“I didn’t know neither,” she growled.
“Who is these people? I ain’t never seen them before,” Lonnie grumbled, pulling a pair of glasses with taped frames out of his shirt pocket.
“It’s me, Daddy,” Odell said in a loud tone. He walked toward his father heaving heavy sighs all the way.
“Me who?” Lonnie put his glasses on and stared at his son. “Mighty Moses! It’s my baby boy!” The way his eyes suddenly lit up, you would have thought Odell really was Moses. He started grinning and patting Odell’s shoulder. “Boy, I’m so glad you came. We killed a hog yesterday, so there’s a pile of chitlins and hog maws that need to be cleaned, and the rest of the meat need to be hung up in the smokehouse. After we do that, I got a itching to go fishing.”
I could tell from the look on Odell’s face that he was embarrassed. I was sure that he would not have brought me to this place today if he had known we’d be asked to clean a butchered hog! “We can’t do none of that this time, and I can’t take you fishing today, Daddy. I just stopped by for a few minutes to introduce y’all to Joyce.”
Lonnie squinted and gazed at me. “Hmmm. It’s been a long time since Odell brung a lady to the house, so you must be special!” he gushed as he shook my hand.
“She is special, Daddy,” Odell confirmed, smiling at me.
“I’m glad she ain’t as fat, black, and ugly as that last one you dragged out here.” Lonnie shrugged and scratched his head, and turned to face me. “Joyce, you hungry? Ellamae baked a great big possum last night and there’s plenty left over.”
Odell answered for me. “No, thanks. We got a bunch of things to do when we leave here. I’ll come take you fishing one day next week and we’ll stay for supper.”
“Y’all can’t stay long enough to drink a Dr. Pepper?” I could tell from the glum expression on Lonnie’s face and his dry tone that he was disappointed.
Odell looked at me, and I blinked three times like he’d told me to do if I wanted to leave. He immediately opened the screen door and held it open. “No, we can’t stay that long, Daddy.”
“Hurry up and close that damn door before you let them flies and gnats in! We ran out of bug spray last week!” Ellamae shrieked.
We literally ran back to the car. “I told you that you probably wouldn’t want to stay long,” Odell laughed as he started up the motor.
“You were right about that,” I chuckled. “Your daddy seems like a real nice man, and I can’t wait to get to know him better. But I don’t think I’ll want to spend too much time around his wife.”
“And you won’t have to. I want to keep you all to myself for as long as I can,” he declared before he hauled off and kissed me.
I didn’t think things could get any better between us, but I hoped they would.
A week after our visit to Odell’s daddy’s house, I decided that if he didn’t propose by the end of the month, I’d do it. If he turned me down, I wouldn’t be too broken up. At least I’d have some wonderful memories.
When June ended and he still hadn’t proposed, I got real nervous. I decided not to propose because after I’d given it a little more thought, I was afraid something that serious might scare him off. And that was one thing I didn’t want to deal with anytime soon.
Odell loved working in our store and Mama and Daddy adored him. I was glad to know that I was seeing a man my folks approved of. Six weeks after he’d come into our lives, Daddy bought a newer model of the same ancient Ford Model T he’d been driving for years and sold his old one to Odell for fifty dollars, which he had to pay only a dollar a week until it was paid in full. It was the first car that Odell ever owned, so he was even happier. He was on such good terms with Mama and Daddy, he even came to the house when I wasn’t home. It made my heart sing to come home from work or a long shopping trip and see the three of them on the living room couch.
Odell was very good with his hands, and not just in the bedroom. He fixed things around the house that Daddy had been neglecting, and he was always eager to chauffeur Mama and her friends around when Daddy didn’t feel like driving.
If he wasn’t leading up to a marriage proposal, I couldn’t imagine any other reason for him to be doing so much for me and my folks. He had told me several times that he loved me. But I still didn’t feel too secure. I wanted a real commitment from him. I didn’t know what else I could do to lock him in so that he’d be more permanent. The answer came to me five weeks after our first date when I realized I was pregnant.
Odell came to the house several times a week, but it had already been three days since our last date and I hadn’t seen or heard from him. By the fourth day, I had run out of patience. I left work early that Friday and walked the two miles from my work to the store.
“Hey, baby. I was just thinking about you,” he said when he saw me. I had entered through the back door so I could bypass Buddy and Sadie. Mama and Daddy spent most of their time in the office when they were on the premises, so I wasn’t worried about bumping into them before I talked to Odell. He was in the aisle closest to the door. He slid
