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she was moving on. She told the TV I had to go. The TV
people went to the airport with my mommy and me.”
    Even though she was really angry, Yvonne
gave the child a sweet smile. The elevator dinged and slid open.
Surprised, they both turned to look at the elevator. When no one
came out, Yvonne decided it must have been one of Abi’s
“interventions” in her life.
    “ Let’s go upstairs and
warm up,” Yvonne said.
    She picked up the child and he leaned into
her. The child was slight and small. She was sure he wasn’t much
older than three years, which just made her angrier. She carried
the child onto the elevator. She smiled when she noticed that the
button to Jeraine’s floor had already been pushed. Closing her
eyes, she said a silent thank you to Abi and to whomever else had
intervened on her behalf. In a few minutes, they were standing in
Jeraine’s old, empty apartment.
    “ But . . .
but . . . where’s my daddy?” The child’s voice rose
with hysteria. “He’s not here! What am I going to do
now?”
    “ Your daddy is my friend,”
Yvonne said. “He’s a good man, who’s trying to take back his
life.”
    “ He is?” The child’s voice
filled with wonder. Then the child scowled. “Are you one of his
whores?”
    Yvonne laughed.
    “ I’m more like one of his
mothers,” Yvonne said. “Now, let’s turn up the heat and get you
warmed up. I’ve stayed here before . . . Let’s see.
The thermostat is over here.”
    Smiling at her recovering memory, Yvonne
turned the heat up to eighty degrees.
    “ And the bathroom’s in
here,” Yvonne said.
    Yvonne carried him to the master
bathroom.
    “ Do you want some help?”
Yvonne asked.
    “ If you’re one of my
daddy’s mothers then that means you’re my grandmother,” the child
said.
    Yvonne flipped back the hood of the child’s
jacket to see a slight boy’s face. His eyes held a kind of depth of
soul that came from being very lost and very alone.
    “ Would
you . . . I mean . . .” The boy’s
eyes filled with tears.
    “ I’d love to help,” Yvonne
said. “I haven’t had a baby in a long, long time. Would you do me
the honor of letting me help you clean up a bit?”
    “ If you want to,” the
boy’s voice was vague, clearly imitating something he’d heard. He
gave a vigorous nod.
    “ I do want to,” Yvonne
said.
    She went to the tub and turned on the water.
She noticed a worn scrap of soap sitting in the soap dish. There
weren’t any towels, but she figured that would be all right. She
helped the boy peel off filthy layers of clothing. When the tub was
partially full, she set the grimy child in the water and partially
opened the drain. She left the warm water on while she scrubbed him
down with a handkerchief from her purse.
    This child hadn’t been clean in a long time.
He didn’t say a word. His eyes were like tiny soldiers watching
over the fort of his body while she worked. When his skin was
tinged pink and glowing, she drained the dirty water, rinsed off
the tub and the boy, and turned the warm water on to fill the tub.
She dropped in a few drops of lavender oil from the bottle Delphie
had given her the previous night.
    She sat down on the toilet and called
Dionne.
    “ Can you stop for
diapers?” Yvonne asked. She turned to the boy. “How old are
you?”
    “ Four and a half,” the boy
said. “But I don’t need diapers. Just at night.”
    “ Good to know,” Yvonne
said. “Why don’t we get some just in case?”
    “ Okay,” The boy
nodded.
    “ Diapers for a small
four-year-old boy,” Yvonne said. “And bring some bath
towels?”
    “ What’s going on?” Dionne
asked. “You okay?”
    “ You wouldn’t believe me
if I told you,” Yvonne said.
    “ We have Pull Ups here at
the clinic,” Dionne said. Yvonne heard her friend closing cabinets.
“I’m on my way.”
    “ Did you call my daddy?”
the boy asked.
    “ I called your
grandmother,” Yvonne said.
    “ Oh,” the boy said. “Is
she the