A Hole in the Universe - Mary McGarry Morris [74]
“No, thanks. I’ll be leaving soon,” she said, flipping back her hair. The inappropriate long black curls gave her a look of awkward desperation, made her seem older, bigger than she was. “It’s just that I wanted to ask you something,” she said with a hopeful smile. “Did you tell Lisa to call me?”
“No,” he said uneasily.
“That’s what I thought. She invited me to Jimmy’s birthday party, and I just don’t want you to feel—well . . .” She threw up her hand as if he’d know the rest. “I mean, I know how that goes. My sisters did it to me for years. I’d show up, and guess who else’d be there? Some bozo, the brother-in-law’s divorced cousin they just knew would be perfect for me. I don’t know, maybe they ran out of bozos or maybe they finally just got tired of it, but now Auntie Doe can just go stag if she wants.” She laughed. “I’ll tell her no.”
He realized she’d meant that as a question. “No. Go. I mean, if you want.”
“Would you mind?”
“No.” What else could he say? he thought, irritated all over again.
After she left he sat in his darkened living room, drinking lukewarm coffee while across the street the party had swelled to twice as many people. A radio up in the window filled the night with rap music. On the sidewalk some of the younger boys were entertaining everyone with their dancing, most of which seemed to Gordon spastically gymnastic. An older man did the cooking now. Ronnie Feaster’s SUV had just parked in front of Mrs. Jukas’s house. The man at the grill paused as Feaster and Polie walked toward him. Seeing them, a pretty young woman in a red halter top ran to the porch railing and waved, but the man at the grill barked at her in Spanish and she sat down. Two younger girls covered their faces and giggled. The red flare of the cigarette jerked up and down in the man’s mouth as he spoke to Feaster. The man didn’t want him there. Inez stood up, arms folded, glowering down at them. The man gestured angrily with the spatula, and Feaster and Polie crossed the street. They took up positions on Mrs. Jukas’s porch, slouched and laughing as if their banishment were of little consequence.
A dog was barking. Gordon’s head snapped up, eyes opening wide. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep in his chair, but there were even more people across the way. In the distance a skinny girl in black pants hurried down the street. It was Jada. As she came closer, the barking intensified. Gordon checked his watch. Ten P.M. She ran into the house, then came right back out carrying her dog. The minute she set him down, he ran onto the grass and lifted his leg against the now unmanned grill. Jada grabbed a hot dog, then devoured it in the hunched pose Gordon had noticed before. The dog ran back and forth between people’s legs. A few kicked him away. A boy tossed a roll over the railing and the dog sank down, hind legs sprawled as he ate it. Inez called to Jada, and she climbed past the scowling women on the steps and filled a floppy paper plate from the various bowls. No one said anything. Even the children kept their distance as she sat on the steps, scooping food into her mouth with two fingers. When she was done she filled another plate and carried it down to her dog.
The women shook their heads. One called out angrily, but Inez said something and the woman went inside. Jada shrugged and kept eating.
Gordon wondered where her mother was. Jada had come into the Market looking for him the day after the holdup, but he had been unloading a truck. Leo told him