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“Adrienne think she so cute,” Debra started. “Just cuz she light-skinned. Hell, she tall, skinny, and got a flat ass like a white girl.” She shook her head from side to side, then gave her brother a teasing smile. “And Melvin ain’t no bargain in the looks department either!”
“Sheee-it, I’m the finest brother out here.” He punched her playfully on the arm.
“That’s a damn lie,” Debra chuckled.
“Debra, if I wasn’t your brother, you’d be callin’ me all the time, too. In fact, you woulda just hung up and jumped on in a cab to come see me.”
Debra was shaking with laughter along with everyone else.
“I doan know your sister-in-law,” said Ann.
“That’s cuz she never visits me,” Debra said tartly.
“Isn’t she that yella girl that Mel left Rose for?” asked Belle.
“Yeah,” said Debra, after taking a long pull from the beer bottle on the floor beside her. “That’s Adrienne, all right.”
Melvin stole a glance at Hot Pink. She was hanging on to his sister’s every word.
“Debra, find somethin’ else to talk about,” he said tightly.
“Don’t tell Debra what to talk about. This is her apartment,” shouted Big Boy.
Debra slapped hands in agreement with the giant and continued.
“Adrienne’s brother is even worse. Think he hot stuff cuz he live in Midtown instead of up here in Harlem. Hell, it’s just a goddamned tenement.”
Mel laughed this time also.
“He got a nice place?” asked Ann.
“I only bin there once for a birthday party before he got married. Dan had a nice dining room table, but he prob’ly got the rest of that shit from the Salvation Army. Plus, the living room window opens on a back alley full of stray cats. It stunk like hell in there when he opened the window. And those cats was makin’ all kinds of noise. Screaming, mewing, fighting, screwing.”
“Sounds like Big Boy’s house!” shouted Hot Pink.
Everyone laughed until they cried, and Melvin was relieved to find that his wife and brother-in-law had been forgotten.
“Debra, you need to stop lying,” Mel said while picking up his cards. He smiled across the table at Hot Pink. “My sister has left her manners in the kitchen tonight, pretty lady. I’m afraid I don’t know your name.”
“It’s Lillian, you rogue.”
Mel thought her laugh was pretty as she spoke.
“Tell me who brought you here tonight, Miss Lillian, so I can thank ’em properly.”
Debra groaned and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.
“I’m Big Boy’s cousin.”
Melvin was momentarily taken aback. Quickly regaining his composure, he showed Lillian his dimples before answering. “That’s not possible. The man is not even human.”
“Fuck you,” said Big Boy.
Mel slapped an ace on the table.
“Twenty-one!” he shouted.
He ignored the grumblings of those who had lost their money, and scooped up his winnings. About thirty dollars. Just one more win and he’d be able to go out and get high enough to forget about sad wives, dead babies, and his own heavy heart for a little while.
