"That winter was so cold in Lawrenceville that those baby pigs died," Adonis said. "But my mama brought them back to life."
I laughed. "Adonis, quit playing."
Adonis was telling me this story as we walked around a mall in Hampton. We were headed for his favorite store-the pet store-and he was telling me about having a pet chicken and pet piglets as a little kid. I loved his stories, because I'd never had a pet as a child.
"I'm not, baby! She did, really!" Adonis laughed. "Those pigs were dead and I was crying, so Ma brought the pigs in the kitchen. We turned the oven on low and laid the piglets out on the oven door."
"That couldn't possibly work," I said, taking delight in my husband's hazel eyes, which were dancing at the memory of his mother's heroics.
Adonis grew solemn all of a sudden. "Them baby pigs warmed right up and walked again," he promised, and then started giggling. "Walked right into my stomach from my plate that next morning."
Adonis and I both suddenly stopped walking, paused and looked at each other before we both burst out laughing.
"See, now you know you're wrong for that!" I said, pushing him away from me, as he just laughed.
Adonis was an animal lover, and so was I. Maybe that's why, as soon as we had a house of our own, we started our practice family. Or maybe it was just because Adonis loved to buy things on impulse.
The house had been the subject of many late-night debates between us. Around the time Adonis's lease on his apartment was due to be renewed, Abraham announced that he was making an offer on a house in his neighborhood-a house on Bloomington Street with a yard that connected to his own. Mercedes already lived next door to Abraham, on the other side; if we moved in, the entire Quiñones family would live in three adjoining houses.
"Oh, hell nah! Ain't no way I'm living next to that nigga," Adonis announced.
I had some doubts about living that close to Abraham, too, given his strong will and his temper. At the same time, I respected the man as both a manager and Adonis's father, and I didn't usually feel like he could railroad me; we had developed a mutual respect, and occasionally Abraham called me "honey."
