"That way, we can pick our favorite and sell the rest on eBay and get our money back."

"If only!" she exclaimed. "I have two teenage daughters. If you get away with it, let me know. They're at that age where they're not quite human."

"I'm surprised my mom still talks to me after what I put her through."

"I'll bet you were a handful."

"I was."

"You have a good day, Wiley," she said, taking her change.

I was almost four hours into my shift before Mr. Owen allowed me to take my fifteen-minute break. I carried the bag of goodies Jackson had bought to the break room and wolfed down what I could, thinking I was going to have to do a lot of loving on that man as a way to say thank you.

64) The party

WE ATE ATE an abundance of hot dogs, hamburgers, and cake. an abundance of hot dogs, hamburgers, and cake.

All my aunts and uncles and cousins had come, along with Mrs. Humphries, Tonya and Keke, my friend Jasmine and her partner Lisa, and many others. Neighbors, too, and Mama's friends, even Father Ginderbach, who had an interesting, if somewhat tortuous conversation with Papaw about why he no longer went to ma.s.s.

We had a good eating.

Papaw was in fine form, though his remarks were sprinkled with the sort of profanity that would make a politician blush.

While Noah, dressed in his Superman cape and mask, was distracted with the present-opening extravaganza, Jackson disappeared into the house to change into the Iron Man costume. He waited until I texted him that we were ready for his grand entrance.

"We have a special guest today," I said, holding up my hands in the midst of the kids.

"Who is it, Uncle Wiley?" Josh asked excitedly.

"It's someone very special and I want y'all to be good because he had to come a long, long way to get here."

"Who is it?" the kids cried eagerly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jackson emerging from the front door of the house.

"Here he comes!" I said. "Now be good, because you don't want to make this guy mad. No telling what he'll do!"

"Wah!" Noah exclaimed happily, catching sight of Iron Man strolling across our yard.

The kids started screaming.

I noticed with pleasure that Jackson filled out that Iron Man costume quite nicely.

"I'm Iron Man!" Jackson exclaimed woodenly, clearly out of his element. The children did not notice nor care. "How are you, boys and girls?"

I went to greet him.

"Let me officially welcome you to the Cantrell Home, Mr. Iron Man," I said.

Jackson's mask completely covered his face so I could not judge his reaction, which was probably fortunate.

"Today is Noah Cantrell's tenth birthday!" I announced.

"Happy Birthday, Noah!" Jackson exclaimed.

Then he signed: Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Noah looked astonished.

You know sign language?

"Noah wants to know if I know sign language," he said to the kids. "Of course I do! How can I help people if I can't talk to them?"

Then, to Noah, he signed: Yes, I do! Nice to meet you, N-o-a-h! Yes, I do! Nice to meet you, N-o-a-h!

Noah went up to him, touched his arm as if to rea.s.sure himself that Iron Man was real. Then he threw his arms around Jackson's waist and hugged him.

"Let's take pictures, shall we?" Jackson said loudly when Noah pulled away.

"Who wants their picture taken with Iron Man?" I asked.

Like a bunch of tourists, they all did. I was happy to oblige.

"Well, I must go back to Hollywood," Jackson said.

"You don't live in Hollywood," Eli pointed out.

"Oh?" Jackson said.

Oops.

Where did Iron Man live?

"I've got a meeting there with... Beyonce!" Jackson exclaimed.

I looked at Noah.

Don't you want to ask him something? I prompted. I prompted.

Noah's face became serious.

Can you take care of my mom? he signed to Jackson in deadly earnest. he signed to Jackson in deadly earnest.

I don't need to, Jackson signed. She went to heaven to talk to Jesus. She went to heaven to talk to Jesus.

Okay, Noah said. Can you take care of my dad, too, and help him find a good job? Can you take care of my dad, too, and help him find a good job?

Of course! It was nice to meet you!

Noah hugged him again, which prompted a bit of a free-for-all as the kids grabbed at Iron Man's arms, trying to get his attention.

"Okay!" I said. "Iron Man has to go to Hollywood to help Beyonce! Tell Iron Man good-bye!"

The kids screamed out their good-byes as I escorted Jackson away.

