“Don’t want you and your sister playin’ snotty tricks on me like those brats on TV,” Tex said.

I blinked.

“The brats on TV are usual y kids, not adults approaching thirty like Lottie and me.”

His bushy eyebrows hit his hairline.

“Wasn’t very adult, pul in’ each other’s hair and having a f**kin’ catfight on the floor, Loopy Loo.” He had a point.

“You have my blessing,” I said.

Then I smiled liking the idea of Tex dating my Mom.

He scowled.

“What? I said you have my blessing,” I told him.

“Now I gotta ask her.”

I looked at Mom, she was watching us. Or more likely, watching Tex. She looked away the minute she saw me looking at her.

I looked back at Tex. “I think she’l say yes.”

“Yeah?” he looked uncertain.

I did my best not to laugh.

It didn’t work.

“Shee-it,” Tex said, turning away from me.

The door opened and Daisy strol ed in, her hair barely tamed by two pigtails sticking out the sides of her neck. I left Tex to his worried thoughts and Duke to his pissed off state of mind and walked out from behind the counter.

Daisy waved to me and then looked to Lottie.

“You ready, Sugar?” she said to Lottie.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Daisy’s going to take me to Smithie’s, show me some moves, make sure I get my Porsche,” Lottie explained.

“Mom’s gonna come with us.”

I thought about Mom hanging out at Smithie’s watching her daughter practice strip routines.

My family.

Then I turned to Daisy.

“Would you mind swinging by our apartment building?

Ada might want to come. With Mom out of the house, she doesn’t have much company and she might be bored.

She’d probably like to see your moves.”

This was weird, but this was true.

“No problem, darlin’,” she said to me then looked to Tex and cal ed, “Tex, you playin’ bodyguard?”

“Fuck yeah,” Tex said.

“Let’s go,” Daisy ordered and off they trotted.

Jane came in ten minutes later, Al y ten minutes after that.

Ten minutes after that, my cel rang and I flipped it open because it said, “Eddie cal ing.”

“Hey,” I said.

“You okay?” he asked.

Uh-oh.

“Should I not be?”

“With you, Chiquita, it’s a crap shoot.” Wonderful.

I strol ed from behind the counter, letting Al y deal with the customer there so I could deal with Eddie. He took my ful attention at the best of times.

I stood at the window, looking out.

“How’s your day?” Eddie asked.

“I hit the snooze button, like, ten times, then Bobby introduced me to soccer and I got to work way late. Now, I’m at Fortnum’s, Tex asked for my blessing to date Mom and then Daisy came in and gathered up Mom, Lottie and Tex to go to Smithie’s so she could teach Lottie how to strip. They’re swinging by to pick up Ada, just in case she wants to go.”

Silence.

“Smithie says Lottie’l be driving a Porsche in a week,” I told him.

More silence.

I kept going; it was like I couldn’t stop, even if I tried.

“Smithie says, if I make it a sister act, he’l put me in his wil .”

Now, there was Spanish.

This made me smile.

“What’s happening with you?” I asked, starting to feel funny and the smile died away.

This was a strange conversation because it was a normal conversation. This was the kind of conversation normal, average, everyday g-words had with their b-words, or worse, w-words had with their m-words.

He answered, but I didn’t hear him. I noticed a car braking funny in the middle of Broadway, directly across from where I was standing. The car didn’t come to a complete stop, but the backdoor opened and a body was flung out.

A body that looked like my Dad’s body.

“Dad,” I whispered into the phone and watched as Dad tumbled, limbs jiggling uselessly, not trying to break or control his rol .

“Dad!” I shouted as I watched him rol , the door to the car closed and the car sped away.

I had the cel away from my face, flipped it shut and shoved it into my jeans, running outside.

“Get her!” Duke shouted but I was gone, out the door, running into traffic, straight to my Dad’s prone body.

Cars swerved and honked and I went down on my knees in the middle of the left lane, next to Dad’s body.

He was on his side and there was blood everywhere. On his clothes, in his hair, the blood was wet and dry, new and old.

I gently rol ed him over and what I saw caused a wave of nausea to rol up my throat. Frantical y, I swal owed it down.

His face was beaten to a bloody pulp. He was barely recognizable. Eyes swol en shut. Lips cracked and ripped.

Nose smushed flat. The flesh of his cheeks cut and mangled. Most of his clothes were ripped and cut and mangled. Most of his clothes were ripped and cut and blood was flowing freely from the holes.

I bent low, putting my cheek to his and listened for his breathing while my hand went to feel for his pulse.

I heard Bobby issuing orders, “Cal 911.” and “Control traffic.”

I felt Dad’s pulse, I didn’t know anything about pulses but I figured him having one at al meant God had final y come through in a clinch.

I sat up, pul ed off my cardigan and bunched it under his head.

“Jet,” Bobby said, hand on my shoulder.

I pul ed my shoulder from his hand and careful y ripped Dad’s shirt down his chest, seeing what looked like knife wounds and bul et wounds, old and new, al over, blood seeping from them, some maroon, some red, too much of it. No one could lose that much blood and survive.

“Jet,” Bobby said again, crouching down beside me.

I heard sirens and sat down, pul ing Dad’s dead weight up to a sitting position using al my strength, pressing his torso to me, wrapping my arms tight around him and putting my mouth to his ear.

Not knowing what else to do, I started to sing softly Paul McCartney’s “Jet”.

“Get her outta there,” Duke growled from somewhere close.

I skipped a bit of the song and went to the good part about wanting Jet to always love him.

It was then, Dad was gently pul ed away from my arms by a uniformed officer and I was helped to my feet by another.

a uniformed officer and I was helped to my feet by another.

I was turned and Duke’s arms were there, going round me tight.