5
6
Over Irish Breakfast (it was 4:30) we discussed the rich 7
white people she’d known. Bethany liked the fine dinners 8
and fancy houses, but rich people — even the black ones, 9
she said — couldn’t satisfy her like people from our neigh-10
borhood.
11
“It’s just like my people know me better,” she said.
12
“Like Ricky. You know for a while tonight I thought he 13
might have a heart attack, he was so excited. And before 14
he fell off asleep he was talking about Johnetta Johnston 15
and Kirby. You know? Everyday stuff. Rich men always 16
want to be teaching something, asking,
17
when they know you don’t know and don’t care neither.”
18
Ricky came down when the sun was just coming up. At 19
first he looked suspicious, but when Bethany showed him 20
her big teeth and said, “Mornin’, baby. Charles made me 21
some tea,” he calmed down and kissed her face and neck.
22
After that they went back upstairs. I was so tired that I 23
didn’t even listen. I went to sleep with my bag of money 24
in my dead father’s foldout sofa and dreamed about An-25
niston Bennet. He was humongous and wedged tight in 26
my cellar, sticking his head out of the trapdoor and beg-27 S
ging to be let free.
28 R
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I spent the next week working on the basement and C 14
reading the books I had bought. Late every afternoon 15
Ricky would call to crow about his further conquests with 16
