“Jackie, Pleeezze! Not now!” Kat replied, sitting on the couch with her son in her lap. “If I wanna hear a sermon I’ll go ta church my damn self,” Kat replied.

“You just oughta,” her sister said.

She fired back, “Nuttin’ dat you ain’t neva done. Don’t get it twisted. Ms. Holier than thou.”

“I was ignorant. But that was then, this is now. I’ve got the Lord in my life. My savior is Jesus Christ …” Jackie stated, before changing the subject. “… Who’s this?” she said, looking in Tonya’s direction.

“If you stop preaching for a minute I can introduce you,” Kat cracked. “That’s my people, Tonya. Tonya, dat’s my big mouth sister, Jackie.”

The two women exchanged greetings and good looks at each other. Kat offered Tonya a seat and something to drink while Kat went to the kitchen to pour a glass of juice.

“Tonya? … You look mighty young. How old iz you, girl?” Jackie asked.

Before Tonya could even respond, Kat intervened. “Don’t answer her. She ain’t nobody. A nosy nobody at that.”

“Katrina, you thirty-one years old and still hangin’ wit kids,” Jackie said as she cut a look at her sister. “And leadin’ them astray straight to the hell fire.”

Jackie was famous for bringing up Kat’s age, but she was forever doing that and Kat hated it. Kat thought she was forever young. She didn’t look a day over twenty-one—she definitely didn’t feel it.

“Eric, go in Mommy’s room, grown folks are talkin’,” she told her son. When he was out of earshot she went off. “Listen here, Jackie, I’m ’bout tired of ya shit! Take ya save the world crusade to da nearest corner in North Philly. Them gangsta-ass niggas need you over there more than I do. ’Cause right now, I ain’t feelin’ you at all.”

“But Katrina,” Jackie pleaded, toning it down. “She’s just a baby. Please don’t take her to that club. That’s not cool.” If anybody in the world knew Kat, it was her sister Jackie. She knew how Kat got down and she knew what her sister was thinking, probably before she did. She figured that her sister was probably helping this young girl out, but she also figured that Kat had ulterior motives as well. Kat hadn’t changed a bit over the years. If anything, she got worse.

“Knock it da fuck off! Okay? You was once a stripper too,” Kat growled. “Wasn’t nuttin’ wrong wit it when you did it. So what’s wrong wit it now? Just like you chose not to do it anymore. Somebody else is gonna choose to do it … My girl Tonya got problems. It’s that serious …”