When they were about halfway down the block, Ibby heard a shriek. Annabelle was laughing hysterically as she fumbled with her keys, trying to open the door to her car.
Then another man came up from behind and helped her into the car and slipped into the backseat beside her.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
T-Bone didn’t say a word as they drove along Louisiana Avenue and Birdelia snoozed in the backseat.
“That ain’t the first time,” T-Bone said after a while, breaking the uneasy silence.
“What do you mean?” Ibby asked.
“That Miss Annabelle. It ain’t the first time she done something like that.” He gave her a quick glance. “She come up to all the guys at the Audubon Stables flaunting her chubby white ass. She wasn’t picky, do it right there in the barn. Then up by the river, behind the trees down in the batture—saw her there once or twice too.”
Ibby looked away, not sure she really wanted to know if Annabelle’s escapades included him.
T-Bone shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking, but I never did nothing.”
She kept her gaze on the window. “I wasn’t thinking that at all.”
“Miss Ibby?” He touched her hand.
When Ibby turned around, he was leaning toward her. She thought he was about to kiss her, so she leaned in and closed her eyes.
“You know I like you, but—” T-Bone started to say.
Ibby opened her eyes to find T-Bone sitting about as far away from her as he could, leaning against the door.
“But you’re black and I’m white,” she finished for him, “and I’m only supposed to kiss white boys. At least that’s what Doll told me.”
“She said that?”
“Yes, after I kissed you at my party. I got a lecture.”
“She gave me a lecture too. Said we’re like—”
“Family. I know,” Ibby said.
They sat there for a moment, not quite knowing what else to say.
“Miss Ibby, there was something else I was trying to tell you just now. . . . The band I played with tonight is going on a tour of Europe, and they asked me to go with them.”
“I’m really happy for you.” After a few moments, she said, “T-Bone?”
“Yes, Miss Ibby?”
She wanted to say I still like you, but she knew that would be selfish on her part, so she said, “Don’t forget to send me a postcard.”
By now it was three in the morning. The roads were deserted. As T-Bone turned the car onto Prytania Street, Ibby suddenly felt exhausted. It had been a long, trying day. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed. Ibby hoped Fannie was asleep because she was probably going to be in trouble for coming home so late.
Birdelia was just waking up when they pulled up in front of Fannie’s house. She stretched her arms and looked around.
“What’s Poppy’s Cadillac doing in front of Fannie’s house?” She pointed to the car parked in front of them.
“Can’t be his car—you took it home not too long ago. Weren’t everybody asleep?”
Birdelia put her nose up against the glass, trying to get a better look. “That’s it. Recognize the dent in the back bumper.”
No lights were on in Fannie’s house, the only illumination coming from a single streetlamp that cast a paltry haze over the street.
“Sure is quiet,” Birdelia said as she got out of the car.
T-Bone glanced over his shoulder at the old Cadillac. “Something’s not right. I better walk you to the door, make sure everything’s okay.”
“I’ll come too. Not sitting out here all by my lonesome,” Birdelia chimed in.
As they started up the front walk, a flash of light spooked them. All three stopped short.
“What was that?” Birdelia whispered anxiously.
“Came from the tree,” T-Bone whispered back.
“What you mean?” Birdelia grabbed his shirt and held on.
Then there was another flash. This time it was pointed at them.
“What you doing here, boy?” came Crow’s voice, his head just visible above the hole in the ground. He was shining a flashlight at T-Bone.
“Daddy, what’s going on?” T-Bone asked.
Another head popped up. “Birdelia, why you all here?”
“Doll?” Ibby inched closer. “That you?”
“Oh Lawd, Miss Ibby. What y’all doing out this time a night?” Doll said.
“Who’s there?” came another hushed voice from below.
Doll looked down. “Shhhh, Mama—you gone wake Miss Fannie.”
“Queenie’s down there?” Ibby asked as Crow disappeared back into the hole, taking the flashlight with him, leaving them once again in the shadows.
“Shhhh,” Doll said again. “Why y’all up?”
“Been to the chicken drop,” Birdelia said. “What you doing in that hole?”
“I found it,” Crow said.
“You remember where you put it?” Queenie asked.
“Yes, woman. I found part of it. Lookey here.”
“Found what?” T-Bone put his hands on his hips.
Doll was standing on a ladder peeking out from the hole as Queenie and Crow searched with the flashlight for something down below.
“Long story, brother,” Doll said before turning her head. “Mama, you get on out and let T-Bone come down. He got better eyes.”