One House Over

by Mary Monroe

  “Tell me about it. And it’s getting touchier by the day with me,” Joyce whined. I didn’t have to read her mind to know what she was going to say next. “I want my own children so bad I don’t know what to do. It’s unfair that women like Yvonne can have three and I can’t have even one. Do you think we’ll ever be parents? I know how important it is to you to be a daddy, and I worry about it all the time.”

  “Yes, I do think we’ll have children someday. But it don’t do no good for you to fret over it. One of my old bosses and his wife tried to have a baby for ten years. They got so obsessed, they even fixed up a nursery with all kinds of baby knickknacks. There was everything in that room to indicate a baby occupied it, except the baby. That desperate couple finally broke down and adopted a little girl. Then BAM! Six months later, the wife got pregnant! Why? Because they had stopped worrying about it.”

  “I can’t help it. Having a baby is on my mind almost every day, especially when I’m by myself.”

  “You don’t have to be by yourself now that Yvonne and Milton live right next door. They always itching to entertain company.”

  “If I hadn’t been so worried about why you hadn’t come home yet, I would have gone over there a couple of hours ago and smoothed things over with Yvonne. I’m sure she told Milton what I said and I regret every word now. I don’t like being rude to people—especially ones we live so close to. And I really wish I hadn’t made those comments about that grill they work at.”

  “I know just what you mean. I’m going to be nicer to Milton from now on too.” I glanced toward the window then back at Joyce. “Let’s do this, baby. Why don’t we kill two birds with one stone?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We can go get a drink and show Yvonne and Milton some love.”

  Chapter 42

  Odell

  MILTON HADN’T PAID BACK THE MONEY HE’D BORROWED LAST Tuesday, and I wasn’t going to remind him about it. But I would if and when he asked for another “loan” before he repaid the last one.

  Willie Frank opened the door when we got over there. “Hey, we got two more!” he yelled as he ushered us in. “The folks from next door!”

  “The more the merrier,” somebody yelled.

  The living room had people from wall to wall. There was just enough room on the couch for one more body, so Joyce sat down and I stood in front of her. “What y’all drinking tonight?” Willie Frank asked, looking from me to Joyce. He didn’t look drunk, but the alcohol on his breath was so strong, it made my eyes water.

  “I’ll just have some whiskey,” Joyce said, talking loud so she could be heard over all the chatter and music. Somebody in the back of the room was playing the red piano that Milton had picked up at a garage sale, and somebody else was playing a guitar.

  “Pour me the same thing,” I told Willie Frank. “Where is Yvonne and Milton?”

  “Yvonne is around here somewhere. I dropped Milton off on Morgan Street a while ago so he could get in on some hot crap games. He ain’t come home yet.”

  Just then, Yvonne pushed her way through the crowd and went right up to Joyce. “I’m so pleased to see you ain’t mad at me about that stuff I said today.”

  “Pffft! I forgot all about that conversation, girl.” Joyce laughed and waved her hand. And then she tugged on Willie Frank’s shirtsleeve. “We can’t stay long, so can we get our drinks now?”

  Before we got our drinks, the door swung open and Milton strutted in. He greeted some of his guests with smiles and hugs. But there was the strangest expression on his face when he spotted me. I smiled, nodded, and waved. He did the same thing, but he didn’t come up to me. Fifteen minutes later, I put my arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a corner. “What you been into, buddy boy?”

  “I’m so glad you asked me that. I’m fixing to look into a deal that’ll be sweeter than a ton of sugarcane, if I pull it off.” He stopped talking and narrowed his eyes. “I can’t talk about it right now, though. I’ll tell you all about it real soon.” He let out a mighty belch and walked away. Every time I peered in his direction, he was looking in mine, staring so hard it made me cringe.

  After about twenty minutes, I plowed through the crowd until I found Joyce. She was in the kitchen drinking a glass of water. I was glad she was alone. “We better get going soon so I can get some sleep. I need to be at work a little earlier tomorrow so I can finish up a few things before I open up.”

  “I thought that was the reason you stopped by the store on your way home this evening,” she wailed, looking exasperated.

  “It was. And I did finish my paperwork, but I just remembered a few other things I forgot to do.”

