“Open the door for Ike, I’ll get Little Bit,” Buddy Lee said. Mya traded him Arianna for the keys and went to his door. As he walked back to his truck with Arianna, Buddy Lee heard a gentle tap, tap, tap sound. He squatted down to his haunches with the little girl in his arms. She giggled as he groaned. There was a thin but steady stream of oil leaking from the undercarriage.
I know I rode you hard, girl. Just hold out a little bit longer, Buddy Lee thought. He straightened and went to the rear of his truck. He used one hand to drop the tailgate. He sat down and balanced Arianna in his lap. She pawed at the scruff on his chin.
“I sure do need a shave, don’t I? Grandpa looking like a werewolf,” Buddy Lee said.
“Why don’t me and you stay out here for a minute? You wanna sing a song? You know ‘I Saw the Light’？ Hank Senior used to sing that one. My mama loved that song. She sang to us once when she was trying to keep us occupied cuz our lights was off and my daddy had run off with the money for the bill. See, I can tell you all this because you ain’t gonna remember it. Hell, you might not even remember me,” Buddy Lee said.
* * *
“Take her to the kitchen,” Mya said. Ike swung a right and carried Tangerine into Buddy Lee’s tiny kitchen. It was more like a kitchenette. Buddy Lee had an old, yellow chrome-and-Formica table. Ike swept the few dishes onto the floor with Tangerine’s feet and lay her prone form across the tabletop. Mya unloaded the diaper bag. Ike saw a bottle of alcohol, bandages, sutures, and rubber gloves.
“Go on outside. I’m gonna try to make this as sterile as possible.”
“You sure?” Ike said.
“Isaac, you’re just gonna get in the way,” she said. Using his Christian name was Mya-speak for “I’m not asking.”
Ike went outside and closed the door behind him. He saw Buddy Lee and Arianna singing on the tailgate. The little girl was giggling, and Buddy Lee made exaggerated faces as he sang a tune Ike didn’t recognize. It sounded vaguely religious. Buddy Lee had a powerful, melodious voice that rose and fell in all the right places. Ike couldn’t carry a tune even if it was in a bucket.
Ike didn’t want to intrude so he sat on Buddy Lee’s cinder-block steps. Barely a minute later Buddy Lee picked up Arianna and joined him on the step. He sat Arianna on the ground. She immediately picked up a rock and threw it into the air.
“She reminds me of Derek. He’d find a stick and play by himself until the cows came home,” Buddy Lee said. Ike hugged himself, squeezing his own shoulders. Twilight was rapidly approaching and the temperature was dropping just as quickly.
“Isiah would make up stories about some elves that lived in a tree in the backyard. It was a whole saga with wars and marriages and shit,” Ike said.
“You think she gonna make it? Tangerine, I mean,” Buddy Lee said.
“She’ll make it. Question is, will she tell us who the guy is?” Ike said. Arianna plopped down on her butt and banged two rocks together.
“She really done convinced herself he loves her. Like she don’t believe he had nothing to do with all this,” Buddy Lee said.
“You love a person enough and you’ll make excuses for almost anything. I saw guys on death row get requests for conjugal visits from women on the outside,” Ike said.
“Yeah, but them women crazy,” Buddy Lee said.
“Love is a kind of crazy,” Ike said. Buddy Lee toed the gravel with the tip of his boot. He had no witty rejoinder in the chamber for that one.
“Buddy Lee Jenkins, who the hell let you watch their child?” Margo asked. Buddy Lee and Ike stood up as she came around the corner of Buddy Lee’s truck.
“First off, I’m an excellent babysitter. Second, this ain’t just any little child, this my granddaughter, Arianna,” Buddy Lee said. He scooped Arianna up off the ground.
“If you such a good babysitter, why you letting her sit on the ground? Jesus H. Christ,” Margo said.
“Little Bit, can you say hi to the mean lady?” Buddy Lee said. Margo slapped him on the arm.
“Don’t pay him no mind, cutie pie. Ain’t you just about the prettiest little thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Margo said. She ruffled Arianna’s hair.
“And who is this here tall drink of water with a phobia against shirts?” Margo said. Ike instinctively crossed his arms. Margo smirked and winked at him.
“I’m Ike. I’m Arianna’s uh … grandfather, too,” Ike said. Margo nodded.