"Hey, hold on there. Brenda," Uncle Palaver said when she reached for the bowl of couscous. He leaned over and lifted it slowly. There were two silver dollars under it. "I thought so,-' he said.
Brenda shook her head and smiled. "Now, when did you do that?"
"Me? I didn't do anything. Those must be for you two," he said.
We laughed and continued to clear the table.
"Later," Brenda whispered. "I'm going to ask him to throw a sheet over Daddy, mumble some mumbo jumbo, make this man we call Daddy disappear and bring back the father we once had. That will prove whether he's a really good magician or not."
I smiled nervously. I couldn't deny that Daddy had become a stranger to us all. Brenda's wish was my wish, too, but as it turned out, we didn't need Uncle Palaver to make anyone disappear. Daddy decided to disappear entirely on his own.
It happened that night. After dinner, the four of us went into the living room and Uncle Palaver continued to entertain us with some of his new sleight-of-hand tricks and some incredible card tricks, especially the one where he asked me to think about a card and then asked Brenda to pick it out of the deck, and she did. I really began to wonder if there was indeed magic involved. We were so distracted that we didn't notice for some time that Daddy had yet to come out of his office. Mama realized it first and went to see what he was doing. I followed to the living room doorway and watched her go down the hall. I saw she was surprised to find his office door locked. She knocked and called to him. He said something: she stood there a long moment, and then she returned to the living room.
"He'll be right along," she told us_ forcing a smile onto her troubled face.
Uncle Palaver continued to entertain us with stories about the different characters he had met on the road. He had performed on a number of college campuses, too, and Brenda was interested in what he had to say about them. She was beginning to consider colleges to attend, and foremost in her mind, of course, was what athletic opportunities they offered young women.
I was the first to give in to a yawn, but it triggered everyone else. Uncle Palaver had gotten up very early and had traveled all day just so he could make Brenda's volleyball game. Mama admitted to being tired herself.
"Tomorrow's Saturday." Mama said. "I'm sure Matt will have lots of time to spend with us all. Perhaps we'll go to lunch or maybe to dinner," she added, that little candle flame of hope still burning in her eyes.
"Sure. He works hard," Uncle Palaver said. "We know now where Brenda gets her determination and dedication, huh?" he added, smiling at her.
Brenda was not in the mood to be compared in any way to Daddy. She grimaced. "It seems to me the one with determination and dedication here is Mama," she told Uncle Palaver.
He held
his smile. but I could see he was very upset as well. "Okay. Let's all have a good night's sleep," he said. "Nora, thanks for that wonderful dinner."
He kissed her good night, and for a moment, a longer than usual moment. I thought, she clung to him. Then he kissed each of us and went to the guest room.
"I'll go to bed soon," Mama told Brenda and me. We knew that meant she would wait for Daddy to come out of his office.
"I'm going to have it out with him tomorrow," Brenda warned me at my bedroom door. "I'll try to get him away from Mama. When you see me do that, you keep her busy."
"I should be with you," I said.
"Don't worry about it. You'll be with me. He'll know it's not just me talking." she promised.
"You were great today. Brenda. I was very proud of you."
She smiled and hugged me. "It was easy." she said. "Every time I had to hit the ball. I just imagined Daddy's face on it."
I thought she would smile or laugh after saving that, but she didn't. That, more than anything else that had happened during the Mr. Hyde days, made me feel sad and then afraid. Feeling so weighed down by the disappointments and tears. I went to bed thinking I would toss and turn, finding it impossible to get myself comfortable enough to sleep. Instead. I sank into the mattress. I hadn't realized just how exhausting all the emotional tension had been. To my surprise and delight. I fell asleep quickly.
The sound of a door slamming, followed by a wail and the horrible rhythm of constant, loud sobbing woke me abruptly. For a moment. I thought I might be in a dream. I glanced at my clock and saw it was two o'clock in the morning. The light flowing under my doorway from the hall told me someone was wide awake. I rose quickly, slipped into my robe and my slippers, and went to the door. I saw immediately that Brenda was out of her room. Her door was wide open.
I realized the sobbing was coming from the living room and hurried there. I was shocked to find Brenda. Mama. and Uncle Palaver also in their robes. Brenda and Uncle Palaver were seated beside Mama, who was looking down on the coffee table, where columns of papers were neatly arranged.
"What's going on?" I asked, my heart pumping so hard I thought my chest would split beneath my budding breasts.
"Daddy's gone." Brenda said. and Mama fell back into Uncle Palaver's embrace. She closed her eyes.
"Gone? What does that mean, gone?" I asked, embracing myself. A terrible chill had come over me like a splash of ice water.
"Gone means no longer here," Brenda said dryly. "It means good-bye."
"I don't understand." I said, now unable to stop myself from crying, too.