Imogene in New Orleans Read Online Free PDF

first.” Neil rolled the calendar up and jumped out of his chair. Before Allen and Jackson could stop him, he leaped off the porch and ran next door to Lena’s Place.
    * * * * *
    Moments later, the group saw Neil dragging an older African-American woman to the front porch. She wore a New Orleans Saints cap with a mesh back.
    “You ain’t gotta yell, baby. You gonna run off my customers. Quit your fussin’, Neil. Dawn it.” She shuffled beside him, her hands outstretched on either side of her, as if at any moment she could fall. “And stop yellin’ in front of my assistant. Lord knowed she was hard to find, and I intend to keep her if you’ll hush up.”
    Jackson studied the woman. Imogene took a few steps forward to help her. She had a completely opposite reaction to the woman as Neil currently had. He frowned, and Imogene smiled. Lena looked only a few years younger than Imogene. She wore a hairnet under her cap and spoke with a singsong cadence to her voice.
    Imogene mumbled, “I thought she was Billy’s age. Lord, she looks like me, only black.” She hobbled down the steps to meet the woman.
    Lena said, “Shoot. Y’all got a family of visitors here, and you carryin’ on in such a way.” The woman removed a handkerchief from her pocket to dab her sweaty face. “And here it is close to quittin’ time. I was lookin’ forward to a cigarette and a tall glass of lemonade on y’all’s porch. Not all this ‘what you do’ and ‘how you do it, Lena Ward?’ Accusin’ me of something I ain’t did and don’t know a farthin’ about.” Lena shook her head as she spoke. “Now, Neil, you know me better than all this.”
    “Lena, Glenway had his head bloodied and we just found him today. Now, you were supposed to meet him twice this month. Twice.” Neil picked up the calendar. “And all I want to know is the purpose of the meeting.”
    “Well, first off, baby, Glenway wadn’t yo property. He was my friend too. And for seconds, I’m a grown woman and my business is my business. What if we was meetin’ for the fun of it. To have a cigarette and enjoy a drank? What would you say to that?” Lena shook her shoulders trying to straighten her back. She grabbed her hip and grimaced. She looked at Imogene. “’scuse me, ma’am, but I gotta sit down a minute.” As she sat, she gritted her teeth, the same way Imogene did when her bones hurt.
    Imogene reached her hand out to Lena. “Hey, shug, you know Old Arthur too, I see. Honey, my bones been achin’ ever since my husband, Virgil, passed.” Imogene smiled even at the sight of Lena frowning.
    Lena still managed to say, “Oh, yeah, baby. Ol’ Arthur seem to have me in his grips. I sho hate arthritis. My hips, my legs…shoot, even my fangers.”
    Imogene nodded. “Yeah, honey, do I ever know. I’m Imogene Deal McGregor. Me and the boys come down to see Neil and Allen. We seen that awful business with the Gilbert boy by accident.”
    Lena smiled and leaned forward to shake Imogene’s hand. “I’m Lena Ward. Pleasure to make your meetin’. Now, can you tell your friend and my neighbor Neil to stop his carryin’ on ’fore the law gets here?”
    Imogene gave Neil a sympathetic look, even as he stood crossing his arms and scowling at Lena, peering down at her. “Son, don’t you think this here could be a coincidence? God knows she could’ve given the Gilbert boy them sweets a week ago. And how come you think she kilt him, bless his soul?” Imogene held her knees as she spoke, so as to steady herself. She kept her back straight and looked at Lena.
    Jackson noticed Lena’s fascinating gray eyes, which were glazed and weary from a long day in her shop. They brightened at Imogene’s words. She grinned. “Baby, now this woman Imogene Deal McGregor got sense. You best listen to her. She know coincidence when she see it. Now, you say poor Glenway met his fate with a beatin’? How you thank an old woman like myself gonna whoop a big boy like