“A lot of people talk about it and want to do it for so many reasons that seem wrong. It don’t prove nothing to me. It doesn’t make me more grown, more mature, more hip, nothing,” BB said. “What do you think, Clyde?”
“I think about it. But I guess it’s nothing I have to do. I guess I will think about it before I do it, though.” Clyde leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “I wouldn’t want to get a girl pregnant if I didn’t want to marry her. I wouldn’t want to catch a disease either.”
“That V.D. can mess with you, too,” Sam said. “I guess you’re right.”
“What do you think, Stuff?” BB asked.
All of a sudden my face started to burn and I looked down. I was so embarrassed. I didn’t know what I thought. I couldn’t say anything, really. I just kind of shrugged after a while.
Later when I got home my father asked me where I was and I told him I was over to Clyde’s house talking about sex. Just like that. My mother stopped rinsing out a pan and turned toward me and so did Sharon.
“With some girls, too.” And I went into my room.
That wasn’t the last time we talked about sex, either. For the whole next year there was a lot of talk about it, and sometimes I thought that Sam and Clyde had changed their minds, and then sometimes I wasn’t sure. I don’t think they were doing any sex but they were sure talking a lot about it.
10
chalky II
So what happens is that we’re all sitting around the center waiting for the basketball tryouts for the center team. All of our group was there and a few guys from around the center. I counted everyone there. Mr. Reese had said that only the guys who showed up the first day with written permission from their parents could make the team. There were seventeen guys there, and Mr. Reese had told us that there were going to be fourteen guys on the team. That meant that only three guys weren’t going to make it. Well, one guy I knew I had beat. And I thought I could beat a couple of other guys there, too, so I wasn’t too worried. Chalky was there too.
Chalky walks in and he’s got this little bag with his stuff in it. He goes into the locker room and comes out with this uniform on that said Chicago Flyers. The uniform is brand-new-looking and Sam looks at Clyde and at me and we all kind of smile. Then the ball bounces near Chalky and he picks it up and throws the ball toward the basket. He misses by about a yard and Sam cracks up.
“Hey, man, I thought you could play some ball,” Sam says.
“You want to play some one on one?” Chalky asks.
“What you playing for this time,” Sam asks, “a hundred dollars a point?”
“We can play for fun if you want to,” Chalky says. “I got to warm up so I can make the team, anyway.”
“Take the ball out, turkey,” Sam says.
Clyde cleared the court and everyone stood around while Chalky and Sam started to play against each other.
First Chalky took the ball out and started dribbling toward the key, and Sam just drifted back and let him come. Then Chalky tried a little jump shot that rolled around the basket and fell in. Then Sam took the ball out and dribbled fast down the right side of the lane, dribbled behind his back, faked once and went up. Chalky went up and slapped the ball away. Sam got the loose ball and started his move down the left side of the foul lane. This time he was really going fast and a few people were calling for him to dunk the ball. But instead he got Chalky moving toward the basket, stopped short, and went up for a short jump shot. Only Chalky went up higher, slapped the ball away and then ran around Sam to get it. Chalky dribbled right down the middle of the lane, put a little move on Sam toward the left and then took a big step toward the right and made a lay-up. It was obvious that Chalky was good. Sam took the ball out and threw a jump shot from the top of the key and made it. Chalky did exactly the same thing. Sam took the ball out again and started to make a move down the side of the lane when Chalky took the ball from him and Sam slipped and fell on the seat of his pants. Chalky dribbled back to the foul line and shot a one hander that floated through the air and fell in without touching the rim.
Sam looked over at Clyde when he was taking the ball out, and you could see he was worried. Sam took the ball out, drove down the sideline, and threw up a running hook. The ball bounced off the rim and Chalky grabbed it, bounced the ball once, went up and dunked! When he came down he just handed the ball to Sam. Sam took the ball out and dribbled in close to the basket with his back toward Chalky. He stopped and looked over his left shoulder and then quickly over his right and dribbled to his left, jumped, and shot the ball cleanly through the hoop. Chalky just went and leaned against the wall and shook his head.
