"Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up." "Nova, you should be driving to St. Jo's right now." "You know how these storms shift every which way." "So, whatever you're doing, stop and get your behind here." "Okay?" "All right." "The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning for southern Louisiana and coastal Mississippi." "And a direct strike of Tropical Storm Peter is expected." "Well, this sucks." "Last week's interview sealed the deal." "Today was just a meet and greet." "Relax, honey." "Y'all ain't still planning to go to that school?" "Doubt it." "Not in this weather." "When are we going to reschedule the tour then?" "A tour of what?" "That place ain't college." "Gardini Prep is NOLA's top private school, Aunt Vi." "Did y'all think about going to St. Jo's high school?" "Now, as you know, our last big storm on record..." "Well, schools don't turn their nose up at St. Jo's." "LSU, Ole Miss..." "Texas Tech." "And the list goes on." "I think Micah's looking more to, you know," "Harvard, Stanford, MIT." "The other Ivies." "Yeah." "They're closed due to inclement weather." "Well, good." "Micah, you can go take them fancy clothes off and grab all the blankets, coats and towels out that closet." "Is it going to get that bad?" "Well, we're going to treat it like a snow day." "Make some fun out of it." "I got to go." " Wait, you're leaving?" " Where are you going?" "I got to go check on the farm." "You tell Ralph Angel I said to bring that boy over here." "Everybody knows this is the family safe house." "Hollywood's there." "What do I tell him?" "I said family." "He's grown." "He can take care of himself." "And whoever else he's got over there taking care of." "Take this seriously." "This is a major event." "This is Tropical Storm Peter..." "The heavy rain expected from Tropical Storm Peter may potentially put mild pressure on the levees here in New Orleans." "Though the rain has yet to begin to fall," " expect some light sprinkles..." " Miss Blanche, don't your niece need a ride?" "Holy Cross will be on the evac list if they have to put one out." "Her boss don't care if a hurricane coming or the end of the world." "They already said they're going to fire that girl if she don't come in in the morning." "There is a concern at this hour that Tropical Storm Peter could shift course, possibly making landfall tonight, posing the most acute threat from a tropical system since Hurricane Sandy." "All indications have Peter reaching New Orleans..." "The Ninth is not ready for another hurricane." "It's barely ready for a sunny day." "Aunt Vi?" "I'll call her back." "Your niece will be okay, Miss Blanche." "The Lord willing and the creek don't rise." "...as to the length and duration of Peter." "We're hoping it stops during the night, but very possible that it continues on for a day or two after." "How the hell we supposed to ride out a hurricane here?" "You ain't got nothing." "Ain't no hurricane yet." "But we got food." "What, stale-ass cereal and three-day-old milk?" "Flashlights." "Batteries." "Look, I got what Pop had, all right?" "That means you ain't got nothing." "Hell, I see why you was always at Vi's house." " Hey." " Hey!" "Hey, what's up, sis?" "Look who it is!" "Mwah!" " Hi, baby." " Got to go." " Okay." " Okay." " Prosper still out there?" " No, he headed home." "Remy out there, though." "What about the workers?" "Are they still here?" "Yeah, but they need to get paid before they leave." " You bring cash?" " Yeah." "Is the rest of the cane in?" "Only 10 acres left to go." "Good." "They need to finish, because if it floods..." "Oh, it's going to flood." "The only question is, how much?" "Wood, Ralph Angel, can we pay these guys so they can take off?" "Yeah." " Hey." " Hey." "So they're done planting?" "No." "Prosper said to let them leave." "No, we need to finish this now." "That's the point of all of this." "Charley, pay them and let them leave." "Yeah, their bus pickup way over near Jones' farm." "That's 40 minutes from here." "No, but the weather report says that it's just a tropical storm." "The weather changes quick here." "They stay an hour away." "You want to risk them missing the bus and being stuck here?" "They can finish the planting and still make the bus." "Uh, after..." "Okay?" "Gracias." "Gracias." "Gracias." "Vamos." "Doppler radar is indicating that Hurricane Peter is coming up with more force" " with the coastal winds..." " A hurricane?" " Damn." " Only a matter of time that we were officially given the upgrade to a category 1 hurricane, with winds now reaching around 70 miles per hour." "Experts expect this..." "You want to stay at my place?" "It's a little soon for that, ain't it?" "I