'Aaaa,' he said, waving at me and then turning away. He stood there with his hands on his hips, his back to me. His shoulders dipped as if he carried a cypress log on them.
'I heard her shout something about money,' I said.
He spun around, his face red, but the corners of his mouth white with anger.
'I had a chance to make us a bundle,' he explained. 'A good chance. This city fella comes along selling this miracle tonic water, see? It comes from New York City! New York City!' he emphasized with his arms out.
'What's it supposed to do, Daddy?'
'Make you younger, take all the aches and pains out, get rid of the gray in your hair. Women especially can rub some of it into their face and hands and wrinkles disappear. If you got loose teeth, it makes 'em tight again. I seen the woman he was with. She said she was well into her sixties, but she looked no more than twenty-five. So I run back to the shack and I dig out the bundle your mother's kept hidden from me. Thinks I don't know what she's doin' with all the loose change . . . Anyway, I go back and buy up all the tonic the man has. Then I come back and tell your mother all she got to do is tell her customers what this tonic does and they'll buy it at twice the price. Everyone believes what she says, right? We make twice the money, and quickly!'
'What happened?'
'Aaaa.' He waved at the shack and then bit down on his lower lip. 'She goes and tastes it and says it's nothing but ginger, cinnamon, and a lot of salt. She says it ain't worth the bottle it's in and she couldn't tell anyone to buy it for any purpose. I swear . . .'
'Why didn't you bring home one bottle first and ask her to look at that before you bought all of it, Daddy?'
He glared at me.
'If you ain't birds of a feather. That's what she said, too. Then she starts that ranting and raving. I went back looking for the man, a course, but he and his lady friend are long gone. I was just trying to get us a bundle,' he wailed.
'I know you were, Daddy. You wouldn't just give away our money.'
'See? How come you understand and she don't?'
'Maybe because you've done things like this many times before, Daddy,' I said calmly.
He raised his eyebrows.
'Mary and Joseph. A man can't live with two women nagging him to death. He needs breathing room so he can think and come up with good plans.' He looked back at the house. 'You got any money?'
'I have two dollars,' I said.
'Well, give it to me and I'll try to double it at
'Mama hates when you gamble with our money, Daddy. We have bills to pay and cotton jaune to buy for the weaving and—'
'Just give it over, will ya?'
Daddy always brushed aside problems as if they were lint not worth noticing.
I dug the two dollars out of my pocketbook and handed it to him. He took it and shoved it into his pocket and then stepped into the pirogue.
'Only two more days of school for me, Daddy,' I said. 'Sunday's graduation. Don't forget.'
'How could I forget? Your mother jabbers about it all day.' He gazed at the shack again. 'Don't know why she's so upset about the dowry money. You ain't got no beau lined up. You keep listening to that woman, you'll end up some spinster weaving hats and blankets to keep alive. Hear?'
I nodded and smiled.
'Aaaa,' he said, pushing away from the dock. 'What's the sense of talking? No one listens. That woman,' he said, glaring at the house. I watched him pole the pirogue through the dusty shadows. Before I turned, I saw him reach into his back pocket and come up with a small bottle of whiskey. He emptied the bottle and then threw it over the water. It hit with a splash and glittered for a moment before it disappeared, just like Daddy as he went around a bend of flowering honeysuckle.
Mama was sitting at the kitchen table, her head in her hands, when I entered the house. I put my books down quickly and went to her.
'It'll be all right, Mama. I don't need that money just yet.'
She looked up, her face so full of fatigue, she looked years older. I felt like I, too, could get a glimpse of the future, but I didn't like it. It was as if a cold hand had clutched my heart.
'It's gone,' she moaned. 'Just like everything else that man touches.' She smiled and brushed back some loose strands of my hair. 'I only want you to have better,' she said.
'I'm fine, Mama. Really.'
She laughed and shook her head.
'I do believe you think so,' she said, and sighed so deeply, I thought she had drawn up the last pail of strength from the deep well of her soul. 'Well, any real good man who falls in love with you and wants you for his wife won't care about no dowry money, I suppose. He'll see the dowry's in you, in your goodness and your beauty. It's more than any man deserves.'
'I'm not any more beautiful than other girls, Mama.'
'Sure you are, Gabrielle. The wonder is you don't notice or parade with arrogance.' She looked around, resembling someone who was lost for a moment, someone who forgot who she was and where she was. 'I ain't
