“Studying for what, Brenda?”

“My GED. Remember I told you I wanna get it?”

“Yeah, I do remember. It wouldn’t hurt me to look at them books neither.”

“I told you we needed to make some changes, didn’t I?” she say, so proud. I do like this girl. She ambitious. Everything she wanna do is about improving herself, her kids, and, I guess now, us. This is all new to me. But it feel good. And it feel right.

“Yep. You sure did, Brenda. But we need to add one more thing to this list.”

“What?” she asks, looking a little worried—that is, if I’m seeing her right.

“Pour them beers in the icebox down the drain. You don’t need ’em, and neither do the baby.”

“I will, Cecil. Don’t even worry about it.”

“A baby,” I say.

“Yep. But it ain’t coming today,” she say, turning toward the kitchen. “Did you want a hot link or not?”

“Naw. You go on and help yourself.”

I’m so happy right now I feel like I could run down the street screaming at the top of my lungs. I feel like calling Viola to tell her my good news. Woman, I can still make a baby! After all this time. Lord knows I can’t let her know nothing about no baby. Can’t tell my kids neither. Not yet. But hell, I need to do something to celebrate. What?

Brenda’s in the kitchen doorway, looking at the kids. They paper plates is clean. They drinking they Kool-Aid. I stand behind her and put my hands on her belly and rub in a circle. “What?” she asks.

“I gotta go celebrate,” I say.

“Just bring me back something green, okay?”

“Broccoli or collard greens, baby? Take your pick!”

She stomps on my toe, right on my corn, but I refuse to feel it. “Okay!” I say, and head for the door.

“Would you bring the kids back something sweet?”

“Y’all want something?” I ask.

“Yeah!” they all say.

“Vanilla Wafers!” Miss Q says.

“Cookie Dough ice cream!” Hakeem says.

The baby just grins. She’ll take whatever they having. When I get outside the door, I just stand there and look out at the black desert. All I see is the flashing lights of the Mirage and Excalibur and Caesar’s Palace. I feel lucky. Like I done already hit the jackpot and I need to tell somebody. I run on my tiptoes all the way to the bottom of them steps. Before I put the key in my Lincoln, it hit me: Howie! That’s who I can tell. He the one person in the world I can trust. Howie won’t pass judgment on me. He’ll be happy for me.

I get in the car and start it up, but before I put it in gear, I push in my B. B. King tape and don’t hear a word he sanging ’cause I’m grinning so hard. I can’t wait to tell Howie. I know he ain’t gon’ hardly believe this. But, hell, he ain’t the only one.