An American Marriage

Back in the present Roy looks at his family bible, which contains a small family tree that does not include Celestial’s name. At Walmart Roy runs into Davina Hardrick, a woman with deep Eloe roots whom he remembers from high school. Davina invites Roy over for dinner. He arrives early, saying hello through the door, and she asks for a moment to fix her hair. He looks at the streets so familiar to him from his childhood, but they don’t feel like home. 

When Davina finally invites him in, Roy admires her figure. She asks if he’s still married and he replies that he doesn’t know. Siting with Davina, Roy thinks of his wife. He recalls the time she found a receipt for two pieces of lingerie, having only received one. He’d resolved the situation by promising Celestial that he loved only her.

Davina reveals that her father ran off before she was five years old. Looking out the window at the house next door, Roy recalls his French teacher, Mr. Fontenot, who once lived there and with whom Roy grew close. He promised to help sponsor a trip to Paris for Roy if he learned the language and also gave him a book by James Baldwin. Three things prevented Roy from going on the trip, however: Big Roy thought him being the only black kid in the group could cause trouble, the cost was still too high, and Mr. Fontenot was gay; Roy’s parents worried he was taking too much of an interest in Roy. Roy asks Davina what happened to Mr. Fontenot and she replies that he passed away in the early nineties, and that Roy knows how.

Roy tries to say a blessing before the meal, but he chokes up and Davina takes over. She simply says, “Bon appétit,” and Roy again thinks of Celestial, who always said the same. Davina asks for a third time if Roy is still married. Roy tells her that he was married when he went to jail and that Celestial hasn’t divorced him, but that he hasn’t seen her in two years. She asks Roy if he knew her son Antoine Guillory when he was in prison. Roy says no, but then Davina mentions his nickname, Hopper. Roy remembers a young man named Hopper, but again says he didn’t know him.

Davina tells Roy that she won’t pour him another drink because the area has become dangerous and she doesn’t want him walking home drunk, but Roy insists he can hold his own after where he’s been. She pours them another drink, puts on some music and sits on the couch with him. She asks if he is okay and he says he is not. She consoles him, and he leans in to kiss her. They go to bed and apologize to one another for what they’ve lost: a son and a mother. Roy senses the pity in her making love to a man newly out of jail, and he wishes for his old power, as a young man on the rise. In her arms, however, Roy feels taken care of. She calls him “baby” and he asks if she has a condom. Then he begs her not to wear it and Davina relents, telling him she’s safe.