  We left five minutes later. When we got home, we went straight to bed and Joyce started rubbing up and down my rump. Sex was the last thing I wanted tonight. Besides, I’d got myself a pretty good dose before I left Betty Jean’s house a few hours ago. I had other things on my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Milton had kept gazing at me and the sugarcane-sweet deal that he was going to talk to me about “real soon.” But Joyce wouldn’t let up. Even though I was laying there like a log, she slid her hand inside my shorts and started stroking anyway. Well, it didn’t take but a few more seconds for me to get aroused. I climbed on top of her so we could get it on and get it over with.

  By the time I opened up the store the next morning, I had stopped thinking about Milton and went on about my day. As goofy and meddlesome as Buddy and Sadie was, they kept things under control when I didn’t want to be on the main floor. As much as I loved my work, I wanted to do as little as possible. I had been holed up in my office for the past two hours, reading a detective magazine and playing tic-tac-toe on the same pad I used to take notes when I did do some work.

  A few minutes after eleven, I went back out to the main floor. I was pleased to see that we had more than a dozen customers. Just as I was about to return to my office and do some more reading and play another game, probably hangman, I scanned the room and spotted Milton lurking at the end of Sadie’s counter. “Milton, what you doing here?” I glanced at the clock on the wall and walked up to him. “It’s mighty early for you to be shopping. You ain’t working today?”

  He bit his bottom lip and let out a loud breath. “Naw. I ain’t come up in here to buy nothing. I’m here on business,” he told me, speaking in a low tone. It wasn’t low enough, because Buddy and Sadie heard him and immediately started gawking in our direction. I gave them a stern look, and they returned their attention to their cash registers.

  “Oh? What business is that?” I asked, giving Milton a puzzled look.

  “Me and you need to conversate about some serious business.”

  “We do?”

  “Yup.”

  I shrugged. “O . . . kay. What business do we need to conversate about?”

  “I think we should go somewhere more private first.” Milton pursed his lips and glared at me from the corner of his eye.

  “How come we can’t talk out here?”

  “Trust me, brother man, you don’t want nobody else to hear what I got to say.”

  That was all I needed to hear. I motioned for him to follow me. When we got in my office, I closed the door and sat down in the chair behind my desk. “Can I get you a bottle of pop or a pig foot?”

  “Nope. This ain’t no social visit. Mind if I sit down?” Before I could answer, he grabbed the metal chair I kept in front of my desk and turned it backward. He straddled it and plopped his butt down with a groan.

  Not only was I getting impatient, I was getting annoyed. “I’m real busy, so whatever you got to say, you need to say it fast so I can get back to work.”

  He caught a glimpse of the magazine and tic-tac-toe pad in front of me. “Uh-huh. I can see how busy you is,” he snickered, folding his arms. “I wish my job at Cunningham’s was as easy as yours.” He blinked and leaned forward. “Odell, I like you and I like Joyce. But sometimes people ain’t what they seem to be, even me. Some folks got som
e serious shit to hide. . . .”

  I sighed and scratched the side of my head. “Milton, I know you and Yvonne done spent some time in jail. She told Joyce and Joyce told me. That’s your business and I don’t know why you’d think it would be a big deal to me. Shit. I ain’t never been in jail but I ain’t no angel.” I cracked up at my own comment. “I don’t know why you bothering me with something like this. I—”

  Milton held up his hand and cut me off. He gave me a hostile look to boot. “Okay. I’m fixing to get to the point and it ain’t got nothing to do with me and Yvonne spending time in jail. It ain’t got nothing to do with us at all. This is about you.”

  Chapter 43

  Odell

  MY BLOOD PRESSURE ROSE SO HIGH AND SO FAST, I THOUGHT I was going to drop dead on the spot. “I . . . I ain’t got no idea what the hell you . . . you talking about,” I stuttered. “I ain’t done nothing wrong.” As soon as them words slid out of my mouth, I realized what a stupid thing I’d just said. I’d been stealing from my in-laws left and right for years. Other than Betty Jean, nobody else knew about it. Or did they? The thought almost brought me to my knees. I decided to wait until I heard what Milton had to say before I fell apart. Maybe it wasn’t nothing serious anyway.

