“Go on back there, it’s the first door on the left. Ain’t but two. You can’t miss it. I won’t be but twenty or thirty minutes, tops, but if you ain’t here when I get back, I’ll understand. Believe me.”

“Okay, then.”

I want to correct her English so badly I almost can’t stand it. I can’t believe George tolerated her speaking like this.

“Tell me something, Janelle: is there a wife number five on the horizon?”

“I don’t know.”

“He’s getting too old for all this. I’m surprised you lasted this long. Where’s my keys? JaDonna, you seen my keys?”

“Why are you so surprised, Arlene?”

“No, Mama! Try the top of the ’frigerator!”

Arlene puts her cigarette out and walks over to the tiny kitchen area, and, sure enough, her keys are up there. “Because he don’t know how to treat a woman. First he spoil you to death by taking care of you, then he gets you to love his last year’s drawers, and you trust him, grow to depend on him for everything, and then you find out he been cheating on you the whole time. Didn’t you know that?”

“I’m finding out the hard way.”

“It took me sixteen years to see the light, but it look like you and LaVerne done seen it, too.”

“LaVerne?”

“Yeah, she was number three. She shot his ass, but I guess that didn’t stop him.”

“Shot him? George said that wound was from a robbery gone bad.”

“That’s true, in a manner of speaking.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“I heard she took her daughters and moved back to Dallas, but I don’t know for sure. Ask George.”

“I can’t.”

“Look, it don’t make me no difference one way or another. I got me somebody. And he’s decent. Anyway, I done said more than I planned to. I gots to go. After you finish talking to JaDonna, if it’s anything else you wanna talk about, fine, maybe I’ll see you when I get back. Otherwise, slam the door hard behind you till you hear it click.”

And she was gone.

I stand here for a minute, not quite sure what to do now. I really am afraid to go back into JaDonna’s room, and find myself taking baby steps in that direction. When I turn into her doorway, a woman who looks like she’s in her forties is lying on her side eating Cheez Doodles and watching TV. She must weigh at least three hundred pounds. She couldn’t possibly be one of the girls in the pictures, but of course I know she is.

“Hey, Janelle. What lies Mama done told you about us?”

“What do you mean?”

“She lies big-time.”

I’m still standing in the doorway. There’s nowhere to sit, really. This room is small. Stuffy. The one window in here is partially covered with a black towel, apparently to keep the light from shining on the TV screen. “Would you mind if I sit here on the floor?”