“You double dribbled, man,” Chalky said.
Sam was about to protest when he looked over at us and we nodded that he had. Chalky took the ball out and dribbled to the corner, turned and shot a one hander. He missed but he got his own rebound and laid it in.
Sam licked his lips and took a deep breath. He held the ball out of bounds for a few seconds and then started in, but slowly this time. He dribbled in a few steps, stopped, then threw a long jump shot. It went in. Then Chalky took the ball out. But this time Sam was on him. I mean, Sam was ON HIM. Chalky turned right, tried to dribble behind his back, and the ball hit the top of his sneaker and rolled away. Sam had the ball again. Sam took it out and brought the ball to the top of the key, faked to the left, and hit a jumper when Chalky fell back.
Chalky took the ball out and Sam was on him again. Chalky started his dribble and Sam kept hitting the ball. He couldn’t get the ball away from Chalky, but Chalky couldn’t do much with Sam all over it. Finally Chalky tried to force a jump shot and it hit the backboard and Sam got and made the rebound.
And that’s the way the rest of the game went. As long as Sam didn’t play a strong defense, Chalky could do his thing. But when Sam got on him, he couldn’t do anything. It wasn’t easy for Sam to score on Chalky, either, because Chalky was good. But he couldn’t play the kind of defense that Sam could. Sam won by four baskets.
Afterwards we all gave Sam five and congratulated him. Chalky went over to the side and messed with his sneakers.
“Come on,” Sam said, “let’s go over and sit with Chalky. That guy’s a good ballplayer.”
“But I think you taught him something tonight, Sam,” I said.
“I think we both taught each other something tonight,” Sam said. “Big-mouth guys can be into something, too.”
So we all went over and sat with Chalky. He was a good ballplayer, but I was still glad Sam won.
Afterwards we had tryouts and the guys I thought I could beat were pretty good. In fact, they were just about as good as me. I was very worried. At the end of the workout Mr. Reese called five of us over and told us that we each had to take four shots from the foul line and that everybody else had already made the team. I made my first shot and then I missed my next two. Everybody had made two shots except me. I was the first one to shoot the fourth shot and I missed. All the others made their shots. Mr. Reese told us to shower and get dressed and report to his office.
I felt terrible. I really felt terrible. Clyde and Sam didn’t look at me or anything in the shower room. Then we all got dressed and went into Mr. Reese’s office.
“I’ve decided,” he said, “since you’re all a pretty good bunch of ballplayers, and since some of you can shoot well and some of you are good ball handlers, to expand the team to seventeen and you guys are going to be my team. First practice Wednesday at six o’clock sharp!”
I had made the team! We all stopped at Freddie’s for sodas and I felt so good I forgot that I didn’t have any money to pay for the soda. Luckily for me, Chalky had an extra quarter and he lent it to me. I guess he’s okay after all.
11
party time!
One day we were all sitting on the stoop and along comes Robin and two other guys from 118th Street. I remembered Robin’s fight with Binky when Robin bit a piece of Binky’s ear off, and I
wondered if there was going to be any trouble. I really didn’t think so, though, because three guys didn’t usually start anything with three other guys. If I had been there by myself I would have been nervous, though. Robin really looked sharp, too. He had on a pair of green, yellow, and red shoes with high platforms, and a brown suit with a tie, and a handkerchief that matched the shoes.
“Hey, fellas, what’s happening?” He looked at us and held out his hand and Clyde gave him five. You could tell Clyde just did it to avoid trouble.
“How’s it going, Robin?” Clyde asked.
“Okay, man, okay. Say, look, I’m giving a little thing, you know, a party, and I want you cats to come on around. About ten o’clock this coming Friday evening. And don’t bring no chicks because I invited too many chicks already.” Then he took out these little squares of paper with the address written on them and gave us all one.
