Juanita was putting a stack of her favorite 45 records together when the doorbell rang. Edna dried her hands on a dishtowel and walked toward the front door.
“Barry! Put on a shirt and come say hello to your uncle.” She yanked open the big door and pushed the screen door outward to let Leo inside.
“Hey, Leo. What you know good?” They gave each other a hug.
“Aw, ain’t nothing shaking, Edna. How are you?”
“I’m making it.” She glanced out to where his car was parked in the driveway. She could see the tops of two pig-tailed hairstyles.
“Is that Leslie and Sukie in the car? You could have brought them inside.”
“Aw....I....I figured Juanita would be ready. Anyway, they got their pajamas on.”
Edna smiled. “Juanita! Leo’s waiting on you.”
“I’m coming....I just wanted to get my records.”
Edna turned to Leo with a smirk, “Everything is music and records, and records and music.”
“Yeah, I guess....”
By now, Barry was ambling into the foyer, grinning.
“Hey Uncle Leo.”
“Hey, Youngblood! How’s it going?” Leo grabbed the boy around his neck in a mock head lock. Barry allowed himself to be held in this semblance of a hug. He really liked Uncle Leo, the closest thing he had to his own father, who he hadn’t seen in four years.
“Everything alright?” Leo asked, pretending to tighten his grip on Barry’s head.
“Yeah!”
Edna decided to slip away to see what was taking Juanita so long. Without letting go of Barry’s head, Leo said “What’d you say?”
“I said: everything’s alright.” Barry tried to disentangle himself.
“You sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You know you can tell me if things ain’t alright.”
“Yes sir.”
“We got an understanding?”
Barry could feel a lump rising inexplicably in his throat. He swallowed hard and tried to push Leo away. “Let me go, Uncle Leo.” But Leo held on, causing both of them to grunt as they each tried to gain balanced footing. Barry swung one of his arms ups to punch his uncle on the back of his shoulder. He could not name the feeling that made him want to tussle and fight, and he wasn’t sure that Leo was the one he wanted to hurt. An ache coiled upward from his chest and into his throat. He gritted his teeth and pushed hard against his uncle.
Hearing the sound of their shoes dancing without rhythm interspersed with small gasps made Edna crane her neck out from the kitchen where she had been wrapping-up a few slices of homemade pound cake in cellophane. “What’s going on out there?” Leo looked over his shoulder. “Oh, nothing. I’m just having a talk with my buddy.” He let go of his nephew’s neck. Flustered, Barry backed-away, unfolding his lanky body and panting. His nostrils flared. “Yeah, Ma. I’m just talking to Uncle Leo.”
“I don’t hear much talking...” Edna sounded skeptical. but resumed packing the brown paper bag which she handed to Juanita. “You can let the girls have a a piece of pound cake and some milk before they go to bed.”
Juanita looked at her mother, trying to decide how she felt towards her. Baby-sitting her young cousins was not something she was opposed to doing. It was just that Edna had given her permission to go over her friend, Diane’s, house....and then-wham!-all it took was one phone call from Aunt Melvina to make her plans defunct. How fair was that?
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