Crescent City Connection

transfer. This was the point of his vows—to keep the human race at bay.
    No sooner did the thought appear than he smashed it down. Where the hell had that come from? The point of his vows was spiritual expansion.
    This whole exchange was making him edgy. How dare Lovelace tell him how he felt?
    Still, he was furious on her account. Better to focus on that so the anger wouldn’t get misdirected. It wasn’t her fault he hated human contact.
    He said, “Don’t be silly. You know I care about you. But don’t make too big a thing of my speaking. I’ve rethought the vow, as it happens. I’ve decided to speak when I’m not confused—and I most certainly was not confused about this one.
    “Look, in some ways, it’s just one of those things. The woman never married for love in the first place, her husband’s impotent, she just moved here, and you’re the cutest thing in the world. Fine, but not your problem. If she’s a lesbian, why doesn’t she go to a lesbian bar? Or at least find someone her own age. It’s just tacky, as these Southerners say, to jump the twenty-year-old cook. And if she’s not a lesbian, but simply an opportunist, she’s a shithead.”
    Lovelace laughed. “A shithead?”
    “Look, you didn’t do anything. The woman is a shithead, it’s that simple. I forbid you to go back to that place.”
    Lovelace was still laughing.
    “Uncle Isaac! You’re so cute when you’re really worked up.” She blushed as soon as she said it. “Omigod, I hope you don’t think… I only meant you’re funny, I didn’t mean anything else.”
    “Now she’s got you feeling bad about yourself. Goddammit.”
    “You’re so human. I had no idea you’d be like this.”
    He didn’t like her saying that. Whose business was it whether he was human or not?
    He found a pad and wrote. “I am not human. Quit being such a bitch.”
    She laughed. “I guess you’ve always been funny. I just didn’t notice because—I guess because it’s different when you have a verbal exchange with someone.”
    And not in a good way, he thought. He wrote, “You’re not going back there, are you?”
    “How can I? My uncle forbade me.” The laughter left her face. “No, I’m not. I wish I could rise above it, but it was just too embarrassing. I think it would be horrible for Brenna, too.”
    He wrote, “The hell with Brenna. But seriously. Back to Plan A.”
    “I don’t think I recall a Plan A.”
    “I was going to get you a reference from my friend who used to run a juice bar. You could still get a restaurant job.”
    “I guess so.”
    But she looked downcast. He wasn’t sure whether she no longer wanted a job or just didn’t think she could get one.
    “I’m going to call Anthony for you.”
    Her smile came back. “You’d call him? You’d really talk to him for me?”
    For some reason that seemed important to her.

Eighteen
    DORISE LOVED TWO things about church. The most important one was the way it made her feel; as if every day were a clean slate, as if you really could start over every morning and all really was forgiven. In her heart of hearts, as she was lying in bed, tears running down her face, thinking of Delavon and how she didn’t bother to find out enough about him to know he was dealing, thinking of Troy and that poor little dead dog, thinking of Shavonne and her nightmares, in the dead of night she didn’t believe it. The next day after one of those nights, she still didn’t believe it. But when Sunday morning came and that good feeling came over her, she believed it.
    The second thing she liked was the music. She wished she had a good enough voice to sing in the choir. The choir in this church was a particularly fine one, and she wasn’t good enough. But she enjoyed the hymns and put her whole heart and soul into singing with the congregation. This morning they were doing one of her favorites:
    What a friend we have in Jesus, oh what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer.
    It’s so true,
she thought,
and from now on I’m living by it. I’m not doing one thing, I’m not shooting my mouth off, I’m not so much as looking at a man until I’ve prayed about it
.
    She was feeling pure and clean and very pretty in a nice blue suit with black high heels as she went to get her chicken and rice dish, to warm it up for the buffet after the service. Shavonne was real pretty too, wearing her Easter dress again, a pretty pink one it took Dorise nearly an