“This is some fucked up shit man,” he sighed, leaning back on the blue couch. Green plants decorating the entire living space with large canvas of artwork drawn, and painted by Ben. How we met was another story for another time. He was no Stacey Freeman, or anything close to what I imagined for myself, but somehow...the backwoods country boy from Alabama who does tattoos for a living became someone I couldn’t see myself without. Despite looking, and coming off ignorant at first glance.
“Homer is going to regret doing what he did today you know,” looking at his brother who sat up to glare at me.
“Nah nigga, you think? I tried talking him out of calling Caroline, and em...Soon as he saw another man was in the lil girl’s life, he snapped. Switch flipped. No shit he’s going to regret it. I don’t even think they can recover from this.”
“They will. Homer’s going to end up falling for her first before she does him. She’s going to need a lot more attention, and convincing for them to work, but it's going to happen. His girlfriend already left---.”
“How you know?” Chucking his chin towards me as I cut my eyes knowingly at him. He gripped his head, dragging his hand down his face with a groan. “Mannn this shit is all the way fucked up. After this? No more. No more manipulating lives for fun Delilah. I’m serious. Focus on you, and yo family. Don’t you got a baby shower or something? Get married? Anything?”
I just stared tiredly at him with a slow roll of my eyes as he groaned, falling back on the couch.
“This is one of them moments where if you wasn’t pregnant----.”
“Nobody would lay a damn hand on me,” I finished.
“So what now?” He asked again, hands thrown in the air like all hope is lost. “What’s supposed to happen now?”
“They’re going to have to meet again. Alone this time. Communication is the first step. Eventually, he’s going to have to learn how to become a parent, and coparent at the same time… He’ll end up falling in love with her, hard...and fast...He’ll fight it at first, but he’s going to fall in love with her as a mother…. Then the idea of a family, and lastly as the woman she grew to become. It’s really simple. Just took too long to happen, but now it's about to begin. Even you play a part in this.”
Michael rolled his eyes with a snort before leaning forward on the couch to look at me through the glasses.
“And when is all of this supposed to start? After she got her ass drop kicked by my sisters, or is it gonna be another year or so before they can be in the same room with each other?”
“Actually,” staring him in the eyes, seeing my own reflection in the dark brown mass. “It’s about to start now.”
Sound of the screen door creaking open as we both looked back seeing Homer, and Ben walking into the house. The cars pulling out of the driveway was a relief now that his sisters were finally gone. Ben carried in a red cooler with the freshly caught fish I told him to get and packed it in ice. I don’t normally eat meat, but the young lion in my stomach that was growing craved it. Fish was as far as I was going with it. For now at least. I could hardly look Ben in the face, knowing he was going to have some choice words for me when everyone left, but instead, he walked into the kitchen. Jeans barely hanging on, white shirt stained and his hair was braided in singles with blue rubber bands on the ends. Pulled back into a ponytail, and a soft beard that never seemed to thicken up. Just stayed on like low cut fur on his brown skin.
Homer, on the other hand, came walking directly towards me, demeanor more calm than he wanted it to be. Swollen dark skinned man. Walked like the world belonged to him, and everyone looking his way was either beneath him or a threat. No in-between. A dark skinned pretty boy that knew he was fine in the eyes of women. Used to them throwing attention his way, ever since he was little. I was one of the few that didn’t fall for his front.
“You seem quiet all the sudden cousin,” I noted with a poked lip. “Change of heart? Care to apologize, or you know not to talk stupid with me now that Ben’s here?”
I slowly smiled, flashing teeth, and gum at the sight of his face tightening up. He wanted to go off so bad, but the sound of Ben moving about the kitchen put him in his place. Despite the two not liking one another.
“I need to talk to Pia,” he said. “Alone. Just her, and I.”
I looked at Michael with a raised brow as he pushed his glasses up.
“Told you,” I mouthed to him as he pursed his lips.
“Is that a good idea though, Homer? You saw what----.”
