by Mary Monroe
“I feel like it, too.”
“Who done it?”
“There ain’t no telling. They jumped me from behind. I couldn’t even tell how many it was. Them low-down dogs,” I griped.
“Aw, shuck it. I hope you’ll be up and about by the time my birthday rolls around next Tuesday. Yvonne promised me a shindig better than the one y’all gave me last year.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be healed up enough by then. As long as I don’t get another beating.”
“Well, I’m surprised it took this long for you to get jumped. I’m grateful they didn’t do nothing more serious. Like blowed your head off.”
“I don’t know nobody bold enough to go that far. Ain’t a colored man alive want to end up in no prison.”
It done me good to see so much compassion in Willie Frank’s eyes. I knew he was going to help me and Yvonne get through this mess without us going crazy.
“That’s a fact.” He nodded and gave me a thoughtful look. “And the same holds true for a white man. Now look-a-here, since you don’t know who done it, you can’t even give the cops a description.”
“Police? Pffft! I’d rather take another beating before I get involved with them scoundrels. For all we know, they could be the culprits that jumped me.”
We laughed.
“You could be right. Well, is there anything I can do for you? Anything you want me to go get?”
“Naw. Yvonne made me some sandwiches. But before you leave, I’d appreciate it if you’d empty the slop jar, put some fresh water in the pitcher, and fetch me some more liquor.”
Willie Frank stayed two hours and probably would have stayed longer if I hadn’t kept dozing off. Them pills Yvonne had made me take last night and again this morning made me drowsy.
By the middle of the afternoon, I was wide awake. All kinds of thoughts was bouncing against the walls inside my head. My legs and feet felt crampy one minute and numb the next. It wasn’t so bad after I got up and paced around the floor for about ten minutes. That helped get my blood back circulating the way it was supposed to.
I did my best thinking laying down. I stretched back out on the couch and started planning my next move. I was going to have to put the squeeze on Odell even tighter.
CHAPTER 45
YVONNE
I KNEW ME AND MILTON HAD A LOT OF ENEMIES NOW, BUT WE STILL had a lot of friends, too. I got a lot of sympathy from our coworkers and regular customers when I told them about his “accident.” I even got bigger tips than I usually got. A bunch of folks wanted to know if they could visit Milton, but I told them to wait a day or two.
“Yvonne, you want me to come to the house tonight to help you serve drinks so Milton can stay off his feet?” Talking to me was Marvin Kelly, one of our best customers and a good friend. He let me and Milton borrow his truck every now and then.
“Thanks for the offer, Marvin. But that won’t be necessary. Willie Frank will be there to take up the slack. I’ll tell Milton what you said, and I promise you the next time you come to the house, you can drink for free.” I didn’t care how corrupt me and Milton was, we still knew when to show some compassion.
Mr. Cunningham was real concerned when I told him Milton had got hurt. He was such a sweetheart about it. “Yvonne, tell Milton I’m going to pray for him. He can stay home as many days as he need to. It won’t be easy, but we can make do without him.”
“Well, we can’t afford for him to stay off too many days.” I sounded as pitiful as I could.
It helped, because Mr. Cunningham said something that made my heart sing. “Tell Milton he ain’t got to worry.” He folded his arms and gave me a warm smile. “I’m going to pay him half his salary for every day he take off. But only up to five.”
“Thank you!” The smile on my face stretched so fast and wide, my lips ached. “He’ll be so pleased when I tell him.”
“It’ll probably be the first and last time I can do something like this for y’all. So he better be more careful riding them trucks from now on.”
“I’m sure he will be.”
We was in the kitchen alone, but Mr. Cunningham glanced around and started talking in a low tone. He unfolded his arms and gave me a pat on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t do this for nobody else, so don’t tell your coworkers. See, you and Milton is two of the best employees I got, and the daughter and son I always wanted. I know it’s been a few days since I came out to y’all’s house for a few drinks. But my liver can’t stand but so much. Me and my wife might come by to see Milton in the next day or so.”
