“Granny, I don’t see your bowling ball anywhere . . . ?”

“Then look for it! How many different places could it be in this mansion?”

“I gotta do everything around here, don’t I, Granny?”

“What you say, baby?”

“I said: do I have to do everything around here?” Now she standing in the doorway, shrugging them little bony-pony shoulders, but she just messing with me. She doing good. Smiling. Laughing out loud. And I ain’t smelled no liquor on her breath. As much as I wanted to get rid of all of it, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. That stuff cost too much money, and, plus, every now and then I need a little som’n—som’n to pick me up. I marked the bottles and don’t think she found out where I keep my stash, ’cause it seem like I’m the only one who been crossing out the lines and making new ones.

I think she might be healing. I don’t know. I hug her every day. Try to make her feel special, but she is special. And she fast. She might could be the next Flo Jo. But deep down, I don’t really care how fast she is, as long as she ain’t gotta run to get out of harm’s way. And that’s why she here with me. I want her to know what being safe feels like.

Some nights she sleep in here with me and we read together. Her mama used to send me all her old romance novels, but I got tired of reading shit that don’t never happen, so I started going to the Native Son bookstore, down on “D” Street, and that nice black man in there gives me a senior-citizen discount on paperbacks.

In her own way, I think Shanice think she protecting me some kinda way. I like the fact that she care. It’s a good feeling being around folks who care about you. I done also got her to stop pulling out her hair so much. I just told her it didn’t make no sense hurting herself when other people done already done a good job of it, but don’t think for a minute that they done got away with it. God don’t work that way. I told her to let happiness be her payback. Let feeling good be her revenge.

I throw a piece of peppermint candy at her and wink. “You ain’t paying no rent around here, so, yeah, you might as well think of yourself as my young slave.”

“Granny!”

“Did you say you talked to your mama?”

“Yes I did.”

“You didn’t tell her I kept you out of school today to go with me to get my car, did you?”

“No way.”

“And what she talking about?”

“She called to wish you happy birthday, but that’s when you were taking Miss Loretta for a ride in your new car, and Mama said she was having some kind of female problem and had to stay in bed for a couple of days.”