He picks which one we’re gonna watch, dims the light, and leans back on the couch.
“Shaddy?” I say as the movie starts.
“Yeah, Mace?”
“I’m sorry about your family.”
His hand freezes on me momentarily, before cupping the bottom of my bump.
“Me, too.”
Shad
Age 14
Thesunisblazingas we fight traffic to get out of the city. It’s a Saturday, and Saturdays during the summertime in Kenton means everyone is out, seeing what they can get into.
If my mama didn’t call me this morning, we’d be at the Center, playing basketball, or at G-Pops, trying to get him to throw something on the grill.
Instead, Peanut, Tati, and Sean are driving me back to Hudsonville.
“Are you excited to be a big brother?” Tati asks, turning all the way around from the front seat to smile at me.
She’s one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen. Her white teeth stand out against her dark skin, and she always has her hairin some type of braids. She’s Sean’s big cousin; we found out when one day he tagged along on us stalking her at the library. That’s when we stopped stalking her, and started just hanging out with her.
She’s back for the summer from law school, and I notice that Peanut’s been calmer ever since we drove up to get her.
“More nervous than anything. My mama don’t need to be having no more kids.”
“How old is she?” Sean asks, tapping away on his phone.
“Thirty.”
Yeah, she’s not that old, but her mind… it’s gone for sure. After Granddad passed away last year, she’s been absolutely wilding. We all took it hard, no doubt. But she just disappeared, left me and Nana all alone.
It was nothing to hack into her emails and saw confirmations for hotels. She’d hooked up with some South Kenton nigga and left us behind.
Then she pops up a month ago, pregnant as fuck. Nana was just happy she’s alive.
Me?
I’m still trying to figure out how I feel.
“You want us to stick around?” Nut asks as we pull into the visitor’s parking lot of the hospital.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
He puts on his hazard lights and stops right in front. “That’s not what I asked yo ass, Dub.”
Turk’s G-Pops started calling us warriors a couple years back. Said we were more than what we were trying to be. More than survivors, but warriors. Four Warriors; Set, Peanut, Turk, and me. Our own clique, exclusive as fuck. Then when Nut and Set took over the Birch Babies, the gang that’s over the Birch projects where they live, our clique became Foe Dub, and it expanded to include some of the other neighborhood boys.
We’re all warriors anyway. Might as well be stamped.
“Well, me and Sean are supposed to be recording–”
“So we’ll stay. See how easy that was? Call Tati when you ready.”
“So grumpy. I shouldn’t have made you stay up with me while I studied.” Tati shakes her head, not even noticing this nigga Peanut looking at her like she’s water in the desert.
