) and his face lit up when he spoke to Kendall. Peter and Marcus were both 4 years old. She imagined Peter always wanted an older brother and was willing to borrow Marcus’s.

Footnote 7:  I felt it important to have both Mother Lincoln and Peter in this opening scene to show the love that all six of these characters have for one another, how effortless it is to get the boys together, and how much they enjoy one another. This serves as a sharp contrast to Chapter One.

Footnote 8: It is intentional that the first mention of turmoil in this scene is tied to Peter. I place the detail about his parents alternating between prison and the streets in the prologue not only to show the harsh reality Peter faces and at such a young age, but also to give a clue about the place where this scene takes place.

“Will you play with me?” Peter whispered to Kendall. “It’s new.” His lisp wasn’t as pronounced as the last time she’d heard him speak.

“Oh, yeah? Cool.” Kendall giggled. The dimples he’d inherited from her made an appearance. She lived for those tiny dips in his cheeks.

“I’d kiss them a hundred times each if they’d let me, Mother.” Nona removed Lance’s diaper bag from her shoulder and placed it on Mother Lincoln’s. Nona’s milk-heavy breasts ached as she handed off her baby in his carrier. “I’ll be back as soon as dinner is eaten.”

“Baby, take your time. This is a big anniversary.” (9) Mother kissed Lance’s tiny fist. He cooed but still didn’t wake. “These boys can stay all night. Peter’s got clothes and games enough for them all.”

Nona couldn’t leave her boys overnight. (10) Not at Mother Lincoln’s. Not at anyone’s. But before she could speak, knobby-kneed Peter glanced up at her.

Footnote 9: Nona marks important occasions and practices joy. This is important to note as devastating events unfold in the novel. It is significant that this is her ten-year anniversary because she loves and trusts her husband, and the next scene in this prologue will challenge that trust.

Footnote 10: It’s a brief mention here, but being cautious about leaving her boys overnight shows the hypervigilance that poor mothers and Black mothers in America must practice in caring for their children.

“Can they spend the night, Mrs. McKinley? Please. Pretty please. We won’t give them berry pop. No chocolate neither.”

Peter was laying it on thick. The “berry pop” actually wasn’t soda at all. It was the iced tea from the bottling plant where Nona worked, (11) and she didn’t allow her boys to consume that much sugar. She also didn’t like for them to spend long hours playing video games, but Peter lived by different rules. (12)

Footnote 11: Nona is a factory worker, and this is one of the reader’s first clues about who she is in society and who she isn’t.

Footnote 12: My intention with this line is to illustrate how the compound effect of everyday decisions over time can create vastly different young people. As a child, Peter lives by different rules than Nona’s boys, and as the novel progresses, the reader will get to see how true that statement is.

“I’ll check with their dad and see what he says.” Nona knew Vance wouldn’t care if the boys stayed the night, but it was easier to put the blame on him when she eventually said no. (13)

Seeming satisfied with her answer, Peter nodded.

“Okay, my babies. One last kiss,” she whispered as Lance stirred in his sleep.

Kendall and Marcus ran over, and she knelt again for a group hug. Peter remained in the doorway behind his grandmother, eyes wide and wistful as he fiddled with the game controller and watched them. Peter’s forlorn eyes tugged at Nona’s heart, and she extended her hand to him.

The boy crinkled his nose with glee. He rushed over to join the group, where he pressed in beside Kendall, who draped his arm around Peter as well. Mother Lincoln chuckled as Nona leaned over and kissed Peter’s sweaty forehead (14) like he was one of her own. As Peter giggled, she could smell the “berry pop” and chocolate on his breath. (15)

Footnote 13: Nona’s character arc is at play here. In the beginning of the book, she has a strong opinion but won’t stand behind her own conviction.

Footnote 14: I felt it important to show that Nona loves Peter like one of her own sons, and that Peter wants acceptance, affection, and approval from her as he would from a mother. The novel will, of course, test the bond they share.

Footnote 15: I return to the berry pop and chocolate at the end of this scene as a final reminder that Peter lives by different rules.

Please check out my review of The Curse of Hester Gardens by Tamika Thompson. Thank you so much to the author for sharing with us her process as she wrote this gorgeous opening chapter. When I read this first chapter, it nearly broke me for how beautiful and tender it is. I was especially moved by Nona’s ever-expanding heart, one that happily took in little Peter as if he were her own. Thompson captures a community of women helping women like nobody’s business.