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“You're gonna write down everything she says and put together some kind of actionable plan showing how much you’re gonna study, whatever extra work you’re gonna do, and the timeline for all this. Understand?”
Bakari snorted.I knew it,he thought. When he was eleven years old, she had promised to explain to Joe that Bakari didn’t break the DVD player on purpose and that they had already talked about him doing extra chores to earn money to pay for the repairs. And then as soon as Joe got home and started fussing him out about throwing the football in the house, she joined right in and yelled at him for it. “Whatever,” he said in her direction.
That was a mistake.
“What did you just say to her?” Joe asked, jumping up from the couch, his eyes wide and his mouth twisted with rage. “Say it again!”
Bakari thought it would be wiser to keep his mouth shut. He looked at the floor and braced himself.
“Oh, you ain’t gon’ say it? Yeah, that’s what I thought. You man enough to say it to her, you man enough to say it to me.”
Iesha looked back and forth between the two, her hands trembling. Then Bakari did something unusual. Something he’d never done before. He stood up, lifted his head, and looked at his father square in the eyes. He probably would have been okay, and maybe only slightly humiliated, if not for one small extraneous movement that didn’t necessarily mean anything but clearly meant everything to Joe, who was already on high alert.
Bakari took a step toward his father.
“Oh that’s how it is?” the older man shouted. “You stepping to me?”
Bakari stood his ground, still saying nothing. Iesha also took a step forward, but Joe put his arm out. Without breaking his gaze, he spoke pointedly to his wife. “Stay out of this.”
Bakari had at least 6 inches and 30 pounds on his father, but Joe took another step toward his son, clearly unmoved. “You got a lotta nerve. Not only do you disrespect your mother, you got the gall to step to me like a man. Well, let me tell you something, boy. It ain’t but one man in this house, and you’re looking at him. You don’t pay no bills, you don’t go to work, and you damn sure don’t make no rules. All you do around here is eat, sleep, shit, and use up my air conditioning. But since you think you’re grown, you can march right up my steps, pack your shit, and get up out my house.”
“Joe!” Iesha said, her eyes filling with tears. He ignored her.
The two men continued to stare at each other until Bakari finally blinked and looked away, mumbling something unintelligible.
“What was that? Did you say something?” Joe asked, his tone mocking. It was like hewantedBakari to lash out at him.
“I apologize.”
“Oh yeah?" Joe chuckled. "Well, ain’t that a bitch. See, now you know you got something to lose. But nah, it’s too late. You don’t square up at me in my own damn house and think you gon’ lay your head down at the end of the night. Go get your stuff. I don’t care where you go, but you ain't staying here.”
Bakari looked at his mother, his eyes wide, silently pleading for her help. When she said nothing, he turned abruptly and walked toward the stairs. He put one foot on the first step, but he stopped when he heard his father’s voice again.
“He smellin’ himself, Esh.”
“A little. But was that necessary?” she asked.
“Look, I work my ass off to give that boy a good life. I don’t ask for much.Wedon’t ask for much, do we?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “All we’ve ever asked him to do is keep his grades up and run that fucking ball down the field. And he can’t even dothatwithout falling apart.”
Bakari waited in the desperate hope that his mother would defend him. He was still a little boy at heart, still believing in fairy tales. He’d already been let down twice. And here was lucky number three: from his mother, there was only silence.
“I told you,” Joe said.
“Don’t say it,” she pleaded.
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“I told you not to say it, Joe!”
“He’s soft, Esh. Raising him out here made him soft. You saw him, he was ‘bout to break down crying. That’s what we raised.” Joe shook his head and chuckled. “I ain’t no suburban-type nigga, and I’m the better for it. Him? He’s already gone. Ain’t no fixing that.”
Finally, she spoke for him. “He’s been through a lot this year. You don’t think what happened affected him?”
He screwed up his face and shrugged. “I mean…not really.”
“Joe. A good friend of his wasmurdered. And he was there. You don’t think that has anything to do with how he’s acting?”
“Listen. Where I grew up, people died every day. I done seen some real shit. That’s what I’m saying, he’s soft.”
