The next day, when I got to the center, Jo-Jo was there. He said a white guy called up and wanted to talk to Cal.

“How you know it was a white guy?” Ox asked.

“He sounded like a white guy,” Jo-Jo said. “He said he wanted Cal in his office at ten o’clock Thursday morning, or else!”

“Yeah, he was a white guy,” Ox said. “Ain’t nobody else is going to be ‘or elsing’ you on the phone.”

I had sworn to God that I would never speak to Cal again. But when the call came, I was anxious to go over and see him. I called over, and Aggie said he wasn’t there anymore.

“You mean you don’t know where he is again?” I asked.

“I think he’s over at his old place,” she said.

“You want to come over there with me?”

“No.”

“How come?” I asked.

“Here we go with your ‘how comes’ again,” she said. “Well, this time the ‘how come’ is because I love the man, and I want the man, and the Lord knows I need the man. But I can’t go up to him with my heart in a shopping bag and a headful of hope anymore. I just can’t make it anymore.”

“Look, Aggie.” I tried to find the right words. “I ain’t a faggot or nothing, but … I need Cal. You know what I mean? I don’t need him for money or even for ball but …”

“How many times you got to be hurt before you know where the pain is coming from?” She spoke as if she might not have been talking to me. “How many times does it take, Lonnie?”

“I don’t know, Aggie.”

Aggie and I met at the corner of his block. By the time I got there I was doubting Cal myself. We walked up the stairs together and knocked on his door. He didn’t answer at first, and when he did, he was so stinking with cheap wine I wanted to throw up. We got some coffee into him and then told him about the phone call.

“I figure it must be O’Donnel,” I said. “Jo-Jo wasn’t sure.”

“All he wants from me is that I don’t coach,” Cal said. “And I’m not doing that.”

“Maybe it’s not that,” I said. “Johnson’s on the road, and maybe he heard we been playing without a coach.”

“I don’t want nothing from either of you,” Cal said. “And there’s not a thing I have to give you. So why don’t you split?”

“You don’t care about me,” Aggie said. “Okay, why don’t you do it for Lonnie? Or do you want him to get down on his knees and beg? You want me to get down on my knees, Cal? That make you feel better?”

Aggie started to get down on her knees, and Cal caught her and held her up. She looked into his eyes and asked him again if he would show up at O’Donnel’s office.