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    Up and Down The Evergreen
    Up and Down The Evergreen
    Up and Down The Evergreen
    Ebook117 pages1 hour

    Up and Down The Evergreen

    By Trellie James Jeffers

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    “We are in it,” Billy announced, fear audible in his voice. Greene’s eyes went pass Billy, searching around the room as if he anticipated danger. His eyes focused upon an enclosed compartment. He threw back the enclosure and went in. Billy followed closely behind.

    Greene walked over to a blood-covered sheet where a middle-aged white man lay, his blue face covered with dried blood. Green’s heart raced as he threw back the covers. The sight was an ugly mess. The man’s chest seemed crushed and his breath was sharp and quick.

    “Where is everybody?” Greene demanded.

    “They’re coming,” Billy assured him. “We reached them by telephone, but your phone didn't answer so we just kept paging you. But we can’t find a chief!” There was desperation in his voice.

    Greene ignored Billy’s fearful voice. “Let me see the X-rays,” he ordered. A nurse raced to get the x-rays for Greene...

    With deft prose and humor Trellie Jeffers tells the story of Jackson Greene, a young black doctor searching for himself during the Civil Rights era. Greene’s struggle to get ahead in a hostile white environment, his evolving attitudes toward women and love, and his journey to find his true purpose in life, is a timeless tale that is still so relevant in our so called “post racial” America.

    Cover art and design by Quinton Veal.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTrellie James Jeffers
    Release dateOct 2, 2014
    ISBN9781311618818
    Up and Down The Evergreen
    Author

    Trellie James Jeffers

    Dr. Trellie James Jeffers was born in Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia. A product of Eatonton Colored Schools, she holds a BA degree from Spelman College, an MA degree from California State College, and a Doctorate of Humanities from Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). She has spent nearly sixty years teaching from elementary school through college. Her final job was teaching French and English at Talladega College, in Talladega, Alabama, where she taught from 1985 though 2009; and from 1999 to 2009 she also served as Acting Dean of the Humanities at Talladega College. Dr. Jeffers won a short story contest for her story, Sun Up Sun Down, which was later published by South Alabama Press. She has written numerous articles including The Black Black Woman and The Black Middle Class, and We Have Heard: We Have Seen: Do We Believe? The Clarence Thomas―Anita Hill Hearing, both of which were published by Black Scholar Magazine, and her article Booker T. Washington: The Mistaken Giant was published in Booker T. Washington – Interpretative Essays Edited by Adeleke, Tunde . Dr. Trellie Jeffers is currently completing her memoirs.

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      Book preview

      Up and Down The Evergreen - Trellie James Jeffers

      UP AND DOWN THE EVERGREEN

      by

      Trellie James Jeffers

      Copyright 1970, 2014 by Trellie James Jeffers, all rights reserved.

      Smashwords Edition

      Dedication

      ***

      For my father, Charlie James, who taught me the art of storytelling; and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Hunter Turner, my first grade teacher, who was very special to my life; and for Mrs. Janet Virginia Tally Bone, whose belief in me changed the status of my whole family. Finally, I dedicate this book to my great grandsons, Logan Morris and Kyle Thompson who will someday take up the banner of education and advancement.

      Chapter One

      ***

      Dr. Jackson Greene sat at his desk in the doctor’s cottage of the New England hospital ideally going over his life. It’s 1967, a great time to be alive.

      He could not discern why 1967 was better than 1957 or 1947. It was just that this thought came to his mind and he made no effort to justify or deny it. He looked about his cottage, a rather spacious three bedroom dwelling which he shared with two other white doctors.

      After the first awkward weeks, the other two doctors had adjusted to living with a Black man. After his decisive effort to convince them that he had no intentions of cleaning up behind them, things went reasonably well. The hardest task of all was that of staying out of each others’ way. And since they were all doctors, even that task was simplified.

      Yes, he was rather pleased at how it had all gone. He picked up a book on organic medicine, thumbed absentmindedly through a few pages and then threw it back on the desk. He had become so addicted to the literature on organic medicine, since his common sense had convinced him that what people eat or what they didn’t eat somehow affected their health. He planned to take this thought further in his medical practice. He didn’t know how, but he was sure that he’d find a way.

