I laughed. “That ain’t going to happen. We love Branson, so we ain’t never going to move away and I doubt if we’ll ever have to worry about Sheriff Potts locking us up again. If he do, I’m sure Willie Frank’s uncle Lamar would come through for us again.” I had accomplished what I had came for, so I was ready to end this visit. I figured the least I could do was throw him a bone before I left. “Now let me tell you another bright side. Since I didn’t get my weekly payment from you on Wednesday, you don’t have to give it to me today. You can give that to me when you give me next Wednesday’s payment.”

Odell stared at me for a few seconds before he spoke again. He looked so beat down, I felt sorry for him. “All right,” he mumbled.

“What about the four hundred?”

“I’ll get it. Now if you don’t mind, get the hell up out of my sight. I got things to do.”

“I’m going. I got things to do, too. But before I go, I have to tell you that I am very disappointed in you, Odell.”

His jaw dropped so low, it looked like a soup ladle. “You disappointed in me? You got some damn nerve! You come into my office with this outrageous cash demand, and you still disappointed?”

“Not in you giving me my money, though. I know you’ll come through. I’m hurt because you ain’t showed no concern for my well-being after all I been through.” I sniffled and rubbed my nose. “Them laws treated us worse than mad dogs. They mauled us, cussed at us, we didn’t eat nothing, and we slept only a few hours at a time the whole two days.”

“What did you expect? You just better be glad they didn’t do nothing more serious to y’all before Lamar stepped in. What do you expect from me, other than my money? If you thought I was going to run up and hug you when you walked through that door, that’s something I’d never do in your case. I will admit that I’m glad you and Yvonne got let out of jail, and I’m sorry for what Sheriff Potts and his deputies put y’all through. And for the record, me and Joyce actually got down on our knees and prayed for y’all.”