Partly Cloudy by Tanita S. Davis

Author:Tanita S. Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Published: 2021-06-26T00:00:00+00:00

Cloudy with a Hint of Silver

“Check,” Mr. Duchamps said, leaning back and rearranging the cards in his hand.

The quiet shuffle of cards punctuated the stillness of the afternoon as the other players reconsidered the hands in front of them. A clink of melting ice from Doc’s iced coffee was the loudest sound as the glass sweated in the warm room.

The deep white sink was piled with plates where the eggs, bacon, and potato fritters the bald Mr. Duchamps had brought had disappeared as if someone had called a race and said, “Go!” Madalyn snuck a sip of Papa Lobo’s coffee and nibbled another bite of apple fritter to chase the bitterness of the hot black liquid away. She was never going to finish the huge doughnut, but it had looked too delicious to leave alone.

“I call,” Mr. Mendoza said with a loud sigh, and put a stack of pennies on the table.

Madalyn leaned over and looked at Papa Lobo’s cards. He angled them toward her, raising his eyebrows. Madalyn nodded seriously, and Papa Lobo nodded back. “I raise,” he stated, and added another stack of pennies to the table.

Across the table, Jean snorted.

“What?” Madalyn glared at Jean. Papa Lobo was teaching her to play poker, but Jean acted like she was too dumb to learn. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

Jean rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Nothing.”

Madalyn carefully reorganized Papa Lobo’s pennies into neat stacks. She didn’t really know exactly what she was doing, but she’d listened carefully as Papa Lobo had told her which cards were important and which weren’t. She wasn’t sure exactly about all the rules, and she didn’t know why Doc sometimes laughed under his breath before he put down his cards, but she was learning. So far, they hadn’t lost, anyway.

“Don’t you worry about Jean, ché,” Papa Lobo murmured. “He—”

“Hello in there. Anybody home?” Madalyn startled. The knocking on the door was loud.

“C’mon through,” Papa Lobo hollered, and smiled over at Madalyn. “Well, mamzèl, your mama finally managed to make her way on over here.”

Madalyn could barely untangle herself from the chair before Mom came into the kitchen with a bag of groceries and a big smile, which brightened as she saw Madalyn at the table full of poker chips and cards.

“Mom!”

“Hey, babe! Hey, Uncle Lo, hello, everyone, sorry for interrupting,” Mom apologized, swooping in and hugging Madalyn, and waving Papa Lobo and the other men down as they stood politely to greet her. “Hello again, Jean. Everyone, I’m Macie Thomas, Madalyn’s mother. Lo, I brought some extra groceries for next week, I’ll just—”

Mom broke off as she glanced around for a place to set down her bag. Her eyes moved over to the sink, where Jean had rinsed out the liquor bottles and turned them upside down into the drainer.

Madalyn followed her mother’s gaze, noting the presence of the little wrinkle between her eyebrows. “They put colored water in the bottles, Mom,” she said quickly. “It was for a joke.”

“Uh-huh,” Mom said, one eyebrow arching high on her forehead.

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