“You got that right. But that didn’t bother me much. I didn’t bother saying nothing mean about her this time. It ain’t never done no good. Anyway, I told her we might use some of the money they gave us to buy gifts and take the bus to Mobile to see my kids next month.” I got up close to Milton and nuzzled the back of his neck. He whirled around and gave me a peck on my cheek. “Baby, you wouldn’t believe what she had the nerve to say when she heard that.”

“I’d believe you. That Joyce got such a reckless tongue, she is liable to say anything.” Milton wiped his hands on the dishrag. He winced when I told him what Joyce had said about our future money problems. “Humph. She might not think Odell will give us no more money. But we ain’t worried, is we?”

“Nope. Them words came from her, not him. He is the cash cow in that house, and we will milk him as much as we can. Did you ever get around to asking him to give us Lamar’s money in installments?”

“Yeah, I asked him. But he didn’t go for that. He claims he’ll give it all to me at the same time.”

“Is that the day we tell Joyce about him and Betty Jean?”

“No, Yvonne. I think we should hold off on that a little longer.”

“Why? So we can get a little more money from him?”

“Uh, I doubt if he’ll give us any more after giving us the four hundred.”

“Four hundred?” I had to act surprised, but I really wanted to laugh and get in Milton’s face about lying to me about the amount. But it was not that big of a deal to me anymore. Besides, I’d never tell him when I got extra money from Odell to spend on myself.

“Oops. Did I say four hundred? I meant three hundred. I got confused. Um . . . I guess I was counting the hundred Joyce gave us last night. That’d make it four hundred. I declare, I need to stop drinking so much. It’s throwing my brain off-kilter.” Milton grinned and started rocking from side to side.

“Yeah. The same goes for me.” I gawked at him from the corner of my eye. He stopped grinning and rocking and I went on. “Guess what else she said?” He didn’t answer. He just dipped his head and stared at me with a amused look on his face. “She had the nerve to say she can’t tell the difference when I do my housecleaning.”

“That uppity bitch. She got some nerve insinuating you ain’t a good housekeeper.”