After they had left, Cap threw his slip of paper into the street and so did most of the others, and then we started talking about Robin. Sam said he’d seen Robin driving a car and I said he wasn’t old enough to get a license so he couldn’t be driving a car.
“You see any glasses on my eyes, man?” Sam asked.
“Maybe you need some,” I said. He gave me a look.
“If I say Robin was driving a car the dude was driving a car, that’s all. I didn’t say he had a driver’s license. I didn’t say he shops at the A & P. No, all I said was that I saw the dude driving a car. I didn’t say nothing about nothing else. Unless you’re calling me a liar?”
“If I wanted to call you a liar, Sam,” I said, leaning back against the steps as cool as I could, “I’d punch you in the jaw, knock you out, and put a note on your chest for you to read when you woke up.”
Sam threw a half punch at me and I moved out the way and made like I was going to hit him in the jaw. I knew that Sam didn’t like to fight and that we were only kidding. I also knew that if we weren’t kidding I’d be easing my tail off the stoop before Sam knocked me out. Anyway, Cap and them left and only me and Sam and Clyde were on the stoop. Me and Sam were more or less talking about how bad we were and what we were going to do if the other guy made the wrong move and that kind of nonsense, when, suddenly, Clyde spoke up.
“I’m going, you know,” he said.
“Going where?” Sam asked.
“To Robin’s party.”
“No lie?”
“Yeah, I’m going.”
“How come?” I asked. I was really surprised. No one on the block really liked Robin or the people he hung around with.
“To see what kind of party they give. I don’t like Robin but I’d like to know what kind of party they give.” Clyde took his paper out of his shirt pocket and looked it over. “If I don’t dig the party, then I’ll leave.”
“I might go, too,” Sam said.
“Well, let me know if you’re going to go,” Clyde said. “I don’t really feel like going over there by myself.”
“I’ll go,” Sam answered.
“Me, too,” I said.
“You’re too young, Stuff,” Sam said. “They’ll be drinking and everything.”
“He can come with us,” Clyde said. “We’re not going to let anything happen to him.”
“Yeah. That’s right, I guess.”
“You going to tell Kitty you’re going?” I asked.
“No,” Clyde answered, looking at me. “Why?”
“No reason, I just asked.” I knew that if he told Kitty, then Kitty would tell Sharon for sure, and Sharon would tell Mama before her ears cooled off from hearing it. Then I probably wouldn’t be able to go. But if I just told my mother I was going to a party with Clyde and Sam she’d let me go. That’s what I did and she said okay. She didn’t even give me a time to be home.
So we met down at Freddie’s and had coffee and then we went over to 118th Street where the party was being held. It was one of those old buildings but it had an elevator. We went up to the ninth floor and as soon as we stepped out of the elevator you could tell where the party was. The whole floor was flooded with sound. We went to the apartment and knocked on the door. I couldn’t figure out how the guy who answered the door could have heard us because of all the noise. He opened the door and asked us who we were and we told him and he asked to see our invitations. We said that we didn’t have any, only the address. He said that was our invitation, and Clyde and me showed him ours and he let Sam in because Sam was with us. After we got in I saw that he was standing at the door just listening for people who were coming in.
The party was kind of dark. There were a lot of girls there, as Robin had said, and a lot of guys, too. A guy came over and asked if we wanted some wine, and Clyde said no, maybe a little later, and Sam and me said the same thing. As our eyes became accustomed to the darkness I realized we were the only ones from our block. Some of the other people were actually grownups, although there were a lot of kids, too. Me, Sam, and Clyde stood around for a while and then we danced with some of the girls. Talk about close dancing! The girl I danced with was so close I thought she was trying to get through me. She had been drinking, too, and she started kissing me as we danced. I kissed her back. I didn’t even know her but I was kissing her. When the dance was over she said I was real cute and asked me where I lived. I told her and she said that it was a nice block. I asked her where she lived and she said uptown, downtown, and sometimes all around town.