  Milton reared back in his seat and coughed. “Where was you at this past weekend?”

  “Why?”

  “I’m just curious.”

  “Well, I don’t like to tell nobody my personal business, especially if the only reason they want to know is because they ‘curious.’”

  “You remember Cecil Braxton? That bootlegger that used to run his business out by the railroad tracks?”

  I did a double-take and shifted in my seat. “Why you changing the subject all of a sudden?”

  “Hold on now. I’m getting to the point.”

  “You better hurry up and do just that because I ain’t got time to be sitting up in here playing games.” I let out a disgusted breath and glared at Milton. “Yeah, I remember Cecil. I thought he was dead. I heard he had a stroke.”

  “He did. But he still as alive as me and you, and doing just fine.”

  “I’m happy to hear that. The next time you see him, tell him I’m praying for him. So what do Cecil have to do with why you came to talk to me?”

  Milton sucked in some air and goggled at me so hard, I flinched. “I was at loose ends this past weekend, so on Saturday I decided to pay a visit to old boy and see how he was doing. His wife is in Selma visiting her sister, and all his other kinfolks live in Huntsville, so he out there in that big old house by hisself. Me and him go way back, so I didn’t mind taking the bus out to see him. Him and my daddy used to be running buddies, so he always been like a uncle to me. Anyway, after we had a few beers, I worked on his truck and got it back up and running. It was his idea for us to take a spin. He wanted to pay a visit to Aunt Mattie’s house to get him a little booty and some head. He hadn’t had none since his stroke.” Milton paused and lowered his voice. “Aunt Mattie was so glad to see him back in her house, she gave him a two-for-one deal, so I had me a little fun too.”

  “Humph!” I grunted, wagging my finger in his face. “You better not let Yvonne find out about it.”

  Milton howled and snapped his fingers. “Horsefeathers! She just as dense as every other woman. As long as she ain’t got nothing to go on, she would never get a notion that I was cheating on her.” He squinted for a few seconds. Then he started talking real slow. “Anyway, when we left Aunt Mattie’s place, Cecil wanted me to drive him somewhere so we could get something to eat. Naturally, I suggested Mosella’s, but he didn’t want to go there. He told me about a out-of-town place he liked, so we gassed up his truck and got on the road. Guess where we went?”

  “I don’t know! Shoot!” I hollered.

  “That out-of-town restaurant me and Cecil ate at Saturday evening was in Hartville and . . . so was you.”

  My head started spinning and a lump formed in my throat within a split second. I was a strong man, but for the first time in my life I felt as weak as a sick kitten. “What in the world—”

  “Calm down, lover boy. Oops! I meant to call you Daddy.”

  I gulped so hard I was surprised I didn’t swallow my tongue. “What do you know?” I whimpered.

  “I know a lot. Me and Cecil was in a booth near the back, but I could still see you sitting at a table in the middle of the floor. By the way, them buttermilk-dipped catfish we ordered was delicious. I noticed that was the same thing you ordered.” Milton paused and goggled at me for a few seconds.

  His silence and the suspense was torture. “If you seen what I had on my plate, I guess you seen the woman that was sitting at that table with me, huh?”

  “Yup! And I seen them three little boys.” We stayed silent for about five seconds before Milton spoke again. “At first I thought maybe you was with a cousin or some other relative and her kids. I even thought maybe she was just a friend.”

  “How do you know she wasn’t just a friend?”

  “Hah! Don’t even go there.”

  “Don’t jump to no conclusions! Let me explain. It wasn’t what you thought!” I boomed. I blinked and rubbed my chest, which felt like it was about to explode. I was so frantic I didn’t even know what explanation I could come up with that would convince Milton he had misinterpreted what he’d seen.

  “Hush up! You think I’m stupid? Odell, that biggest boy could have been your twin!”

  “That don’t mean nothing! I done seen strangers that could be my twin!”

