Red Hats by Damon Wayans Page B

he was confident that not only would she get her money, but if she was up to it, she also had a case against the building owner for not having the fire alarms up to code.
    Alma stated that she only wanted what was hers. This seemed to impress James.
    When they arrived at the insurance company, Alma was ready to sit through hours of questioning, but James asked her to wait in the reception area while he went into a glassed conference room with a couple of their big-shot attorneys.
    Alma didn’t hear what was being said, but she noticed how quickly James was able to make the men in the room uncomfortable. He gestured toward her several times, causing the men to look in her direction. It took almost three hours for them to go through all of the documents James produced. Alma was wired from the coffee the receptionist kept bringing her and started to pace, so much so thatshe had to walk the stairs several times to calm the jitters. After the third journey up and down the six stories, James caught up with her on the stairwell.
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “They were tough. I had to play the race card, the widow card, and the we-will-sue-you card.”
    “What did they say?”
    “Your check will be in the mail by the end of the week.”
    Alma screamed for joy, grabbed James, and gave him a big hug. He flashed that million-dollar smile, and she quickly removed her arms from around his waist.
    When Alma returned
to Dee’s place, she was in a terrific mood. Tears were the last thing she expected to encounter. Dee was sitting on the couch, sobbing uncontrollably. An empty pie tin and a few candy wrappers were on the floor around her.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I went to see Kelly and asked her what I could do to make us better, and she said the only thing I could do for her was to die! How could she say that to her mother? What did I ever do so wrong to make her hate me like this?” Dee wept.
    “I learned that children only treat you with respect if you demand it from them. She sounds as if she needs some discipline.”
    “I know. Her father used to tell me to spank her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it because we spent so much time together. I wanted her to love me. She hates me!”
    “Dee, why are you sweating so much?” Alma asked with concern.
    “Maybe it’s from eating too much sugar. I don’t feel well. My head is spinning, Alma. Please stop the room from spinning.”
    Dee’s eyes began to roll up, revealing the whites. Her body started to shake violently. When she spewed them both with partly digested pecan pie, Alma knew it was time to call the hospital.
    “Send someone right away, and we need an ambulance.”
    It took only seven minutes for the cops and ambulance to arrive. Alma made sure they moved quickly. She climbed into the ambulance and went with them to the hospital after collecting Dee’s purse with all of her personal information.
    Alma was pleasantly surprised to see a few of the Red Hats had beaten them to the hospital and alerted the doctors that Dee was on her way. They were very organized, which impressed Alma. She was confident that she had gotten this same tender loving care when the Red Hats found her after her attempted suicide.
    Alma said her own silent prayer as Magdalena held hands with twenty-six Red Hats and prayed loudly in the waiting area for Dee’s return to health. It was too showy forher to hold hands like that. It felt forced. After about two hours, the doctor approached the group to explain Dee’s condition.
    “She’s going to be OK. We had to amputate her left foot because the gangrene was spreading up the leg.”
    “You what?” Alma demanded. “Who gave you permission to do that? Did you ask her if that’s what she wanted?”
    “I’m sorry, but we did what we had to do. She will recover completely,” the doctor said.
    “You don’t recover completely when your left foot has been cut off against your will!” Alma shouted.
    The doctor turned and walked away.