“No. But it wasn’t meant to slight you. You know better. They explained that they were only asking me because you’d be at your daddy’s house.”

“Why do they have to take you out on a weekend? And why can’t they do it before next month?”

“Something about that being the only time they can borrow transportation, and somebody owing Milton some money.” Joyce fluffed up her pillows and got into bed. “I can tell them I’d rather wait and go when you can come.”

“No, you go ahead. What brung this on in the first place? All these months they been living next door, they ain’t never invited me or you to go out for supper.”

“They just want to show how much they appreciate us giving them that cash gift. But don’t feel left out. They did say they’d take us out together some other time.” Joyce gave me a pensive look. “Hmmm. I think I’ll ask them to wait until after Christmas when the restaurants won’t be so crowded, and you won’t be so busy. That way you can drive.”

“We’ll see. If they having money problems, how can they afford to be taking anybody out to a restaurant?”

“Odell, I’m sure they’ve figured out a way to cover that. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have asked.” Joyce slid closer to me. She went to sleep right away, but it took me more than a hour to doze off.

* * *

When I opened the store Monday morning, the first thing I done was check to see how much kerosene we had in stock. There was six gallon-size cans on the shelf. I wondered if it would really do the trick. Catching my shirtsleeve on fire was one thing. Burning down a whole house was another. Gas would have been better because it burned faster and hotter. But I’d have to get it from a filling station. That was too risky. Every station I knew of was owned by white folks. They would get nosy and suspicious if a colored man came in and filled up some cans with gasoline. I had no choice but to use kerosene. I didn’t know how much I’d need to burn down a house, so I decided to take all we had.

Buddy went to lunch at noon and I worked his cash register until he got back a hour later. Sadie took her break a few minutes after he got back, and I done the same thing for her. When she returned, I made myself a Spam sandwich, grabbed a bottle of Nehi grape soda pop, and went back to my office. I stayed there until four thirty.