“I’m going to apologize. My sisters might have overreacted, and I want...I should be the first to apologize, to my daughter first. I’ve been trying to call Nevaeh, but she won’t answer. Whatever it takes for me to see the little girl again, I don’t care. I just want to see her before I leave for home. Make things right with my girl, and see my daughter.”
“Nasia isn’t going with you or I take it she didn’t want to be a stepmoth----.”
“Baby Mama?! Chill out with that shit now!” Ben called out from the kitchen. I shut up, keeping my antagonizing thoughts to myself as Homer looked at his phone.
“What’s Pia’s number? I can talk to her without all the extra shit. Without everybody around. I’ll come at her a lil differently this time.”
“Pia would kill me if I give her number out so no.”
“So, you partake in hiding my daughter from me, and now you won’t even let me make it up to her by coming at her with an apology. Should have went differently this morning, but it didn’t. I have questions only she can answer, and I want that girl to know me before I leave. I deserve that much. Without you whispering in her ear some bullshit, without my sisters. Without anybody. Just Pia, and I.”
I looked at his brother before pulling out my phone to text Pia a warning message. Waiting on her to respond seemed like minutes to hours before finally, I just read her number out loud. It was going to happen one way or another. Homer didn’t say another word to me, just walked out the house with the door slamming shut.
“That nigga finna leave her a thousand and one messages going off on her ass,” Michael let out with a laugh. “I already know it. You better hope yo lil fairytale shit work. Nigga is impulsive as fuck.”
“It will,” watching Ben come out the kitchen as he wiped his hands down with a rag.
“When y'all two get together, I know it's some shit being planned so what is it? Put me on. Hiding babies, and lying to baby daddies, what’s going on?”
Michael and I shared looks before I stood up.
“Homer and Pia are meant to be together. Michael thinks it's not going to happen after this, I’m saying this is all a part of the plan. A much bigger plan. He thinks I messed it up---.”
“Nah! I’m just saying stop interfering! From this point on, don’t get involved. Neither of us are gonna touch this...Let them do as they do, and we’ll only step in if it's an emergency, aight? Besides, yo girl needs to toughen up if she already rolling over on her back, and getting beat by my sisters. They’re not even her biggest problem, she ain’t met the rest of the pack yet.”
“Pia will be fine, she’s mentally stronger than Homer so I have no worries,” I nodded, looking at Ben who just looked from Michael, and I.
“So y'all putting money on this or nah?”
I smiled while Michael laughed, getting up as they slapped hands together.
“My nigguh, that’s why I fucks with you. Let’s make it interesting,” Michael said, reaching in his back pocket to pull out his wallet. “Who you got?”
“They not gon ever be together. Her family, I know her family better than I know my own. I know her brother personally. Best friend, business partner, and that's the fam. If Piru say nah, nigga rarely changes his mind about someone. They won’t fall for no nigga like him. They about that money, and social status. Nigga don’t have nothing on them so nah. Put me down for fifty, and head on demand,” looking directly at me as I fought back a smile.
“I’m with him,” Michael said. “
Minus the head part. Put me down for fifty. I think they’ll fuck a few times, but nah. Homer ain’t forgiving like that. He gon try and sleep with her again, but it ain’t enough to be wife material, not for him. Older he get, more stubborn he get. Age difference, she got a nigga already, and he got a girl? Plus our family crazy? Sheeeiit. She not gon want shit to do with this family. They’ll run her out the same way they did this morning. I want a home-cooked meal by you, from you with my meat on top of that fifty,” he stated.
“Deal. I think Homer will fall stupid, puppy love, head over heels in love with Pia...She’s been promised to him since he was young, and it's just all starting to connect is all. We all have our roles to play in their story that’s just about to begin.”
Native Traditions
Homer
“ON YA MARK!?” Earnell yelled with a crack of his voice. Skinny brown arm stuck out over the dirt roads as I gripped my jeans up high. White tribal marks decorated one side of my face. I was a warrior. A young King in the making. True alpha leader of my pack. My back glistening with sweat, glancing at the row of girls from school watching on the sidelines, waiting to see who would come out on top.
