by Mary Monroe
“I promise.”
CHAPTER 32
MILTON
THE RIDE BACK TO BRANSON WAS UNCOMFORTABLE, TO SAY THE least. For the first five miles, we didn’t say nary a word.
I didn’t want to discuss Odell too much more, because I was scared I’d slip and say something Yvonne didn’t need to know. Not telling her I was blackmailing him meant more money for me. But I wasn’t selfish. I did spend some of that hush money on her. I bought her gum, smell goods, and hair knickknacks.
When we did start talking, it was about what Yvonne was going to cook for Willie Frank’s birthday party next month and a few other random things. Odell’s name didn’t come up again until we turned onto our street, and I was the one to bring it up. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let Yvonne know what was on my mind about how I wanted us to handle what we knew.
“Now that you know what a low-down, funky black dog of a cheater Odell is, I want you to go on about your business like you don’t know nothing. When you see him, treat him the way you been treating him. Except . . .”
“Except what?”
“Now that you know he ain’t nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing, I hope you won’t rub it in my face about how wonderful he is no more. Especially them comments about wanting me to be more like him.”
“I won’t. Now that I done seen the light, I realize he could never be as honorable as you,” Yvonne said with a heavy sigh. “Baby, don’t never change.” She squeezed my hand and gave me a peck on my jaw.
There was several cars and a truck parked directly in front of our house. I had to park behind Odell’s car. The lights wasn’t on in his house. Either him and Joyce had gone out for the evening and was riding with somebody else, or they was socializing with our guests. I prayed that they wasn’t in our house. After the mess of a day I had had with Yvonne because of Odell, I was agitated. He was the last person I wanted to see while I was in such a state.
I was happy to see at least a dozen folks in our living room, drinking and frolicking like they didn’t have a care in the world. Before I could greet any of our guests, Lyla Bullard teetered up off Willie Frank’s lap on the couch and staggered up to me. I couldn’t imagine what she’d been thinking when she squeezed her pear-shaped body into the tight red dress she had on. There was a hat on her head that reminded me of a crow’s nest. She hugged me like she hadn’t seen me in years, and started talking loud and fast.
“Milton, I couldn’t wait to get over here so I can start having some of the good times I hear y’all got going on. I was hoping you’d get back before I left. I didn’t know y’all lived in the same neck of the woods as all three of Branson’s colored doctors. Y’all done climbed way up the ladder, and I’m sure enough impressed.” Lyla’s cousin Emmalou was in a corner, chatting it up with one of our coworkers from the grill.
“Yes, we done climbed up the ladder,” I agreed, gazing at Lyla with a proud expression on my face. I had my arm around Yvonne’s waist, and I hadn’t hugged Lyla back.
I wanted to show my wife as much affection as possible tonight and not even act like I wanted to get too friendly with another woman—especially a white one. I was going to work even harder to keep Yvonne happy, because the news about Odell had really busted her bubble about men. And I had to watch my step, so she wouldn’t have no reason to get suspicious of me. I’d make love to her like she was the only woman left on the planet, and I’d spend more money on her, too. But first, I needed to get more money. . . .
Money. Next to God, that word was the most important one in the English language. It seemed to be the one subject I couldn’t put on a back burner. Every time I looked up, I had another reason to need more of it.
“How was your cousin?” Willie Frank cut into my thoughts just as Lyla sank her humongous rump back down in his lap. I could tell from the grimace on his face that all that meat put a strain on his thighs. But he was too much of a gentleman to protest.
His question caught me completely off guard. But it didn’t take me long to get my bearings back. “Huh? Oh yeah! Um, Columbus is doing just fine. Thanks for asking.”
“Good, good. I’ll pray for him. I hope you gassed up my truck. It’s a long drive back to the hills. I don’t want to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere, with no gas stations within miles, not that none are open this late, nohow,” Willie Frank added.
“I filled up your tank. Thanks for letting me use your truck, and thanks for taking care of our guests.”
