said quickly.
"Really?" He sat back nodding. "That's good.
Ice. That's good. Where were you rehearsing?" I told him about Balwin and how he was
helping me.
"Very nice of
him. I'm glad about this." He turned to me quickly. "And don't go saving you're wasting your time. I don't want to hear that defeatist
stuff from you. hear?"
"But it will be too much money, won't it.
Daddy?"
"You just let me worm about that when the time
comes to worry about it, honey." He nodded. "We'll
manage it somehow. I'm not going to let you miss
such an opportunity, no sir, no ma'am."
I smiled to myself and started to clean the pot
and the stove while he finished eating.
"Your mother say where she was going
tonight?" "Movies."
"Movies, huh? If she went to all the movies she
says she went to, she'd be seeing stars and I don't
mean the movie stars," he quipped.
He was trying to be funny, but I could see the
concern in his face. It put a cold shiver in me. "Can't make that woman happy anymore," he
muttered, mostly to himself.
I saw how quickly his elated mood turned sour
and dark. He stopped eating, stared blankly ahead for
a moment and then rose and went into the living room
to play one of his Billie Holiday albums while he
waited for Mama to come home. After I finished in
the kitchen. I went in to sit with him.
"You look tired, honey." he told me nearly an