“Ah-hah!” Grandma Bella said. “I knew it. I knew they were living together in sin. I had a vision. It came to me last night.”

Two doors down Mrs. Friolli stuck her head out her front door so she didn’t miss anything. I was guessing Grandma Bella’s vision came to her last night after Mrs. Friolli called her.

“How nice to see you,” I said to the women. “What a nice surprise.” I turned and shrieked up the stairs. “Joe! Get down here!”

It was always a shock to stand next to Mrs. Morelli and realize she was only five foot, four inches in her chunky two-inch-heeled shoes. She was a dominant and fearful force in a room. Her snapping black eyes could spot a speck of dust at twenty paces. She was a fierce guardian of her family and sat at the head of the table of the large Morelli tribe. She’d been widowed a lot of years and had never shown any interest in trying marriage a second time. Once around with a Morelli man was more than enough for most women.

Grandma Bella was half a head shorter than Joe’s mom, but no less fearsome. She kept her white hair pulled into a bun, tied at the nape of her narrow chicken neck. She wore somber black dresses and sensible shoes. And some people believed she had the ability to cast a spell. Grown men scurried for cover when she turned her pale old woman’s eye on them or pointed her boney finger in their direction.

“This is a temporary arrangement,” I told Mrs. Morelli and Bella. “I had to leave my apartment for a couple days and Joe was nice enough to let me stay here.”

“Hah!” Bella said, “I know your type. You take advantage of my grandson’s good nature and the next thing you know, you’ve seduced him and you’re pregnant. I know these things. I see them in my visions.”

Jeez. I hoped these visions weren’t too graphic. I didn’t like the idea of being naked and woman-on-top in Bella’s home movies.

“It’s not like that,” I said. “I’m not going to get pregnant.”

I felt Joe move in behind me.

“What’s up?” Joe asked his mother and grandmother.

“I had a vision,” Bella said. “I knew she was here.”

“Lucky me,” Joe said. And he ruffled my hair.

“I see babies,” Bella said. “Mark my words, this one is pregnant.”

“That would be nice,” Joe said, “but I don’t think so. You’re getting your visions confused. Stephanie’s sister is pregnant. Right kitchen, wrong pot.”

My breath stuck in my chest. Did he say it would be nice if I was pregnant?

WHEN JOE LEFT for work I ran a computer check on McDonald’s franchises in the area. I started dialing the numbers that turned up, asking for Howie, and I got a hit on the third McDonald’s. Yes, I was told, a guy named Howie worked there. He would be in at ten.