Next to Arnold stood Quin Lothar, who kept his amber hair long, nearly to his shoulders, which was something Daddy detested in young men. Quin was also very popular because he had his own band at school, but in my opinion he wasn't anywhere as good-looking as Arnold. Quin's features were too large and he had a narrow forehead with eyebrows that hung too far over his brown eyes. The right corner of his mouth always seemed tucked into his cheek, giving him an habitual smart-aleck smirk. Now that I gazed at him, I thought he had to be the father. He looked capable of making Belinda pregnant and
not caring.
He was dressed sloppily, in worn trousers and a
faded pullover, and obviously didn't care about his
appearance or making a good impression on my
parents.
The third young man was Peter Wilkes, a short,
chubby boy with a round, soft face. His father was
President of the Cape Coast Savings. Belinda said he
always had money to spend and the others kept him
around and called him Pocketbook, even to his face.
Belinda bragged that she just had to look at something
and wish it was hers and he would go buy it for her. He wore a button-down white dress shirt, slacks
and laced dress shoes, but somehow, maybe because of the way his
clothes hung on his obese body, he
didn't look any better than the other two.
Quin was their spokesman.
"Good afternoon," he said. "We came to see
how Belinda is doing. We thought we could cheer her
up," he added.
Peter folded his cheeks into a smile and lifted
the box of candy in his hands.
"If it's okay, I'd like to give her this," he said.
"Imported chocolates."
Arnold carried the flowers. He just nodded,
holding them up like the Statue of Liberty holding the
torch.
Daddy said nothing. He had a way of holding
his words back just a moment longer than anyone
anticipated. It was something he did to put people off