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The phone woke me up. I looked at my watch. It was five o’clock! I had slept the whole day away!
There was a pretty French phone, white with pink roses swirling around it, on Keith’s nightstand. I lifted the receiver. “Hello?”
It was Mama. “Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’m fine, honey.” She sounded like her old sprightly self. What was going on?
“Well, you certainly sound happy.”
“Me and Elvira are gonna be on TV tonight. I made them reporters wait right in the living room while I put on my good black dress. I used some of the makeup you left here. Is that all right?”
“Mama, I don’t care about the makeup. Why didn’t you talk to them on the street?”
“It was Keith’s idea to let ’em in. I showed them your baby pictures, the awards you got for spelling in elementary school, and your college diploma.”
Oh, Mother of God.
“Mama, is Keith still there? I need to talk to him.”
“He left a few minutes ago . . . said he was going to see you. Jackie, he is such a nice man. Don’t let him get away, okay?”
This was surreal. Here I was getting closer and closer to the electric chair and Mama was still trying to get me married. “Mama, I am not thinking about Keith in any kind of romantic way. All I want him to do is get me out of this mess as soon as possible.”
“A woman can do both, can’t she?”
“Mama, please tell me you didn’t give Keith the impression that I’m interested in him.”
“Don’t you think he is handsome?”
“Of course, but that isn’t the point. Will you answer my question?”
“Calm down baby, you getting’ all upset for nuthin’. No, I did not tell Keith you’re interested in him. A lady never shows her cards first.”
I heard a snicker in the background.
“Who is that?”
“Elvira.”
“Who else is there?”
“Nobody. Keith chased them all out of here before he left. Me and him got along real good.”
“I’m glad, Mama.” No matter what she had said or done, it was good to hear her sounding happy again.
“I think he likes you, Jackie.”
“Please stop.”
“All right, but he promised me that you ain’t going back to jail. He said it the way a man talks about a woman he’s interested in.”
Keith was just keeping a worried mother from giving in to despair, but why should I burst her bubble? She was going to need all the confidence she had now and a whole lot more before this was over.
“Sure, Mama,” I said gently.
“Is Paul still there with you? What kind of place you stayin’ in? When can I come see you?”
The
