I started with a simple question.
What is a typical day like in the life of Millie Jackson?
The music legend, a sonic force who is somehow a cross between Sarah Vaughan and Redd Foxx, sits at her kitchen table cluttered with mail, and picks up a cup of coffee.
She doesn’t answer the question. She just stares at me as she sips the coffee, its hazelnut aroma filling the kitchen of her stately Southwest Atlanta home.
She bats her eyes and licks her lips to savor the taste while I uncomfortably scribble nonsense on my pad and avert my eyes.
I ask her again. She takes another sip.
“I just finished,” she said bursting into laughter. “This is my day.”
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Her daughter, sitting in the corner of the room, laughs, and I get it.
The way she looked at me, teased me. The way she held the joke and played on my insecurities. The way she delivered the punchline at just the right moment.