One House Over

by Mary Monroe

  “Well, phones do come in handy. I don’t know what we’d do without ours. You want to come in?” I was just being nice. I didn’t feel like entertaining her. I still liked her and she was a lot of fun, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that she was also a source of pain for me. It was no fun standing in a pretty woman’s shadow. It wasn’t so bad when there were other average-looking women around; like the times I was at her house when there was a crowd. That way I didn’t feel so singled out.

  “That’s all right. I can’t stay. I just wanted to see if you’d like to go to the shoe store with me on Saturday. One of the waitresses I work with is getting married in a couple of weeks and the only pair of dress shoes I got is so shabby I wouldn’t wear them to a dogfight, let alone a wedding.”

  I hadn’t been out in public with Yvonne since that day all those men tried to hit on her. I was still a little irritated about the one that had mistaken me for her mother. And I wasn’t ready to get my feelings hurt again so soon by strange men. “Thanks, but I promised Mama I’d help her finish that quilt she started last month.”

  “Oh. Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  When I heard Odell’s car pull up a few minutes after six p.m., I ran from the kitchen to the living room window. There was a smile on my face until I spotted Mama and Daddy strutting toward him. Daddy clapped Odell on the back and Mama gave him a hug. I was not in the mood to deal with my parents this evening and I prayed they wouldn’t stay long. And because they’d ambushed Odell, I couldn’t pretend like I was not in the house. I sighed and went back into the kitchen to check on the supper I had almost finished cooking.

  About a minute later, I heard the living room door open. “Whatever it is you cooking in there, I hope you ain’t using too much salt!” Mama yelled.

  “Pig tails, I bet,” Daddy added.

  When I returned to the living room a few moments later, Mama and Daddy were on the couch, and Odell had flopped down in the easy chair facing them. My parents looked as bored as they usually did. Odell had already kicked off his shoes and unbuttoned his shirt, but he looked worried. And that worried me.

  “Baby, have a seat,” he told me, with his voice sounding weak and tired.

  “What’s the matter?” I was afraid to hear his answer. I remained standing in the middle of the floor with my hands on my hips.

  Odell blew out some air and rubbed the back of his neck. “Nothing is the matter. I, uh, got something to run by all of y’all and I’m glad everybody is here so I won’t have to say it but one time.”

  “Odell, what’s going on?” I demanded, folding my arms and shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

  “Y’all know I need to hire another boy to help stock the shelves.” He stopped and gave me a hopeful look. Mama and Daddy had curious expressions on their faces, and the rest of their bodies looked as stiff as statues.

  “What’s going on here, boy?” Daddy peered at Odell from the corner of his eye. “Get to the point,” he ordered.

  “I’m getting to it,” Odell said, looking at me with both his eyebrows raised. “Joyce, you know how we been trying to be better friends with our new neighbors.”

  “So? What do they have to do with you needing to hire another stock boy?” I wanted to know.

  “Milton said he would like to take the job.”

  “That bootlegger next door?” Mama and Daddy said at the same time. Mama looked horrified. Daddy looked amused. Odell still looked worried. I didn’t know how to react.

  “Did he lose his job at that grill?” I asked.

  “No, he said he can keep that and still work for us part-time,” Odell replied.

  “Pffft! Naw, naw! That scalawag ain’t working in our store part-time, or no other time. He’d give the place such a bad name, the customers that done kept us in business all these years would run us out of town on a rail,” Daddy howled. “How can you even fix your lips to spew out them words, boy?”

  “What’s wrong with you, Odell Watson? You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” Mama scolded.

  “Milton and Yvonne are really nice people in their own way. I feel kind of sorry for them,” I said, more for Odell’s benefit than mine. I was convinced that it was going to be harder for him to develop a good relationship with Milton than me with Yvonne. Milton was a little more of an ignoramus than she was, so more work had to be done on him to lift him up to our level.

  “Well, I don’t feel sorry for them fools, and you can tell them just what I said,” Daddy boomed. “When did this come up?”

  “Milton came by the store today,” Odell went on. “Him and Yvonne is having a rough time paying their rent and could use a little more income.”