meant for safety, Nova." "Sorry about that." "I'm just not a..." ""two dates and a U-Haul" kind of girl." "Calvin." "Don't pick up." "You're our last stop, Miss Blanche." "You a blessing, baby." "That's all you got for me in that bag of yours?" "...80% of New Orleans was submerged at one point," "The water reached six to 12 miles inland..." "Now this here, this is what I'm talking about." "This will get me through any storm." "Okay!" "Yes, indeed." "You be safe now." "Watch your step." "There we go." "...very unlikely that Peter will be even remotely as destructive as some of his predecessors, the danger is real..." "You scared me half to death." "Are you on the 10 headed this way?" "No, not yet." "I'll be leaving soon." "Why haven't you left yet?" "I had to help out a few folks in the Ninth." "You know how it is." "I know how it was last time." "Stop worrying, Aunt Vi." "Well, I'm going to worry, because you gave me cause to." "You hacking your way out that roof, up there nearly a day." "We could have lost you." "But y'all didn't." "I have a responsibility to my neighbors, especially when they can't help themselves." "Yeah, well, that's all and good, but now this a hurricane, so you get yourself on the 10 before Pontchartrain flood." "Please." "And call me when you do." "Okay, Aunt Vi." "I will." "Wind gusts up to 95 miles an hour, which is gonna be pretty intense..." "Don't be scratching up my truck." "Ain't nobody scratching nothing up." "What I look like?" "What you doing here, Darla?" "I wanted to give Blue his birthday gift." "A hurricane coming, and here you go being you, huh?" "You're too late." "You can't even get his birthday right." "I didn't have the money last month." " Can I give it to him?" " No." "You can't just come in and see him whenever you want." "That ain't how this work." "Look, go home, Darla." "You ain't got no business being out in this weather no way." "All right?" "They evacuated my trailer park." "I just stopped by on the way to the shelter." "You ain't got no new friends at that city hall job of yours?" "Mommy!" "Hi!" "You got so big!" "Mommy!" "Oh, my goodness, look at you!" "Is that for me?" "Who else would it be for?" " Checkers?" " Mm-hmm." "Can we play?" " Just for a little bit, buddy." " Okay." "Don't push it." "How about we play Go Fish first?" "Ooh, that sounds good." "Ain't no time for games now, all right?" "All the roads around St. Jo's done closed up." "Hurricane done shifted." "Upgraded to a category 2." "All right, let's pack up these trucks." "I'm worried about him." "Violet, too." "If two people want to get together, can't nothing hold that back." "Not even themselves." "You don't need to waste time over here helping us out when you got a house of your own to take care of." "Lady, I felt this storm coming a week ago." "My place is ready for whatever may come, hell or high water." "You a psychic?" "Just a man with a bum knee." "Uh-uh-uh." "About to get splinters all in your hands." "Let it go." "Here." "Just put it there." "Aunt Vi's the only place to hole up, Darla." "Ain't no backup." "Come on." "Come on, boy." "The storm might not be that bad." "Hop in the truck, Blue." "Violet probably won't have the room for all of us." "What you gonna do, Darla?" "We ain't got all day." "Come on." "I'll put all of them back there." " I got yours." " Thank you." "You got it." "Y'all finish up that last window." "I'm going to meet y'all at Vi's." "Yeah." "See y'all later." " Hey, be careful." " You too, now." "I'm going to bring them in, release them, and then I'll bring in the combine from the fields." "But they haven't finished it yet." "You want them to get stuck out there?" "I'll do it." "Okay, baby, put that water in the refrigerator and crank it on high so that the food won't spoil if the electricity goes out." "And then go out into the shed and round up batteries and lanterns." "They should be over the dryer." "Are you okay?" "I will be as soon as Nova answers her phone." "She's dodging calls like I'm a damn bill collector." "Nova, an hour done passed and gone, and you're still not here." "Get here before this storm blows you away!" "What do you think you're doing?" "Saving you from getting some new windows." "This thing up here all crooked and whatnot." "You should be concerned with boarding up windows where you live." "That ain't here." "All right." "Is that my Blue?" "Yup!" "How are you doing, Miss Violet?" "Mom surprised me, Aunt Vi." "You and me both, baby." "Mwah!" " You want to show me your room?" " Yeah!" "Come on, come on!" "Tell me, what the hell is that girl doing here?" "She just showed up." "I ain't ask her." "But Blue got all happy about her being here." "What you want me to do?" "Bad