When we returned, the kids had gone to play in the inflatable that Bill had hired for the party, and which sat like a behemoth on the front yard. It featured two slides and an inside area for bouncing.

Sitting down with Jackson, I watched the kids playing and wished Mr. and Mrs. Warren had come. It was past five and they had not shown up. Noah was not likely to notice, but I had, and I felt a small bit of unhappiness over the matter.

Then an old truck appeared in the driveway with Mrs. Warren at the wheel. It seemed an odd choice for transportation.

When she got out, I saw that she was elegantly dressed, making it all the more incongruous.

I went to greet her, very happy that she had decided to come.

"Thank you for coming," I said, taking her arm and leading her to the party.

"We've had quite a morning," she said. "And I'm sorry we're so late."

"We?"

"Give it a minute and you'll understand," she replied with the hint of a smile about her lips.

As I introduced her to my family and friends, we were distracted by the whine of a four-wheeler.

I turned to look in the direction of the road out front, and saw Mr. Warren driving a junior four-wheeler down the road. He made for a comical figure with his large bulk perched at the controls of a half-sized four-wheeler. He turned into our driveway and proceeded across the lawn to the inflatable.

The children rushed out to see what was happening and who he was.

"It's Noah's birthday present," Mrs. Warren said. "Harold asked his friend in Tupelo to open his store today-on the Fourth of July!-so he could buy it for Noah. I do hope he'll like it. He wanted to make a grand entrance so I dropped him off down the road."

We hurried over to where Mr. Warren had parked. Noah was standing in front of him, beaming, his Superman mask in one hand as Mr. Warren tried to use hand signals to convey his intentions. Noah had an uncertain smile on his face as if he could not believe this gigantic toy could actually be his.

Mr. Warren caught my eye, shrugged helplessly.

"This is a birthday present from your grandfather," I signed to Noah, speaking for the benefit of everyone else.

Noah threw himself at Mr. Warren, engulfing him with his arms.

Mr. Warren smiled sheepishly.

"I want to ride it!" Eli squealed.

Noah pulled away.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed.

He turned, saw Mrs. Warren, and came over to give her a hug.

"Do you want to ride it?" I asked him.

"I'll teach him, Uncle Wiley," Eli said eagerly.

Eli climbed up, and Noah sat in front of him.

"Watch him," I said to Eli.

"It's easy," Eli said, turning the key and starting it.

They rambled across the gra.s.s and the kids chased after it.

"Thank you for coming," I said in the silence after their departure. "We have plenty of food if you're hungry."

Mr. Warren struggled to get hold of himself, and it seemed as though he didn't want to speak. He seemed to be struggling with emotions that he had held in check for many, many years.

"Let's eat," Mrs. Warren suggested.

"I would ask you to forgive me," Mr. Warren blurted out, finally raising his eyes to look at me. "I believe in the Gospel of the Lord, the Gospel of Christ. And I believe, when we've done wrong, we need to ask for forgiveness. Will you forgive a very stupid old man?"

"Of course," I said.

Bill looked at me, a strangeness in his eyes. Mr. Warren was a fine, upstanding member of First Baptist. Why on earth would he apologize to the town f.a.ggot? Bill frowned as he looked away, as though embarra.s.sed on Mr. Warren's behalf.

"We still have cake," I said, trying to smooth over the moment.

"Sh.e.l.ly, watch those kids," Mama said. "You know how those boys are."

We went back to the tables. Introductions were made all around, more food was eaten, more beers taken out of the cooler. KUDZU pumped out a steady stream of country cla.s.sics.

Eli taught Noah how to drive by himself; then all the kids wanted a turn, and the mini four-wheeler went round and round.

"You're Kayla's parents," Jackson said to Mr. and Mrs. Warren after we had settled into chairs.

"Yes," Mrs. Warren said.

"I was very sorry to hear about your daughter."

"Thank you," Mrs. Warren said. "You're Wiley's...."

"Boyfriend," Papaw said loudly as Jackson struggled to find an answer. "They're queer for each other. They've gone through about five cans of Crisco at this point. The Piggly Wiggly in New Albany had to special order a whole case just for the two of them. G.o.d, what a mess they leave behind! Took Martha about a day and a half to clean up the bedroom the last time."

"Papaw!" Mama exclaimed angrily.