and personally convey his thanks to Dora Jackson for the food she regularly brought to his home after his mother became housebound with emphysema. This in spite of the fact that Odette had witnessed James wisely burying her mother’s half-raw, half-burned pork chops beside his house one day. She assumed, hoped, that all of the meals her mother gave the Henrys ended up underground as well. Still, each inedible bundle was greeted with undeserved gratitude from James.
Odette knew just enough about men to have her guard up at all times. So she hadn’t eliminated the possibility that, underneath it all, James might be as horny and stupid as his friend Richmond. But she was willing to tolerate his head falling onto her shoulder occasionally while she figured him out.
Richmond and James wound through the crowd of boys gathered around the window table. James behaved the same way he always did. He sat next to Odette, complimented her homemade dress, inquired about her mother’s garden, and then yawned. Richmond was another story. To Clarice’s surprise and enjoyment, Richmond, by then a college football hero, felt threatened by all of the testosterone-dizzy boys surrounding his girl, even though they were really there for Barbara Jean. Ordinarily, he was content to sit in the center of the throng, entertaining the boys who came by the table to laugh at his jokes and to hear tales of his record-breaking freshman year on the team. Clarice felt that she had his full attention only in those brief moments when they found themselves alone. That night, though, Richmond spent the entire evening with his arm draped around her shoulders, whispering in her ear and being extra attentive to her in order to clearly stake out his claim.
Barbara Jean was like magic, Clarice thought. The more boys came by to get a close look at her, the more territorial Richmond became. That night was a wonderful evening of flirting, dancing, and nonstop free malts and Coca-Colas from admirers. When James drifted off to sleep and it came time to leave, Big Earl had to intercede to forestall a fistfight over who would see the Supremes home.
As they left the All-You-Can-Eat and headed for Richmond’s car, Clarice whispered to Odette, “Barbara Jean is our new best friend, okay?”
Odette said, “Okay.” And by the end of the summer, that’s the way it was.
Chapter 11
Six weeks after Big Earl’s funeral, my summer break ended and I returned to my job. I was food services manager at James Whitcomb Riley Elementary School, which was a fancy way of saying “head lunch lady.” Normally, I enjoyed getting back to work and starting the new school year. But that fall was a tough one.
James was still adjusting to life without Big Earl being there for him. I often caught him reaching for the phone, only to set it back down again as a brief shadow of pain traveled across his face. Whenever that happened, I knew who he’d been thinking of calling. I’d done the same thing for months after losing Mama so suddenly. James’s mother had died relatively young, but she had wasted away for years and James had learned to live without her long before she passed. Losing a parent, and that’s what Big Earl had been to James, in the blink of an eye was a new kind of loss for James and it was going to take him some time to work it through.
Barbara Jean was bad off, too. She tried to put up a good front. She wasn’t hysterical or even teary-eyed, and she looked as perfectly put together as ever. But it was easy to see that Lester and Big Earl passing right up on top of each other like they’d done had laid her low. She was living deep in her own thoughts and pulling herself further away from Clarice and me every day.
Clarice had her hands full with Richmond. He was back to his cheating ways with a vengeance. It was like the old days. Richmond catted around, not caring who knew. People barely acquainted with him and Clarice openly gossiped about it. Clarice pretended not to notice, but she burned so hot with anger at him some days that I hoped, for both of their sakes, that Richmond was sleeping with one eye open.
And me. After slacking off for a while, my hot flashes were back big time. More nights than not, the early hours of the day found me cooling myself in the