“Merry Christmas,” Honoree said dully. How merry could this day be? The pipes beneath the kitchen sink were frozen. No water to make a cup of coffee or a pot of tea or to boil an egg.
“TheTribunesaid the temperature would be zero degrees today.” Bessie sneezed. “Excuse me. And—and a hundred fires burned last night.”
Honoree poked her under the pile of covers. “Exactly what I just read.”
“I’m cold.” Bessie groaned. “We should go to the Dreamland Cafe or Miss Hattie’s. I bet they have heat.”
Honoree didn’t want to risk a run-in with Gallo, or Archie, or even Ezekiel. She was staying in. “I don’t want to do that. They might be on fire, too.”
“Kenny would’ve told us.”
“If you’re too cold to stay here, Bessie, you can go to Miss Hattie’s by yourself.”
“I could, but I have other places I could be.”
“What other places? Oh, let me guess.” She rolled her eyes upward like the answer was on the ceiling. “Virginia’s whorehouse or maybe someplace with Trudy?”
Bessie had gone on and on about her drive home from the Plantation Cafe with Trudy. Made it sound as if the Queen of Sheba had given her a ride.
“Trudy’s gonna dye my hair this weekend,” Bessie declared. “She said I’ll look swell as a blonde.”
“You gonna color your hair the same shade as Trudy?”
“She was awful kind to drive me home. We should be friends with her. She ain’t as bad as some people make her out to be.”
“Did she ask you to say that?” Honoree was suddenly too warm and kicked her legs from beneath the pile of clothes and her mother’s quilt. “Let’s stop talking about Trudy. I don’t need the aggravation.”
Bessie wrinkled her nose. “You smell something?”
Honoree leaned forward. “I hear something.” It was Laura Lee—shouting from the other side of the wall.
“Fire!”
“Oh my God,” Bessie wailed.
“Hush!” Honoree’s body shook. She was a runaway train, bumping over the tracks too fast and furiously. “Smoke. It could be nothing. A few flames coming from a pot on Laura Lee’s stove.”
Laura Lee’s voice screamed: “Fire! Fire!”
Honoree pounded her fist against the wall but then drew back. “Ouch! It’s hot as Hades.” She pointed Bessie toward the window. “You see any smoke?”
Bessie raced to the windowsill. “Yes! Coming from the second floor.”
A knock at the front door. More yelling. “The building’s on fire!” She recognized the voice of Laura Lee’s eldest boy. “Get out before you burn!”
Honoree pivoted. “The fire is on the front porch.”
Heat rose through the floorboards, burning the soles of her feet.
“Coming fast.”
“Too fast!”
Bessie closed the distance from the windowsill to Honoree in a breath. Her arms wrapped around Honoree’s waist, but Honoree unhinged herself and grabbed Bessie’s shoulders. “We gotta leave now.”
Free of Bessie, she whirled around, picking and choosing what to take and what to leave behind. She scooped up an armload of sewing baskets, including the heart-shaped one, and then fabric and dresses. “Grab what you can and throw it out the window,” she instructed Bessie.
They needed to hurry. Two flights up. The steps weren’t too steep, but the kitchenette was already filled with smoke.
