Red Hats by Damon Wayans

Author:Damon Wayans
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2010-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

chapter ten

Alma didn’t sleep well, because anxiety kept her tossing and turning throughout the night. She got up as soon as the sun started to rise to make breakfast for her gracious hostess. She hated feeling as if she owed somebody something. It was hard to cook in a new environment not knowing where anything was, but Alma was determined to feel that she was earning her keep. She made the easiest thing she could find, which was bacon and eggs with toast, orange juice, and coffee. It wasn’t Folgers, but it would do. Dee was pleasantly surprised when she walked into the kitchen, although the smell of the bacon had pulled her from sleep.

“You didn’t have to do that, honey.”

“It’s the least I could do after you’ve taken me into your home and looked after me like this,” Alma said. She watched Dee put nutmeg on her eggs and five sugars in her coffee.

“It’s OK. I’ll drink a little green tea later to balance out my sugar,” Dee explained.

Alma looked down to see a huge, nasty blue bruise on Dee’s left foot.

“What happened to your foot?” she asked.

“Oh. I dropped a pot on it a few weeks ago. It takes a while to heal with the diabetes. It’ll be all right,” Dee told her confidently.

Alma shook her head and decided to change the subject. “Can I borrow an outfit to go downtown? I have to get my identification replaced.”

“Certainly.”

“And can I borrow a few dollars, too? I’ll pay it right back after I talk to one of my children.”

“Not to worry. I can give you twenty dollars.”

“Not give. Just loan it to me. I will have it back to you no later than tomorrow.”

“That’s fine,” Dee said. “You know, the girls will be coming over this afternoon. You’re welcome to join us for tea. I really could use some help.”

“Sure, but I have a lot to do today. I’ve got to stop by the apartment and see if there’s anything salvageable and then run all sorts of errands. I won’t be back here until the evening. That is, if I can stay another night with you?” Alma asked.

“My house is your house. I will give you a set of keys before you leave. Don’t you go feeling like a stranger around me, OK?”

“OK.”

Alma made up her mind that she would come back and help out even if she had to endure the embarrassment of all of those Red Hats knowing her misfortune. She knew people liked to see someone down and out just to make them feel better about their own situation in life. Especially Joy—that one was sure a piece of work!

Alma spent half the morning at the insurance agency trying to collect. She had to cuss out two of the workers for insinuating that she was an arsonist. Alma threatened to burn their entire building down if they didn’t pay her claim. The manager was called to restore some order. He was very sympathetic and comforted her with a listening ear and a cup of Folgers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.