Around 11:00 p.m. Lyla teetered up off the couch again. She stretched her arms and yawned. “Well now! I truly enjoyed myself tonight. But me and Emmalou can’t keep our peepers open, and we got to open up the store on time tomorrow, so we best skedaddle.” Lyla had so much liquor in her potbelly, she could barely stand. I would have offered to drive her and her cousin home, but I didn’t want the wrong crackers to see me driving a truck with two drunk white women in it.
“Give me that key,” Emmalou demanded, snatching Lyla’s key out of her hand. “With the shape you in, you’ll drive us into a tree.” Emmalou wasn’t that drunk, so I felt better knowing she was going to drive. They was good customers, and I liked them, so I didn’t want nothing to happen to them. “I sure enjoyed myself, Milton. Now that we know where you live, we’ll slide through here quite often.”
“Emmalou, me and Yvonne enjoyed your company, so you and Lyla please come back again soon.”
After they left, Yvonne motioned me to the kitchen. I groaned, but I followed her. We didn’t stop walking until we reached the farthest corner in the room.
“What’s wrong, sugar? You been acting mighty strange since we got home. I hope it ain’t because of Odell.”
“Milton, it ain’t that.” She let out a moan and folded her arms. “I really like Lyla and Emmalou. But do you think we should start entertaining white women?”
“What do you mean, ‘start’ entertaining white women? What about Willie Frank’s womenfolk? His cousins Peggy Louise and Molly been here several times. And so have his mama and sisters.”
“That’s different. White women on that level don’t count. Willie Frank’s come only once or twice a month, and they always come and leave with him.”
“Hush up! Don’t be making something out of nothing. We got more important things to worry about.”
“You got a point there, I guess.” Yvonne sighed and threw up her hands. “Oh, well, let’s get back to our company.”
When we got to the living room, Willie Frank beckoned for me to join him in the kitchen. I steered him to the same corner Yvonne had steered me to a few minutes ago.
“You was too busy, and I couldn’t tell you before now that you ain’t in the clear yet,” he began with a agitated look on his face. My chest tightened right away. “Johnny Ray, one of them stock boys that work for Odell, came here tonight, about fifteen minutes before you and Yvonne got back. He told me he’d stopped off at Cap’s place on his way over here. Cap told him about you winning all that money with them marked cards and that he didn’t like being made a fool of. I couldn’t get you somewhere in private to tell you until now.”
“Hmmm,” I said, caressing my chin. “News sure do travel fast in this town! I hope Cap don’t stay mad too long.” I gave Willie Frank a dry look and went on. “Odell told me that Oscar stopped by the store and told him about the stuff that got stole out of his barn. Oscar think I had something to do with it, so I guess he mad at me, too. And we can’t scapegoat Amos and get nobody to believe he done it. He was having foot surgery at the time.” I shrugged. “The thing is, the damage already been done. And I . . . Wait!” It seemed like a bright light suddenly went on in my head. “I got a idea. Maybe we should buy that stuff back from Eugene and return it to Oscar. That should calm him down.”
“Buddy, I could feel trouble brewing, so that same idea already came to me last night. I went back to Eugene this afternoon and tried to buy that stuff back, but he wanted to keep it. I left there and went to Oscar’s. I swore to him that I d
idn’t know nothing about his stuff getting stole. I didn’t want to lose a long-term customer like him, so I played the Good Samaritan and done the Christian thing. I gave him what Eugene paid us—plus two extra bucks. He was glad to get the money, but I think he still might hold a grudge for a while.”
“That was a good move, Willie Frank. Remind me to pay you my part. As far as Cap is concerned, he can’t prove I cheated. But I won’t go back to his place until that bee get out of his bonnet.”
“Um . . . Oscar did tell me to warn you to watch your back.”
“Pffft!” I chuckled. “I been doing that all my life.”