  “Didn’t they think about that before they moved to this neighborhood?” Mama barked.

  “I guess they didn’t,” Daddy added. “That ain’t our problem! Don’t even think about putting no bootlegger on our payroll. Shoot!”

  Odell looked relieved. I was glad when he laughed and shook his head. “I kind of figured this is what y’all would say and I told him so. But he still wanted me to run it by y’all. I’ll let him know as soon as I see him again.”

  “Odell, tell him in a nice way,” I suggested. “Or do you want me to tell him?”

  “I don’t care which one of y’all tell him. If I wasn’t superstitious about going up in a bootlegger’s house, I’d go over there right now and tell him myself.” Right after Mama said that, somebody pounded on our door. I was so anxious to see who it was, I literally ran to open it.

  It was Milton. There was a smile on his face that was as wide as a crocodile’s.

  “Oops! I didn’t know y’all had company. I can come back later,” he said when he saw Mama and Daddy sitting on the couch frowning like pallbearers.

  “Naw, you come on in,” Odell invited. “You ain’t met my in-laws yet.”

  “Uh, I done spoke to Mr. MacPherson in the store a time or two.” Milton stumbled over his words and was just as clumsy with his feet when he walked into the house. He almost tripped over one of my area rugs. When he got close to the couch, Daddy reached his hand up and shook Milton’s. Milton, with that stupid grin still on his face, nodded at Mama. “I met you before too, Mrs. MacPherson. One day I came in the store to buy some baloney and you gave me a complimentary pig foot. I guess y’all don’t remember me.”

  “I remember you. Right after you gobbled up that pig foot, you had the nerve to ask for another one,” Mama sniffed.

  “That was because it tasted so good.” Milton put his hands in his pockets. “Um, I ain’t going to stay but a hot minute. Yvonne sent me over here to see if Joyce had some baking powder she can borrow so she can make some hush puppies to go with them collard greens she cooking for supper this evening.”

  “I’ll go get it,” Odell said before I could. He leaped up out of his seat and headed toward the kitchen with Milton on his heels.

  “Do that Yvonne gal even know how to cook worth a dime?” Mama asked in a low voice as soon as they were out of earshot.

  “She must. Didn’t you notice the size of that boy’s belly?” Daddy brought up.

  “He could have a tumor for all you know,” Mama pointed out.

  “I don’t know about that. But one thing I do know is that wife of his gets around like a spinning top. I seen her in Mosella’s the last time I was there. She was acting like a floozy with some white joker.”

  “Daddy, how did you know it was Yvonne? Have you ever met her?” I asked.

  “Girl, I ain’t met a lot of the colored folks in this town, but I know who is who.”

  “That white guy you saw her with was probably their best friend, Willie Frank; the man they buy their alcohol from,” I explained. “He’s a real nice guy.”

  “Humph! I bet he ain’t nice enough to take no colored people around his kinfolks,” Mama said sharply.

  “Mama and Daddy, for your information, Willie Frank’s relatives are not racists. I
met his nephew and he seems real sweet. And Yvonne and Milton go visit with Willie Frank and his folks at their house all the time.”

  It didn’t matter what I said, my parents continued to mean-mouth Yvonne and Milton. Despite the few “mean” thoughts I’d had about them myself, I still defended them some more. “Once you get to know them, they’re not so bad.”

  “Maybe they ain’t. But I advise you and Odell not to never let your guard down with them two buggers. You don’t know what they capable of doing. There is a heap of bootleggers in prison,” Daddy said with a firm nod.

  “And even more in the cemeteries,” Mama threw in.

  I gave them an exasperated look. Knowing how they felt, I knew that I would never tell them that Yvonne and Milton had already done jail time. But the statements they’d just made sounded so ominous, a chill that felt like a bolt of lightning shot up my spine.

  A couple of minutes had passed and Odell and Milton were still in the kitchen. I had no idea what was taking them so long. The baking powder was on the counter where it always was.

