The Beauty of Staying Together

"Yeah, that's good," Bonnie joined in hoping Edgar would like the idea and abandon his dangerous notion of confronting Duane.

"Do whateva' you wanna'," Edgar sighed. "But I'm tellin' ya' the nigga' ain't a problem. With that, he humped his shoulders and dropped into the nearby recliner.

Columbus, Ohio had dawned a beautiful, sunshine filled day that June 10th, 1962. And if it weren't for the fact that Calvina had to hide her affair with Edgar, she would have loved to be seated out back at the picnic table enjoying the summer instead of trying to figure her way out of the mess she was in.

Roberta and Calvina crossed the yard to their apartment building where they spotted Duane peering out of the rear upstairs hall window.

Duane Dawson was a handsome, twenty-six-year-old, ex-felon who had served three years of a ten-year sentence for armed robbery. He'd been out of prison less than six months when he and Calvina were married. He needed someone to help him keep his nose clean; she needed someone to make her feel good about herself. Duane had told her all the things she longed to hear.

The two women tried to appear casual as they entered the building, but both their hearts were pounding. Calvina could only hope Duane would buy their bogus story. To appear even more convincing, Roberta had asked Duane to listen outside her apartment door for the baby while she ran to get Calvina. As they entered the downstairs door that led to the stairway Duane starred down at them from the top of the stairs. As casually as they could the two women continued their make believe conversation. At the top of the stairs they made their parting remarks. It was hard for Calvina to read Duane's face. He‘s so good at hiding his real feelings, especially around others. Duane hated for people to have a bad impression of him.