“Did you get a new one?”
“No...”
He raises his brows.
“I thought you or your driver might want it back,” I say, refusing to feel like an idiot for returning the umbrella.
“You don’t think I can get another umbrella?”
I don’t know what to say. I do feel like an idiot. Of course he could get another umbrella. Hell, he could probably get a million umbrellas if that many could be had.
“Take the umbrella,” he instructs.
Like, now?
Reading my mind, he says, “Now. And I don’t want it back. Do you understand? You’re not going to prosper in life if you don’t know how to receive things.”
Umbrella in hand, I feel like a chastened child. He didn’t have to be so patronizing. I was only trying to be courteous.
He turns back to his companion, having clearly finished with me.
Rosa has emerged from the bathroom, and we pack up quickly and leave quietly.
“He gave you his umbrella?” Judy asks me as we head to the elevator.
“He saw I didn’t have one yesterday,” I reply.
“You lucky. My daughter would dream to be his girlfriend.”
“He’s not married?” Rosa inquires.
Judy smiles broadly, shaking her head, and I think that she might have dreams of her own concerning Mr. Lee.
“I was trying to return his umbrella, and I think I upset him,” I think aloud.
“Can I see the umbrella?” Rosa asks as if she expects to find it jewel encrusted.
I’m glad to have the umbrella later as it keeps me dry on my walk to the MUNI station after work. On the ride home, I get a text from Talia that she received a letter from the landlord informing us he’s raising the rent after our lease is up in two months. Dang. I’m already paying two hundred dollars more a month because Alexia’s roommate moved out, and we haven’t found a replacement to split the rent four ways instead of three.
“You’ve got to go to Berkeley,” Lila tells me when I call to update her on what the financial aid officer told me. “It’s a damn good school. ’Course, I always dreamed you would be a Tarheel like me, but you can’t pass up an opportunity like this. It’s not easy getting into Berkeley, and you did it.”
“Andre’s coach thinks he’s good enough to get a scholarship,” I say as I sit down at the dining table in my apartment and sort through the mail that’s mine.
“We’re talking about you, Ginny. I was thinking about some extra work I could pick up to support Andre’s basketball so—”
“But you work enough hours as it is,” I protest. Lila does foster placement for the county social services department. That’s how she came across me and Andre. I had been with several different foster families, and Andre had been in a home. She has more cases than the county can pay her for, and I know she donates a lot of her time.
“This is your time. Your future. Don’t give up on it.”
Before hanging up, I assure Lila I won’t make any hasty decisions. I open my credit card bill to see that I’ve racked up another hundred dollars in interest. Dang. I’ve only been paying the minimum for the last few months, and at this rate, I won’t be able to pay off my credit card until long after I’m dead.
I slouch into the dining chair and stuff my hands into my coat pockets. My hand connects with the business card I have yet to return to Tracy. Pulling it out, I stare at it.
Twenty thousand dollars. Is that for real?
I consider the kind of trouble I could get into and shove the card back into my pocket.
“I raised you better than that,” I can hear Lila saying.