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“What sort of mishap?”
“Um, one of the cars fell off the lift. Luckily, it fell to the side but it did bang against his leg and it’s broken.”
What I said couldn’t have sounded more outlandish and I realized it after I said it. Amazingly, Mr. Wilson believed me. He winced and said, “Ooh, that sounds painful. You should go check on him, in that case.”
“Thank you.”
He started walking out of my office but paused. “Now, you will be back here on Monday, right?”
“With bells on,” I replied. When he left, I added, “More like with shackles on my feet.”
Darnetta came in as I was talking to myself. “Did you say something?”
“Oh, no, just thinking aloud.”
Darnetta sat down without an invitation. “So what’s up, girlfriend? We haven’t had a chance to talk much since the wedding. What happened to you that night anyway? Logan said you got sick but you seemed fine when I picked you up and all throughout the wedding.”
I deliberated over an answer but knew I couldn’t take too long to fabricate one because Darnetta would figure me out.
“Um, I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me. Either that or I ate entirely too much. My stomach was upset. Plus, I had cramps.”
“Hmph, please don’t mention cramps. I’m on my period now and mine are killing me.”
“Have you been drinking hot tea?” I asked her, legitimately concerned for her well-being.
“No, tea and I don’t agree with each other. It always makes me feel bloated and I feel bad enough already.”
“What about some of that over-the-counter medication for cramps?” I asked.
“I’ve tried every brand they make and nothing seems to help.”
“All I can say is the person that invents something to stop menstrual cramps is going to be one wealthy man.”
“It won’t be a man who invents it,” Darnetta said. “That’s the quandary now. I bet you all the ones on the market were invented by people who have never felt a single menstrual cramp in their lives.”
We both laughed.
“Probably true,” I agreed. “Well, the good part is that we only have to suffer the madness for a few days a month.”
“Yeah, but three days on a period can feel like three years sometimes.” Darnetta got up and went for the door. “I’m going to call you soon so we can hook up again.”
“Okay,” I said, knowing good and well that I wouldn’t be hanging out with her ever again. I wasn’t even clear about what had happened the first time that I did.
• • •
It took me four hours to drive from Atlanta to the outskirts of Charlotte. He lived in a small town called Trinity. Once there, I drove around for more than an hour searching for my father’s house. Everyone in the small town knew each other so I stopped an older African-American couple and asked them. They said Daddy fixed their cars for them and was a great man. Then they gave me directions. One or both of them must have been senile because it took me a while to figure out that they had told me to turn left on High Bridge Road when I should have turned right.
It was dusk when I finally arrived. I was shaken to see the condition of the place. From the outside, it looked like it was about to give way. While Daddy had never been one to define himself by his surroundings, this was definitely not what I expected.
I rang the doorbell and was stunned when a little girl answered the door.
“Can I help you?” she asked in the sweetest voice.
I glanced up at the house number on the porch to make sure I had the right place. “Um, does Henry Pierce live here?”
“Daddy!” the girl yelled out as she disappeared around a corner.
Daddy?
