With all those folks, no one thought to tell me that Travis’s little ass would be here. My eyes bounced between him, Croy, and Trevor. I blamed them. All of this when I just accepted Trevor’s gyrating presence.
Travis stared at me like I was on his damn nerves. He had that arrogant spirit in him heavy, just like his brother. As much as I wanted to hate it, I couldn’t after I met his parents. His father was a man of integrity, and he taught his sons to be. How could I be mad about that when I did the same with my children? Proverbs 10:9 said, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.”
“Mr. Manfield, baseball season doesn’t start until March. I don’t have official training, but I do work out daily,” he said flatly. His back straightened. “You should let me come work out in your gym sometime with you. Maggie sent me pictures. That would be cool because I could help you with your form on a few of the lifts I saw you doing in the video.”
Did this nigga just say that my form was wrong?All the men around the table had goofy smiles on their faces. They knew I was frustrated with this boy. “So, in my questions, you found an opportunity to invite yourself to work out with me. No, you want to teach me proper form.”
“I mean, yeah. I answered your questions. The only thing that I had to do today was shop with you all so that I could find the perfect gift for Maggie. I figured between me, you, and her brothers, I would achieve that,” he said with pride.
Matthew scoffed. “I’m not helping you find my sister a gift. Travis, you the baseball homie, but dang. You’re supposed to use the rosin on your hands, not snort it.”
Trevor burst into laughter. “Damn, baby bro. I thought they were on me. Stick in there if you think it’s worth it, man.”
See, the arrangement of words is what gets folks messed up.“Trevor, watch your mouth. My baby girl will always be worth it.You better tell your brother to stick in there until my daughter decides whether he’s worth it.”
Travis chuckled. “Mr. Manfield, both of us are worth it. We just may not be worth it for each other. That doesn’t short either of us.”
I wanted to chop his fifteen-year-old behind in the head.What did Draco tell me to do when someone says something that makes sense, but I still don’t like it? Ah, I remember . . . Vaguely agree, then change the subject.“Touché. Shaun, you been killing them out there on the field.”
“You know I do what I can do, Unc. Gotta make my pay and endorsement checks worth it,” he said before he put a piece of steak in his mouth.
Croy’s chest was poked out. “Yeah, my boy just locked in a sneaker deal.” He gripped the back of his son’s neck and shook him a little. “I told y’all my boy was going to be a problem on that field.”
“That you did, my boy. TJ, where’s your boy? I hope you plan to put his ass in a sport with his lil hyper behind,” I said.
Hyper was the nicest way to say that TJ’s son was bad. I knew TJ was a little off, but Mekole was just a nut case like her cousin Fiona. It was astonishing how crazy people tended to meet, marry, and procreate.
“Man, he wit’ my mama and daddy. His lil ass got kicked out of day care, so now my mama and Mama Brandy watch his ass. I swear that boy bad as fuck. My baby girl gonna be good though,” he casually said.
My eyes bucked before I pushed my plate back to lean my forearms in its place. “My dude, you really said to yourself one day, ‘I already have one bad ass son with my wife, why not put a bad ass daughter in her.’That’s really what you said to yourself?”
Samuel laughed. “Wow! I guess this is one of the pot can call the kettle black because the pot is black too situations.” He pointed at Matthew and Joseph. “You got two detachable pot handles right here.”My step-daddy tries to ho me often.
Before I could say anything, Pop Ned chimed in. “Shit, Samuel, you got a point. Mega, those boys are you all over again when you were younger. Your ass stayed in trouble.”
“What kind of stuff did our dad do to get in trouble?” Joseph interrupted our conversation.
My head snapped in his direction. The last time I looked at them, he and his brother were locked in to something on their tablets. Their nosy asses. “Why you worried about it?”
“Don’t do that,” Pop Ned said with a titter. “Joseph, your daddy was a damn misfit. He fusses at y’all, but he was doing things that were worse than y’all. Ned was right there with his ass.”
I sucked my teeth. “Man, I was not that damn bad. I got into shit like most boys do, but I wasn’t out here doing jail worthy shit.” I had to defend myself.
Pop Ned’s head tilted to the side. His eyes bounced between me and Ned. Ned just shook his head. “I ain’t got shit to say. Gone ahead and tell your story, Pops.”
What about your friends, they say.There was no way that I could stop whatever story he would tell them. I was sure it would be embellished for entertainment purposes.
When Pop Ned turned toward my boys, I knew that this story would be one for the books. “Alright, I think Ned and your dad were around your age. They might have been a year younger. I wasn’t sure where they got them, but somehow, your father came into the possession of FHRs. Those are flameless ration heaters that military soldiers use to heat their food.”
I dropped my head because out of all the stories he could have picked, he picked this one. “Really? You’re going to tell them this story?”
“You’re damn right that I’m going to tell them this one. You just said that you had never done anything that was jail worthy. I remember keeping you and Ned over there out of jail for this one,” Pop Ned said with knitted brows.
Matthew’s little face scrunched. “Dad, it’s rude to interrupt. G-Pop, what did they do with those FH things?”
He shifted in his seat with a devious smirk. He was way too excited to tell this story. “Well, these two found out that if you put them in a soda bottle, fill with water, then twist the top on tight that it would eventually blow up.”
Matthew’s, Joseph’s, and Jamal’s eyes widened. “Where can we get those?” Joseph asked.
