He keeps slipping out through the alley to get whatever he needs. Ardell sits outside and sits outside, but he never sees Jojo. Well, almost never. Jojo answers the door whenever Shana comes to visit. He scoops the baby out of her arms and swings it up high. Benjamin laughs. Once I hear Jojo call him “my little man.” Shana smiles. Jojo also comes out at the exact same time every Wednesday morning. On those days, he has his mother with him, and they walk together to the curb to get into a taxi that Jojo must have ordered. They leave. They always return a few hours later. When Jojo’s mother gets out of the taxi again, she always leans heavily on Jojo. She looks really sick. On those days, she never comes out to sit under her umbrella. “Poor woman,” my mother says one day. “What’s wrong with her?” I ask. My mother looks at me. “She’s sick, isn’t she?” I say. My mother doesn’t answer. “What does she have?” I ask. My mother studies me. Finally she says, “She doesn’t want people to know about it.”
