One Dead Lawyer by Tony Lindsay Read Free Book Online Page B

oven-broiled toast with butter, a bowl of scrambled eggs with melted cheese, and a big full pitcher of red Kool-Aid. Damn, if I wasn’t grinning.
    Seeing Stanley sitting in my chair stuffing his face didn’t even lessen my joy. His mama was standing next to my new, chrome, double-sided, ice-making refrigerator, smiling. She remained dressed in the same gold sweatsuit, but she’d undone her big rollers and her hair was hanging down around her shoulders. She must have taken off her underclothes, because I could see the imprint of her thick nipples and areolas. The night before I hadn’t noticed, but Daphne had gotten kind of top-heavy over the years, adding curves to her slim, petite build.
    Looking at her reminded me of a phrase Ricky used to tease thin women. In our younger, partying days, Ricky would walk up to a thin sister at a club and ask, “Tell me, sister, how long have you been afflicted by it?” Of course the sister would ask “what?” and he’d answer with, “The disease noassatall, does it run in your family or what?” He’d offer mock concern and even buy her a drink. “I hear that if you eat a little something it might help. Noassatall is nothing to play with.”
    Some women would get it and laugh along with us. Others would just accept the free drink and his pseudo concern, not realizing that there was no disease called noassatall only that they had no ass at all.
    â€œI hope you don’t mind, D, but I’m diabetic, so I have to eat when I get hungry.”
    I didn’t think that food was on a diabetic’s diet, but I wasn’t asking.
    â€œNo problem, Daphne, as long as there’s enough for me.”
    â€œHush, you know good and well it’s enough food for all of us. Grab a chair and dig in.”
    She had set the table for three, two at one end, one on the other. Stanley was sitting at the lone plate. I sat down, scooped up and grabbed some of everything, said a quick grace and dug in.
    Daphne chuckled.
    â€œWhat?” I asked between swallows.
    â€œNothing, it’s just been so long since I’ve seen a man say grace, that’s all. It’s nice to see.”
    Stanley hadn’t said good morning, but I hadn’t said a thing to him either. After a couple more bites, I asked him, “How did you sleep, Stanley? That’s an old mattress in that room. I wasn’t sure how it would work out.”
    The boy looked different by the morning light, more clean-cut. If it wasn’t for the long chain hanging around his neck, he would have looked kind of preppy with his close haircut and clear skin.
    â€œIt was fine, Mr. Price. Everything was good. I let your dogs out in the back yard this morning. Was that okay?”
    â€œNot a problem, young man. Thanks for doing it.”
    Daphne sat in the chair next to me. All she put on her plate was cantaloupe cubes, toast and grits. When she sat down she rested her hand on my thigh. I tensed a little but didn’t stop eating. The food was good. It tasted like she’d sprinkled a little onion powder or something in the eggs.
    â€œD, I want to thank you again for taking the time to work this out for us.” She patted my thigh as she spoke. “I realize you are a busy man.”
    â€œWhat you are asking me to do is my business; no ‘thank you’ is required. This is what I do.” No, it wasn’t onion powder, it was garlic salt.
    â€œStill, thank you.” She smiled.
    And then she squeezed my thigh and let her hand fall to the inside of it. Her hand was less than a quarter of an inch away from my jones. I had held myself for Regina close to four months. I was not a man to be played with. I told myself that if Daphne kept that up I was going to take her upstairs to get something I needed very badly. She’d better leave me alone, I told myself, but I didn’t say a thing to her. I checked to see if the boy could see her hand under the