“Hold up!” Yuma yelled as he came out to the middle of the street with his arms out.
It was the early evening, just outside of Charleston, South Carolina where the heat was at its peak. Sweat poured down our bare backs, and the mosquitos outnumbered us. No trees to hover over, just fields of tall grass, and weeds for what looked like stretched for miles. Just beyond on the other side were large posts that had white rags tied around them.
This was a family tradition. A rite of passage. The Moon Run.
Yuma walked towards the middle of the dirt road, holding our attention with dreads that hung halfway down his back. Skin burnt from the sun, lips dark red with a wide stomach, and flat feet. He stood in basketball shorts, and a sweaty gray shirt as he looked at me with almond-shaped brown eyes.
“Ever so often a new generation is born once again! Those around you have done it. Ancestors before you have done it, and those after you will be born to do it. I’ma tell y'all young boys a lil history about these fields, and why it's important to y'all family,” he spoke. “And the reason why we make y'all run em. Skye family was started by women as we all know...Women that had no relation to one another but made it their mission to protect one another, and to keep the name going. Our lineage,” raising his hand in the air before splitting two fingers. “Splits off into two bloodlines.”
“We know this story already Yuma! We all know this story! Can we just get on with the race?! Like gah dang! It’s hot out here man!” Fowler Skye snapped angrily as I looked down at my cousin standing a few spaces down with a smirk. He had on his white tribal paint, straight lines across both cheeks with a red line down the center of his forehead. Fowler threw his hands up at me with impatience while I laughed.
“You know the story but you don’t understand it!” Yuma yelled. “It splits off into two bloodlines! Two different slaves! Africa!? Slaves that were brought over here, stolen, sold, dragged, beaten, starved just to get here and be forced to work!”
I threw my hands on my hips, head up with my eyes closed, inhaling deeply. I just wanted to run, and win this. My legs were tingling at the thought of running through the grass. I hear so many stories about the foot race that happens only once every few years, I was just finally old enough at seven, to be a part of it.
“And the other line is Native!” Walking further down the road to reach my other cousins. “Natives who believe everything breathes life! Spirits reside in water, air, animals, and nature! Natives that made life here! Before slavery, before the white man, before European influences, we were here! You all here,” pointing at us. “Your bloodline bleeds Native.”
I looked back at my little brother Michael who stood with my dad by the grill. He shrugged. My mom smiled, carrying my baby sister in her arms while the oldest sister Caroline watched over the other younger sisters with our cousins.
“I got money on you Homer!” My mama yelled as I smiled. Looking back at her. Although my dad, and I had a complicated relationship, my mama was my heart. “Don’t have me out here looking crazy!”
“This race!” Yuma yelled, voice carrying. “Is ONLY for the Native blood lines! We were born to this land first! They don’t tell you, but our skin, our dark skin touched this land before they did! We are the TRUE NATIVES! We are the founders of this land! It’s in your spirit, your dreams! Your hearts, and souls! When you run these fields, you will feel your ancestors connecting with you under this full moon! The main objective is to run to the end, grab the white flag set for each of you, and run back! You may encounter some shit now!” He let out as the old folks laughed at his tone. “I ain’t tryna lie to ya. You gon’ run up on some shit that might scare you, might distract you...but trust and believe! Your totems will guide you! When you come out, you will be given your tribe name, and will carry that with you for the rest of your lives.”
“Aye?!” Uncle Robert let out with his arm draped around my cousin Monae. She stood out the way my little sister did. Being the only two girls that were light skinned in this family. Whether niggas wanted to admit it or not, we all had a crush on Moe. Didn’t act on it, but we all got nervous around her for that very reason. Most of us out here were in it to impress her, and to hold her attention. “If y'all see a pretty lady with a fat ass, don’t go to her! Don’t do it! It’s a mistake! It’s a trap!”