I got tears in my eyes and couldn’t stop myself from giving Mr. Cunningham a hug. He was one of the few people I didn’t like to take advantage of too much. But since he was in such a good mood, I had to milk the cow while the milking was good. “Uh, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a little longer for lunch today. I need to go into town and pick up some bandages and pills for Milton.”
“Can’t you do that when you get off work?”
“The store I need to go to closes up at the same time I get off,” I explained, trying to sound pitiful enough to keep his charitable juices flowing. “I asked Marvin and a couple of other folks if I could use their trucks, but they have to get back to work. I’ll have to take the bus, so it’ll take me quite a while . . .”
“Hmmm. That’s a damn shame.” Mr. Cunningham scratched his chin and gave me a thoughtful look. “Well, you welcome to use my truck again if you want to. It’s just sitting out there in the parking lot.”
“Bless your heart!” I squealed. I hugged him again.
* * *
When I walked through the door at MacPherson’s, I smelled all kinds of nice aromas coming from the food section. I was tempted to ask for a complimentary pig foot to gnaw on, but they was usually passed out only to folks who had a lot of shopping to do.
“I heard Milton fell off a truck,” Sadie began, looking at me with the same sneer on her face she always had when I approached her. I knew she and Buddy was itching to drill me like a oil well.
I gasped and stopped. “How did you hear that so fast? You must have some good connections.” Them was the kind of lines that made her and Buddy rejoice and puff out their chests.
“That’s true,” she agreed.
“So do I,” Buddy gushed.
“We got spies everywhere,” Sadie added with a smirk.
“I bet he was drunk,” Buddy threw in.
“He was. I fussed up a storm, so I know it’ll be a while before he do something that stupid again. Um, I hate to run off, but I need to go ask Odell a question. We’ll continue this conversation next time I come in, if y’all ain’t too busy.”
I started walking toward Odell’s office. When I reached it, he was already standing in the doorway, with his hands on his hips. Words could not describe the expression on his face as he waved me into his office and shut the door.
“I thought I heard your voice,” he snapped. “This got anything to do with your visit to my house this morning?”
“Uh-huh. Because of what happened to Milton, I need more money.”
“I figured one of y’all would be asking for more money again real soon.”
“You figured right.”
“How is he doing?” Odell blew out a loud breath, sat down at his desk, and tapped his fingertips on the desktop, looking at me like I was something he’d spit out.
“Real good. I doubt if he’ll be off work more than a few days.” I moved closer to the front of the desk and cleared my throat. “I borrowed Mr. Cunningham’s truck, so I can’t stay long.”
“Okay. So how much do you need now?”
“I need a few more dollars.”
“How few?”
“Whatever you can spare.”
“Look, Yvonne. I feel for you and Milton, but even the deepest well will run dry if you draw water from it too often. Now, tell me exactly how much you need.”
“I told you. Just a few dollars.”
“A few like two, three, or
more?”
I shook my head. “More like ten.”
Odell’s eyes almost popped out of his head. “What’s wrong with you, girl? I’m just a working man, not a millionaire!”
“If you can afford to support two women and three kids, you can afford to give me ten more dollars.”
With a huff and a frown, he pulled out his wallet and handed me a ten-dollar bill. I snatched it like it was a brass ring. “How many more times are you going to come at me for money?”
“I told you the first time we discussed this that I’d only want a little something every now and then. I should have included unexpected emergencies, so I’m telling you that now. I wouldn’t be here if Milton hadn’t got beat up.”
“I hope you don’t have another emergency again for a while. I’ll be coming over to give Milton his payment this evening, and something tells me he’ll ask for a ‘few dollars’ on top of that to cover his time off work.” For such a strapping man, I couldn’t believe how weary Odell was starting to look and sound. “You ain’t told him about our arrangement, I hope.”
