Free God Don't Play by Mary Monroe Page A

fired up the grill in the backyard and cooked a couple of slabs of ribs. Not only that, while I was upstairs worrying myself to death over what had happened to me while he was gone, he had also prepared some baked beans, rolls, and coleslaw.
    It felt so good to be among some of the people I loved. I hadn’t invited my parents or any of our other friends to join us. There hadn’t been enough time, for one thing, and with the way I was feeling, I was not in the mood to entertain too many people.
    While Pee Wee and Otis tossed a dusty football back and forth in our spacious backyard, Rhoda, Jade, Charlotte, and I occupied the wooden picnic bench that Otis and Pee Wee had slapped together one afternoon a few years ago. I say “slapped together” because they had been drunk when they made it and it was so wobbly it rocked from side to side every time we sat down or got up from it.
    Jade and Charlotte, each dressed in a bright yellow halter top and short shorts, skipped into the house to get more napkins and plates. As soon as the door slammed, Rhoda leaned across the table. “Did you tell Pee Wee about that shit and that telephone call you received?”
    I shook my head. “No. Not yet. You know, I’ve been thinking about that. I really don’t know if I will. I’ll wait and see if that bitch calls again, or sends me anything else in the mail,” I muttered.
    “Yeah. Maybe you’re right. I guess I wouldn’t tell my man either, unless it really got out of hand.”
    Charlotte bolted from the door and kept running until she reached the barbecue pit. Like me, she loved her some ribs. But it showed on me and since it didn’t show on her, I allowed her to eat what she wanted, as long as she didn’t overdo it. I did enough of that for my whole family.
    “Rhoda, if something happens to me or Pee Wee, will you promise me you’ll take care of Charlotte?” I wasn’t sure what prompted me to say that.
    “Sure. I’d love to raise another child. But what about your mama and your sister in Miami?” Rhoda asked with an anxious look on her face.
    “Muh’Dear is too old. So is Daddy. And Lillimae, well, I think she’s enjoying her solitude too much to try to raise another child. She kicked her own kids out of the house as soon as they turned eighteen.” I paused and let out a quick laugh, but Rhoda remained dead serious.
    “What brought that on? You’re not sick or anything, are you?”
    “Not that I know of. But you know, anything can happen to any one of us.”
    Rhoda gave me a sad look. “Tell me about it. Every day I wake up, able to move on my own, I wonder how long it’ll be before the damage that stroke did to my body gets the best of me.” Rhoda smiled. “I’ll make a deal with you. If somethin’ happens to you, I’ll take Charlotte into my home. If somethin’ happens to me, you take Jade into your home.”
    I gasped. “I’d be glad to take Jade into my home,” I promised. But something in the back of my mind made me wish I had never started this conversation.

CHAPTER 13
    I was feeling real good now. I had almost forgotten about the note and the blacksnake that I had received, and the mean telephone call. No matter how negative all that was, the list of positive things in my life was a lot longer.
    I had even gotten over the fact that Pee Wee had gone to the Red Rose before the cookout to have a drink. Even though it was one of the nights that Betty Jean tended the bar.
    While Rhoda and I were in the kitchen, gathering napkins and paper plates, Pee Wee staggered in. Dust and dried leaves decorated his face, arms, and hair. He looked like a scarecrow. Between sips from a bottle of beer, Pee Wee told Rhoda that she was glowing like a woman in love.
    “Oh, I am. I am a woman in love,” she swooned, giving Pee Wee and me a mysterious look. Otis walked into the kitchen just in time to hear Rhoda’s response to Pee Wee’s comment.
    “Of course she loves me. How can she not?” Otis slurred, giving Rhoda a