Deacon Rollins Brought A Casserole

Deacon Rollins arrived at 5:15 with a tuna casserole nobody asked for and a birthday card signed “With love, R.” Keisha found the card. Keisha read the card out loud. Keisha would like everyone to know she has questions about the word “love.”

Then Tre, still defending his forty minutes in the bathroom, said he heard the deacon on the porch phone saying “four, eleven, nineteen.” Which are three of Mama’s six numbers.

The deacon says he was reading a hymn number. Darnell checked. There is no hymn 41119.

Mama Pearl finally stood up, wiped the frosting off her fingers, and walked straight to the deacon’s car. She opened the trunk like she already knew what she’d find.

Inside: a second tuna casserole, a dozen roses, and an envelope with Pearl’s name on it. Not the ticket. A ring.

“Somebody,” Mama said, turning slowly to face all five of her children, “has been reading my mail.”