      But right now, with only six months left of his residency, Greene needed to plan for his future. A frown came across his face. Why could he not get any direction for his future? Why? This deeply troubled him. Every time he tried to think about it, his mind began to wander.

      I really want to make some money, he thought, as he walked over to the window and peeped out into the early night. It was early winter, and he starred into a blanket of snow that was falling furiously onto the earth. He stood and observed it thinking: I want to buy a home and lovely things for my mama.

      He smiled affectionately as he thought of his mama. He always thought of her size whenever she came to mind. She was a little over five feet tall, and less than a hundred pounds even at mid-forty.

      Greene took on grave feelings when his mind ventured into the portals of his mama’s life. He remembered well how and when their lives had changed. Though he was only seven years old at the time, he’d never forget how suddenly his father was dead. Their income was gone, and their little house in the lower middle class neighborhood was up for sale. Within months of his father’s death, they moved to the government projects. And his mama, who had always been there to monitor and direct his life, went out and took a job in the sewing factory leaving him and his little brother to partially manage their own lives.

      He could see his mama now returning from the factory, tired and lonely and, although she was in her twenties at the time of his father’s tragedy, she had never remarried.

      And three years later after his father’s death, his little brother. . . Greene was overcome with grief when he thought of his little brother, Ralph. He pulled himself down on the floor next to the window and stretched his long legs out in front of him. He thought of calling his mama now, but he was not together.

      He was confused and indecisive and he didn’t want to trouble her. After all, he was a man, and she had always been there in his childhood. She had loved and guided him through his adolescence, and she was a pillar of strength through medical school. It was time for him to stand on his own feet.

      He could see her face now standing proud at each graduation, tears streaming down her face as her boy was lauded at the top of his high school class, and ranked Summa Cum Laude in his college class, and ranged in the top one percent of his medical school class. She had stood there, crying both tears of joy and sorrow, as Greene held his six-feet- four frame erect, his ebony skin gleaming with pride, choking back his own tears.

      After each graduation ceremony, Greene would rush back through the crowd and find his mama and whirl her through the air, shouting, "I made it, Mama! I made it!"

      Sure, you did, Son! she would say with pride bursting over her face. And she would put her arms as far as they would go around his broad back and embrace him with all of her strength.

      I made it, Mama, was always his way of reminding her that he had kept a promise he’d made to her when he was ten years old: that he would make excellent grades and win the necessary scholarship to make himself a doctor.

      Lula Belle Greene had never doubted that her son would keep his promise, for he was the image of his father who’d always said, A man’s word was all that he had.

      She knew the moments after his birth when she looked at his tiny ebony body that he had his father’s smartness, his father’s character and his father’s will to accomplish whatever he set out to do. Whenever she would tell that to her family and friends, they would doubt that she knew what she was saying, and when they would ask her for proof, she never gave any.

      But she always looked at him and said: Son, you smart jest like your daddy. But your daddy never got a chance for book learning. He had plenty of common sense, though. Had he’d lived he’d done a mighty lot wid his life. She’d put her arms around him and pat his shoulders tenderly and say: God give you that smartness. You use it. You show the Lord what you kin do wid it.

      Perhaps it was a self fulfilling prophesy. And after each graduation, she would share the adulation of the moment with her son; and then, she would retire to a quiet place to weep, not so much for her dead husband, but for the emptiness and loneliness of her own life.

      Greene pulled his knees up to rest on his chin, as he sat thinking of how he wanted to repay his mother for helping him to become what he now was. He had moved his mind back to attempting to make some kind of future plans.

      He reached down to pull at a loose thread in the rug. Maybe I should stay here in New England and accept some of the lucrative offers that have been made to me, he thought. I really should call

      Mama and asked her what she wants. Surely she has a right to make some demands of me for all that she has given to me.

      Greene pulled himself up from the floor as he imagined his mother sitting peacefully under a southern shade tree, watching her flowers grow as he provided her sustenance.

      He looked at his watch. It was 6:45, and he was due at the hospital at 7:00. He decided to put the decision aside, and tackle the cold snowy night in route to the hospital. It was bitterly cold outside, as Greene stepped out into the early night.

      Chapter Two

      ***

      The cold wind of the otherwise serene night, ripped through Greene’s old frayed overcoat and bit at his flesh. He pulled it tighter around him, and decided to trot

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