  “On top of that, I seen you haul off and kiss Miss Thing. And, I heard all three of them little boys call you ‘Daddy.’ Then came the icing on the cake. When Cecil went to use the toilet, I asked our waitress about you, and she told me all kinds of juicy stuff. You got folks over there thinking you a traveling salesman?” Milton laughed and clapped his hands, so I knew he was enjoying watching me squirm like a worm on a fishhook. “Couldn’t you come up with a better story than that? I trotted over to the window just in time to see y’all piling into that nice car Joyce’s daddy sold to you real cheap. I said to myself, ‘That Odell is one lucky son-of-a-gun. He done hooked hisself a piece of prime redbone tail.’ Shit! She look better than Yvonne. What’s her name and how old is she? And don’t lie, I know a youngblood when I see one.”

  The inside of my throat felt like somebody had clawed it. It hurt to keep talking. “Her name is Betty Jean and she’ll be twenty-three in September.” My voice was so high-pitched, I sounded like a woman.

  “How long you been poking that tender young stuff?” He answered his own question. “Long enough to make three babies, that’s how long.”

  “Milton, I don’t want to lose my woman,” I said, sounding like a weak old man this time.

  “Which woman is it you don’t want to lose?”

  “Joyce. I love her to death. She would leave me in a heartbeat if she knew about Betty Jean and the boys.” I was sweating hard and my hands was shaking. “My life wouldn’t be worth a defective penny.”

  Milton smiled. I was in the worst pain I’d ever been in my life and this motherfucker was smiling at me! “Odell, like I done told you more than once before, I really like you. You ain’t got to worry about me blowing the whistle on you.” I didn’t feel no relief, because I had a feeling Milton had something else up his sleeve. I was right. “Now, all you got to do is be nice to me.”

  “What do you want?” I was glad to hear my voice sounding stronger now. But I was still sweating, and now I was terrified.

  “What you got?”

  “How much do you want?”

  “You think I want some hush money?”

  “Well, what do you want?”

  “Some hush money,” he said, grinning. “See, I ain’t lucky like you. A spook like me, I have to work real hard just to get by. I got unexpected expenses coming out the woodwork like termites. And, I been losing quite a bit at craps lately. Last night I lost everything but my mind. Two days ago them dam
n hillbillies upped their prices on their liquor again and didn’t give me no warning. On top of that, I had to give Willie Frank and his crew a little extra cash this week so they can pay off them revenuers and keep them happy. If they ever shut down Willie Frank and his brothers and confiscate the still they use to brew their stuff with, I’ll be up shit creek and have to find me a new supplier. I really need more money, and you the only one I know I can get it from. . . .”

  “Okay. I’m a reasonable man. Just tell me how much you want and let’s settle this right here and now.”

  “I’m a reasonable man myself. First off, I need money to pay my rent. It’s already a week late. That’ll be twenty bucks, please.”

  “That’s a lot of money.”

  Milton hunched his shoulders. “I know it is. That’s why I want it.”

  “Is that all you want?”

  He shook his head. His short hair reminded me of cockle-burs. The grease he’d slathered on it could have passed for molasses shining up his forehead. “Well, since you asked, I wouldn’t mind having one of them pinstripe suits y’all sell. A white one. I know I look like a fly in a bowl of buttermilk when I wear that color, but Yvonne and Aunt Mattie’s girls love to see me in it. It shows off my bronze skin tone.” Milton grinned again.

  I nodded. “All right,” I mouthed with a heavy sigh. “You’ll have to come back after we close this evening to pick out a suit when I’ll be here by myself. I’ll give you the twenty dollars to pay this month’s rent now, and I’ll throw in a bonus so you can pay next month’s rent too.” I took my wallet out of my pocket and pulled out four ten dollar bills. He snatched them so fast, he almost took my hand, too. “Happy?”

  “Hell yeah, I’m happy! I’m going to take Yvonne out to supper this evening when we get off work, so I’ll have to pick up my suit at another time.” He folded the money and slid it into his shirt pocket.

  “That’s fine.” I gave him a hard look and wagged my finger in his face. “Milton, you know blackmail is a serious crime.”

  His mouth dropped open, and he stood up and reared back on his legs. “Blackmail? Nigger, you crazy!” He waved his arms and shook his head. “This ain’t nothing but a business arrangement. I ain’t never blackmailed nobody before in my life. Shoot!”