“Honest to God, me and Milton would never kill nobody, and he ain’t crazy enough to even look at no white woman, let alone rape one. We learned our lesson and even found Jesus.”
My jaw dropped. “Y’all got religion?” I asked. This news was even more shocking than hearing they’d been in prison.
“Yup. We joined New Hope Baptist Church two years ago, the same one that they use for a school during the week. I attended it from the first to the eighth grade. I didn’t learn much, though. But I’m learning a heap of stuff about the Lord.”
“Hmmm. I used to feel so sorry for the students that had to go to that dump to learn. Those outside toilets, dog-eared books, and lazy teachers would have made me drop out in a heartbeat!”
“Some of us didn’t have no choice.”
“Well, that’s life.” I hunched my shoulders and gave Yvonne a sympathetic look. “The good thing is that’s all behind you now. Stay with Jesus, and He’ll stay with you. How often do y’all go to church?”
Yvonne blinked and looked embarrassed. “We ain’t been since last Easter, but we plan to start going at least a couple of times a month real soon. We want to continue to honor God.”
“That’s good to hear. Me and Odell don’t go as often as we should, but we will in the future. And when we have kids, we’ll go every Sunday.”
Yvonne exhaled and massaged her chest, as if she’d finally removed a heavy load by letting me know more about her past. I didn’t feel threatened or concerned about living next door to ex-convicts. She seemed so sorry about whatever it was she’d done that had landed her in jail. And as long as they would “continue to honor God,” I truly believed that she and Milton would stay out of trouble. “Thanks for listening to me, Joyce. I feel so much better.”
“I know you love your kids and want to spend more time with them. I think you need to have a serious talk with your aunt and uncle and let them know just how much you miss your babies. I hope they don’t make you wait until your kids get grown before they tell them who you really are. There is no reason in the world why your children shouldn’t know they still have a mama.”
“Thanks for saying that, Joyce,” Yvonne sniffled. “I’m surprised to hear a woman like you say something like that.”
My chest tightened. I hoped she was not going to make another comment that would make me feel bad about myself. I had put that other one she’d made the day we went shopping out of my mind. “What do you mean by that?”
“For one thing, you smarter than any other woman I know. And you real sweet and down to earth for such a big-boned woman. Exactly what size do you wear anyway, a sixteen?”
“I wear a size fourteen,” I sniffed. I sucked in my gut, even though I had on a girdle that made my stomach look almost as flat as Yvonne’s.
“Oh. I never would have guessed that.”
“And at least I’m not fat, I’m just tall.” It had been years since anybody had mentioned my size in my presence. Even though I was comfortable with it now, it was still a sensitive subject I didn’t like to discuss. Especially with a woman as attractive as Yvonne. Did tiny women have tiny brains, too? I wondered.
“True. Tall women like you can carry more weight and still look good. With your long legs and arms, you got a lot of extra space for the fat to spread out in and not be too noticeable.”
“Do you think there’s something wrong with me being big?” Now my heart was pounding too and I felt hot inside. I braced myself because I had a feeling that whatever else she had to say on the subject probably wouldn’t be flattering. She had all but told me she didn’t think I was attractive....
Yvonne gave me a serious look and shook her head. “No. It’s just that all the other great big women I know is so bitter because of the way they look, they act cold and mean and nasty most of the time. They don’t even know how to dress half as sharp as you do. By the way, where do you buy your frocks? You got a whole lot of style and you always look real nice.”
“I . . . I . . . order a lot of my clothes from catalogs. My mama makes the rest,” I replied. Maybe Yvonne didn’t think I was as unattractive as I’d thought a few seconds ago. I felt better. “Back to the subject of your kids,” I eased in.
She looked confused. “What about my kids?”
“Now don’t you take this the wrong way, but Odell is very particular. I know he won’t like his children living next door to bootleggers.”
“Say what? Girl, y’all ain’t even got no children!” Yvonne hollered. Her eyebrows furrowed and her face suddenly got so red, it looked like somebody had spray-painted her.
“No, we don’t have any now. But we will have a few someday.”
“Humph. Well, none of our guests ever get too rowdy and raise hell the way a lot of folks do in the jook joints and some of the other bootleggers’ houses and beer gardens. We ain’t never had no fighting and people puking their guts out and yelling and screaming all the time. Me and Milton run one of the most respectable bootlegging houses in Branson!” Yvonne boomed with her lips quivering and her tongue snapping over every word. I was happy to see her so riled up after making that comment about my size.
“I know all that. It’s just that for my soon-to-be-born children’s sake, I am not going to allow them to spend too much time at your house.” I was still slightly hot, but I managed to
