Daddy? I know the number.â
Lionel grabbed his bundle of clothes and stood. âYouâre a real comedian. Can you imagine what heâd do to me if I told him I know where to find you?â
âDonât say your name.â
He stepped into his shorts and jeans. âHeâd trace my call, have me arrested.â
âIâll tell him not to.â
âYou mustâve been laughing inside all this time, letting me jabber on, pretending you didnât understand.â He finished dressing.
Matsi could see Lionel in his yellow bus, bouncing along with the bumps on the road, steering with one hand while turning on the wipers. âIf you donât help me, nobody will,â she said so quietly he might not have heard. The marble was back in her throat.
âItâs like you were eavesdropping. Iâm deeply disappointed.â He turned away without kissing her hand, without promising to come back. She wanted to rip her voice out of her throat for saying all the wrong things.
When she returned to the contest room, T-Henry and Maw-Maw stood side by side. They looked but didnât say anything, didnât hit her for causing Lionel to leave before his time was up. There were no more contests that night. No more men arrived.
âDoan worry bout de turnout,â Maw-Maw said later when she put the girls to bed. âNo fines tonight. T-Henry gone to town, tellin all de boys bout our Hurricane Special. Next time you wake up, de place be chock a block with boys waitin fâyou.â Matsi curled into herself, thumb in her mouth. How long did it take to grow up and be able to punish people for hurting you, for making you want to die? If she were the real Empress, sheâd hurl lightning at Lionel, banish him to the moon.
They laughed when she asked, Whereâs my suitcase, my backpack? Youâre an actress, they said, in the game, now, no need for clothes. Smile for the camera, be sexy. See the others? See how they smile? One man cocked a gun and she smiled. The gun didnât get in the picture.
Look at you, a movie star, they said, making her run, jump, hopscotch on one foot. She shook with shame. It was wrong to be naked with strangers. They took pictures of men touching her, men clutching her, men sticking their fingers wherever they liked. Men rude as temple monkeys wanting only bananas, making you scream, Mummy shouting: Throw them the bunch.
Lionel had set everything off kilter. Maw-Maw woke the girls earlier the next day. Matsi was sure of it because her stomach wasnât yet rumbling. Maw-Maw hurried them through their baths, didnât fix their hair, didnât get them into their costumes, and didnât line them up behind the door. She brought them out naked and timid into the contest room where eleven men stood around a radio one man held. Matsi tried not to look for Lionel.
âHow all yâall doin?â Maw-Maw said.
âStormâs coming,â someone said. âGet on with it.â
âYeah,â said another, making his knuckles go snap.
âOkay, okay,â Maw-Maw said. âSit youself down, settle in real good. You face be red tomorra when dis bit o rain blow clear over de Guff.â
No one sat. The air felt crackly, dangerous.
âYou lucky tonight. Fâone low price, averbody can have go-go wit all but two a de dahlin. May have to wait you turn, but nobody lonely tonight.â
âHow much?â one man asked, taking a seat.
âHold you water. I gettin to dat. Fâyou boys wantin sometin to member dis liâl bitty rain, Maw-Maw got two contest tonight, each a one fâtwo dahlin never done go-go afore. Boat a dem tight as Chinee finger puzzle. You aver seen one of dem puzzle?â Maw-Maw put the tips of her middle fingers together and pretended to struggle to pull them apart. The men laughed, ugly laughs that made Matsi shiver.
Maw-Maw turned to her. âFirst on the menu: Liâl Lotus