plotting out a future that no poor man I ever knew had attained, and with none of the responsibilities that come with such gifts.
It was like that span of time when you’ve just met a woman that you want more than anything. She wants you too but you have to wait a day or two so as not to seem improper and tactless. You sleep alone but she’s there with you. You never speak but you know every word that would come out of her mouth. And when she finally does say,
As time has gone by I’ve come to realize that those moments of anticipation are always the high points. Love fades and money squanders itself. Familiarity, even with riches, comes to boredom, and a fly on angel’s food cake or a fly on shit is still just a fly after all.
There came a knock at the door that jarred me awake.
“Paris,” Fearless Jones called, and my anticipation turned once more to fear.
36
IT WAS CLOSE TO ELEVEN-THIRTY when we drove off in Ambrosia’s Chrysler.
“How’d you make it back here?” I asked Fearless.
“Drove Leora’s car. I told her uncle where I’d leave the keys. He said they’d come by and get it in the morning.”
Fearless was in a lighthearted mood. He told bad jokes and laughed at them too.
“What is it?” I asked him after three stories about the war.
“What?”
“Why are you so happy?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Mama really likes havin’ Rose in the house with her. Son’s a good kid and so’s Leora. You know I was worried there a while because I thought she had fooled me. But now I see that she really needed help and she wasn’t tryin’ to bring me grief.”
“That’s like you and me,” I said. “You my friend and you never mean to get me in trouble. But here I am, with you, in the crosshairs.”
This also made Fearless laugh.
“I’d tell ya I’m sorry, Paris. But you know I needed you in this one here.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, Paris,” Fearless said. “Where’s that guy you always play chess wit’?”
“What guy?”
“You know that sneak thief so smart.”
“You mean Jackson Blue?”
“That’s him. You know they got him for takin’ money out the contribution basket at Second Avenue Baptist.”
“I think he’s in one’a Mofass’s illegal places on Hester,” I said.
“That yellah buildin’?”
“Uh-huh. What you want with Jackson Blue?”
“He the one got that camera equipment, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I wanna take some pictures of Mama and Miss Fine. Maybe Jackson lemme borrah his cameras. You know I can snap some shots. They had me doin’ that in the war too. Called it reconnaissance.”
“Man, all you need is a Brownie to take home pictures. You don’t need Jackson’s fancy jive. Anyway, that stuff he got might be stolen.”
“Might be?” Fearless joked. “Shoot. Naw, baby. I wanna take some high-quality pictures. Yes I do.”
***
WE GOT TO VICTORIA MOORE’S ROOMING HOUSE near midnight. The dining room was dark but there was a light on in the sitting room. Big, yellowy Melvin Conroy was sitting on the couch with a buxom girl who was less than half his age. They were talking while she had her hand on his knee. There was no love or romance in the young woman’s eyes, so I decided that they were working out the details of a business transaction. That didn’t bother me. He was getting on in age and obviously down on his luck. She was just trying to pay the rent, I imagined, and was probably supporting some child fathered by another man like Melvin.
“Hey, DeLois,” Fearless said as we entered.
The young woman took her hand off Conroy’s knee and lowered her eyes.
“Hi, Fearless,” she said. “You livin’ here?”
“No, uh-uh. Me and Paris got some things we need to do. You okay, honey?”
“Fine,” she said tentatively.
“Sure she’s okay,” Melvin said. “Why you wanna go and ask that?”
