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“And whatever happened to your grandmother and Nett?”

“Grandma moved back down South after Daddy died. She was living in the family’s old home, Uncle Jimmy’s house. I don’t keep in touch with her. I think I had about as much of her as I deserve in one lifetime.”

I was too busy eating to tell him about what Grandma had done to me the day after Daddy’s funeral. I had gone by the house to pick up something. Edna let me in. We were standing in the kitchen talking, when all of a sudden Grandma burst through the beaded curtains that hung between the kitchen and the living room and started screaming at me.

“Nobody is going to watch your kids. They’re your damn kids! Take them with you!”

Edna and I looked at each other, and then at Grandma.

“Nobody is keeping anybody’s kids,” Edna said. “Go back and lie down.” It must have been the strain of losing her only son. Or perhaps Grandma knew that I had grown too big for her to intimidate me any longer. Whatever the reason, as I opened the door to leave, Grandma pushed past Edna, lunged at me, and with both hands, shoved me out of the apartment. I went flying out of the door, across the outer hallway, and fell into the door of the apartment across the hall. The children were screaming. Edna was trying to hold onto Grandma so that she would not attack me before I could get to my feet. I stood up and gave Grandma a look that would peel the paint off a wall. In a fierce and hushed whisper, I said to her, “You are a sad and sick old woman. I feel sorry for you.” The last I saw of Grandma, she was struggling with Edna and yelling obscenities at me.

“What about Nett?” Balé asked. I took time to swallow the food in my mouth before answering, because I wasn’t sure what to say. Nett was still a very painful topic for me to discuss.

“Nett died about six months after I left New York. Apparently she got sick again and went back into the hospital. No one bothered to call me until she was already dead. When I spoke to Ms. Ethel, her home attendant, she told me that Nett would ask for me every day. Ms. Ethel told Sharon, but Sharon said she did not know how to get in touch with me. That wasn’t true, but I am sure she had her reasons for wanting to keep me away. Anyway, Ms. Ethel said that after about three weeks of being in the hospital, Nett refused to eat. She refused to open her mouth for food. They tried to force-feed her, and when that didn’t work, they fed her intravenously. Her body was weak from being ill for so long. She died in her sleep from starvation. Ms. Ethel told me she knew that Nett would have eaten for me, and she didn’t understand why no one called me.”

I told Balé about the incident with the check. I also told him about my decision to put some distance between Nett and myself. I was afraid that if she had died with our relationship being as close as it was, I would have lost my mind. Talking to Balé reminded me of something I had not thought of until that moment: Nett’s bangles. I had no idea what had happened to the bangles Nett had promised me would be mine once she passed on. The thought made me so sad I had to choke back the tears. Balé must have felt it from across the room.

“You know, her sister probably has most of her things. Have you ever asked her if you could have something special to remember Nett by?”

“No. After I decided not to go clean out Nett’s apartment, her sister kinda stopped talking to me. Damon went with her, and he did get the photo album, but everything else is just gone.”

“Well, you’ve got her in your heart. Even with the difficulties you had at the end, she will always be in your heart, and that’s all that matters.” He was right. Balé was always right.

Over dessert, an apple crumb something, with nuts and raisins, I told Balé that I hated practicing law. I had failed the bar exam twice and didn’t want to take it a third time, but I would have to in order to keep my job. Whenever I said that to people, they told me I was crazy: “You come from a welfare check to a paycheck as a lawyer, and