The great-grandkids, they didn’t understand why the photos were printed and not just stored in a phone.
That was a lesson for another time.
The nice boy they hired to move the last of the things to Joyce’s house was done, and he was sweating and probably eager to get paid.
Mailiya was going to write him a check, but Joyce just pushed a few buttons on her phone and the boy looked at his phone, smiled, thanked Mailiya and called her ma’am, and that was gonna keep Mailiya smiling through the ugly that she had to tell Joyce.
It weren’t truly ugly, ugly Mailiya was thinking, but Joyce might take it that way.
They went inside, Joyce eager to dig through the photos.
“Send the little ones out ta playin’ first, Joycey. We’s gotta have a talk first.”
Mailiya heard Joyce say “Go to Dave and Buster’s”.
Mailiya thought that must be a homosexual couple, but the way the kids whooped they damn sure musta spoiled them when they came over to visit.
Joyce put some iced tea in front of Mailiya, who sipped it and smiled when she realized Joyce put some Amaretto in there.
“The Kent County Historical Society is going to give us a stipend for some of the circus photos, Nana,” Joyce said, rubbing Mailiya’s arm excitedly. “They got a grant from the Majette Family Trust.”
Mailiya pursed her lips, silently chuckling at the words.
“My Grandma had a circus before that family had one store.”
Joyce knew that bit of trivia, but just smiled and nodded.
“I want to dig into the pictures, Nana. What do you have to tell me?”
“My grandma had a lot of rules. You ever hear the knife throwing rule?”
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