She reached me, “Sarah we’re all so sorry.”I wasn’t thinking, “Have you seen Bass. Where’s dad?”The lady looked at me. She was all puzzl...d, “You don’t know?”I asked, “Know what?”“The news”, she said, “the news over the TV. Owen saw it. He had a heart attack. Bass got here right after. It was Bass who ... he called the paramedics. They all left together.”I asked, “And dad?”She shrugged, “Dead. Well I think. They had him covered with a...”“Bass,” I asked, “My husband?”“They took him too. I. Maybe she held it all inside, but something told Claude that the wounds between his parents went deep and that maybe Phyllis’ tears were ones of joy and relief and not bereavement. Maybe she cried because she no longer had to put up with her husband’s austerity or his high standards. Now that he was dead by powers greater than herself, she suddenly found her way out of the nigger complex, no longer needing to achieve or outperform if only to win the dignity and the respect of others and. "As I was finishing drying off she came into the bathroom and handed me abottle of pink lotion. "Use this all over," she said, in a no-nonsensetone, "and rub it in good. Oh, and don't use it on your face; I've gotsomething else for that!"It took me quite awhile to apply the lotion everywhere and, by the timeI was finished rubbing it in and it had all been absorbed my skin wassilky smooth. My wife entered again carrying one of her dressing gowns,pink satin with ruffles on the hemline and at. So what's the news flash?"He opens the door and flicks open the locks. I get in the car. No, Iknow, I am vulnerable, in his power, and I am about to reveal a dangeroustruth. But I have gotten in a lot of cars with a lot of dangerousstrangers, and gotten out alive and both well fucked and paid. I feellike I can handle myself with him."Antoine, I saw you shoot that Salvo out on the street that night."He shoots me a panicked glare. "You bitch, don't you dare be coming hereto blackmail me. I.