“What do you mean, ‘un-unh’?” I whispered frantical y.
Tex was stil frozen.
Mom made it to the coffee counter and she gave him her majorette smile.
“You must be Tex,” she said.
He made a kind of guttural noise, grabbed my arm and marched me out from behind the counter. He frog-legged me to Indy, who he also grabbed by the arm and he shoved us down the aisle of books turning into fiction, the M-N-O
section. Then he stopped and glared at me.
“You didn’t tel me she was pretty,” he said.
I looked at Indy, Indy looked at me.
“Give me your phone, woman,” Tex said to Indy.
She handed over her phone, he flipped it open and started to push buttons at random.
started to push buttons at random.
Indy snatched the phone out of his hand.
“Who do you want to cal ?” she asked.
“Chavez. Get me Chavez.”
Indy scrol ed down her phone book and hit Eddie’s number. Tex seized the phone from her hand and put it to her ear.
“Chavez?” Pause, “We got a problem.”
He walked down the aisle and muttered something.
I looked to Indy, she was smiling. I smiled back.
“Uh-huh,” he said, nodding, “Uh-huh,” he said again, stil nodding. There was a pause, “Fuck no!” This was an explosion and I jumped. Then, “Right.” Then he threw the phone back at Indy who caught it and flipped it shut.
He looked at me.
“Al right, Loopy Loo. Let’s go meet your mother.” We walked back to the front of the store and, I couldn’t help it, I was near to laughing.
Tex thought my Mom was pretty.
Mom and Blanca were looking concerned.
“Let’s try this again,” I said when we approached them.
“Tex, Nancy and Blanca. Nancy and Blanca, Tex.”
“You like cats?” Tex boomed to my mother.
Mom jumped, stared up at Tex and nodded.
Anyone would nod, even if they hated cats.
“Then this’l work. I’m goin’ home at one, can you wait that long?”
“Sure?” Mom asked and answered, not certain which way to go.