“He’s fine. Except some little white girl might be pregnant by him.”

“Yeah,” she says, like she couldn’t care less one way or the other.

“How about your kids? How are they?”

“They’re all doing good. Real good.”

“And Al?”

“Oh, he’s fine. We’re all fine.”

“That’s good. What are you doing for your birthday?”

“Nothing. I don’t celebrate my birthday no more. It’s just another day.”

“Well, we’re trying to decide what to do for Mama for hers, and we were wondering if . . .”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“Me and Janelle,” I lie. We haven’t exactly discussed it again in any detail, but she’ll go along with the program. She always does.

“I’m listening.”

“Well, first I thought Mama wanted to spend a couple of weeks here. . . .”

“Don’t she always?”

“No, she doesn’t always, Charlotte. Would you let me finish, please?”

“I’m listening.”

“Anyway, since Shanice is staying with her . . .”

“Since when did Shanice start living with Mama?”

“Since the end of March. You haven’t talked to Janelle?”

“No. I ain’t talked to nobody but a lawyer.”

“A lawyer? For what?”

“I’m getting a divorce.”

“Hold it a minute! You just said you and Al were fine.”

“We are. This is the best thing that coulda happened to both of us. I shoulda done it a long time ago. Why is Shanice staying with Mama?”

“Because Janelle and George are having problems.”

“And she gets rid of her daughter and not his ass?”

“Good point. He’s supposedly gone.”

“What happened between them two?”

“I don’t know for sure. Janelle’s not talking about it.”

“Mama thinks he probably messed with Shanice, even though Shanice claimed he just hit her.”

“Who told you that?” I ask.

“Mama. Why? Was it supposed to be a well-kept secret or something?”

“I don’t know. I’m confused. This is just getting all fucked up. Everybody getting divorces. Splitting up. What’s going on with you and Al, even though I’m not sure I want to hear this?”

“You ain’t gotta hear it.”

“Are you serious, Charlotte?”

“As cancer. He just got served some papers for back child support from some woman he slept with over ten years ago who just came outta no-damn-where and they done took our fucking income-tax return and everything.”

“No shit. Who is this woman?”

“I don’t know the bitch!”

“She had a baby by Al and he didn’t know it?”

“Apparently, he did.”

“I don’t know what to say, Charlotte.”

“You ain’t gotta say nothing. It’s a lotta things I been wanting to do with my life to get away from this post office, and, to be honest, Al ain’t been doing nothing but keeping me down. We been in a rut, so this might just be a blessing in disguise. Anyway, what about Mama’s birthday?”

I don’t know what else to say about her divorce, so I’ll let it pass for right now. It’s not something you gloss over, but I’m not in any position to fix their problems, if in fact their problems are real. You never know with Charlotte. She can be so melodramatic. “Well, Mama told us to forget about doing anything for her on her birthday, but she was wondering if we could all chip in a little something so she could go on a cruise this summer with her friend Loretta.”