Tempest Rising - Diane Mckinney-whetstone [75]
“This ought to get you down to PGH and back in a cab,” he said as he peeled off four one-dollar bills and handed them to Mae.
Mae took the money quickly. Her first thought was of tripling those four singles at the table tonight at Clara Jane’s. She let the thought go in the same flash as it had come. They’d at least have to take a cab there, especially with him standing right in front of them; he’d probably hail them a cab, which he was doing right now. Who asked him to be such a gentleman? she thought as she guided Victoria to the opened cab door. Well, at least she’d be able to save the two quarters she’d just pulled out for their ride on the el. And they still might take the el back home. Hell, it would be a gamble him finding out, but a scared bettor never wins; Mae knew that more than most people.
Tyrone helped Victoria into the cab, but when Mae started to get in, he pulled her arm, told her that he had been meaning to talk to her about Larry, that something needed to be done, maybe an official complaint to keep him away from those girls; he was crazy, might pose a real threat to their safety.
“Oh, no!” Mae pulled her arm from his hand. “I can’t say nothing against Larry. Those foster kids are my livelihood, and his sister makes sure I always get a good supply.” She squinted her good eye at Tyrone. “And I expect you won’t be saying anything either.”
“And how can you expect that?” Tyrone’s head was pulled way back as if he were offended by Mae’s breath.
“I hear you already had one r in with Larry over at Brick’s.” Mae’s voice went low, chilly. “Oh, yeah, I heard all about it. I got friends who play cards down there, told me you was with some fast woman in yellow; I told them they lying, though, ’cause I know Ramona’s the only thing in a skirt you got eyes for. So we just gonna keep a closer watch over the girls so Larry can’t get near them, and then we just gonna forget any of it ever happened.” She tugged on the end of her flowered head scarf knotted under her chin and then climbed into the cab with Victoria.
Perry’s voice hit Tyrone in the face as he walked back into the shop. “Damn, boy, the mother got you giving her money. I can see you helping out your girlfriend, but you’ll never keep a dollar you start giving it up to Mae. Like feeding mice as much as that woman loves to play cards.”
“I just gave her for a cab. That little girl, one of the fosters she takes care of, fell and hurt herself last week. She didn’t need to try to be maneuvering no el steps.”
“Mnh, you always had such a costly soft spot, boy?”
Tyrone was defensive now. The feeling was back that his city slickster father thought him a head-scratching, foot-shuffling country boy. And now with Mae’s threat hanging, he was starting to feel like maybe he was in over his head. “It’s no soft spot. I got to know those girls through Ramona, nice girls.”
“That so?” Perry asked. He could hear the irritation in Tyrone’s voice, so he egged him on to talk about them to hold him there for a minute so that he wouldn’t go back to the press mad. A printer’s emotions came out in his work, so Perry believed. “My lady friend, Hettie, says they come from a little money.”
“Big money, Pops.” His voice rose in degrees as he started to talk about the girls. “And now they’ve been thrown into this world that’s got to feel like shark-infested waters when before now they were used to swimming with goldfish. I feel for them, that’s all. That’s the only reason I gave Mae for a cab.” He waved the bulletin cover in front of Perry. “Do I need more red for the pink in the lilies, Pops?”
Perry lined paper against the straight edge of the cutter and pulled the handle on the cutter and sliced through the seventy-pound card stock. He really wanted Tyrone to keep talking about the girls now. Had the feeling that Tyrone was talking about himself as much as he was talking about those girls.
“I’ll check the color in a minute, son. So how long you think those girls gonna be with Mae?” He lined more card stock on the cutter.
“Don