“I probably will go next door for a little while. Just to get out of the house.” Milton wanted his four hundred bucks earlier, so I would have to alter my plans. The same day he’d first demanded this huge payment, I’d started swiping a few extra dollars out of the cash registers each evening when I closed. I’d also been withdrawing some from my checking account every other day. But I was still fifty dollars short. Now that my in-laws was going to be away from home overnight, I could sneak into their house and take the rest from the stash in the pantry. The next thing I knew, I got a notion that almost knocked me off my feet. It would make more sense to take the whole four hundred from the pantry and keep the other money I had saved up. That would be more money for Betty Jean and my boys. I scolded myself for not thinking of this sooner.

Ten minutes after Joyce’s parents picked her up, I drove to their house. I was in and out within five minutes with four hundred dollars in my pocket. Swiping money from the cash registers, fudging the invoices and all the other tricks I had to do to keep up my lifestyle wasn’t so bad. That didn’t even faze me. But looting such a big amount at one time from their home made me feel a little jittery, and more like a common crook. I had to do what I had to, though. Besides, I believed that any other man in the fix I was in, would probably do the same thing. And they probably wouldn’t be as subtle about it as I was.

When I got back home, I gulped down a shot of whiskey to calm my nerves. Twenty minutes later, I went next door. The whiskey had made me more mellow and I hoped it would help keep me from getting too ugly with Milton or Yvonne if they said something to set me off. I actually smiled when he opened the door. “Odell, my man. Good to see you.” He looked over his shoulder for a split second, and then turned back to me, speaking in a lower tone. “I didn’t expect to see you tonight, especially after our little meeting today. What do you want to drink?”

“I ain’t drinking nothing tonight.” I shook my head as he waved me in. As soon as he closed the door, I leaned closer to him and whispered, “Can we go somewhere to talk?” He raised a eyebrow, but he didn’t say nothing. He just motioned for me to follow him to the kitchen. I had spent so much unpleasant time in this room lately, I was glad them walls couldn’t talk.

I didn’t like his tone when he started talking. “Listen here, if you came to try and weasel out—”