“Hit me later.”
Tuck nodded. “Yeah, a’ight.”
“I'm for real, Tuck. Call me.”
The two parted ways and Jovanis was transitioned out of the prison. Getting inside his car, he sat for a while as his thoughts rummaged back to his past. The part where his real pain started.
2002
“Here comes the Tombstone,” Jovanis announced, playing with his wrestling action figures.
For Christmas, after months of begging, his mother, Margie, had finally gotten him a wrestling ring with the two figures. They were his favorite. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker.
“Pin him down. It’s over!” he yelled, stretching their arms and legs. “One… two… three! Undertaker wins.”
Jovanis created a sound with his mouth that resembled a crowd cheering. He then raised the action figure’s arms in victory.
“I’m the winner, I’m the winner!”
Jovanis picked up the other figure and placed them in front of each other. Staring at them in deep thought, he pressed their faces together. He smiled at the visual of them kissing until Margie burst into the room.
“Van, you—what the fuck are you doing?” she boomed, startling him.
Quickly, Jovanis dropped the figures and jumped to his feet. His mother had a voice that could scare a demon. That’s how much bass she possessed.
“I-I was just playing.”
“By making them kiss?” She grabbed his arm. “Yo’ ass better not be gay, boy.”
Gay? Jovanis had no idea of what gay was. At ten years old, he had no inkling of a lot of things, especially gay.
“Two men aren’t supposed to kiss,” she chastised him. “That’s that nasty shit, do you hear me?”
Jovanis wanted to ask if it was wrong for two women to kiss but Margie hated being challenged.
“You know, I’ve been trying to avoid the obvious, but it’s time for you to go live with Uncle Mel and Uncle Fish.”
His eyes widened. “Mama, no, I wanna stay with you.”
“Hell no. You can’t stay with me. Not when you got your boy toys kissing each other. Do you like little boys?” she interrogated him.
Jovanis wanted to reveal how he often noticed how handsome other boys looked. Or how he got excited when one showed him attention. He never knew what it meant. Jovanis assumed that he just liked playing with the other boys.
“Do you?” she yelled at him.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, what?” she asked, confused.
“I like other boys. I like when we play and ride our bikes together,” he confessed.
“What about girls? Do you like how girls look?”
He shook his head. “No, girls are nasty.”
She smacked her lips. “Yeah, you might be fruity as hell. Pack your shit. We’re going to pay your uncles a visit.”
Seven
