AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And then I remember.
Girl. They called him a little girl.
Is that why?
But his hair was so pretty…
“For fuck’s sake, Sher. What the hell is this pretty boy shit?”
“Travis!” Momma hisses in that way she always does when she doesn’t want me to hear something. They’re sitting on the couch behind me, watching some movie I’m not paying any attention to, while I lay on the floor colorin’.
“It ain’t right.” And he mutters something under his breath about God.
I lift my head, peeking at the TV to see what he’s goin’ on about.
On the screen, there’s a man sipping coffee looking out a window. He’s got long black shiny hair, and when he turns and smiles at some girl walking through the door, I feel myself frown.
What’s wrong with him?
Twisting my head over my shoulder, I peer up at my Dad. “Am I pretty?”
Dad huffs angrily. “No.”
Oh. I look down.
“See?” he says to Momma. “Turn this garbage off. We’re not gonna start fillin’ his head up with ideas.”
When I peek up through my lashes, Momma’s fumin’ against his side, clearly mad. But when he just holds her tighter, she winces and looks down at the remote, quickly flipping the channel to some boxing match.
Dad nods, and points a finger at the TV. “See that, kid?”
I turn and face the TV, my eyes widening when I see the big sweaty man throw a punch at the other guy’s face, making his head snap to the side, and a wad of blood and spit burst out.
Whoa…
“Now that’s a man.”
Later, when Dad’s fallen asleep on the couch, snorin’ up a storm, and Momma puts me to bed, she brushes my hair from my face and says, “Remember something for me, okay?
I nod.
“Beauty means nothing, if you’re ugly in here.” She presses a hand against my chest, over my heart. “Be kind to people, and you’ll be the handsomest, prettiest boy of all.”
I grin. “Really?”
She nods, smiling, but her eyes seem sad. “Yep.” She boops me on the nose. “Got it?”
“Got it.”
The memory plays like a movie in my head, and I frown, feeling all sad and confused inside because I’m supposed to be mad at her right now.
Why can’t boys be pretty too?
What’s so wrong with that?
Jeremy seemed kind too, and like Momma said, that’s supposed to be more important anyway.
Either way, I’m just really happy he’s here.
