“So, are you mad at him or are you scared he might make a mistake with the gun?”
For a moment he doesn’t have anything to say. He has to really think about what he is feeling. “It’s just stupid. He’s smarter than that. He ain’t even that type of nigga. And he got the shit from Carlos ass.” She tries not to interrupt him because she can tell he just needs to vent but she can’t help but ask, “Just because it looked like the gun Carlos had doesn’t mean he really got it from him. You think Carlos would have him out here dirty?”
He looks at her with a look that said 'nigga, please'.
“Yeah, you right. He would absolutely do that shit.” She doesn’t know Carlos nearly as well as Mike, but as long as she can remember he’s been around, and she’s always thought he is kinda reckless. “So, are you mad at Duc or are you mad at Carlos?” She pauses for a moment to let him digest. He’s spent a lot of time covering for Carlos and making excuses for him, so she doesn’t push but he knows that the direction Carlos has been heading in life has been totally different than him and his friends. And the more he thinks about it, the more responsible he feels for the situation. As she sits with him while he thinks through it, she sees him start to look sad and she reaches over and grabs his hand. She knows he has some tough decisions ahead of him but suggests that after he gives it some more thought he has to go talk to Duc and probably needs to apologize. She left the Carlos situation alone. She was never a fan of him to begin with and doesn’t want to be biased.
Shante can’t stay with Mike for long because the team is getting ready to leave in about an hour to travel to the conference tournament. Their first game is the next day on Sunday. So, Mike wishes her and the team the best of luck and makes his way off campus as well. He appreciates Shante giving him the opportunity to get things off his chest and trying to help him think through things, but he still feels like he wants someone to give him some advice on what exactly to do or not do in the situation. In his opinion, his grandparents are some of the wisest people he knows, and his grandmother is always ready and willing to dole out advice. He heads to their house expecting them to be home doing nothing on a Saturday afternoon. To his surprise, the only person home is his father. He is shocked when Tony answers the door since he rarely ever comes up from the basement. Mike doesn’t even enter when he sees him. “Where is Grandma?” Tony either doesn’t pick up on the body language or chooses to ignore it because he quickly responds, “They been out most of the day…. but bring yo ass in man. Come on.” Tony walks back into the house and plops down on the couch leaving the door wide open. Mike slowly steps into the house, hesitant to be in a situation where he’s going to have to have a conversation with his father. It feels like the last thing he needs. He hasn’t gotten much out of him in the last 14 years. There is no reason to expect anything different today.
Mike steps into the house and closes the door behind him and gets to the point. “Do you know when they will be back?”
“Man, they left the house to me all day. I should be walking around here naked,” he says, laughing at his own joke. Mike doesn’t find anything funny. Tony notices Mike didn’t have a reaction and tries to quickly change to another subject. “Boy, I know you’ll be happy to hear I had a job interview this past week. Ain’t nothing major if I can get on with the electric company, I might be able to get something better once I prove myself.” Again, Mike just stands there and looks at him with no reaction to what Tony says. Getting tired of entertaining the conversation any longer, Mike says, “Look! Can you tell them I stopped by and ask grandma to let me know if they will be home tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll let them know when they get back tonight,” he shakes his head to acknowledge agreement. Mike stands there for a moment saying nothing, just looking at his father. He doesn’t know what he is waiting for, but he has a feeling of disappointment as he begins to turn towards the front door. Then, almost grasping at something to say, Tony says, “I heard what happened to your friend, man. I’m sorry you have to go through that. I know how that is.”
Mike turns and gives him an ugly look of disbelief then replies, “You know how what is?” sure that there is nothing he has going on that he can relate with his father about.
“I’ve lost partners before. One of them when I was much younger than you. Best friend drowned the summer before we started high school. Then another homeboy died right after college. That one really messed me up.”
Mike is floored. He had no idea his father has been through anything like that. For the first time he can remember in life, he asks his father’s advice with one simple question. “So how did you handle it?”
Tony is shocked at the question, expecting Mike to just brush him off. He looks in Mike’s eyes and says, “Poorly.” Mike’s eyes get wider, but he stays quiet waiting for more, so Tony continues. “I can’t tell ya what to do but I will say cherish them memories y’all had and make sure you value the good friends who will help pick you up through this stuff. Stay away from the bad ones. I had a lot of guilt over my friend dying who was smarter than me. Had a brighter future than me. So why take him over me? That guilt will weigh you down, boy. And the “friends” who ain’t doing shit will drag you down with it. Trust me! That’s why I say value the good ones.”
Mike stands there in silence for a moment again. This time he puts his hand out to dap his father up. Tony stands up and daps him up, giving him a half hug in the process. Mike simply says, “Appreciate it,” before he hops back into his car. He immediately pulls out his cell phone and tries to give Duc a call. He isn’t surprised to get no answer, so he heads back to Duc’s apartment.
Mike arrives back at the apartment a little more than two hours after he left. He knocks on the door a couple of times and there is no answer. Once again, he pulls out his phone but this time, he gives Jairus a call figuring he will answer and tell him where Duc is. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get an answer from Jairus either. He wants to catch Duc before he has to go to work that evening, but he doesn’t know that the late lunch Duc has with his female friend turns into more, which is why he hasn’t been answering the phone. But by the time Mike calls him the second time he is leaving the young lady’s apartment for his car. He sees it’s Mike calling him for the second time and although he doesn’t feel like rehashing the conversation from earlier, he answers to make sure it’s not something serious. “What up” Duc says abruptly as he answers the phone.