  Chapter 49

  Odell

  “MILTON, I TRIED TO TELL YOU THAT THEY WOULDN’T GO FOR me giving you a job,” I said in a low voice through clenched teeth. “How many more times do I have to tell you that?”

  “You want me to talk to Mac?”

  My mouth dropped open. “What good would that do?”

  Milton scratched his chin and gave me a disgusted look. Now that I knew how greedy and evil he was, I realized he was as ugly on the inside as he was on the outside. His flat, pie-shaped face reminded me of a gnome I’d seen in one of them Weird Tales horror magazines I used to read when I was younger. “This ain’t good, man. I could sure use some extra money. I would love to have me a car.”

  I gasped. “I’m sure everybody else that ain’t got no car would love to have one,” I snapped. “Now, you just going to have to be satisfied with what I done gave you already. I thought that was going to be all you wanted. I gave you everything you asked for and then some. That was all I could spare. You telling me now you need even more?”

  Milton heaved out a loud breath and gave me a look that was so intense, it made me tremble. I moved a few steps away from him. “Well, like you told me yesterday, I spoke too soon. I do need more. . . .”

  My jaw dropped. “And you call yourself my friend?”

  His liver-colored lips quivered, and for a second I thought he was going to bust out laughing. “Yeah, I’m your friend. That’s why I’m willing to work with you.”

  I waved my hands in the air. “Okay, tell me what else you want. And I want it to be the last thing you ask me for, because I can’t do no more! I’m done!”

  His eyes suddenly lit up and he rubbed his hands together. “But I ain’t ‘done’ and we both know that where there is a will, there is a way.”

  I slapped the side of my head, which felt so heavy I was surprised I was still able to hold it up. “Why don’t you tell me what that way is? All I know is, you can’t get blood from a turnip.”

  “You can milk a cow dry, but once they get motivated again, they will produce more milk. The way your jaw is twitching, I can tell you know exactly what I mean.”

  Just when I was about to open my mouth again, Joyce yelled from the living room, “Odell, you can’t find the baking powder?”

  “Um, yeah, baby. I got it,” I yelled back. I snatched the can of baking powder off the counter and handed it to Milton. “We better get back out there.”

  “We ain’t finished talking yet,” he hissed.

  “We is for now!”

  “Then you better come over tonight so we can finish. Unless you want me to come by the store again tomorrow.”

  “That’s another thing. I don’t want you coming back to the store no time soon. And I don’t want you coming there too often. Buddy and Sadie will start putting bugs in Mac’s ear.”

  “Pffft! Why would them old fools do that? They know me and you is friends and neighbors.”

  “It is real suspicious for me and you to hole up in my office with the door shut when we ain’t never done it before. We did that two days in a row and it got Buddy and Sadie’s attention. How many more times do you think we can meet like that before their long tongues start wagging?”

  “Well, we gots to talk somewhere.”

  “I’ll come over tonight. Now will you go on back home?” I ushered Milton out the back door and returned to the living room. I was glad to see that Mac and Millie had left.

  “I thought they was staying for supper?” I said. Joyce was sitting on the couch, and I sat down next to her.

  “They decided to go to Mosella’s instead.” She gave me a curious look. “What was Milton talking about in there?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing important. He was telling me about how Willie Frank almost got busted by the revenuers the other day.”

  “I thought he paid them off so they’d leave him alone.”

  “Well, they done got greedy and now they want more money.”

  Joyce blinked and touched my thigh. “Well, if he asks you for more loans, I don’t mind as long as he pays you back. Did you tell him you couldn’t hire him?”

  “Yeah. He was all right with it. I told him I’d come over for a little while this evening. You want to go with me?”

  Joyce took her time responding. “I think I’ll stay home tonight. I don’t want to wear out my welcome. Besides, I have a bushel basket of clothes to iron.”

  Within minutes after Joyce and I had eaten supper, I eased out of the house and headed next door. Milton let me in and wasted no time getting in my face. “Come on. Let’s go somewhere so we can talk,” he growled. He steered me toward the kitchen, clutching my arm like he thought I was going to try to escape.

