"All I'm saying, Jordan, is you need a girlfriend and I would be your girlfriend."
I looked back at her and then to get her to let go, said, "Okay."
She smiled and released my wrist. "I was just like you," she called to me as I stepped up to the porch. "Don't forget that. I can help you deal with your problems. You won't meet many girls like me. Your brother can read about precocious puberty and tell you stuff from books, but he didn't live it. I did and you are."
She waved, turned on her flashlight, and started away. I watched until she disappeared into the shadows and was gone. Then I went back inside and turned the door latch closed. I expected Ian to be out of his room asking me why I had gone outside. Maybe he had heard Flora talking, I thought, but he hadn't come out of his room. I went to his doorway and looked in to set what he was doing. He was lying on his bed, still dressed in his clothes, but asleep. I thought about waking him up and telling him what had just happened, but I didn't do it.
Instead. I went to my own room and thought about the things Flora had said. Maybe it was true about boys not understanding girl problems. Despite the way Ian had reacted to her story and what she had tried to give me. I couldn't help thinking about it all. And what about Ian? I never ever thought of him as immature, but it was true that he never had a girlfriend or from what I could tell, even a crush on a girl at school. He rarely if ever went to parties and if he did go, he always left early and claimed it was boring and stupid.
It would be nice not to have to ask him everything all the time. True, he was kinder and more patient with me these days, but he could be very short with me and even make me feel foolish and
unimportant.
For now, at least. I decided not to tell him about Flora coming to see me. Besides, it would only make him angry that I talked to her and didn't go to him first. It could cause more trouble and, using his words. I thought we didn't need any more shattered glass.
I got undressed, into my pajamas, and into bed. A strange question came into my head. I wondered about Grandmother Emma. Despite how she was and how she treated us, did she miss us? Was she lonely in that big house with just the maid and the cook? She was taking all her meals alone now, sitting at that big table and looking at the wall. Had she forced Daddy and us to move in with her because it was economical or because she wanted some family around her, even if just to criticize?
I gazed out my window at the night sky. It looked like the moon was trying to outfox the clouds, but every time it got around one, another would slip in and block it again. It made me think of the poem Flora had told us about the butterfly who thought he died on the moon.
Was I really going through a change like the butterfly went through, a change she had described? What did she mean by "one way or another you're going to be a butterfly" even if the medicine worked? Ian was so angry, he wouldn't talk about it. Even now, I didn't think he would tell me anything. Maybe Flora was right. Maybe he didn't understand because he was a boy. Perhaps the only way I would ever know was to talk again to her.
I closed my eyes and started to drift into sleep when I heard a large bang and then Daddy's laughter. "Get up, Christopher," Mama shouted. I sat up and listened. Daddy was still laughing. "You tripped me," he said.
Tripped him? I slipped out of bed and went to the door to peer out at them. Daddy was on the floor looking up at Mama just inside the front entrance. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring back at him.
Daddy reached up for her, but she didn't move.
"Get up yourself. You embarrassed us both at the restaurant. I'll never go back there."
"Have you no mercy, woman?" he cried as she started away.
Daddy fell back to the floor and moaned, but Mama continued walking toward the stairway. She glanced in my direction and saw me and I saw her look of anger change to a look of sadness and concern.
"Just go to sleep. Jordan," she said, "Go on. I'll see you first thing in the morning."
I closed the door and listened to her go up the stairs. I couldn't help but peek out again to see what Daddy was doing. It shocked me to set he was still lying there and had even turned on his side. He didn't look like he wanted to or could get up. Should Mama have left him like that? I wondered. Where was Ian? Hadn't he heard the commotion?
I closed my door again, but I didn't go right back to bed. I just stood there listening for his footsteps. When they didn't come. I opened the door and stepped out. Without realizing I was doing it until I nearly stood beside him. I tiptoed over to Daddy. I heard him moan.
"Daddy, are you all right?" I asked in a loud whisper. He moaned again. "Daddy?"
He stopped moaning and turned on his back to look up at me. Then he smiled. "Well, now," he said. "look who's come to my rescue. Our little precocious young lady." He laughed and then he reached up and I took his hand, "Pull," he cried, and I did with all my might.
He sat. I held his hand while he looked down for a moment and then took a deep breath and started to stand. He was very wobbly and nearly pulled me to the floor with his effort to rise.
"Up," he cried. "Up, up, and away!"
He stood there, looking like he was going to totter over, but he smiled at me and put his hand on my head and then on my shoulder. He started toward the stairway with me walking slowly alongside.
"Good, good," he said. He paused to look at me and smile. "Now that you're on the verge of woman wood. I mean womanhood. Jordan, you had better learn what makes a man happy and what doesn't. Your mother has a knack for the doesn't. And women have it better than men do. Jordan," he said as we reached the first step and he took hold of the banister. "Let me tell you about the birds and the bees here. Women can have multiple orgasms, ten to a man's one. That's not fair, now is it? Huh?"
I stared at him.
"You damn fool!" I heard Mama cry.
Daddy turned and looked up at her, swaying as he stood there. "She's only seven years old!"
"Huh?" He looked at me. "You're talking about the woman I love," he said, leaned down, and kissed the top of my head. Then he stumbled over the first step and fell on the stairway.