Mike takes a deep breath. “Aye, where y’all at?” Duc, once again being short with him, asks, “Who is y’all?”
“You and Jairus. I need to talk to you before I go to work,” Mike says.
“Jairus probably at the apartment but I’m at a chick spot,” Duc says trying to imply he is busy and won’t be able to talk.
“I’m at the apartment now and he isn’t here.” Mike then gets an incoming call on the other line and looks to see it’s Jairus calling him back. “Hol’up, he beepin in now. Let me see where he is.” He is gone for a moment, frustrating Duc as he waits for him to come back on the phone line. When Mike comes back, he says, “Man, he just said he’s at the tattoo spot a few blocks from the apartment. He walked over there.”
Shocked, Duc replies “Tattoo spot? What the fuck is he doing over there?”
“I don’t know but I’m about to ride over there and see.”
Duc’s whole tone changes from annoyed to intrigued. He says, “Bet. I’ll meet y’all over there,” and gets off the phone driving straight to the tattoo parlor.
When Duc arrives at the tattoo parlor, he can see Mike and Jairus standing inside talking as they look at sample pictures on the wall. He’s still surprised at Jairus being there because up until this point anytime someone brings up tattoos to Jairus he always seems adamant he won’t get one. But as he walks in the first thing Mike says to Duc is, “He said he wants to get something for Ovaughn. To remember him.”
Jairus begins to run through all the things he has been looking at for Duc. Wide eyed and still in disbelief, Duc continually looks over at Mike as Jairus bounces his tattoo ideas off of him. He considers something basketball related seeing as Ovaughn loved it so much. He also considers just the name and dates of his birth and death. He even wonders if they can do a picture of his face from a photo. It all seems like a bit much for someone that had no interest in a tattoo just two months ago. Duc and Mike find themselves talking him off the ledge, so to speak, so he won’t get something big that he may regret eventually. They convince him to sleep on it and they will help him come up with an idea of something to get.
As they walk out of the tattoo parlor, Mike stops in the parking lot near Duc’s car and suddenly says, “Duc, my bad on how I was acting earlier. I was tripping. I was just worried.”
Duc doesn’t even say anything in response. He just daps him up to show his acceptance of the apology. That is all they need to be good with one another. They lived together for two years. They already know the friendship isn’t going anywhere. After they dap each other, Mike pulls away from Duc and says, “Man, take your nasty ass home and take a shower. Funky ass nigga!”
They all burst into laughter even though Jairus isn’t aware of what Duc has been doing since he left the apartment. Jairus and Duc leave and Mike heads home to get ready for work that evening, telling them he will catch-up with them the next day.
Sleeping on it for one day turns into a week until the fellas are sitting around the apartment on one of the rare Sunday afternoons that neither Mike nor Duc are at Jazzy Belles. The subject of the gun comes back up only this time it is a much calmer conversation with Jairus trying to figure out why Duc felt he needed it. The thing is, he didn’t.
“I never asked Carlos for the gun. After me and Samantha got robbed, I guess he felt like he was helping and came through and told me I could hold it for protection. I didn’t expect to have it this long and forget it’s in there half the time.”
Mike listens to the story about how he got the gun and once again gets upset. It isn’t even something Duc asked for. Carlos is just being reckless. After he hears enough, Jairus says, “Call that nigga and tell him to come get this shit.” Reluctant to cause any problems between anyone, Duc makes excuses for not calling Carlos, but they eventually convince him to call and to his surprise Carlos tells him he will come get it right then.
Less than an hour later Carlos shows up at Duc’s apartment and is surprised to see Jairus and Mike sitting there when he comes inside. He can feel that the energy in the room is not good. At least not for him. They say what’s up but not much more is said before Duc goes over to the bookshelf and pulls the gun out of the drawer to give to Carlos. He takes the gun and throws it in a backpack he has on his shoulder.
“So, what y’all doing today?”
Initially no one answers, then Jairus says, “nothing, man.”
Carlos then slowly looks around the room at all of them seeming cold towards him. “A’ight, well I’ll catch y’all later.” As he turns to head out of the apartment, Mike finally speaks. “Can I just ask you one thing? After all I said to you about you not carrying around that gun, why the fuck would you give it to my friend?”
“I was just trying to help,” Carlos responds slowly.
“Help him do what?” he replies quickly. “That shit wasn’t going to do anything but get him in trouble.”
Mike’s voice rises each time he says something, and Carlos isn’t one to stay calm if he is being confronted. “The nigga got robbed! I gave him something to protect himself,” he replies, his voice also raising.
“You gave him something to make him a killer or get another one of my friends killed!”
“I’m his friend too, Mike,” says Carlos.
“Is that what you call being a friend? My friends don’t need that shit in their lives.”
Carlos pauses to take a deep breath before his next statement. “The way you talkin’ makes me feel like I’m not included when you say, ‘my friends.’”
