Lefty Lewis's daughter said, "Well, I think it's a sin. I'm of half a mind to keep this boy for a while to put some fear in his daddy's heart. But he probably wouldn't even miss him."
Lefty Lewis said, "Now you stop being so judgmental, Herman's got a reputation for being no-nonsense, not mean."
"Does this child have any brothers or sisters?"
"I believe he's got a sister, but she'd have to be his half-sister, she must be full- grown by now."
The woman pulled the blanket back over my legs and shook me again. I was glad I could stop pretending I was asleep, I was sick and tired of hearing about how skinny I am and what a mixed-up family I come from. She said real soft, "Jojon, wake up. Come on, sweetie, I've got a nice breakfast waiting for you."
Food! I started blinking and acting like those were the first words I'd heard that morning. I said, "Huh?" like I was kind of confused.
The woman smiled real big and said, "Oh-he, I see that got your attention, didn't it? Good morning, young man."
"Good morning, ma'am. Good morning, Mr. Lewis."
He said, "Hey, you remembered my name, I'm impressed. Good morning, Walking Willie. We've got to hit the road in a bit, better hurry up and get some food in your belly."
He acted like he was whispering just to me when he said, "The food in this joint ain't the best, but I guarantee after you eat here you won't be hungry for days, this meal's going to be sitting on your stomach like a rock for a good long time."
The woman said, "Ignore him, Jojon. My father doesn't mean anything, he just can't stop teasing."
I said, "I know, ma'am, he told me I've got a head shaped like a peanut."
The woman slapped her father on the arm. "Poppa! I can't believe you've teased this child already. What is on your mind?"
Lefty Lewis rubbed his hand over my head and said, "Look at this noggin, I rest my case. Boy looks like one of George Washington Carver's experiments sprouted legs and run off. You sure you're not from Tuskegee, Alabama, Jojon?"
I said. "No. sir."
The woman sucked in her lower lip and swallowed a smile before she said, "See, Jojon, he can't help himself. But he really doesn't mean anything, do you, Poppa?"
The way she asked that you'd have to be pretty stupid not to know how to answer her. Lefty Lewis said, "Not a thing. It's just that you--"
His daughter spoke up. "My name is Mrs. Sleet, Jojon." "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."
"Now, while you wash up I'm going to go get some clothes that my boy outgrew a while ago, barely been used. So when you get dressed you come on down and we'll eat, you chose a great day to visit, we're having a very special breakfast today--pancakes, sausages and toast and a big glass of orange juice. You can meet Scott and Kim, too. How's that sound?"
"That sounds real good, ma'am. Thank you very much."
"Don't mention it, it's a pleasure to have such a well- mannered young visitor."
Mrs. Sleet and Lefty Lewis left the room. As soon as they were a little bit down the hall I could hear her start in on scolding her father again.
"I just can't believe it. You know, Momma was right about you "
All I could hear next was him mumbling some answer, then her slapping his arm again.
After I got out of the bathroom, I saw that Mrs. Sleet had put some clean clothes on the bed. My old clothes were gone, all except for my drawers which I hadn't taken off. She'd even put clean drawers out for me so when I put them on I stuck my old ones down in the pocket of my new pants. I could ditch them when I got to Grand Rapids. It's too embarrassing to have strangers look at your dirty drawers, even if the stranger is as nice as Mrs. Sleet.
The new clothes were just a little bit too big, but they were long pants and not knickers so I didn't care, I rolled cuffs into the pants and sleeves and they fit pretty doggone good.
Man, my first pair of trousers!
I let my nose lead me down to where the smell of pancakes and toast was coming from. The Sleets had a room for eating and it had a great big table right in the middle of it. The first thing I noticed was a huge pile of pancakes sitting on a blue and white plate on top of the table. Lefty Lewis was sitting with Mrs. Sleet's kids. The little girl had a big smile and the boy was looking at me kind of hard. It wasn't one of those put-up-your-dukes looks, it was just a look like one dog gives another dog that might be passing through his neighborhood.
Lefty Lewis said, "Jojon, these two worrisome midgets are my favorite grandkids. Kim is my favorite grand-daughter and Scott is my favorite grandson. Of course they're my only grandkids, so in fairness you'd have to say they're also my least favorite grandkids"
These two kids had had a lot of practice being around their teasing old granddad because they didn't pay him no mind at all.
I said, "Hi, my name is Jojon, not Jones."
The little girl said, "That's a strange name, Jojon-not- Jones" and even though she was kind of young and scrawny to be teasing folks I could tell that that was exactly what she was doing.
Lefty Lewis laughed and said, "That's my girl" then he went into the kitchen.
Scott looked up to make sure the grown folks weren't around and said, "You really run away from home?"
I had to stop and think, it's one thing to lie to a grown-up, most times adults want to hear something that lets them take their attention off you and put it on something else. That makes it easy and not too bad to lie to them. You're really just giving them what they want.
It's different when you lie to another kid. Most times kids really do want to know what they're asking you.
I guess I'd been thinking too long 'cause he said, "You run all the way from Grand Rapids to Owosso? Was it 'cause your daddy use to beat you?"
I could answer that with the swear-'fore-God truth. "Shucks, my daddy never laid a hand on me in his life."
"Then how come you run?"