"Is this girl on drugs?" Inez's mother whispered.
Val beamed at her. "No, I do not need medications to visit from Nod, the passage is clear. Your daughter's husband eats like Yolando-but he prefers blueberry pancakes to animal bones."
Jose laid his head on Juanita's shoulder and she elbowed him off her, turning her head away while trying hard to breathe without laughing. When Rider leaned forward with his elbows on the table, Shabazz shook his head.
"Man, don't start. I'm begging you," Shabazz said.
"Now, youknow , of all people,I have to ask," Rider said, looking at Val. "Yolando and blueberry pancakes?"
"Jack Rider, I forbid you to scandalize this table with Inez's mother here and a clearly innocent guest of Yonnie's."Tara cut Rider a glare that could have cut metal. "I mean it.Stop."
"It is all right, Tara," Val said, sippingaLynchburg lemonade. She made a deep slurping sound as her straw hit the bottom and then she began picking the sugar off the side of the glass to taste. "He really does like blueberry pancakes, plus steaks and eggs and that long, oily meat . . . ah, bacon. Oh, and coffee. I have not seen him eat animal bones yet. I don't think I would like that very much. But I suppose as long as it was cooked and not raw the way demons normally take their carcasses, I could adapt."
Shabazz rubbed his palms down his face and turned away.
"Why doesshe keep saying demon, Lord have mercy Jesus? Tell me-"
"While we were gone, how many drinks did you let her try?" Damali tried to stem Mrs. Filgueiras's hysteria, cutting her off before her low whisper escalated.
"She had three," Marlene said flatly."While she was grazing on the different appetizers."
Damali and Carlos both closed their eyes.
Trying to offer a distraction to sensitive conversation, Krissy handed Ayana over to Val.
"Wanna meet a new lady that's gonna be living with us, too?"
Ayana giggled."Anova angel lady."
"Another angel lady," Inez translated. "She's intrigued by angels, now.Long story for another time."
"She can see my wings?" Val laughed and hugged the child. "How did you know that? They're supposed to be invisible. Yonnie made them disappear!"
Ayana clapped and stroked a place near Val that seemed to be four inches from her body. "They're soft. Yours are brown. Auntie Damali's are white. Yours are pretty, too."
"C'mon, boo," Inez said quickly. "Let's go pee pee before we have to give Nana some smelling salts."
Marlene and Marjorie had each grasped one of Mom Delores's hands and were holding her up.
Carlos leaned into Damali and the group got quiet. "The kid can see, boo."
Damali nodded and stared at Inez. "I know."
"Come to Mommy," Inez said more firmly, her eyes panicked. "You haven't been to the potty in a long time."
Ayana hid her face against Val's neck. "I don' wanna go to the scary pictures."
Inez's mother gaped at her granddaughter and then at Inez. The table was silent and the noise of the crowd beyond it seemed so far away.
"She never went in that bathroom, 'Nez. How did she know?" Mrs. Filgueiras opened her arms for the child. "Come to Nana," she said sweetly and then her eyes filled with tears. "You used to be able to do the same thing as a little girl, but I never listened to you. Maybe we make our mistakes with our own, and if we're blessed, we get to make up for all of that with the grands."
Marjorie hugged Delores. "I didn't listen, either, with my two."
"Did the same thing, living in denial," Marlene said. "Lost my girl, you're blessed. You got them both." She swallowed hard and picked up her drink.
Just that fast the mood at the table had shifted. Shabazz let an ice cube fall from his mouth into his glass.
"It's the way of the world. One tiny pebble in a still pond can cause ripples throughout the entire lake. Things are changing again, people. Brace yourselves."