A Hole in the Universe - Mary McGarry Morris [92]
Jada had drifted in and out of sleep to their crack-agitated voices from the other room. It was almost funny, the way they could talk to each other at the same time. Tron said he had been on the detox waiting list in Lowell for a long time. A hell of a long time. He should let her know when he got the call, Marvella said. She’d been through it, so she’d help him. She knew the drill. She’d been there, so let her know and she’d go with him. Moral support, that was the most important part. Yeah, moral support. Because, see, like that’s what she never got. Moral support. Yeah, that’s all anyone needs. So as much as Jada hated being alone, it would all be worth it if her mother was in some detox center right now with Tron.
The minute she got home she jumped onto the couch and fed Leonardo the Oreos, one at a time. When they were gone he burrowed his snout into her pocket, looking for more. She closed her eyes, laughing as his scratchy tongue licked her face. “I love you. I love you so much,” she said, holding him still so she could kiss her favorite place, the warm, musky underside of his silky ear. Everything would be different this time when her mother came home. Jada vowed to treat her better. She wouldn’t bitch so much about everything, and she’d keep the apartment so clean her mother wouldn’t want to ever leave it, and she’d study hard and get really good grades, so then her mother would probably start going to all those parents’ nights things they were always having and she would come back and tell Jada how proud she was to have her for a daughter, and all the mean things she’d ever said, like calling her “the abortion that lived” all the time, how it hadn’t been her talking but the drugs, because her Jada was the most beautiful girl in the whole world.
A loud banging made her sit up with a start. It was after five and she had fallen asleep watching television. Afraid Ronnie Feaster was back, pounding on the door again, she crept to the window and peered over the sill. Inez’s son’s old car idled at the curb, music booming from the speakers. In the distance came Gordon Loomis lumbering down the street with two full grocery bags. She didn’t dare go out. Ronnie Feaster and Polie had come by twice in the last hour. The last time, he said he was sick of waiting for the money Marvella owed him. Jada hollered out that her mother wasn’t there, but he didn’t believe her. He said to open the door before he kicked it in. Inez leaned out her window then and yelled at him to go away or else she’d call the cops. After he left, Inez came downstairs and asked where her mother was. “Asleep,” Jada lied, adding that she’d been sick for a few days. The whole thing was tricky: Jada had to be careful. She was pretty sure it was Inez who’d called Social Services the last time.
When he got to his porch steps she opened the door and ran across the street. “Gordon! You mad at me?” she asked with a big grin. She could tell he was.
“No.” Even though his eyes held steady, his face, as usual, revealed nothing.
“I’m sorry for all that, but that guy, your boss, he, like, went psycho on me, and what was I gonna do, just, like, ‘Oh, okay, here I am—have me arrested for looking through your friggin’ garbage’? That’s all I was doing. You saw me, right? What was I doing? Was I doing something wrong?”
“The Dumpster’s private property. You shouldn’t have been in it. Plus it’s filthy. What if there was a rat in there or something?”
“What do you think, I’m scared of rats?”
“You should be, climbing into a Dumpster. They could bite you.”
She laughed. “I was looking for a bone, that’s all. A friggin’ bone for Leonardo.”
“How’s the cut? I hope you put something on it. Ointment or something.”
“Oh yeah, that.” She lifted her sleeve and licked the scab. “See? That’s all