“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. “You’ve met my mother a lot of times.”

“Well, usually, when a guy starts bringing his girl to meet his parents and stuff …”

“He ain’t my father, he’s just the … what you want to go and say something like that for?” I asked. “You starting some dozens with me?”

“Hey, man, cool out,” she said. “I didn’t mean nothing. What you getting all upset about? I was just kidding in the first place!”

“Well, I don’t dig that kind of kidding,” I said, knowing I was madder than I should have been. “Forget the whole thing, I’m going.”

“Lonnie Jackson, will you get out of yourself for a minute?”

“Yeah.” I sat down.

“Why are you so hard to get next to?” she asked. “You’re about as fine as you want to be until you find yourself getting close to somebody.”

“How you know that, girl?” I asked.

“How you know that, girl?” She mimicked me. “You say ‘girl’ like girl is something bad when I start getting close to you. You think because you acting like some kind of wild animal, I can’t deal with you? You can’t get me off your trail that easy. I’ll come after you just like a big-game hunter. I’m going to track you down, stay on your trail until I get you in a corner, and then I’m going to be there when you come out scratching and clawing. And I’m going to be scratching and clawing, too. It’s going to be good. Mary-Ann, the big-game hunter. How’s that sound?”

“You sound dangerous.”

“I am, sugar, you might as well get that straight from the get-go!”

I kissed her and, just a little, not a lot … just a little … I was scared of her. Maybe she was as dangerous as she said she was.

* * *

On the way over to the center I told her about Paul and Lenny going over to the Nassau Coliseum. She said that Paul had a lot of money recently and she didn’t know where he was getting it from. When she asked him, he told her to mind her business.

“He’s always telling me that,” Mary-Ann said. “But usually he acts like it’s no big thing. When I asked him the other day, he started going through a lot of changes.”

“He’s trying to keep up with those la-di-das from uptown,” I said. “When they get tired of him, they’ll shake him loose and won’t even remember his name.”

We got over to the center, and Ox was in talking to Cal. He had Sparrow on his shoulder. We talked around for a while, and then I gave Ox the sign to split.

“Say, coach.” I closed the door behind Ox and hoped that nobody else would come in. “I want you to meet Mary-Ann.”

“Hey, hello.” Cal nodded towards her.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Mary-Ann said.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Cal said.