“Nope. And I don’t plan on telling him. It’s bad enough he started getting money from you and didn’t tell me. It serves him right not to know I got a thing going with you, too.”
He exhaled and stared at me with a stern look on his face. “Before you go, we need to get something straight.”
“What?” I asked, stuffing the money inside my brassiere.
“You know how folks in this town like to spread gossip and start rumors. You done been here twice this week to meet with me behind closed doors. That must look mighty suspicious to Buddy and Sadie. I don’t want them, or nobody else, to get it in their heads that me and you got something going. That’s a story Joyce don’t never need to hear.”
“Or the one about Betty Jean,” I taunted as I backed out the door.
CHAPTER 46
MILTON
I WAS STILL STRETCHED OUT ON THE COUCH WHEN YVONNE GOT home from work this evening. Willie Frank had changed my bandages and poured me another drink before he left. The cat lady had come back and brung me a bowl of homemade chicken soup. I must have been in pretty good shape to begin with, because I was already feeling almost like my old self. But I liked being pampered and having folks feel sorry for me.
“How you feeling, sugar?” Yvonne asked. She set her purse on the coffee table and squatted down next to the couch.
“I’m doing better,” I whimpered with a grimace. “What did Mr. Cunningham say when you told him I fell off a truck and had to take a few days off?”
“He was as sorry as he could be,” she told me, massaging my shoulder. “He even let me borrow his truck to go get you some more pills.”
“Oh? That was mighty generous of him. But we still got plenty pills left. What kind did you get?”
“Huh? Oh! I wanted to get something stronger than plain aspirin. MacPherson’s was out of the kind we usually buy, so I didn’t get nothing.”
I narrowed my eyes. “MacPherson’s? So you seen Odell today, huh?”
Yvonne tried to make out like it wasn’t no big deal. “Just for a hot minute. I ducked into his office to say hi.”
I stared at her for a long time. “How was he acting?”
“Like always. He’ll be coming over this evening. Joyce will, too, I think.”
“Good. When he get here, offer to make him some of them butter-flavored hush puppies he so crazy about. It’ll make him feel appreciated. With his big-ass ego, it’s important for us to keep him feeling like somebody special in case I have to keep, uh, borrowing a few dollars from him when we need it.”
Yvonne stopped massaging my shoulder. “You sure you feel up to having guests tonight?” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.
“Uh-huh. The more the merrier. Willie Frank didn’t stay long this morning, and it was lonesome laying here by myself most of the day, sweating, aching, and passing gas. I’m feeling and smelling mighty ripe. Go fill up the foot tub with water and soap so I can de-funk myself before folks start coming. I sure hope Lyla and Emmalou come tonight. We can always count on them for a few extra bucks. I didn’t know they was so generous.”
Yvonne shot me a hot look. “Milton, please don’t start borrowing money from Lyla and Emmalou.”
With my condition being what it was, I figured a little whining would be justified. I showed her my best puppy-dog face before I spoke again. “I ain’t said nothing about borrowing no money from them. Even though we sure could use a little extra since Mr. Cunningham won’t be paying me while I’m off.”
“Good news!” Yvonne’s eyes got big, and she gave me a wall-to-wall smile. “He is going to pay you half your salary for every day you take off, but only up to five days.”
“He is?”
“Yeah. He said we was two of his best workers, and the kids he always wanted.”
“Praise the Lord. That’s the best news I done heard this year. I’m feeling good enough to go back tomorrow, so he’ll just have to pay me for today.”
“Milton, maybe you should stay off tomorrow, too. A bunch of them railroad workers came in for lunch today. They gave me some good tips, so we a few dollars ahead.”
“I don’t like being in the house for hours on end by myself. The sooner I get back in the swing of things, the better I’ll feel.”
“I hope that ‘swing of things’ don’t include you gambling again anytime soon. You don’t know who it was that jumped you, and it might have been some of the same men you been gambling with. You show up at one of their games and they see they didn’t do enough damage to you, there ain’t no telling what might happen next.”
