Page 1 of Property of Mongrel

PROLOGUE

Cameron (age 8)

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Cameron, happy birthday to you!” my family sang as I sat with a Spider-Man cake sitting in front of me.

Today was my family birthday party, so I had my four younger siblings, my parents, my grandparents on my dad’s side, and my two uncles, Bobby and Leroy. I didn’t quite understand why my grandparents on my mom’s side were never around, because I didn’t know what the word disown meant. Still, I was excited because tomorrow, I was having a party at the skating rink with all of my friends.

Jonah, my younger brother by eleven months, grinned at me as I blew out the candles. We were thick as thieves and helped our mom with the babies, who were almost nine months old now. We were both proficient at changing diapers, although I hated the smelly ones, and could also warm up their bottles. Mom having three babies at the same time was a shock to everyone, but it didn’t take us long to figure out how we could help.

Once we ate cake and ice cream, I got to open my presents and was excited to see a Lego set I had been wanting. “Cool, we can work on it later,” Jonah crowed. I shrugged; I’d let him help even though it was my present because he was my brother. Some of my friends didn’t understand why I never minded him hanging around with us, but we shared a bedroom and all of our secrets with each other, so why would I want to leave him out? He wasn’t that much younger than me to begin with and sometimes, when my grandpa would yell at my dad, we would hide together.

Grandma Shepherd came over and kissed my cheek, smiling at Jonah as she did so. “You’re such a good boy, Cam, and a big helper to your mom.”

“I try to help, Grandma,” I replied. “Jonah, too.”

“Yes, both of you are good boys,” she said, praising us while running her hand across Jonah’s cheek.

Uncle Leroy was next and he crouched by me, hugging me to his side. While Uncle Bobby sometimes acted like he couldn’t stand any of us kids, Uncle Leroy helped teach me how to ride my bicycle without training wheels, and he was always willing to toss a ball around with me. He had even promised to teach me how to run, since he said everyone should take care of their body and it was never too young to start. I just needed to get the right shoes.

“You should open that one next,” he whispered, pointing to a big box with Spider-Man wrapping paper. “I think you’re gonna like it.”

Pulling it toward me, I carefully opened it, not wanting to ruin the paper. Jonah was going nuts waiting on me to ‘get a move on’ as he kept saying, but I knew this was something special. When I finally got it unwrapped, I watched Uncle Leroy use his knife to slit the top of the box. Grasping the sides, I gasped and fell down from where I had been standing and said, “Oh, my gosh, really? Are you for real, Uncle Leroy?” as I pulled out the running shoes, as well as shorts and what he called a track shirt. It was supposed to help when you started sweating, but I wasn’t sure how that worked.

“Yeah, your training starts next week, buddy,” he stated, smiling at me.

I threw my arms around him and said, “I love you, Uncle Leroy. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Cam,” he told me, his arms hugging me tight.

Cameron (age 12)

“You shouldn’t curse like that,” Jonah said.

“Why not? They’re calling me a mongrel,” I retorted as we walked home from school.

My knuckles smarted from where I had punched Billy Jenkins in the nose, but I was tired of being called names.

Half-breed.

Mongrel.

Mutt.

“They’re just ignorant, like Dad says,” he replied. “Who cares what he thinks anyhow? He’s as dumb as a box of rocks and he’s already got pimples!”

I snickered as I kicked at the loose gravel that was in my path. “You’re right. And it hasn’t stopped Amy Wilkinson from talking to me. She doesn’t care that I’m half Black and half white.”

“We’re too young to be thinking about girls,” Jonah cautioned. “Remember what Mom told us, girls will distract us from our goals.”

I sighed because he was right. I had taken to running and Uncle Leroy faithfully replaced my running shoes whenever the soles got worn out on the pair I was using, and now, I was running for the middle school cross country team. Having a girlfriend would cut into my training time, and I was going for a personal best this year. “Fine, I don’t want to date yet anyway,” I told him. “I guess my point was that it didn’t seem to bother her that I was biracial.”

“It never will when the right one comes along,” he sagely replied.

I smacked his shoulder and asked, “When did you get so wise, Obi Wan Kenobi?”

“Just watch, young padawan,” he teased.

When we got home, Mom fussed over my hand and I was sure I was going to get another lecture but instead, she said, “Cam, while I’m not happy that you dealt with this by using your fists, I think that sometimes, you have to take a stand in that manner. Just always be sure that it’s for the right reason.”