I had told Mama and Daddy that I’d be coming to their house at seven a.m. and eat breakfast with them before we left to go to Lexington. I assumed Odell would eat breakfast with us before he left to go to his daddy’s house, even though we hadn’t discussed it. I was surprised when I opened my eyes Friday morning at six thirty and saw that his side of the bed was empty. He’d left a note on the kitchen counter telling me he’d already left to go to his daddy’s house. I couldn’t hide my disappointment. The minute I walked through my parents’ front door, Mama could tell that something was bothering me.

“Why is your face so long this early in the morning?” she asked as she steered me into the kitchen. Daddy was already at the table wolfing down grits and eggs and belching like a bull.

“Odell left before I woke up. I thought he’d at least come over here and eat breakfast with us,” I explained as I plucked a biscuit off a platter next to a mountain of grits on the table. I gobbled it up right away, but I wasn’t in the mood to eat anything else. Odell’s abrupt departure had made me lose my appetite.

“Maybe he didn’t want to,” Daddy grunted. “You can’t expect that man to do everything you think he should.”

I was too antsy to sit down, so I leaned against the counter. “Daddy, please. He could have at least woken me up and kissed me good-bye,” I complained as I glanced at the clock on the wall. “What time are we leaving to go to Lexington?”

“We ain’t,” Mama said, sounding disappointed. Before I could ask why, she went on. “Cousin Mervis called last night. She said she had just got a call from her and Jubal’s son in Mobile. After birthing six girls, his wife done finally had a boy.”

“That’s nice,” I muttered. I didn’t waste any time steering the conversation in another direction. I was not in the mood to hear them remind me again that I hadn’t given them a grandchild. “Um, too bad we won’t be going to Lexington. We could have stopped at Odell’s daddy’s house for a few minutes since it’s along the way.”

“Mac, we ain’t got nothing else planned for today, so why don’t we drop in on Lonnie anyway. I’m sure him and Odell would be glad to see us,” Mama piped in. “Can’t say the same about that she-devil Ellamae, though,” she added with a snicker as she poured coffee into Daddy’s cup. She eased down into the chair across from him and started piling food onto her plate.