She moved closer to Ernie and peeked into his bowl. Remedy’s face frowned up as she glared at him.
“Smell it,” Ernie prompted, holding the bowl up. “Nasty shit. Can a nigga get some bacon?”
“I know you didn’t put egg whites in the oatmeal,” Remedy fussed. “Who taught you how to cook?”
“Myself,” Erys proudly stated, now observing his own bowl and balancing his attention to Remedy in his clothes walking to the fridge like she owned the place.
“Unlearn it,” she replied, pulling out a host of things. Once she had what she needed, she spun on the balls of her feet to collect the three bowls of food and racked them out.
“I was eating that,” Erys gritted.
“No, you weren’t. You knew that shit was nasty too. I know it’s your house and all, but you’re in my way,” she sassed, barely looking up at him. His bare chest putting her at a pause.
Erys moved over to the table and sat down by his dad. “She always bossy like that?”
“She’s the boss,” Ernie stated. “Remedy has done everything for me since she moved in next door. I don’t know how to do shit without her. I was like that with your mama.”
“I don’t wanna hear how you had her on the street,” Erys stated.
“Your mama was never on the street, boy. She rode with me, yes. She helped me manage those hoes, yes. Can’t nobody tell you I didn’t love her. I loved her how I knew how and if she needed to be loved any other way, I would have learned. She didn’t give me the chance. That’s the story. Whatever else she told you was bullshit. I never hit her, I never pimped her. Niggas couldn’t even look at her crazy without coming up missing. Miss me with all that what I did to your mama. She wasn’t no fucking hoe, she was mine and I fucking loved her,” Ernie protested, slamming his hand on the table and then backed away. “Boy, I swear you know how to piss me the fuck off.”
Ernie staggered to his feet and quickened out the kitchen. Remedy paused her whisking to give Erys a pointed look.
“Please don’t tell me you’re an asshole and slow,” Remedy said with a curl of her lip. “Get your big ass up and go after him.”
Erys stood and flashed her a weary look before turning it off. “What do I say to him?”
“Try not to speak, you ruin things when your mouth is open. Try listening,” Remedy sarcastically directed.
He took his command and walked into the living room where his father was staring out of the large panoramic window. “You got a boat?”
Erys smirked slightly. “Yeah. You wanna see it?”
“Why we still in here? Take me to see it,” Ernie said, excitement forming over his face as he started to fiddle with the locks to open the accordion sliding door.
“I got it,” Erys said, turning the locks and pushing the doors open, instantly the living room and the patio flowed as one space.
The pair stepped out into the morning breeze of Waynesville and both sighed. With guidance, Ernie followed his son down the even path to where the boat was housed. The side of the black boat readCherie Amor. After helping him inside, the two sat in silence for a while before Ernie spoke.
“You’ve been here a while?” Ernie asked, flexing his clean jawline. Another sign that Remedy had taken great care of him. “You look all set up.”
“Been back and forth when time allowed. I built this for mama. The layout, the boat, all of it.”
“You been back and forth and didn’t even think about seeing me?” Ernie asked, allowing his son to hear the longing in his voice. Erys had to remember his father didn’t decline overnight. This was years upon years of him not taking care of himself, the loneliness – the darkness.
Erys knew the darkness all too well. “Honestly?”
“Ain’t no other way around it, Erys. I’m too old for the bullshit,” Ernie grunted. “Give it to me straight. You’re embarrassed of me.”
Erys leaned forward, looking back up the path to Remedy moving around the kitchen. Her words ringing in his ear “for once in your life give the man some fuckin’ respect”. He straightened his spine and looked at his father. He learned that conflict between men was resolved face to face.
“I was. From a little boy and now, as a grown man. But there’s so much of you in me, I’ve tried to bury. I made sure I didn’t have kids with some random woman so my seed wouldn’t hate me too. I guess the realization of how much I have hated you scared me. I couldn’t imagine my little nigga looking at me with my face and my eyes and blood running through his veins and he couldn’t stand me. That’s on me.”
“Not wholly. Me too. I knew where you were. I knew how to get to you. Fear is something dangerous. It locks you into a dark hole and your heart seizes when you think about climbing out and seeing the light. It don’t matter who you make yourself be in life. A nigga pimping bitches or a nigga snatching lives,” Ernie spoke, turning to his son like he saw him.
Erys flexed his jaw.
“I’m not all the way out my mind, Erys. I know what happens at Fort Wraith and I know only the most dangerous of men come out on the other side. That’s not lost on me. What is, is the time we wasted being bulls and not father and son. I live with that regret every day,” Ernie lamented, looking back toward the house. “I’m sorry I never fought for a relationship with you. I’m sorry I never stepped up.”
