2
Sean
Goodness.She sure was wearing those jeans. An old song, Flo Rida’s “Low”, played in my mind. I closed my eyes and willed the image of Niya’s luscious behind away.
It wasn’t easy. I was a saved man but I wasn’t blind.
I was also going to be late to church. But I couldn’t look away. Niya reminded me of a younger version of the singer Mya with those lips, that banging body and those curls. Curls I wanted to run my hands through to see if they were as soft as I imagined.
I waited until Niya disappeared inside her house before wiping my brow, putting the car into gear, and turning the corner. I was glad she hadn’t turned around to see me salivating after her like she was a sweet cup of coconut juice from Jamaica. Me and a few of my Navy friends had stopped in Ocho Rios for a few days on an island-hopping adventure. Seeing Niya always brought me back in time. Back when I wasn’t ready to be saved.
My insides churned. “You’re not that kid anymore,” I told myself.
I rolled up the windows, sucked in the cool air, and made my way across the train tracks into the “good” side of the town. I snorted. What a cliché. As a child, I’d lived contented on the other side not knowing the shack I’d grown up in wasn’t the norm. Not knowing I could ever do better, be better. Sean Morrison had come far. Farther than my daddy predicted I would.
Just before I left for the Navy, I remembered him hollering, “You ain’t worth more than bird poop,” then he threw a hot pan of grits my way, hitting my brow, narrowly missing my face.
Caught up in the memory, I rubbed the corner of my brow where I’d been seared by the heat. Pop’s words echoed in my ear as I stood hunched by the front door.
“If you asked me, the wrong boy died,” Pop said, coming at me.
I bowled over from his harsh words and sank to the floor. I felt the heat of the grits seep through my one pair of khaki pants but refused to cry aloud.
“You’re right, Pop. I should’ve died.” I said the words because I agreed with Pop and thought they would calm him.
Instead of placating him, Pop became enraged. “You trying to be funny, boy?” He kicked my chin, drawing blood. Those days, I didn’t have much incentive to fight back. I would’ve stayed there and allowed him to beat me, but then I saw the clock. I lunged to my feet, grabbed my backpack, and raced through the door. I didn’t stop running until I was at the military recruiter’s office.
Thankfully, Petty Officer Stewart hadn’t asked any questions. He took in my bloody face and soiled clothes and held out his hand. I put a shaky hand in his. Then Petty Officer Stewart drew me close and hugged me. Treated me with dignity. He said, “Your country is proud to have you, Seaman.”
I lifted my head and gave a little nod.
That was thirteen years ago. I wiped my tears, as choked up as I had been on that day.
I drove a few miles before pressing on the gas. My Mustang roared, appreciating the dust flying under its feet.
“Go, baby, go,” I yelled, accelerating twenty miles past the posted speed limit. I loved the feel of the car under my control. Hearing William McDowell come on, I pumped up the volume, singing along to “Wrap Me in Your Arms.” I whipped around the car in front of me and then another, before I saw the flashing red and blue lights.
Obediently, I slowed down and pulled to the curb.
I wasn’t worried about getting pulled over in this part of town. I knew the cops on duty. I’d gone to school with Meathead Mike and Travis the Tease and I knew their secrets…just as they knew mine.
I turned off the engine and waited for the two burly men to approach.
“Where you goin’ in such a hurry?” Travis asked, chewing on the ever-present straw. He’d been doing that since high school.
“Church,” I said.
Travis guffawed. “You running from hell to get there?”
“You know you were going close to forty miles over?” Mike said.
I felt my eyes go wide. I knew I was speeding but didn’t know I had been going that fast. “I’m trying to catch the nine o’clock service.”
Travis eyed me with suspicion. “This isn’t the way to your church.”
“I left my Bible at home. I stopped by Niya’s and got sidetracked so I wasn’t trying to be late.”
Mike whistled. “I can see how you’d get sidetracked by Niya. She’s definitely eye candy.”
