Yvonne sucked in her breath. From the corner of my eye, I seen her jaws twitching. “Thanks for the housekeeping advice, Joyce. And thanks for the nutmeg,” she mumbled, looking at the little jar like it was a rotten apple. “I thought you was sick and in the bed?”

“Yeah, but . . . uh . . . I felt better quicker than I thought I would. So, I got back up and went to visit my mama.”

“Well, you look fit as a fiddle, Joyce. Now look-a-here; we want to show our appreciation to you for being so nice and generous to us lately. We got a itching to treat you to supper at a nice restaurant. There is a place in Mobile that sells some scrumptious crab cakes and mustard greens. Mr. Cunningham said we can borrow his truck. We’ll all get gussied up like film stars. Marcel your hair, dress up in something fancy, and splash on a heap of one of them smell-goods you own. We want it to be a evening you will remember for years to come,” I said.

From the stupefied look on Joyce’s face, you would have thought I’d just handed her a pot of gold. “Y’all want to take me all the way to Mobile just to eat? It’s been two years since I went to a restaurant over there!” she exclaimed. “That would be so nice. The last time I dressed up was to attend a funeral. But first let me check with Odell to see if he’ll be available. I’ll have to make sure his blue suit is clean. Not that he doesn’t look dapper in any of his other suits.”

“See . . . uh . . . the only thing is, me and Yvonne want to go on a Friday or Saturday. We know how much you like peach cobbler and them is the only days they serve it. Odell is with his daddy on them days every week.”

“I already eat too much peach cobbler, so y’all don’t have to accommodate me for that reason. In that case, why don’t we go on a weekday? I’m sure he’d love to join us,” Joyce chirped.

“The only thing is, we can’t not do business at home on no weekday nights for a while. We need the money. I thought about your suggestion that we don’t take no time off work again too soon,” Yvonne piped in.

Joyce raised her eyebrows and looked from Yvonne to me and back. “If we go out on a weekend, y’all wouldn’t make any money that night, so what’s the difference?” I had no idea she would be this difficult. But we wasn’t about to give up. We was going to get her to that restaurant in Hartville even if we had to knock her out and hog-tie her.