“What’s wrong?”

“Girl, they done arrested Leroy.”

I slammed the door. Going down for air was no longer important.

There was always enough for everybody when Black women cooked. Ma was more than used to not seeing people she barely knew until all hell broke loose. An unspoken rule, strangers who rarely spoke could default to blood when a shoulder to cry on was needed. So Ma calmly gave up her seat and started to scoop plates after I brought Renelle into the kitchen. I led the kids away from their mother and offered chicken wings to keep them quiet. I made sure to pluck the stiff stray feathers often left behind because they always scared Junior to tantrum. I eased down the faded yellow kitchen counter, stopped at the sink, and pretended to stare out the window even though there was nothing to view but a brick wall. I chewed softly so as not to miss a word. Once Jewel got over the sight of the frantic neighbor and her unkempt children, she took the lead as usual.

“I’m Annette’s sister, Jewel… honey, what’s got you so upset?”

A tear-soaked sigh rippled up Renelle’s rib cage before she began.

“’Bout two o’clock this afternoon, right before I’m getting ready to go to work, the police came knocking on our door telling us they needed to search our house.”

“Did they have a warrant?” was the first thing Jewel thought to ask.

“They showed us a paper, but before we could look at it they had pulled out handcuffs and locked me and Leroy to the radiator.”

Ma looked ready to faint. Jewel slid a Salem out of its neon-green carton and passed it to Renelle.

“In front of the babies?”

“In front of my babies!”

“How the hell can they handcuff you before they arrest you?” Jewel screamed.

“Chile these police do what the hell they want to do, when they want to do it,” Ma said. “I just watch ’em every day while I’m on my bus, and I swear on every corner they got some boy throwed over a hood with his pants damned near down. Most of the time, you know it’s for nothing. But what can you do?”

“Lord, today …,” was all Jewel could think to say. She put a lighter to the cigarette quivering between Renelle’s lips, then Renelle went on after a long drag.

“My babies was screaming and crying, ‘Mommy, Daddy, what’s going on?’ I mean, they could have at least let me put them in the room or something …”

“At the very least!” Jewel shouted.