Right as Rain

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They heard Janine's voice, calling them from the bottom of the stairs. Strange lowered his gaze to the floor.

'C'mon, Terry,' he said, his voice nearly a whisper. 'We better go.'

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Lionel Baker came home at one forty-five in the morning, nearly two hours past his curfew. Janine had been waiting in the living room, parting the curtains of the front window every few minutes to check for her son, as Strange sat patiently beside her. A Lexus finally pulled up on Quintana in front of her house, and when she saw her son emerge from the car, Janine said, 'Thank the Lord.'

Strange knew Lionel had been smoking herb, or doing something other than just drinking, as soon as he walked through the front door. Lionel's pupils were dilated, his movements awkward and slow. He didn't look his mother in the eye as he greeted them with a 'Hey' and tried to get past them and up the stairs without another word.

'Hold on a minute, Lionel,' said Janine.

'What is it?' he said, looking at her directly for the first time. He glanced at Strange, then back at his mother, and an impudent smile threatened to break on his face.

'Where you been, son?'

'Out with Ricky, just rollin', listenin' to music… Can't you just let me go up to my room for a change? You always be stressin' and shit.'

Janine rose up from her seat. 'Don't you be takin' a tone with me, young man. Me and Mr Derek been sitting up, worried that you were in some kind of trouble, or worse. And now you come walking in here late, lookin' all red-eyed-'

'How about y'all?'

'What?'

'Forget it, Mama,' said Lionel, with a wave of his hand. He turned and went up the stairs.

Janine froze for moment, then moved to follow her son. Strange took hold of her arm.

'Hold up, baby. I'll talk to him, all right?'

On the second floor of the house, Strange knocked on Lionel's closed door. Lionel did not respond. Strange turned the knob and walked inside the bedroom. Lionel was standing, looking through his window, which gave to a view of the street. Strange crossed the room and stood beside him. Lionel turned to face him.

'Lionel?'

'What?'

'You know your mother loves you, right?'

'Sure.'

'When she asks you where you been all night, it's just her way of lettin' off a little steam. She's been sittin' down in that living room, worried sick about you, for the last two hours, and you come through that door, she's got to give you a taste of what you been puttin' her through all night.'

'I know it. It's just… I'm nearly a man, Mr Derek. I don't need all these questions all the time, see what I'm sayin'?'

'While you're livin' under her roof, and she's payin' for that roof, it's something you're just go

'And there goes Mama, tellin' me my eyes are lookin' red, when y'all look like you been smokin' cheeva your own selves.'

'We drank a few bottles of beer, tonight, that's all,' lied Strange. 'I don't know, maybe we had one too many, but we did have fun. I'm not go

'You're not my father,' said Lionel softly, and at once his eyes filled with tears. 'Don't call me son.'

Strange put his hand on Lionel's shoulder. 'You're right. I never did have the kind of courage it takes to be a father to a boy for real. But there's sometimes when I look at you, when you're making one of your jokes at the dining room table, or when I see you dressed up, lookin' all handsome and ready to go out and meet a girl, and I get a sense of pride… There's sometimes when I look at you, Lionel, and I get the kind of feeling that I know a father must have for his own.'

Strange pulled Lionel to him. He felt Lionel's heart beating hard against his chest. He held Lionel for a little while and let him break away.

'Mr Derek?'

'Yes?'

'The way it is with you and my mother… What I'm tryin' to say is, I know what time it is, see? I know you're tryin' to not disrespect her by staying in her room while I'm here, but I was thinkin'… I was thinkin', see, that you disrespect her even more in some way by not waking up in her bed.'

'Huh?'

'What I'm sayin' is, I'd like it if you just went ahead and stayed the night.'

'I'll, uh, talk to your mother,' stammered Strange. 'See if that's all right.'

Strange went down the hall to Janine's room. Inside, Janine was sitting on her bed, the toes of her stocking feet touching the floor. Ronald Isley was singing 'Voyage to Atlantis' from the clock radio set on her nightstand, and she had turned the light down low.

'Everything okay?' she said.

'Fine,' said Strange. 'He wants me to spend the night.'

'Do you want to?'

'Yes.'

'You feed Greco?'

'I opened a can of Alpo for him before we left my house.'

'Come here,' said Janine. She smiled and patted the empty space beside her on the bed.

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He was sober now. He stretched and walked naked to her window, turning the rod of the miniblinds to open an angle of sight. He looked out the window to the sidewalk on 10th, illuminated by street lamps. A young black man was walking down the sidewalk in an oversize, hooded jacket, glancing in the windows of the parked cars he passed.

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