We all laughed while the women in the family scolded him, including his wife who grabbed their daughter away from him.
“What I say?! These boys at that age now where they probably humping pillows and shit! I ain’t lying!” Uncle Robert fussed.
“Yall complete this run, you come out a new man…” Yuma continued. “My family has been a friend of y'alls’ for generations to come,” standing in front of me with a smirk. Dark brown lips curling up on the ends. “The young athletic star of the family Homer Skye!”
“Yall see my lil grown man out there?!” My mama yelled excitedly, showing me off as her son. “Yall better watch out for him! He gon be alpha! Watch!”
“Yall heard her!” My dad yelled. “Put money on the mama’s boy!” My uncles laughed as I felt my mouth tighten. “Still holding on to his mama’s milk, oughta have him running like a plum fool out there---.”
“Be quiet Kenneth!”
“You ready Young Moon?” Yuma asked me. Drawing my attention away from my parents, and calling me by the nickname I was given since I was a baby. “Lemme see them muscles,” he pressed as I sucked in my stomach, poked out my bird chest with a tight mouth and flexed my arms. Fists balled up, mean mugging Yuma who laughed.
“Man! I got more muscles than him!” Shooter yelled. “Look at mine Yuma!”
“I’m getting ate up by bugs,” Moonk complained. Slapping away at a mosquito. Yuma kept his focus on me.
“When you go in there, understand it's all in your head,” tapping the side of my head. “Trick of your mind...You may see some things you won’t understand until later on, and some things that might be painful to experience, but none of it is real. Push through, get the white flag and hurry back. When you make that first connection to these lands, your spirit guide will be there to take you in, and out. Won’t be able to see it yet, but you’ll feel it. If you think you can’t make it, scream. We’ll come for you, you understand?”
“I ain’t screaming,” I stated. Looking beyond him, I stared at the tall grass as the skies above began to darken. Like it was on cue, headlights from parked cars popped on, shining into the field, and dirt roads to give us light.
“Yall better hurry up and make it back before it gets dark! Remember! It’s not a race! Don’t let nobody make you think it's a race! Just make it back alive with yo mind right! Before it gets dark!”
I looked down at my cousins that I was close to. Fowler, Walik, Shooter, and Moonk. All of us around a year or so a part exchanged competitive glances. Fo
wler pulled his short thick locs up in a weak hold behind a rubber band. Shooter let out a wad of spit. Walik yawned before hiking up his jeans while Moonk cracked his knuckles. Heaviest one out of everyone, nobody expected him to finish, let alone make it to the field. We were all just little black boys with no idea what to expect, only that had to grab the white flag, and get out as quickly as possible. Our first of many runs to come.
The smell of fresh BBQ being grilled, and Wu-tang Clan playing from speakers spread throughout the air, when Yuma said his final speech.
“Only rule to this tradition! When you come out?! Don’t speak on what you see or what happens, to anyone! EVER! Unless you want it to happen to you for real,” he let out with a laugh. “Aight! Go on Earnell! Let em go! Yall boys have fun!”
“Go Homer!” My sister cheered as I looked back at my family. I looked down at Fowler and Shooter seeing their older sister Delilah whisper something towards them with her two cats walking by her side. She had her hair in single braids, wearing a dress with sandals, dark slanted eyes fixed on her two younger brothers.
“Get out the way Delilah!” I hollered. “Boys only! Move! You tryna cheat!”
“Ain’t nobody cheating Homer!” She let out. “We don’t have to cheat when it's not a race dummy!”
“MOVE!” I hollered. “Yuma! Make her----!”
“Go on out the way girl,” cousin Remy let out, grabbing Delilah by the arm to pull her aside. “Let these boys race.”
“Nah uh!” Auntie V called out, walking into the road, half-drunk with too short shorts, and a tank top on with a beer bottle in hand. “My daughter got the same native blood running through her veins as her two brothers! I been told y'all to start letting these girls compete! Yall afraid she’s gon outrun the boys?! All of the children born of the moon should be running!”
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