Reading with Patrick

Kuo returned to Patrick’s family’s house one evening to pick up the cigarettes. His mother, Mary, was there asked about Patrick’s court date, while holding Cherish. Kuo told her about the delay to February. Mary told Kuo that Patrick described Kuo as an angel watching over the family. She also said that she believed that God was watching over them.

Mary talked to Kuo about her new job as a cook at the retirement home. Mary described her boss as a sweet man, but the other women she worked with didn’t trust him because he was so good to them, even giving them a two-dollar raise. Mary told Kuo about another boss the women had had who called them the n-word and how obsequious they had been toward this woman. Mary said that Black folks around Helena expected to be treated like dogs.

Kuo asked how Mary felt after Patrick’s arrest. Mary said that she didn’t sleep for weeks afterward. Then, she met Marcus’s mother—Ms. Carly, who only lived a few blocks away. Ms. Carly talked about how violent Marcus sometimes was with her. Patrick, on the other hand, had never been violent, though James liked to see him behave that way.