  There was a small crowd milling about. Yvonne and Willie Frank were huddled in a corner and didn’t notice me. “If you don’t mind, can I have a drink first?” I stopped abruptly and pried Milton’s fingers off my arm.

  “You can get all you want after we talk,” he insisted. I followed him into the kitchen, but there was a woman at the sink rinsing out jars. “Let’s go in the bedroom.”

  I followed Milton back down the narrow hall and into the bedroom directly across from the bathroom. When we got inside, he clicked on a lamp. Just like the ones in the living room, it didn’t have a shade neither. He closed and locked the door and turned to me with his hands on his hips.

  “I got a solution to our problem. It came to me a little while ago.” Milton rubbed his nose and snorted. There was actually a gleam in his eyes. “You told me you’d pay me thirty cent a hour to stock shelves, right?”

  “Yeah, and I told you that I can’t hire you now.”

  “But you can still pay me thirty cent a hour.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Milton put his hand on my shoulder. “If you was going to pay me when you thought you could hire me, that mean you got the money to pay me. The only difference is, I won’t be working. That would be a much sweeter deal.”

  I threw up my hands and headed back toward the door. He followed me, walking so close he stepped on my heels. I stopped and whirled around. “You must think I’m crazy!”

  “If you make me blow the whistle on you when I’m giving you a chance to stop me, you crazier than me!” he yelled, stabbing my chest with his finger.

  I grabbed Milton by his shoulders. I pushed him up against the wall and held him in place. I couldn’t tell which one of us was breathing and snorting the loudest. “Do you honestly think I’d be willing to put you on the MacPherson’s payroll and you don’t work there?”

  “Turn me loose, Odell!” His breath was so hot, I was scared I’d get scorched. I released him and moved to the side, huffing and puffing like a bull. “Don’t you never come in my house and manhandle me again. It’d make things a whole lot worse than they already is,” he warned.

  “All right. I’m sorry. I just lost it,” I apologized.

  “You give me my
money under the table in cash and ain’t nobody got to know nothing.”

  I stared at the floor, which was where I thought my stomach had dropped to. When I looked back at Milton, that stupid, crocodile grin I had come to hate was on his face. “And how long do you expect me to pay you off, man?”

  He shrugged. “As long as you want to.”

  “And what will happen when I don’t want to?”

  “You can answer that question yourself.”

  Chapter 50

  Odell

  LAST NIGHT AFTER TWO DRINKS AND LISTENING TO A FEW MORE minutes of Milton’s rigmarole, I agreed to pay him off every Wednesday, starting this week. That bastard! I cursed the day I met his greedy, lowdown black ass!

  The day after our conversation at his house, he showed up at my door a few minutes after I got home from work with a stupid look on his face. “Today is Wednesday, so you know what I come for,” he snickered, looking over my shoulder. “Where Joyce at?”

  “Don’t worry about her. She went to a tent revival with her mama and daddy so she’ll be gone for a while. Come on in.” I didn’t waste no time pulling out my wallet, disappointed to see that I didn’t have exact change. All I had on me was two tens and some loose change. “Can you break this?” I waved one of the bills in his face. “I didn’t have time to check my money before I left the store. I meant to get a few dollars from Joyce before she left but I forgot.”

  “Nope, I can’t break no ten-spot. I ain’t got nothing on me but some pocket change.” He grabbed the money and slid it into his back pocket. “It’s cool, so don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t cheat you. Next week all you need to pay me is six bucks.”

  “Fine,” I mumbled. “Listen, man. It’ll look suspicious for you to suddenly start coming over here every Wednesday. Sooner or later, Joyce will start asking questions.”

  He shrugged. “No problem. Then you’ll need to bring my money to me. Just don’t hand it to me in front of Yvonne. And just to show you how fair I am, if you pay late I ain’t going to charge you interest. Just don’t make being late no habit.” Milton sniffled and gave me a smug look. “You mind if I sit down and stay a few minutes? I had a real hard day.” I couldn’t believe how casual he was acting. I didn’t want to do or say nothing that would make him mad. Paying him off wasn’t enough. I had to be “nice” to him too, so he wouldn’t raise the stakes.