ABOUT FORTY-FIVE MINUTES AFTER I’D ARRIVED NEXT DOOR, Yvonne motioned for me to follow her into the kitchen to get more snacks. I sliced pieces off a large chunk of hog-head cheese and put them on a tray. She loaded hush puppies and pickles onto a large plate. “Yvonne, I want you and Milton to know that Odell and I are going to do all we can to help y’all readjust.”

She turned from the counter with a curious expression on her face. “You already said y’all was going to give us a hundred dollars. You talking about something else now?”

“We’ll still give y’all some money. But what I meant just now was, if they hadn’t let y’all out, Odell was going to get some prayer chains going. He was going to approach our preacher and have him start the first one. Then he was going to go to your preacher and make the same request. Do you think y’all still need that much spiritual assistance?”

“No, we’ll be all right, so long as y’all give us that money. We’ll save the prayer chains for another time, in case we get in another pickle.” Yvonne paused and gave me a thoughtful look. “I wonder why Odell didn’t mention that when we seen him at the store this afternoon?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure he’ll mention it later. But I wanted you to know now.”

“I appreciate hearing that, Joyce. And when I see Odell again, I’ll let him know that, too.”

When I got back to the living room, I danced a couple of times with two other men before Willie Frank pulled me out on the floor. As usual, he hopped around like a rabbit. I lost count of how many times he stepped on my toes and ankles with his steel-toe brogans. And when a slow song came on, he wrapped his arms around me and pressed his body so close to mine, I felt a hard lump between his legs. I was several inches taller than him, so it poked the top of my thigh instead of my crotch. It was so disturbing. Another man’s hard-on was something I hadn’t experienced since I met Odell. I was glad Willie Frank didn’t smell like tobacco or snuff for a change. His longish blond hair was so clean, I could smell the vanilla-scented shampoo he’d used. “I hope Sweet Sue doesn’t get mad at me for slow dancing with you,” I teased.