I pull the note off my door and go inside. I ain’t mad that he put it there. I’m three weeks past due with the rent. Gemini from up the hall told me that the only reason I’m still here is ’cause his bark is worse than his bite. “Sugar, his wife left with his daughter years ago. His sons never come home. I think he’d be hard pressed to throw you out. But don’t push your luck.” She lifted my hand and put a twenty in it. “Don’t you have a home to go to, sweetie? A momma?”

I told her the truth. “No.”

“Oh, that’s not good” was all she said. Then she went to work.