Milton gave me a curious look. “What about that hundred-dollar cash gift Joyce brung us? That’ll cover them days we had to miss work last week, and then some.”

“We’ll be halfway in a hole, then. Maybe we should still try to get some money from Aunt Mattie, Mr. Cunningham, and Dr. Patterson. That way we’ll have a cushion to get us through the rest of this year.”

“Yvonne, whatever we get from them, we’d have to pay back. If we don’t borrow no money, we won’t owe nobody. What’s the point of getting out of one black hole and diving into another?”

“Then we should ask Odell to add another three hundred to that three we already getting from him, huh? A jackpot that big would suit me just fine. We’ll have the kind of Christmas we deserve.”

“Hold on now. We don’t need to be greedy.”

“Milton, if he already agreed to give us three hundred dollars, it shouldn’t be that hard to get him to give us a extra three. Besides, this will probably be the only time in our lives we’ll have a chance to get so much money free and clear.”

“That’s a good point.”

“You damn right. If you don’t want to ask him to give us six hundred this month, we’ll settle for the three he already promised. We’ll wait a little while and ask for the other three. Maybe a week or two later.” I folded my arms and gave Milton a hopeful look. “Well?”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“Don’t ‘think about it’ too long. We need to get paid before we tell Joyce about him and Betty Jean. Whatever day we get the last lump sum, we’ll tell her.”

“I guess that makes a lot of sense.” Milton paused and gave me a thoughtful look. “I’m having second thoughts about us telling her at her house, though. If she was to flip out and start throwing and breaking things, we could get clobbered.”

“I ain’t scared of Joyce. I don’t care how much bigger she is than me, I’ll fight her if I have to.”

Milton cussed under his breath and gave me a sorry look. “Shut your mouth! The last thing we need to do is get in a violent situation with a woman who is already going to be hurting like a broke leg when we tell her what kind of snake she married. If we tell her when she ain’t close enough to grab something, we’ll be fine. Let’s come up with a better place than her house.”