Whew, This Week…
I had to get some rest this week. My head was swimming when I got back into town. Evg. MaCulvie and his wife asked me a lot of questions when I got to the house. I tried to answer all of them. I said Keyva’s name a couple of times. Sis. MaCulvie asked me who Keyva was. She had a silly grin on her face when she asked me about her. I tried to play it off, but Sis. MaCulvie wouldn’t let me. I told them who Keyva was. I got teased for awhile about it. It was cool talking to them. That was the best part of the week.I talked to Evg. MaCulvie about playing for Canaan House of Rest. I really want to go down there and play for them, but I don’t want to quit my job. I felt like an idiot because my sole reason for staying in Dorinda was a job, not my family or church home. Evg. MaCulvie was cool. He said, “Sometimes, we need to get away from our family to be who God wants us to be. If we won’t move on our own, God may have to make us move. You just have to move, so that God won’t push you.” He laughed when he said that. I didn’t see anything to laugh about. He talked to me some more. I wasn’t really listening, though.
I decided to go over to my mother’s house to tell her about moving. I should have just kept my tail at home.
My brother, his girlfriend, and three of the thuggish looking nigg*s I have ever seen were over there sitting on the couch I help my mother buy. They were drinking beer and smoking. My brother cussed me out and asked me what I wanted. I told him that I was looking for Mama. He told me that she was in the back room.
I went to her room. She was laying in the bed. I sat down on the bed next to her. She lifted her head and said hello. She smelt like a liquor store. I couldn’t believe it. She had been sober for a year and now she was drunk. I got mad. I went into the living room and yelled at my brother, “Who gave Mama something to drink? She had been sober for a year.” My brother said, “Nigg* ain’t nobody give mama nothing. Her trifling old as* went in the kitchen and drunk my sh**. I don’t care how long she’s been sober. She must have enjoyed it because she drunk three forties.” Craig and his friends laughed. I walked over to Craig and shoved him. His two thuggish friends grabbed me. Craig hit me in the stomach and told me to back off. I wrestled free and went back into my mother’s room.
I sat down beside her. I said, “I wish you wouldn’t have drunk anything. You were doing so good.” She laughed and said, “Boy, I’m an old woman. Let me have some fun.” I just shook my head. I said, “I have a job offer in Rowmanellieo.” She didn’t say anything. I repeated what I had said. She just stared at me as if I was speaking a foreign language. I stared into space.
My mother said, “Are you gonna go to Rowmanellieo?” I said, “I don’t know yet.” My mother said, “It’ll probably be good for you. It’ll make a man out of you.” I got upset. I said, “I am already a man.” My mother hit me in the back of my head hard. She said, “You ain’t no man. You are a little punk. You need to be more like Craig.” I stood up and yelled, “Craig, ain’t no man. He is a criminal. If going to jail, selling dope, and treating women like dirt, makes me a man, then I will never be a man. Craig is going to bring trouble in this house.” My mother yelled, “At least Craig brings some money up in this house. I mean some real money, not them pennies you bring up in here. Take you like as* to Rowmanellieo. I am sick of the sight of you. Get outta my face! Craig, come this little nigg*!” I stood up.
Craig walked into the room just as I was walking out. He grabbed me by the arm and drug me out of the room, through the living room. When we got to the door, he said, “Yea, don’t bring your trifling God talking behind around here no more. The real son is here now. Mama don’t want you. I don’t like you. So, run your butt up outta here. I betta not see you around here anymore.” He raised his shirt and showed me a gun. He said, “I promise ya, I will use it.”
I cried most of the way home.
M.B.Vick
posted by Me @ 9:15 PM
