“Levi. Levi Hardy,” he replied with a warm smile, letting himself into his room.
“Thank you, Mr. Hardy,” I told him, my voice cracking. The food was so potent it immediately filled my entire room with a delicious smell. I set it on the foot of the bed, then sat down and picked up the phone. “Rhoda, I’m sorry. It was this man from across the hall dropping off something,” I slurred.
“Well since you take your good old time returnin’ calls, I figured I’d keep tryin’ until I reached you. I just wanted to wish you a happy holiday.”
“Thanks, Rhoda. I’ve been meaning to call you back, but I’ve been so busy looking for a job.” My eyes rested on the vodka bottle sitting on the window ledge. “How is your family?”
“Oh everyone is fine. Muh’Dear, Daddy, and Aunt Lola came down. They’re goin’ to be here until the weekend,” Rhoda said cheerfully. “They all said to say ‘hi’ to you.”
“Didn’t Uncle Johnny come?”
“Uncle Johnny. He’s in jail,” Rhoda whispered.
I was blind drunk, and my head was spinning like a top, but I was still able to talk coherently. “My God. What did he do?” It was so good to hear from Rhoda. Already I was feeling better. I shuddered when I looked at the window that was still open. If Rhoda had not called when she did, or if Mr. Hardy had not come by and knocked when he did, I probably would have been on the ground by then. In a whisper to myself I repeated one of Muh’Dear’s frequent phrases, “God’s trying to tell me something.” I had not eaten since before noon. I took the foil-wrapped dinner out of the bag while listening to Rhoda.
“He was drinkin’ with Uncle Carmine over at Antonosanti’s the other day. Well, Uncle Carmine had to leave, but he told the bartender to keep servin’ Uncle Johnny. You know my uncle when it comes to free booze. He got so drunk he fell off the barstool and hit his head. He gets up with this bloody knot on his forehead and has the nerve to ask for another drink. Well, when the bartender turned him down, Uncle Johnny picked up a chair and threw it at him. Uncle Carmine is my daddy’s oldest and dearest friend, but I believe Uncle Johnny’s goin’ to ruin their relationship. Daddy tried to talk Uncle Carmine out of it, but Uncle Carmine had Uncle Johnny arrested.”
“Poor Uncle Johnny. That man has such a miserable life.” I sighed.
“Yeah. Too bad he’s not happy like us.”
“Yeah. Too bad,” I responded. I started eating the dinner. It was a huge plate with all the trimmings, even corn-bread dressing and cranberry sauce.
“I can’t talk long. We’re goin’ to sit down to eat in a few minutes. We’ll talk again next week.” After Rhoda hung up I sat looking at the phone and eating. Then I looked at that window again, thinking how close I had just come to jumping out of it. I set my plate down and went to close it.
I called up Muh’Dear and just as I expected, she was out. I finished my dinner and turned on the television. My buzz was still pretty strong, and my head was hurting like somebody had hit me with a brick. It helped when I walked around. But the room was so small, walking around too much meant I had to walk around in circles. To avoid doing that, I walked across the hall to Levi Hardy’s room. He was glad to see me.
“Come on in, sister, and make yourself at home!” He grinned, opening the door wide. Gospel music was playing softly on a clock radio on his dresser.
Unlike my room, Levi had personalized his. His Bible was on the nightstand, and there were several pictures of various members of his family next to it. His mother looked a lot like him, but the three brothers he pointed to didn’t.
“Me and my brothers had different daddies,” he confessed, like he had read my mind. He seemed eager to talk, so I let him ramble on for a few minutes without interrupting him. “I’m my mama’s outside child by some other woman’s husband. Ma’s folks didn’t accept me. When folks treat you different, you know, not as good as the rest of the family, you grow up with all kind of mixed feelin’s. I been on my own since I was sixteen, fifteen years now, and I still