“That’s where you’re wrong, Kenny. She just told me that you weren’t talking to her. And what could be so bad that you can’t open up to her about?”
Kenny’s head popped up. “She doesn’t understand that I’m losing my friends, because she doesn’t have any.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Kenny. She has me. I’m her friend whose cares about her.”
“I’m not saying you’re not her friend.”
“Then, what are you saying?”
A beat passed as Kenny stared up at the ceiling. “It’s different with Frankie and Ray, because they have a family when it’s only Mom and me. I don’t have a brother or sisters or even cousins I know about, so when I met Ray andFrankie, they became my brothers that I could talk to about different things.”
Frank’s expression was impassive. “Things like sex and girls?”
Kenny appeared shocked when he said, “How did you know?”
“I was once a teenage boy going through the same things you, Ray, and my nephew are experiencing. The first time I had a hard-on that wouldn’t go down, I thought there was something wrong with me.”
“What did you do?” Kenny whispered.
A chuckle rumbled in Frank’s chest. “I jerked off, and it felt so good that I thought my head had exploded.”
“The same thing happened to me, Mr. Dee; then I got scared, because I’d heard somewhere that jerking off a lot could cause blindness.”
“That’s nonsense, Kenny, because more than half the world’s male population would’ve lost their sight. The alternative to masturbating is having sex.”
“At what age did you first have sex?”
Frank knew he’d scaled a hurdle with Kenny, because he felt comfortable talking about sex with him. Something he probably hadn’t done with his mother. “I was sixteen.”
Kenny’s large eyes grew even larger. “Was it with a girl in your school?”
“No. It was with an older woman. My uncle took me to this woman who told me she was going to give me the best birthday present I would ever have, because once she finished with me, I would be a man.”
“Were you?”
He didn’t want to frighten Kenny with all the details and how frightened he’d been once it was over. That the woman had done things to him he never could’ve imagined after she’d put her face between his legs.
“Yes. My uncle thought it was better that I sleep with aprostitute than the girls in the neighborhood, because he didn’t want any of them to accuse me of getting them pregnant.”
Kenny leaned forward. “Have you ever gotten a girl pregnant?”
“No, Kenny. When it comes time for you to sleep with a woman, then you must always use a condom if you don’t want to get her pregnant. And always use your own, because there are some women who will put a tiny hole in their condom to trick you into getting them pregnant. Then, you may be forced to marry them, even if you’re not ready for marriage.”
“What if I’m in love with her?”
“If you love her that much, then you should marry her.”
“I’m going to ask you a question, Mr. Dee, and you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”
“What makes you think I won’t answer it?” Frank asked.
“Because it’s about my mother,” Kenny countered.
“What about your mother?”
“Are you in love with her?”
Frank slowly shook his head. “No, Kenny. I’m not in love with your mother. And even if I were, I wouldn’t marry her.”
