Instead of answering, Joyce mumbled gibberish for about five seconds. When she cleared her throat, so many tears started rolling down her cheeks, it looked like somebody had threw a bucket of water in her face. Then she started sniffling and moaning like a dying cow. Next thing we knew, she stumbled out to the street and ran down the middle in the opposite direction. A truck and two cars had to swerve to keep from hitting her. She was howling and waving her hands like a windmill. The people towards the back of the restaurant line turned around and yelled for somebody to catch her before she got run over.

We ran after Joyce, determined to get her back inside the restaurant. That wasn’t going to happen because she was moving so fast, we couldn’t catch her. When she got to the end of the block and turned the corner, we stopped in our tracks. Yvonne’s face was as red as a cherry and she was huffing and puffing like a overworked mule. She leaned against me, panting so hard I had to clap her on the back until she caught her breath and could stand up on her own. I wasn’t in too much better shape myself. I held my breath and looked toward the restaurant door, thinking Odell would come running out. When he didn’t, I realized how wrapped up in his other woman he really was. Even after all the noise Joyce had made and the reaction of the folks standing in the line, Betty Jean had him so mesmerized, he hadn’t noticed or heard nothing.

“Milton, we got to find her before she do something crazy, or get run over,” Yvonne wheezed as she tugged my sleeve.

“The way she was running and screaming like a banshee, it might be too late. Come on, sugar. Let’s go hunt for her.” We went back to the truck, climbed in, and sped off down the street. I drove in the same direction Joyce had run in, but she was nowhere in sight. “Let’s go back home.”

“Hell no. What’s the matter with you, Milton?” Yvonne blasted. “We can’t leave that poor woman alone in this strange town. She don’t know nobody over here. How will she get home?”

“What do you want to do then?”

“We have to keep looking for her.”

I drove up and down several more streets for another half hour. We still couldn’t locate Joyce. By then, Yvonne was so wore out, she was ready to go home with or without her. And that was what we done.

CHAPTER 38 - YVONNE

CHAPTER 38

YVONNE