“Tell me about it,” I said with a groan. “Every time I’m over there, I step in enough ashes to build an ant hill. I know y’all do a little cleaning up every night after your guests leave. But y’all need to do a lot more.” I immediately wished I hadn’t made those comments. The woeful look on Yvonne’s face now was so extreme, it made me feel bad. I had to backpedal. “Oops.” I chuckled. “I need to watch what I say. I’m sure some folks say the same thing about my house.”

“Your house look like a showroom every time I come over here.” Yvonne sighed and started inching toward the door. I stood up and followed her. The way she was taking her time, I was afraid she’d change her mind and stay longer.

When we reached the door, I opened it immediately. “I think I’d better get back in bed. My stomach is starting to feel queasy again.” It really was feeling queasy again, but not enough for me to go back to bed. I just didn’t feel like entertaining an uninvited guest. She looked a little hurt and I felt bad about that. I had to keep reminding myself that Odell and I were supposed to be helping them get over their arrest ordeal. I decided I’d wait about an hour or so and then I’d go to her house. “I sure don’t want to be sick on Thanksgiving.”

“Get plenty of rest, eat right, and you’ll be just fine,” she advised, patting my arm. “By the way, do you and Odell have big plans for Thanksgiving?”

I took a deep breath and puffed out my chest. “Do we? It’s going to be such a blessed event. I’m going to cook a nice turkey supper with all the trimmings for just the two of us. I’m even going to put candles on the table. Oh! It’s going to be so romantic. I swear to God, if folks didn’t know any better, they’d think Odell and I were still newlyweds.” There I was praising him again, but it was hard not to. “That’s how we’ve celebrated the day for the past three years. We used to spend it with Mama and Daddy, but they always invite so many folks from church and the neighborhood, it gets to be too hectic. That’s why we stopped going. They do the same thing for Christmas every year. It’s the most important holiday to them, and us. If we stopped eating with them on the Lord’s birthday, we’d never hear the end of it.”

“Me and Milton talked about having a Christmas party, but we ain’t made no definite plans yet. With the extra money from y’all, I can buy a bunch of gifts for my kids.”