CRY FOR MARSELLA

About the Book

Small town Maple Shade, Virginia in the 1940’s, is the setting for Cry For Marsella, a dramatic interracial love story between teenagers Larry Williams, an Oklahoma Cherokee half-breed who passes for white, and Marsella Jefferson, the daughter of a respected black minister.

Larry works parttime for the local newspaper and also as an usher in a theater.  It is there, in the “Negro balcony” that Larry and Marsella first meet and fall in love, and it is on an emergency exit fire escape where they have their weekly trysts. Larry later purchases a 1936 Ford coupe which allows the young couple to find a new place to rendevous; an isolated riverbank where passion and tears mingle.

Their romance does not go unnoticed, however, and Larry is summoned to the church office of Reverend Jefferson, where the angry minister and father confronts the young man; first demanding that Larry stay away from Marsella, and reminding him that iterracial couplings and marriage is against the law. Then he tearfully begins to reason with him.

“You should also know that Mrs. Jefferson is ill - with a serious disorder which requires almost constant attention.  Marsella doesn’t know the extent of her mother’s illness, but she has helped to care for her more and more during the past year.  Mrs. Jefferson and I have known for some time that Marsella’s attention has been diverted elsewhere, but we assumed - and Marsella indicated - that it was her school work.  Now, of course, I know it was because of you.”

He picked up the pencil again and began to twist it between his fingers.  “One other thing - that is very important.  I have the opportunity to become a bishop in my denomination in just a few months.  The very hint of scandal would destroy not only that opportunity, but my ministry as well.  And it could also destroy my wife.”

Larry is later confronted by the Sheriff of Maple Shade County.

“Larry, I been hearing some bad things about you and Reverend Jefferson’s daughter.  I didn’t know you were one of these colored chasers, but one of my deputies said he saw you and the Jefferson girl driving down Washington Avenue one evening.  Now, I know some of the kids like to cruise the west side looking for nigger nooky, and some of the grown-ups too, including a couple of my deputies.”  He grinned in a crooked way which emphasized a broad, white scar which ran from the left side of his mouth down to his chin. Larry tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, not to focus on the scar. “I won’t even say that I haven’t been with a colored or two in my better days, and I can see why you chase after the Jefferson girl, ‘cause she surely is about the prettiest girl in town, colored or not; but she’s also one girl nobody better touch, because Preacher Jefferson helps us keep the west side colored under control, so the Chief and I got kind of an understanding with him.  You hear what I’m saying, kid?”

It becomes harder for the young couple to be together and Larry’s frustration mounts.

“I once read a poem which described the love of a couple as being ‘born in the infinite moment of universal creation,’” Marsella said as they lay together in Larry’s bed.  “I like that, and I think it describes our love, don’t you, Larry?”

“I suppose so, Marsella.  I only know that I love you so much I can hardly stand it when I’m away from you - even for an hour.  And sometimes I get almost raving mad, wishing we could be like other couples, and not have to hide the way we feel.  It’s just not right.....”

After Larry and Marsella graduate - from different schools, Larry goes to New York and gets a job on a liberal weekly newspaper.  He rents an apartment an

About the Author

At age twelve, Charles W. Byrd began his quest for adventurous knowledge by bicycling twenty-five miles across two mountains to a distant town, enduring a severe thunderstorm while huddling under an abandoned coal truck on a lonely country road; washing the coal dust off in a snake-infested swamp, then emerging with his body covered with loathsome, thick black leeches; and finally, excitedly exploring the busy streets of a strange city. Writing about this escapade in a five-cent Blue Horse notebook ignited a writing career which now includes hundreds of articles; four non-fiction books; and three novels, one of which was adapted for a popular television series and movie. Educated at Berea College, Wake Forest University, The University of North Carolina, and Duke University Divinity School, he and his wife, Mary Nell, have four children; Wanda Jean, Mary Angela, Charla Deni, and Charles Danny.