“The only one I really cared about was Uncle Alain.”
“Me, too,” I said. “Mama would like it more if you called him,” I added.
She thought for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. I can handle it.”
They served our food.
“Let’s eat,” she said. “You need to get a good night’s sleep.” She looked up with the follow-up question on her lips.
“Stop worrying about it. I’ll be fine alone,” I said with the same tone she used on me. “I was alone last night, wasn’t I?”
She nodded, and we attacked our dinner, stabbing and cutting our food as if it were the enemy. Anyone who didn’t know why would think we were starving. We were starving for something, all right, but it wasn’t food. We were starving for some hope, some respite from misery and sadness, some detour that would take us off the road of nightmares. I was sure now that Roxy had had her share of them even before all of this sadness about Mama had begun.
Afterward, before she dropped me off, she plucked a light blue card out of her purse and handed it to me. “This is my direct telephone number. It doesn’t go through the service or the hotel. Call me if you need anything or if anything . . . just call me,” she said, thrusting it at me.
I took it and looked at it. It didn’t have her name or anything on it. It was just a number. I nodded and stepped out of the limousine.
“I’ll see you at the end of your school day. She’ll be happy you went.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll call and leave word for her in the morning so she won’t worry.”
“Very good.”
“Tell Uncle Alain love from me.”
“I will.”
The driver closed the door. I started up the stairs and then paused to watch her limousine quietly move down the street, turn, and disappear. The darkness seemed to see that as an opportunity to close in on me. I hurried into the house and finally checked the answering machine. There were two messages. One was from Aunt Lucy. She sounded very angry and didn’t ask for me to call her back; she demanded it. The other message was from Chastity. Someone had found out about Mama, and according to her, the story was bouncing off the walls in the school.
“How is she? I hope she’s all right,” Chastity continued on the answering machine. “All anyone knows is that she had surgery. What was the surgery? Everyone’s worried about you. You know I’m here for you. Call me. I’ll come stay with you, if you like. Whatever. Call me.”
Reluctantly, I called Aunt Lucy first. She barked a hello and began bawling me out before I could tell her anything. How could I not call her immediately? Didn’t I realize she would be waiting by the phone? Didn’t I realize she would be worrying about me? My uncle was beside himself with irritation. I recalled that Uncle Orman was never angry. He was always just irritated. I imagined him breaking out in rashes whenever something bothered him.
I let her finish her tirade, and then I began to describe what the doctor had told Roxy and me, but I didn’t mention Roxy.
“That man told you all that without an adult present?” she asked.
“I’m an adult, Aunt Lucy. In some parts of the world, I would be married and have my own children by now.”
“Don’t be facetious. I’ll have a word with him tomorrow. I’m coming to New York. You can come home with me.”
“I’m going to school tomorrow, Aunt Lucy. I’ve missed enough work.”
“What?” She was speechless a moment. “Oh. Well, I still think . . . that doctor had no right . . .”
“My sister was with me,” I decided to reveal.
“Sister? What sister?
Roxy was there?”
“She’s the only sister I have,” I said.
“Well . . . your uncle will want to hear about this. Now she decides to come out of the woodwork? I’m surprised she had the decency to do it. Is she staying with you now?”
“No.”
“That’s probably good.”