company. Not even me. Not even me.”
“I’ll go down there and wait with you if you want,” Fearless said. “We could just sit outside and wait. If you’re close family, they’ll let you wait all night.”
“No,” she said. “I’ll sleep tonight and go in the morning. But thank you.”
It was kind of quiet after that. Fearless got up and served himself more soup, and I played with my fork, wishing I had a home to go to.
“Your niece didn’t want to leave you alone with us,” I said just to make some noise.
“You’re not white and not Jewish. She’s heard all kinds of stories, and she’s a suggestible girl. But she has a good heart.”
“But maybe she’s right,” I said. “You don’t know us. Don’t you think it’s strange that two black men show up at your door after another black man tries to murder your husband?”
“Stop tryin’ t’scare her, man,” Fearless told me.
“No,” Fanny said. “No, it’s all right. I’m not afraid of you, Mr. Minton. You helped Sol even though I was screaming and yelling. You did too, Mr. Jones. If I would have come on a bleeding man and somebody yelled at me, I would have run away. You went to jail. They beat you. I’m not afraid of you. It would make more sense if you were afraid of me.”
“Why we gonna be afraid of a pretty young girl like you, Fanny?” Fearless asked with a grin.
“Because all I had to do was nod my head and you would be murderers in jail.”
That pulled Fearless up short a second, but then he smiled again.
“Well, I ain’t ascared’a you, and you don’t need to be ascared’a us,” he said. “We wouldn’t hurt nobody like you. It’s like I said, I’m gonna make it my business that nobody else messes with you.”
“How you plan to do that, man?” I said, fed up with how silly they both were. She
Fearless gave me his sour look. For someone else that look could have meant trouble, but it was nothing to me.
“You got a wallet with no money in it,” I continued, “a borrowed car that’s low on gas even when the tank is full, you don’t have an apartment, and my place is burnt to the ground. You an’ me lucky to keep anybody from messin’ with us.”
“Oh my,” Fanny declared.
“It don’t matter about a house, Paris. I’ll find us some place to stay. And I don’t need no money to stand up to some coward wanna be messin’ wit’ old folks. If I have to, I’ll pitch a tent right here in the front yard and take a shovel for my bayonet.”
“Grass salad and earthworm steak, is that what you gonna eat?” I taunted.
“Excuse me,” Fanny Tannenbaum said in a small voice.
Fearless and I both turned our heads toward her. It was an odd thing to realize that we had begun to ignore her the same way that her nephew-in-law had ignored us earlier, the same way that white people had been ignoring us our entire lives.
“Yes, Fanny?” Fearless said.
“You gentlemen can stay here for a few days if you wish.”
I was stunned by that. I had done some traveling in my life. Fearless had been on three continents and then some, but neither one of us had ever experienced that kind of generosity. White people didn’t open their doors to questionable young black men. Hell, there weren’t many black folks I knew that would be so brave, or foolish.
“It’s the least I can do,” Fanny said. “You saved Solly’s life and… and…” — she hesitated and then drew a deep breath — “… and I am afraid to stay here alone.”
“You got your niece and nephew a couple’a blocks away,” I said. I was surprised that she offered us a place to stay, but that didn’t mean I wanted to take her up on the offer.
“That putz couldn’t save himself from walking down a hill,” she said disdainfully.
It wasn’t that funny, but Fearless laughed loud and long.
“What’s that you say, Fanny?” he crooned. “He can’t walk wit’out fallin’ down?”
The old lady started laughing too. She laughed so hard that she doubled over in the chair with her head on her knees. She forced herself to stand, still laughing, and went to a cupboard where she located a pint bottle of peach schnapps. She poured all three of us generous shots in squat glasses. The liquor was strong, and good. We finished off the first pint
