Chapter 17“Is he all right?” Mom clutched a tattered robe to her skinny frame and leaned against the doorjamb. The porch light made her skin look yellow.
I’d been so deep into sleep, I hadn’t even heard the knock, but her voice woke me. I pulled on a pair of pants and got to the door in time to see a vaguely familiar man walk down the sidewalk and disappear into the night.
“What is it?” Nola asked. Little Junie, still in their sofa bed, started whimpering.
I took Mom’s arm and closed the door. She said nothing as I led her to the kitchen table. Nola got Junie and sat across from her, bouncing the baby on her lap. I handed Mom a glass of water and took a chair.
“That was Aaron, a friend of your father’s.” Her voice was hollow. “He’s in jail. They’ve got your father down at the jailhouse
