Black Cat (Gemini 2)

"Do you know what Dave's favorite love song is. Noble? 'La Vie en Rose.' Isn't that remarkable? It was your father's favorite love song. too. I haven't played it since he died. but I will play it again.

"Ill play it for Dave the first chance I get when he comes to the house . "

"You're inviting him here?"

"Of course I'm inviting him here. Don't you understand anything?"

I shook my head. How was she going to manage all this. manage Baby Celeste? Or did she expect me to hide upstairs with her?

"Just go try on those jeans, Noble. I don't have the patience for your stupidity at the moment. Go on," she ordered, waving me off.

Dazed. I went to my room and did what she asked. Before I could return, she came to my room. She had put all of her things away and changed into one of her housecoats. Now she looked more like herself with the makeup gone, too.

"Just as I thought." she said, kneeling to pin up my cuffs. "I need to raise it about an inch and a half. Okay. Take them off, Ill do it as soon as I can."

Baby Celeste, hearing her voice, cried out.

"Oh, good, she's up." Mama said, and hurried to her room.

I took off the new jeans and put on my old ones. As I was doing so, I heard Mama running a bath in her bathroom. Why was she doing that? I wondered. It was too early to give Baby Celeste her bath. I thought, but when I peered into the bathroom, she was doing just that. She had the baby in the tub.

"Why are you giving her a bath now, Mama?"

Baby Celeste looked up at me and smiled.

Mama didn't answer. She poured one of her herbal shampoos over Baby Celeste's head and began to scrub the dye out of her hair. I watched astonished as she rinsed it and the full rich color of her red hair was restored.

"Why are you doing that, Mama?" I asked breathlessly.

"Because its time." She turned and looked at me with a harder, colder, more determined expression on her face. Her eyes were dark. too. "It's time. Time to greet tomorrow."

Time to greet tomorrow? What did that mean?

You can go back to work now. Noble. There is still a lot of daylight left. Go see to your chores."

I didn't move.

She spun on me. "Well?" "Okay, Mama."

I walked down the stairs slowly. I couldn't help having troubled thoughts. So much was changing, and quickly, too. Our world was going- through some sort of upheaval. In so many ways, I should be happy about it. I thought, but I wasn't happy as much as I was frightened. Tomorrow suddenly felt like a threat.

I worked outside until Mama called me in for dinner. Seeing Baby Celeste with a fall head of rich red hair was startling, but Mama didn't skip a beat. It was almost as if she didn't notice what she had done.

"We're going to have a little dinner party a week from tonight," she announced when we sat at the table.

"Dinner party? What do you mean. Mama?"

"I'm going to bring out the best china and use my grandmother's linen tablecloth. It will be a very special night. It's time Dave got to know you. Noble."

I felt my throat close up and fought to get it open so I could speak. "You're inviting Mr. Fletcher to dinner here?"

"That's the idea of a dinner party. Noble. You invite guests. In this case well just have one." She leaned over to wipe some cranberry juice off Baby Celeste's chin.

"But what about Baby Celeste?" "What about her?"

I shook my head slowly, fear building inside me. What was it she wanted me to say, to think? What truth was I to ignore? Should I come right out and ask her if she wasn't worried he would see his son in Baby Celeste's face? The way Mama talked about her, she had no genetic makeup but that which came from our family, and her side of it to be more exact.

"I mean, he'll see her," was as much as I dared say.