Now what did she mean by that? Uptown, downtown, and sometimes all around town. It had to mean something, right? I didn’t know and I decided not to ask. That was the first time I’d danced that close with a girl and the first time I’d kissed a girl I hardly knew. Especially the way we were kissing.
I danced with a lot of girls. So did Clyde and Sam, and the party was all right except a lot of the people were high. Some of the girls were really high and some of the guys, too. Also, I knew that some of the guys were high on smoke. At least I figured they were because I could smell it. Sam said that if I didn’t watch out I’d get a contact high. They had a lot of soda and some beer so I drank some soda and had one beer. Clyde had the soda and so did Sam. When they saw me drinking the beer they gave me a look but I ignored them.
The party was getting on pretty late, and I thought perhaps I’d better leave. It was almost one thirty and I knew that usually my mother expected me home, even when I was with Clyde and Sam, by twelve o’clock. I knew I had an excuse because this time she hadn’t given me a time to get home. But I also knew that she still expected to see me coming in at a decent time. I also knew that Sharon would be awake. No matter what time I came home she’d be awake to make sure that everyone in the house knew that I had come in late or to ask me what I’d been doing. That’s Sharon for you. So I was trying to figure exactly when I was going to leave when Sam came over to me and said that Carnation Charley was there. I hadn’t seen him and was surprised. Because Carnation Charley is a dancing freak. I figured I should have seen him during the dancing, especially on the fast numbers. I asked Sam where he was and he said that he was in the next room sitting in the corner and that he was nodding out. He told me and Clyde to go take a look.
We went into the next room and it was actually a bedroom. Most of the coats were on the bed, pushed over to one side, and this guy and girl were on the bed kissing and going on. Over in the corner was Carnation Charley, and you could tell he was high on dope. His eyes were half open and he just sat and rocked a little. Clyde went over to him and asked if he was okay.
“Everything is everything,” he said. He kind of scratched at his face and kept on leaning.
“Hey, man, what you guys want? Why don’t you do what you want to do and get on out!”
The guy on the bed with the girl said that. I got my coat and Clyde got his. When Sam saw us with our coats he went in and got his. Robin saw us getting ready to leave and came over. He asked us if we wanted to try some dynamite stuff. Clyde said no and Robin said that everything was cool. That if we wanted to later we
always could.
“How’d you enjoy the party?” he asked.
“It was okay,” Sam said.
“I dug you checking out that chick with the big Fro.” Robin smiled. “Hey, dig. I give a little set every Friday night. Why don’t you come on around and check it out?”
“Right,” Sam said. Except he said it in a long-drawn-out manner like he really wanted to do it. This girl, the one Sam had been dancing with, came over and asked if she could see him again. Sam said yes and then she asked if he lived alone. Sam said no, that he lived with his parents, and she said it was too bad because she would have liked to see him later that night. Then she gave him a little kiss and said that maybe she would see him next week. Then we left.
I got the door open real quiet and the light was on in the kitchen. In my apartment when you open the door you’re in the kitchen. Guess who was in the kitchen? Right, my father. Waiting up for me. Only he had fallen asleep sitting at the kitchen table. I sneaked in, quietly tipped through the kitchen and into my room. Just as I got into my room Sharon’s radio went on, full blast. It woke my father up and he came running into Sharon’s room to see what the matter was.
“I heard somebody in the hallway so I got up and turned the radio on so I could see what time it was and it came on,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
Then, naturally, my father knew I had just come in.
“What time your mother tell you to be home, boy?”
“She didn’t say,” I said.
“What do you mean, she didn’t say?” He had his shirt off and had a little hole in his T-shirt. I wanted to laugh at that but I knew I’d better not.
“She just didn’t say.” The door to my parents’ bedroom opened and out came my mother. She smiled at me and went into the kitchen. I knew she wasn’t happy with me staying out late either—the kitchen clock read two fifteen—but she was happy to see me home. Then Sharon got up and said that she had to go to the bathroom.
Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff Page 10