“Or burn down the house.” Joyce heaved out a sigh. “Yvonne said she’d show me how to make a quilt, so I’m going to get started on that later this week. After that, she’s going to show me how to press and curl hair. It’ll be nice to have a girlfriend this close to do things with when you have to go away.”
“Yup. I’m glad you won’t be by yourself the extra nights I have to spend with Daddy.”
Chapter 28
Joyce
BY THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK, ODELL AND I HAD SPENT THREE evenings in a row since Sunday in the house next door drinking with Yvonne and Milton and a few of their other “guests.” Mama and Daddy, and even Reverend Jessup had advised us not to get too close to bootleggers, especially since we didn’t know enough about them. We had told Yvonne and Milton almost all of our business, even the fact that I’d had a miscarriage and we’d been trying to have another child for five years. They told us that their parents were deceased and they had other relatives “here and there” that they were not close to, so they only communicated with them “now and then.” They were vague when it came to more details. Each time we brought up the subject, they changed it, so we let it alone. Odell and I really liked them and didn’t want to scare them off by being too nosy. “If and when Yvonne and Milton want us to know more about them, they’ll let us know,” I told Odell. I had told my parents and Reverend Jessup the same thing.
“One thing I do know about them is that they ain’t too shy about asking for money,” Odell volunteered on Friday morning before we left for work. We had just finished eating breakfast.
“What do you mean?”
“Milton came into the store Wednesday afternoon and asked me to lend him five dollars.”
“So what? You can afford to help a friend out every now and then. We’ve been lending money to some of our other friends for years.”
“True. And them same friends keep coming back again and again. And don’t none of them never pay us back when they said they would.”
“Did you give Milton the five dollars?”
“Yeah. And he came to the store again yesterday and paid me back. Just like he said he would.”
“Then I wouldn’t worry about it, Odell. Besides, they’ve been letting us drink on the house all week and I noticed that they always asked other guests to pay.”
“Let’s enjoy the freebies while we can. I guess they really want to impress us.”
“Well, it’s no wonder. They probably think that if they get close enough to us, some of our class will rub off on them. Lord knows they need all the grooming they can get,” I snickered.
“That’s fine with me. I’m a people person. As long as somebody treats me good, I’ll treat them good.”
“I feel the same way, baby. And another thing, until they ask us to pay, we’ll keep drinking on the house.” We both laughed. “I wouldn’t mind having some more of that homebrew the next time we visit them.”
“Um, me too, but it won’t be this evening. I’m going to pay Daddy a visit. Matter of fact, I was thinking about going straight to his house right after I close up the store and take the profits to your daddy. If that’s all right with you . . .”
“Baby, you go right ahead.” I gave Odell a dismissive wave as we walked toward the door, holding hands as usual. “I’m glad you decided to visit Lonnie more often. Don’t worry about me. I’ll find something to keep myself occupied.”
I didn’t want to spend the evening alone, so I decided to visit Mama and Daddy when I got off work. I had stayed at the school a little later than usual, so I didn’t get a ride with Patsy. But since it was June and the weather was so nice, I took the bus back to my street and walked the two blocks to my parents’ house.
They were sitting on the squeaky front porch glider when I got there, looking so anxious to see me you would have thought they hadn’t seen me in years. If it hadn’t been for the fact that they had on different clothes, I would have thought that they hadn’t moved from the porch since my last visit three days ago.
“Where is Odell this evening?” Mama asked when I stumbled up on the porch. She stood up and gave me a big hug.
“His daddy is getting worse. He went to spend the night with him,” I answered.
The two walking sticks that Daddy had recently started using lay across his lap. He didn’t stand up to greet me. He just smiled and patted the spot next to him. Mama sat back down on the other end and started picking her teeth with a straw from one of her whisk brooms. “You mean to tell me Lonnie’s got a wife—and a used-to-be nurse at that—but he still need his son to come out to them sticks to help him out?” Daddy asked with a frown.
“Odell doesn’t mind going out there. He loves his daddy as much as I love you. And I sure wouldn’t mind coming to help you or Mama out if you needed it.”
Mama stopped picking her teeth and gave me a dry look. “How come you didn’t go with him?” she wanted to know.
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t like his daddy’s wife? That woman is so spiteful, she makes a rattlesnake look as tame as a butterfly. She must have ice water in her veins. I don’t want to be around her any more than I have to. I haven’t been out there in quite a while.” I sniffed and looked toward the street. “I can’t stay here long.
