Gary was a round-headed, talk-a-lot boy that grinned all the time, and James, the quiet one, was long faced, and barely spoke. He just looked at Herman steadily. Their mother finally rushed them out with show fare. “Go me home af’ta the show; don’t stay but maybe two pictures!” The boys left nodding their heads in agreement, but not really paying attention to their mother. The kitchen smelled good. Short ribs smothered in thick onion gravy, rice, collard greens, cornbread, and a sliced tomato salad. Herman ate his full plate with all the proper appreciative sounds, and then she led him to her bedroom. His smiling questioning face made her say, “We gonna sit and talk in here. Too many people come by and we won’t have a chance to be alone none. If they don’t know nobody’s here, they won’t try to come in.” Wanda really liked Herman; he was different from the men she knew. She thought, “He don’t lay around the bar all the time.
