He glared at me even harder. “Ha! I got news for you. I ain’t used to being blackmailed and I never will be!”

I hunched my shoulders again. “Suit yourself. Believe it or not, I got some good news for you. I know a way I can help you, so this won’t be too hard on you.”

“Humph! I’d sure like to hear what that is! If you got good news for me, I know it’s something that’ll benefit you and Yvonne more.”

“Well, you right. Let me lay it out for you short and sweet: If you want to, you can give me the four hundred in installments.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since Joyce is bringing us that hundred-dollar gift this coming Friday, you can start making installments for the four hundred next week. Say fifty bucks one day, another fifty a couple of days later, more the next, and so on until you pay the whole amount.”

“How is paying you off in bits and pieces going to help me? You can forget that. Either way I’ll be out the same amount of money this month. I’ll give all the money to you at the same time!”

“All right then. That’s fine with me. You ain’t got to blow a fuse. I was trying to make it easier for you. We’ll be cool with you so long as you give us that money and get us out of Lamar’s debt. We ain’t got no choice and you ain’t neither.”

“You greedy, low-down buzzard,” Odell said with his teeth clenched.

My stomach knotted up. “Man, please don’t low-rate me,” I whined as I rubbed one of the scabs I still had on the side of my face. “I’m still trying to get over that beating I got on Halloween night, and the sheriff hauling me and my wife to jail. My emotions is still fragile. I know you got a big bee in your bonnet, but the least you could do is show me a little more compassion. I got feelings like everybody else.”

Odell looked like he wanted to chew up my face. He blew out a harsh breath, waved his hand, and shook his head. Then he whirled around and rushed back to the living room.

Before I could leave the kitchen, Willie Frank stormed in with a wild-eyed look on his face. My sidekick was as white as he could be, but when he got excited his face turned various shades of red. This time it was the color of a cherry. “What did you say to Odell? He looks mad as hell.”

“Um . . . a few unexpected expenses came up that he need to take care of. So, he ain’t too thrilled about lending us some money,” I explained.

“How much did you ask him for?”