enough that Hollywood done made his way into my house, but Darla?" "Oh, unh-uh." "She got to go." "What, you want me to kick her out?" "Damn right, that's exactly what I want you to do." "In front of Blue?" "You ain't even thinking how this is going to mess with his head." "That girl being here is already messing with his head." "She treat being a mama like a damn revolving door." "So you right." "I ain't got no problem with revolving her ass right on out of here." "Holy..." "I'm going to head out and go to the store." " Be careful." " Mm-hmm, y'all, too." "Whoo!" "I'm going to..." "Watching this storm as it gains in strength and intensity out there over the gulf." "These warm gulf waters making this an extremely unstable..." "I hope you know you're not leaving this house." "You kidnapping me?" "If it keeps you from getting into a wreck, then yes." "I'm not the hardheaded one." "That's your M.O." "I'm certain." " Ah." " Not hardheaded." "There's a big difference." " Oh, is there?" "Okay." " There is, actually." "Hurricane Peter has been upgraded to a category 3 hurricane, folks." "Yup, looks like you're staying here tonight." "Mm-hmm." "And it's not even up for discussion, Remy, so don't try it." "Final word." "You all right, Aunt Vi?" "Nova won't answer her phone, and she was supposed to be here two hours ago." "Hey." "How y'all doing?" "You can't pick up a phone?" "Making Aunt Vi worry like that." "You ain't worried about me." "So just don't get in it at all." "Oh, I'm going to get in it." "You drove my blood pressure up waiting on you." "I'm sorry." "You can expect winds in excess of 110 miles per hour..." "Wet enough for you?" "Let's just say a sister's happy to have locks." "You know water's the black woman's kryptonite." "What's the weather like in NOLA?" "The Ninth already got four inches, but my place is ready for it." "If you left the Ninth and moved to the Quarter..." "I rebuilt in the Ninth before, and I'll do it again if need be." "Everybody doesn't run from home and family just because shit gets tough." "Hey." "Hey." "Hey, Nova." "How've you been?" "Hey!" "Whoo!" "I don't know why you try to fight it." "You swear your butt half mermaid." "Come on now, Hollywood." "Only a fifth?" "We going to be in here all night, child." "Ah." "Got something for you, though." "Oh!" "So, you intend on getting that ass whupped tonight?" "What?" "You don't even know how to sit at no spades table." "My partner take all your books, you going to act like you don't even know how to play the game, girl." " Okay." " Ain't that right, partner?" "It's like that?" "Yeah, we going to see tonight." "Be right back." "How'd you like Gardini Prep?" "Oh, it got canceled." "Everything shuts down around here." "Mardi Gras, Super Bowl, rain." "Don't matter." "How'd you know we were going to visit?" "I texted her." "I think you're going to like it there." "That campus is nice." "Plush." "I just hope the students are hella cool." "I just hope the academics are hella cool." "Well, when you get in, which I'm absolutely sure you will, because you're brilliant, you can stay with me during the week if you want." "Wait, for real?" "Ain't nobody got time to be driving back and forth from St. Jo every day." "And you know we'd have some fun." "You have your own life, Nova." "You don't need to be inconvenienced." "How's my nephew an inconvenience?" "Taking care of a teenager is a lot of responsibility." "I don't need taking care of." "It's a new city for him..." "A city I can show him around." "Micah doesn't need to be walking around New Orleans..." "The spades table is ready." "Now, who want to get their ass spanked?" "Oh, hell, no." " No, no, no, no." " Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh." " What?" " Uh-uh, you are not using your cheating ways to bring the spades your way." "I heal, not steal." "Yeah, well, your behind's going to need a healing when I steal your books." "Charley, you are Nova's partner." "No, no." "Rah's my partner." "Why my partner getting stole?" "You cheat." "Y'all be using signals, underbidding," " talking across the board." " I bid my books, bro." "Come on." "Get up, man." "Come on." "Rise and fly, my love." "Rise and fly." "Man." "Man, I'll play." "Just teach me." "This is what you can do right here." "Baby!" "We love you, but you got to go." "Chuck E. Cheese is that way, young fella." "Keep the score." "Remy, keep him honest." "There's grown folks at this table." "Whoo-whee!" "That's what I'm talking about" "Big joker's the big joker." "Little joker's guarantee." "First hand bid..." "House rules." "I'm just trying to say." "We don't need to announce the house rules." ""'That dog is crazy, ' Emily said." "'Crazy happy, ' I