“Listen, any gambling I do until I get whoever jumped me off my case, I’ll do at home, or with folks I know I can trust.”
I decided to stay home from the grill Thursday, too.
* * *
A few minutes after we finished eating the scrumptious supper Yvonne cooked when she got home Thursday evening, folks started knocking on the door. I was thrilled to pieces to see Lyla and Emmalou in the first bunch.
About a hour later, Odell and Joyce strolled in. I could tell from the tight look on his face that he wasn’t too excited about being back in my house again so soon. Him and Joyce had come over for a little while last night to see how I was doing, and for him to give me my weekly payment. It had been kind of awkward for him to sneak it to me, with people in the living room and me not able to get up off the couch and take him into the kitchen or the bedroom. I had had to wait until he was about to leave. Joyce had leaned down and held my hand while she prayed for me. When she finished, Odell had done the same thing. That was when he’d pushed eight crumpled-up dollar bills into my hand.
Since Joyce was with him tonight—and claimed she was the one that had been itching to come check on me again—I knew he’d have to stay more than a few minutes. I was feeling good enough to stand and walk longer. So a few minutes after they walked in, I beckoned Odell to follow me to the kitchen. We stopped a few feet in front of the back door.
“It’s good to see you doing so much better. I guess this means you’ll be going back to work soon, huh?” he asked. He was already acting nervous, scratching his head and blinking.
“Yup. I’m going back in tomorrow. This laying around like a invalid ain’t my thing.” I held out my hand, palm up and fingers wiggling. From the horrified look on his face, you would have thought he was staring down the barrel of a gun.
“What?” he asked dumbly.
“There was too many folks too close by, so I didn’t get a chance to tell you last night. But I need more money to help cover the time I have to take off from the grill.” I wasn’t fool enough to tell Odell that Mr. Cunningham was going to pay me for some of my time off.
“Shit! I guess I should have seen this coming!” he blasted. “How much?”
Regardless of his harsh tone, I kept mine pleasant. “I declare. I’m so impressed with how easy it is to work with you, I’ll go easy on you thi
s time. Just give me another eight dollars.”
He mumbled a few cusswords under his breath, pulled out his wallet, and handed me a five and three ones.
“Thank you.” I clapped him on the back. Then I stuffed the money in my pocket, where it would stay until I got a chance to hide it from Yvonne. “Um, as you know, I done missed two days’ work this week. Next Wednesday, I’ll need a double payment. That way I’ll have a little leeway—in case I relapse and have to miss more days.”
Odell blinked and shook his head and didn’t even put up no argument. I realized now just how determined he was to keep me from tattling on him.
“Well, now, let’s get out there and have some fun. Have a drink, and tonight you ought to do some dancing,” I said.
“I ain’t hardly in the mood to be dancing,” he said in a sharp tone. “I wouldn’t even be here now if it wasn’t for Joyce. She and Reverend Jessup got a bunch of folks at the church—including my in-laws—to start a prayer chain for you. But she still want to keep a close eye on you herself.”
“Bless her soul.” Knowing that so many folks cared about me done a lot for my morale. Maybe that was the reason I was recovering so fast. “Well, I hope you have a good time tonight, anyway. We got some good party people in the house. Business sure picked up since Lyla and Emmalou started coming.”
Odell must not have been too anxious to leave. By eleven thirty, him and Joyce was the only guests left.
“I declare, it’s way past our bedtime, so we’d better shake a leg,” Joyce finally said, getting up off the footstool she’d been sitting on most of the evening. She stretched and glanced from me to Yvonne. “Um, me and Odell have had a few conversations about Lyla and Emmalou lately.” She stopped and looked at Odell like she expected him to pick up where she had left off. And he did.
“Do y’all think it’s such a good idea to still be entertaining them?” he asked.
“As long as they don’t cause no ruckus, why not?” I answered.
