19
The Night Jhavon died
“Dude, you stupid!” Jhavon laughed.
Sean flipped up the wrapper of a Laffy Taffy and looked for his next joke. He scanned the small paper and put his open fist over his mouth. “Aww naw. You ain’t ready for this one,” he yelled to Jhavon. “How do you get a baby alien to sleep?”
Jhavon shook his head and walked away from the candy aisle. “I can’t with you, bro.”
“You rocket,” Sean yelled as though he were a comedian on stage with a coliseum full of people cracking up at his punch line. “Get it? Rocket...rock it!”
Old man Henderson, who owned the neighborhood corner store, teased from behind the counter, “If you’re gonna read the jokes, the least you can do is buy some.”
Sean grabbed a few pieces of his favorite flavor, grape, and joined Jhavon at the counter. He threw them into Jhavon’s pile of goods, which consisted of a grab-bag size of chips, soda, some gummy worms, and one of thoseBlack Hairmagazines. Sean didn’t have to ask. He already knew the magazine was for Jazzy and the gummy worms were for Niya.
He wished he could buy the gummy worms for Niya, but then Jhavon would want to know why, and Sean would have some explaining to do.
“So you just gonna throw your candy on my tab, huh?” Jhavon asked.
“That’s what friends are for,” Sean said, slapping his best friend on the back.
Henderson scanned the items and announced the total. Jhavon paid for the items, telling Sean the next one was on him.
“I gotcha,” he agreed.
“I’m a witness,” Henderson joined in. “So, next time, you get the family size chips, right?”
“Right,” Jhavon agreed, always eager to humor the old man.
“Naw, he will get that kiddie-size, right there.” Sean pointed to the two-for-one dollar bags in the display near the register, the kind that only had a few chips in them. “And he’s only getting one bag, not two.”
“You two,” Henderson laughed along with them, “you’ve been coming in this store since you were little boys. I’ve watched you two grow up. And your other two friends—Travis and Mike. You’re all good kids. Stay away from all these hoodlums in the neighborhood. You hear? Y’all got plans to leave here, right?”
“Yeah, we’ll leave,” Jhavon said. “I’m going pro. But I’m coming back to make it better.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sean said. “It’s every man for himself out here. When I leave, I’m not looking back.” But even as he said those words, he couldn’t imagine leaving Niya behind. He’d have to come back for her. For sure. He couldn’t tell Jhavon that though. Not yet.
“Yeah, well,” Henderson lowered his head, “come back or not, make something of yourselves either way.”
“One hundred,” Jhavon agreed, giving Henderson a fist bump.
Sean followed suit.
They exited the corner store, opening their goods as they left. Jhavon was chomping on his chips and Sean was just about to read off another joke when, all of a sudden, Flip and JJ came running from behind the liquor store at top-speed, their hoodies flapping in the wind. Moving off instinct, Jhavon and Sean turned around and took off running, because the way Flip and JJ were booking it, there might have been a pack of pit bulls coming their way.
Sean was about to grab the door handle and duck back into Henderson’s store, when he felt his body being jerked away.
“Come with us,” Flip demanded, leaving no room for argument seeing as Sean was literally off his feet at that point.
The next thing Sean knew, he and Jhavon were on the other side of Henderson’s store, between the building and the dumpster.
Flip shoved a grocery-sized brown bag into Jhavon’s chest. Jhavon grabbed onto it by instinct.
“You that basketball boy, always in the papers, right?” Flip asked.
Jhavon didn’t have the presence of mind to lie. “Yeah.”
“Hold this. Don’t mess with it. We’ll get it from you later.”
