Spilling Tea

Spilling Tea                  

    By Veronica Robinson

It was only the third Saturday in May, but every woman in the tent begin to fan herself. The sides of the tent were rolled up to allow wind to pass through, but none had come the entire afternoon, thankfully the overhead covering was keeping the sun from beaming in. The tent was filled with large round tables two by two creating an aisle through the middle of the tent stretching to both ends of it, covered in white lace table cloths, on top of the tables were tall clear glass vases filled with yellow and white roses, and two pitchers filled with the sweetest tea that could be found west of the Chesapeake Bay, seated at these tables were some of the most affluent black women in Anne Arundel County who had gathered for the annual Gray Family Tea Party. The live musicians played at a comfortable volume, allowing the ladies to talk loud enough to be heard by the others seated at their table. In the back of the tent were tables packed with sweets from all categories, in the front of the tent was a small stage and a podium erected in the center, behind hung a sign which read:

Welcome to the 48^th Annual Tea Party

It was only May and warm weather was just becoming to be more consistent, and spring showers were beginning to come to an end to be replaced by the occasional summer night thunderstorm. When the guests first started to arrive Mrs. Gray asked the butler’s to raise the tent sidewalls to allow any passing possibility of a wind to passing through the tent to be felt. But no such wind ever came, the longer they sat the more the heat set in. Some women removed their jackets as tweed and chiffon don’t exactly mix well in heat. Those who had hats were reluctant to remove them as to show their hair had few if any remaining curls, those without hats wish they something to cover the failing hairstyle. In an effort to preserve their makeup some began to fan using a personal fan they had packed away in their purse, others who were unprepared fanned using their hands or folded napkins.

At the podium stood their host Gertrude Gray, of the infamous Gray family, her grandfather being the first black doctor with his own practice in the county. She was a quirky young woman who smiled big showing all of her teeth and spoke peppily, those from up north would say she had a country accent and those from down south would say she spoke too fast. She wore a jasmine colored tweed skirt and matching color sleeveless silk blouse and matching colored feather mesh hat. Her sisters wore the same. Their mother’s suit was pure white.

“Welcome ladies, I hope everyone has had the chance to get their fair share of the Hors d'Oeuvres and sip some of the tea.” She giggled.

“If anything needs refilling, please let the butlers know. I want to get us started today by saying thank you all for participating this year, in what has been my favorite family tradition passed down from my grandmother who held the first tea party in 1902. Before we get started with the contest I want to go over the rules.” She cleared her throat.

“First being that everyone must present tea this afternoon, the exceptions being last year’s winner Doris Wilson and the newest person to the neighborhood Ida Mae Washington. Second, all gossip must be truthful and must be confirmed by the woman whom the gossip is about. So no lying ladies!” she snickered.

“Please remember you are automatically disqualified if spill anything a previous contestant has already said. So I hope you girls did some good digging this year.” She gave an exaggerated wink, almost as if something was actually in her eye.

“The judge’s of who has the best tea as always include myself Gertrude Gray, my mama Cora Gray, and my two elder sister Sarah Gray and Rachel Gray. In the spirit of tradition we will be pulling names out of a hat to determine the next presenter.” She paused and admired the crowd with pride.

“If no one has any questions or exceptions, I will take my seat and call our first name. Goodluck and let the spilling begin” She turned and scooted her way to the side of the stage and joined her mother and sisters seated behind a rectangle table.

There was no music after the introduction, the tent sat in a dead silence, only the buzzing of insects flying around was heard. Everyone was holding their breath and saying silent prayers that they were called first.

“Okay Hellen Lewis, you’re first.”

A young, tall, fair skinned woman wearing an orange floral print dress and white heeled sandals stood up. The Lewis family were descendants of the late explorer. She smiled as to be polite but more so to rub in that she got first dibs on whatever she was about to say.

“Hello everyone, my tea is that Pauline’s daughter isn’t really in school down south she’s really up in Chicago with some no good musician and his son who’s mama he’s still married to.”

Pauline didn’t move anything except her eyes and saw that every eye in the room was on her. Her hand was on her chest, over her heart. She was expecting that at all, she thought she was keeping that hidden very well, even going as far as purchasing paraphernalia from Spelman.

“I know because I stood outside your window one night when I seen your light still on and I heard you on the phone begging her to come home and to leave that no good nigga where he was.” She spoke quickly trying to solidify her moment.

“Well Pauline is this true?” Mrs. Gray asked

“Yes. Yes its true but-.” Before she could stamper her way through an explanation Mrs. Gray had interrupted, telling Hellen she may step down from the stage and calling the next woman.

“Nettie Williams. You may come up.”

Another woman stood and walked through the aisle to the front of the stage, she was older and wore a baby blue matching top and skirt that almost touched her ankle. It was disgusting to see women of such prestige act this way. Ida Mae thought about going up to the podium and chastising the women went it was her turn but instead sat and waited for it to come. She sat through women finding out their husbands were having affairs with women who were also under the tent, some being close friends with the mistress. She heard about how Alice Brown’s son was in love with a woman who does shows at the club up in D.C. She heard how Bea Jones had reach out to her family for more money because her husband had obtained a gambling addiction. Thankfully for some of these women’s sake a number of the gossip had already been stated, so no new turmoil arose. 

She had absolutely no intention of attending such a wicked affair after receiving an invitation when the three Gray sister’s arrived at her door one afternoon two weeks ago. She had been in Shady Side for almost a month and managed to avoid speaking to nearly anyone there. They arrived at her doorstep in their typical ensemble of a matching skirt set, today's color being mint. Ida Mae thought of ignoring their knocks but decided she had avoided the neighborly greeting long enough.

“Good morning, Ida Mae, I am Gertrude Gray, these are my sisters Sarah and Rachel. We have been meaning to stop over and greet you into the neighborhood, but we have just been so overwhelmed with planning our family’s annual tea party, which is why we stopped by, we would like to personally invite you.” She spoke eagerly and although they didn’t speak, her sisters had the same demeanor. She extended her hand and passed a piece of paper. Ida Mae glanced long enough to see it was an invitation.        

 “Oh this is kind of you all, but I don’t think I will be able to attend.”

Almost ignoring what Ida Mae just said Gertrude carried on with her invitation.

“Now we understand you are new to town but we still would like to invite you, in order to give you the opportunity to meet some of the other women from the neighborhood, and give you a fair chance for next year.” Her wide smile made Ida Mae uncomfortable.

“A fair chance? I’m sorry is this a contest?” she was reading the flyer which provided the date, time, location, and instructions to bring the best tea.

“Yes in fact it is. My grandmother started the tradition many years ago, gathering all the prestigious women from Shady Shide on the third Sunday in May for a tea party. It is an elegant affair, and the most talked about event in the county. We provide the hors d'oeuvre and the tea. The contest is who can provide the best tea.” She turned and looked at her sisters and gave a smirk. “Tea meaning gossip. Each woman is required to come up to the podium and share the juiciest piece of information she has on one of the other guests. The woman who provides the best gossip is awarded the pleasure of being exempt from having anything said about her at next year’s party. Now we were thinking since you’re new to the neighborhood we won’t require you to provide any tea, however if someone is lucky enough to find something out about you then they will be able to tell it.”

“Oh well I am sorry but I will have to decline this time, but thank you all for the invitation.” She began to shut the door.

“Uh well in case you change your mind, we have a tent so we’ll be spilling tea rain or shine.” She was rushing and had to almost yell the last bit of her sentence, as the door closed in her face.

“Enjoy your afternoon.” That she did have to scream through the closed door.