“I’m not worried, Bishop. I know for a fact you can be cracked.”
“You believe that for real. Don’t you?”
“Anyone can be found out if you ask the right questions and pay attention to what they don’t say just as much as you pay attention to what they do say.”
“Well let me know when you figure me out.”
“Deal.”
We both looked up and over at the chef as she made her way over to us. We put our orders in and she sauntered back to the kitchen with both of our eyes on her.
“Alright. You know about my family and shit. What’s up with your family?”
“I’m the younger brother to one sibling, Nadira. She’s probably my best friend. My parents are Kenyan American. My grandparents are still in Kenyan. We visit them at the end of each year as a family. They’re good people.”
“Do they… know?”
“That their only son likes men?” Asante checked. “Yeah, they know.”
“And?”
“Ask what you want to ask, Bishop.”
“Well with eighty percent of Kenya practicing Christianity -”
He cut me off. “Eighty-five percent,” he corrected, “And about eleven percent is Muslim.”
“Do they accept you?” I just blurted my question out.
“They know that I like men. When I first came out, Nadira stood beside me. My parents shunned me and cut me off which was kind of impossible considering I went to the military where I made enough money to take care of myself and had food and shelter. They kind of warmed up after I got married. They were heartbroken when I divorced. My father likes to act like my marriage to a woman erased the fact that I fuck men. My mom warmed up when I went no contact. My dad somewhat follows suit but I know that he thinks since I’m bisexual, eventually I’ll fuck the right pussy that will make me straight.” He snickered and shook his head.
“So what happens if you marry a man?”
“They get right or they get left.”
“You’d cut your family off?”
“If it came down to it,” he deadpanned. “My parents are grown and I’m only here to live my life for me like they’ve lived their lives for them. I can’t live in their expectations for the rest of my life and just be fucking miserable. I mean, I love my parents and I respect them and the sacrifices they made for me and my sister but ultimately, outside of taking care of them intheir old age, my loyalty is to myself. I’ll send money through Nadira before I just cut them off financially or something but I’m not letting nobody son me at my grown ass age. Respect is earned not given and I’m not letting nobody play with me or the person I dedicate my life to, parents or otherwise.” He tapped his knuckles on the table. “What about you? What happens if your marriage doesn’t work out?”
“That’s not an option,” I admitted. “Divorce is strongly frowned upon in our family.”
“What’s the actual success rate?”
“Meaning?”
“How often do people stay married because their parent said so and how often are they still together because they love their spouse?”
“In our family, we’re two for two. King and Xavia are happily in love and Knight, Nova and Casmi are happily in love.”
“So your parents are good at the whole match making thing?”
“Seems like it.”
“Alright, humor me. Tell me how your parents find these people.”
“You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