CHAPTER 33
MILTON
“YOU SURE IS IN A GOOD MOOD,” YVONNE COMMENTED WHEN I walked into the kitchen, whistling, on Wednesday morning. It was five minutes before 8:00 a.m. She had already made coffee and set the table, and she was at the counter, buttering a slice of toast. I noticed a pan of grits and a platter of home fries already on the table. Even as hectic as yesterday had been, I’d made love to Yvonne last night, and we’d fizzled out like dead lightbulbs and slept like babies the whole night through.
“Why shouldn’t I be? I got a lot to be in a good mood about.” I went up to her and kissed her long and hard. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t brung up the Odell thing again, but I knew it was just a matter of time before she did. “I’m married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I’m the best bootlegger Branson ever had. Except for not having enough money to suit me, I got everything a man need to be happy.”
“What about your health?”
“My health?” I reared back on my legs, waved my hand, and looked at Yvonne like she had just asked the stupidest question I ever heard. “You ain’t blind. Can’t you see I’m as fit as a fiddle? I ain’t had no ailments since I had chicken pox when I was eleven.” I flexed my arms and pounded my chest a couple of times with my fists. “Pour me some coffee.”
“You don’t want no grits and toast?”
“Naw. Sometime when I eat breakfast too early, I get cramps. Especially after all the alcohol I drunk up last night.” She filled my coffee cup and set it on the table. I sat down and started guzzling.
“I’m glad you grateful to be in good health. I’m grateful you is, too.” Her words made me curious.
“Yvonne, do you know something I don’t know? Why you all of a sudden worried about my health?”
“Milton, last night Johnny Ray told me about you cheating them gamblers at Cap’s place. Cheating ain’t nothing but glorified stealing.”
“Pffft!” I waved my hand and laughed. “You ain’t got no room to be talking about me stealing! That’s what got you convicted! Shoot!”
“Don’t change the subject. We ain’t talking about me. You can’t go around cheating the people you gamble with.”
“You know how it is with gamblers when they lose. Some get real disgruntled.”
Yvonne nodded. “I know that, too. My cousin DeBow got shot to death by some disgruntled gambler he’d cheated.”
“DeBow was a lowlife and had it coming. I’m surprised it took so long for somebody to put his lights out.”
“Baby, I just don’t want nothing bad to happen to you over a few dollars.”
“It ain’t going to happen. Me and Cap been good friends for years. I done did favors for him. Remember when that tornado blew the roof off his house? I helped him repair it and refused to take his money when he tried to pay me. And don’t forget about that time he was so broke up about his lady friend dumping him, and we brung him to the house and nursed him out of his depression. Do that sound like a man I need to be worried about messing with my health?”
“I guess not.” Yvonne finally gave me a smile. “Please be careful, anyway. Everybody got a breaking point. Even good friends you done favors for.”
* * *
A few minutes before noon, I got one of the railroad workers who had just come to the grill for lunch to let me borrow his car to drive to MacPherson’s. I told him I needed to go repay a loan to Odell, and I made him promise not to tell Yvonne, because she’d get on my case about borrowing. She had agreed to help Mr. Cunningham shell crowder peas out in the back, and that always took quite a while. She wouldn’t even know I’d left the premises.
“Hello, Milton! Good timing! We just put out some fresh pig feet,” Sadie gushed when I walked into the store. Buddy was busy with a customer, but as soon as he heard her say my name, he whirled around and gave me the fish eye.
“Thanks, Sadie. But I’ll pass today. I got just enough time to talk to Odell, and then I have to get back to work. I might come back on my way home to get some of them world-beating pig feet, though.”
I didn’t want to say nothing else to her, so I picked up speed. Within a few seconds, I was in Odell’s office. He was sitting behind his desk, with his feet propped up on top of it, next to a empty Dr. Pepper bottle. I strolled over and stopped by the side of his desk.
“What you doing here, Milton?” He stood up and put his hands on his hips. The scowl on his face would make a bulldog look like a baby cat.
“It’s Wednesday,” I smirked. “Payday.”
“You didn’t have to come here. I was going to drop by your house this evening.”