answered." "'Just like me.'"" "The end." "Read another story, please." "I'm all out of books, baby." "Ask Pop for another one." "I can tell you one I heard a long time ago." " Want to hear it?" " Yup." "Okay, so there were two best friends who used to play together." "A girl named Olivia and a boy named Oscar." "Olivia never had toys, but Oscar would always make sure that both of them had something to play with." "Why didn't Olivia have toys?" "Olivia's parents didn't have a lot of money." "Like me and Pop?" "No." "You got a great daddy." "Olivia didn't have one like yours." "Her pop wasn't around to give her gifts like that." "So, one day, Oscar and Olivia were playing in the woods, and came across this beautiful toy." "It would giggle, play, tell jokes." "They'd never seen anything like it before, because it was a special toy, magically made just for them." "Oscar and Olivia both fell in love with it." "At first sight." "They played together with the toy every day." "But then Oscar had to go on a long vacation, leaving Olivia all alone." "She'd write to Oscar every day, telling him all about her adventures with their favorite toy, but she didn't know when he'd return." "She so was sad." "One day, Olivia made other friends." "But they weren't nice friends." "Were they mean to her?" "Yeah, but Olivia was really mean to herself, and she didn't take care of her and Oscar's magical toy... which made Oscar very angry." "And when he finally came back from vacation, he had to take the magical toy away from Olivia," "because he could give the toy all the love Olivia wasn't." "See, he loved and missed the toy too." "So, Oscar thought the toy was his, and Olivia thought the toy was hers." "But they forgot that they were best friends." "They thought that they were on different teams, when they really were always on the same side." "Did Oscar and Olivia ever share the toy again?" "Yeah." "It took a while, but they did." "Uh-uh, uh-uh." "You reneging, Hollywood." "The hell you say?" "You drop a club when spades hit." "You think I reneged, point the book out." "Why don't you use your little stone to find it." "You a liar, and the truth ain't in you." "You can't say it like Daddy, Nova, so don't even try." "Sorry, Daddy." "That cigar hanging out the side his mouth..." "You're dropping ashes everywhere." "About to burn the house down." "That's when you knew you were in trouble." "Then he'd slap that card on his forehead just waiting to set you." "He would slam that card down on the table and holler..." "Bam!" "Wasn't no winning after that." "Oh, that man could play, I tell you." "Micah, what's the score?" "Uh, 762..." " ...to 690." " We was only going to 500." "We could have done won." "How are you gonna play me and your mama like that?" "Remy, you were supposed to be watching him." "Listen, listen, listen, when you come and stay with me," "I'm going to teach you." "I'll tell you all the little secrets, too." "Micah hasn't been accepted yet, so..." "He's a shoe-in." "Just watch." "Yeah, he might be." "What?" "You don't think I can get in?" "No, baby, your application is impeccable." "They would be stupid not to have you." "They'd be downright dumb!" "You know, it's just that Nova's not up to keeping Micah five days a week anyway." "I know what I can handle, Charley." "Micah's no problem." "Well, he's not ready to stay with you yet." "And why is that?" "Your lifestyle, it's..." "It's not ideal for someone like Micah." "Lifestyle?" "What is that even supposed to mean?" "Nothing." "Want to play my hand?" "You know what?" "You ain't said nothing but bullshit up until now." "So, what do you mean?" "Y'all are going to wake up Blue." "If there's something I want to say, Nova, I'm going to say it." "No, let her talk, Aunt Vi." "Charley's been having sugar poured on top of shit all her life." "My life?" "My life is anything but sugarcoated." "I lost my husband." "I lost my life." "Micah lost his life." "Micah could build a new life if you weren't so damn overprotective." "And if you think my lifestyle of sleeping with a woman is going to corrupt Micah, you just hateful." "I couldn't care less about you sleeping with a woman." "Well, if that ain't it, then what lifestyle you talking about?" "You're not a mother." "You grow weed." "And you smoked that weed with me." "Now what?" "I'm waiting." "If it's for an apology, you're going to be waiting a long time." "I don't want a damn apology!" "I want you to be a grown woman and come the hell out with it!" "You live in the Lower Ninth!" "I'm not going to put my son in a position to be killed, shot, or in need of a $10,000 bailout." "Oh, here we go." "No, no." "You wanted me to go there, so I'm there." "Your ego is