Race did come over for dinner that night, and he was very excited about something. He just had to tell me about it, but in private.

"Alys, I go' a real jahb." He couldn't hold in the excitement any longer. "Ya gonnah be able tah take care a' 'attie like a real mamah can." He tried to explain how that was going to work out, but I interrupted him.

"Race, 'attie is Spaht's li'l sistah." I said. Race's face dropped like he had just seen someone getting killed on the streets right in front of him. "'e doesn' wan' 'er back, so we can still take care a' 'er, jus'… I though' ya should know."

He just stood there in the hall for a minute. "Ya gottah be kiddin' me," he said. "My li'l goil is dat monstah's sistah?"

"'e's no' a monstah, Race." I explained about me and Hattie going to see him and how everyone thought she was his daughter and I had come to break the news to him. Race laughed. "See, Race? I didn' 'ave da 'aht naht tah tell 'im I'd found 'is long-lost sistah."

"Okay. I gottah admi', it was swee' a' ya." Race smiled. "'ow'se we gonnah woik dis ou' wid 'im though?"

I looked at him, confused. "Woik wha' ou' wid 'im?"

"Oh, I didn' tell ya yet, did I… If I'se gonnah take care a' ya an' 'attie, we'se gonnah be movin'."

Mama called out to us from the dining room that dinner was served, but I had to talk to Race about this. "Ya gonnah move wheah?"

"Alys, I don' t'ink ya hoid me. WE'SE gonnah be movin' tah New Joisey." He seemed all excited about it again. "I gaht a jahb on a farm. It won' be easy money, bu' it's da best I can do fah you goils righ' now."

"Bu'… Race… 'ow do ya know I wannah let ya take care a' us?" I asked. "I'se 'er muddah. I need tah do it. Ya can keep ya money. I don' wan' 'elp."

Race sighed. "Alys, ya can' 'elp 'er all by yaself. Ya need somebahdy tah take care a' ya too."

"I do no'." I said, stubbornly. "I can do dis all by meself. I don' need anybahdy's 'elp."

He looked so frustrated with me. Hattie ran into the room and asked why we weren't at dinner yet. Race leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I gottah go, 'attie. Bu' I'll see ya tamarrah." He walked out the front door without another look at me.

I couldn't stand to see him upset, but I just didn't want his help. Why couldn't he understand that?

"Mamah, wheah'd daddy go?"

I looked down at Hattie. "I t'ink ya need tah stahp callin' Race "daddy," sweetheart. It makes 'im feel bad dat 'e can' take care a' ya like a REAL daddy."

"Oh." She looked down at her shoes. "Can I staht callin' Blink 'daddy' then?"

I got down on her level. "Baby, I don' t'ink ya should call ANYBAHDY 'daddy'. Ya okay wid dat fah now?"

She nodded, and skipped off into the kitchen. I couldn't stand telling her to stop calling Race her daddy. It made him so happy, but I felt that as long as she did it, I was leading him on. I like him, but now that I've seen what he wants to do for me and Hattie, I didn't want to make him think I liked him as more than just a good friend.

Why did she want a daddy so badly anyway? Mine wasn't all that great. He was never home, and when he did come, he totally ignored me. I was invisible to my father. My older sisters got little presents from wherever he had gone that day, and my mother got something nice once in awhile, but I never got anything.

I walked into the dining room and everyone asked me where Race had gone. "'e 'ad to go 'ome." I said, "'e 'ad somethin' tah take care a'."

Everyone accepted my answer, and went on with dinner like usual.

After dinner, I took Hattie upstairs to my room, and we went to bed early. I needed some sleep after everything that had happened today, and she looked a little tired herself.

"Goodnigh' mamah." She cuddled close to me. "I love ya."

After hearing her say that, I couldn't get any sleep at all. She really needed parents who could take care of her. I was just keeping her off the streets right now. Hattie was a sweet little girl that needed a real home, though.

I fell asleep around three minutes before she woke up and started bouncing on my bed. "Mamah, mamah, wake up!"

I got up and took a bath. I really needed to think, and I did my best thinking in the bathtub. If Race wanted to take care of both of us, why didn't I let him take Hattie. He could take care of her by adopting her as his own, and he'd be taking care of me by not forcing me to be a mother before my time.

Natalie knocked on the bathroom door and asked if she could come in. I told her yes, and she sat on a chair next to the bathtub. "Alys, I need tah talk wid ya."

"Alrigh'." I said, "Do ya woist."

"'attie says dat ya scared Race off last nigh'. Is dat true?" Natalie heard everything from Hattie. She was like her second adopted mother. "I don' wannah cause any trouble between ya, bu' it jus' seems like ya don' like 'im so much anymoah."

"Ya righ'." I said, "I don' like 'im much anymoah." I started to cry and tell Natalie everything. She nodded her head like she understood all of it.

"Alyssa, ya gottah tell 'im all dis stuff." She really did give some good advice sometimes, so I was hoping this was one of those days. "'e don' know wha' ya feelin'. Ya gottah tell 'im." She got up to leave, but came back for a second. "An', from wha' ya tellin' me, it really sounds like ya go' a li'l crush on 'er big brothah."