“Well, today I preferred to drop by here instead.”
“I hope you don’t make a habit of coming here too often to get your money. Buddy and Sadie will get suspicious sooner or later and will start asking questions,” he hissed like the snake he was.
“So what if they do? You the boss,” I chuckled. “Now, give me my money and I’ll be on my way.”
Without saying another word, he pulled out his wallet.
“Add a couple extra bucks this time, please.”
“Look, this ‘extra’ shit is going to have to stop! You been sucking the life out of me since you started this mess!”
“I ain’t the one that started this ‘mess,’ as you call it. You the one that couldn’t keep your pants zipped up!”
Odell’s jaw was twitching, and the mean look on his face looked even meaner now. I was more than ready to leave. The ten one-dollar bills he had just took out of his wallet was still in his hand. “Milton, one of these days, you going to mess with the wrong person. And from what I keep hearing, you getting closer and closer to that person.”
I snatched the money and put it in my pocket. “If you mean Oscar or Cap, they ain’t nobody for me to worry about. Oscar is just as big a con man as I am, and Cap probably is, too. Did you know that before Cap got religion a few years ago, he done time in the penitentiary for robbing a fruit stand?”
“So?”
“So, he ain’t got no room to be having too much of a attitude with me over a few dollars. Besides, with all the money I done lost playing cards with him and his crew, I was just getting back what they owed me! And how do I know they didn’t use marked cards all them times when they skunked me?”
“Milton, you got your money, so please leave.” Odell flopped back into his chair and waved me to the door.
“Keep your shirt on. I’m going, I’m going.” I started moving away, and then I stopped. “You and Joyce coming to the house tonight?”
Odell did a double take. “I don’t want to see you again too soon!” he snapped.
“That’s a shame. I’m sure Yvonne will be disappointed. You made a damn good impression on her kids. She can’t stop praising you . . .”
“That’s real nice of Yvonne.”
“She want to show her appreciation this evening and cook some hush puppies with butter, the way you like them. She said you put them kids in the best mood they been in since Christmas.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
I could see this pantywaist turning as soft as jelly right before my eyes. Now I was sorry I hadn’t asked for more than a couple extra dollars.
“I’ll talk to Joyce and see if she is in the mood to come over tonight. Just because me and you got a few kinks in our friendship, I d
on’t want Yvonne to be disappointed. Let her know I’ll try to make it over tonight.”
“Good. I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed to see you again.”
CHAPTER 34
YVONNE
“HELLO, YVONNE. MILTON TOLD ME YOU WAS COOKING HUSH puppies with butter instead of lard this evening.”
I was in the kitchen, at the counter, about to dump a huge batch of hush puppies into a skillet. Just hearing Odell’s voice spooked me so bad, I whirled around and almost dropped everything. “Odell, I—I didn’t know you w-was already in the house,” I stuttered, but I composed myself right away. “You get first dibs on these hush puppies for treating my kids so good.”
I was still grateful that he had been so nice and generous. But knowing what I knew now, I had a hard time being alone with him and not telling him what was really on my mind. If he was a womanizer and a Goody Two-shoes that wore his shoes on the wrong feet, what else could he be? I wondered. Now I didn’t think all them goodies he’d let my children take was really “complimentary,” as he had called them. For all I knew, he could have made up for that by juggling the books! Maybe he’d used me to put on a good show in front of Joyce to keep her sewed up in the web he’d spun. And he’d dragged my babies into it, too!
“Did Joyce come with you?”
“Yeah, she out there, on her second drink. I’m on my third.” They had finally started paying for their drinks. But because they’d mooched off us for so long and gave lousy tips, we was still serving them recycled alcohol.
“I’ll bring the hush puppies out directly.”
“Good. They sure do smell scrumptious. Well, I better get back to the living room before Willie Frank bore Joyce to tears with all his bragging about how well his business is doing.”
I couldn’t let his last comment go without saying something. “I hate it when folks brag,” I tossed in, rolling my eyes.