so big you can't even apologize without making excuses." "You were wrong!" "You took the money!" "But no, no, no, you can't say it." "Why say sorry for something that I did" " that was right?" " Oh, my God!" "It was for a greater good." "What about my damn greater good?" "You know what?" "You..." "You a bougie bitch." "You know that, right?" "I may be bougie, but at least I'm not having an affair with a married man." "I actually value marriage, even if no one else in my life does." "And I'm not gonna have my son be stuck again in a house where people who claim to love one another disrespect each other and break their promises." "You want to live foul?" "Okay, you do you." "But you leave my son the hell out of it!" "Pop!" "It's okay, Blue." "I got this." "You can leave." "No, Mommy, stay." "It's all right, buddy." "Let's count the seconds until the thunder, okay?" "That's how we know how close the storm is." "Pop, will you get in the bed?" "I don't know if I could fit, buddy." "But I'll tell you what." "Scoot over and I'll try." "Okay." "All right." "You messing around with somebody else's husband?" "And you're doing this with all that your baby sister's been through?" "We're not together anymore, so... this ain't the same." "It ain't the same as... looking at your own mother," "and everything she went through with Ernest... and Charley's mama?" "Or don't you remember any of that?" "I haven't forgotten anything." "Yeah, I miss him, too." "If Ernest knew the mess you pulled with your wife," "he would've run you out of town like he did Jimmy Dale." "Vi, I know you mad at me." "But how do you fix your lips to compare me to Jimmy Dale?" "That man wasn't no man." "He was a coward." "I would never put my hands on you." "How could you say something like that?" "No, you never hit me." "But you sure knocked the hell out of me." "Every word you said was a lie." "I ain't never lied when I said I loved you." "And it wasn't no lie when I said you was the only one for me." "You know that." "You sure about that?" "Me and Leanne was done way before we even started." "One-night stand ain't no foundation for a marriage." "So that's supposed to make things better?" "That a fling put it on you so good you had to drop down on one knee?" "It wasn't like that." "I was trying to to do right by her and that baby, so we got hitched." "Then she lost the baby... and she got worse." "And I was the only shoulder she had." "She has family." "She got a cousin that's a telephone operator that calls me every time she gets off them pills." "Well, it's funny that you... didn't mention any of this when you and I got going." "You said you didn't want to get married again." "And me and Leanne was way done." "And I didn't risk you not wanting to start up with me because of it, so I left the past in the past." "My big mama would roll over in her grave if she saw I wasn't trying to help anybody like that." "Me and you, we ain't Jimmy Dale and Leanne." "We better than that." "Are we that much better?" "Hey." "Hey." "He sleeping good?" "Better than us." "You can make a pallet in the living room to sleep on." "I'll stay here with Blue." "We could both stay." "Ralph Angel, come out here." "Ralph Angel?" "Come here." "You making a big mistake." "I told you about that girl." "You letting her right back in, ain't you?" "Aunt Vi, please stay out of something." "For once." "I told you about her, and I did stay out of it." "Look what happened." " Blue's what happened!" " That may be true." "But can't nobody trust that girl." "After what she done to Blue?" "To you?" "I'm not my past mistakes, Miss Violet." "These past 18 months," "I've been clean." "You come 18 years from now saying that, and I'll believe it." "You want me to wait 18 years before I get my son back?" "Get him back?" "If it were up to me, you wouldn't lay eyes on him." "I want... to thank you." "I never got the chance to say thank you, Miss Violet." "And I want to thank you." "You saw me at my lowest point." "You saw me in hell." "I didn't even want to exist anymore." "Not breathe." "Not see." "Not hear." "Love couldn't even reach me." "And you picked up my baby." "Gently." "I remember." "And I remember you running that man out of that motel room." "And you could have yelled at me and cursed me." "But I remember you covering me up and saying, "God bless you, girl."" "I remember that." "And when you walked out of that door," "I thought..." ""Thank God."" ""Thank God, Blue will be okay."" "So, I thank you." "Both of you." "And I want to make amends." "I want to pay back my debts... and bring goodness to where I brought discord." "That's all I'm trying to do." "And I hope..." "I hope that one day you'll see fit to let me."