Pearl & Lee
Pearl Payne and Lee Pleasant Driver,two of the few Negroes ina smelter town, found each other. Lee,the protected side of something—sheltered and sheltering—a pleasantplace out of the wind and rain. A pearlgrows from the need to soothe pain—nacre encases irritants to smoothrough edges and results in a lusterwe appreciate, worthy of the necksof our adored if we can afford it.Smelting, extracting the metal from rockor ore, copper in this case (valued becauseit carries a current and connects people)requires heat and care. Lee Pleasant,a former Buffalo Soldier, saw worthin Pearl Payne, and she in him. He, bornat the end of the war, and she, a dozenyears later, who didn’t know slaverybut knew well what it meant to beBlack in a newly reconciled nation,wed in that Western smelter town.
