“I know. He called me at work and told me that Yvonne and Milton had been let out of jail. I wanted to go see them right away and let them know how concerned we were about them,” I panted.

“So I heard. Sadie called here a little while ago and told me that they’d come to see Odell this afternoon. I wonder why they was in such a rush to see him?” I didn’t like the way Mama screwed up her face every time Yvonne’s and Milton’s names came up.

“I don’t know, Mama.”

“And they didn’t show up together.”

“They didn’t?” I wondered why Odell hadn’t mentioned that detail.

“He visited Odell around noon, she came later. And the whole time they was with him in his office, the door was closed . . .”

I wondered why Odell hadn’t mentioned that detail, either. “Well, they probably came separately because they couldn’t get away from the grill at the same time. And maybe they wanted to talk to him about something personal, so they closed the door. I’m not even going to ask Odell about something that petty.”

“Whatever. I just hope and pray you and Odell don’t get no closer to them than y’all already are. Oh well.” Mama shrugged. “Life goes on, I guess. Oh, by the way, Odell left that pretty red-and-green muffler here that you knitted for him last Christmas when he dropped off the money bag a little while ago. It must have slid off his neck before he left. He loves that thing, so he’ll probably come back to pick it up before he go to his daddy’s place. It’s real windy and chilly out there. Me and Mac is fixing to leave directly to go have supper with some folks from church. We might not be home if he was to come back to get it. Why don’t you come in and wait for him, in case he do? That way you and him can go visit them bootleggers together. It ain’t fitting for a woman to be over there on her own.” I almost laughed when I thought of what Mama would say if she knew how often I visited “them bootleggers” on my own.