She put her soft hand on the side of my face, and I noticed for the first time that Mama's hands were twisting in the grips of arthritis. Memories of being five years old flooded back. I remembered how Mama's hands could hold back any problem facing me. Lord knows a man can do foolish things sometimes, she said. But that doesn't make him a fool. Sometimes a man waits too long to fix his foolishness. I sighed. I better go home