“I want you to stop,” I say. “I don’t need Wallace Mercy.”
“Your white lawyer tell you that?”
“Adisa,” I sigh. “I never wanted to be someone’s poster child.”
“You didn’t even give Reverend Mercy a chance. You know how many of our people have had experiences like yours? How many times they been told no because of their skin color? This is bigger than just your story, and if some good can come out of what happened to you, why not let it?” Adisa sits up. “All he wants is a chance to sit down with us, Ruth. On national television.”
Alarm bells ring in my head.“Us,”I repeat.
Adisa’s gaze slides away. “Well,” she admits, “I indicated that I might be able to change your mind.”
“So this isn’t even about helping me move forward. It’s aboutyougetting recognition. Jesus, Adisa. This is a new low, even for you.”
“What’sthatsupposed to mean?” She gets to her feet and stares down at me, her hands balanced on her hips. “You really think I’d use my baby sister like that?”
I challenge her. “You really gonna stand here drenched to the bone and tell me it’s not raining?”
Before she can answer there is a loud crash as a door falls back on its hinges and slams into the wall. Tabari swaggers out from one of the bedrooms with a friend. “You rob a trucker fuh that hat, yo?” He laughs. They are amped up, loud, their pants riding so low I don’t know why they even bother to wear them. All I can think is that I’d never let Edison out of the house like that, like he was looking to intimidate.
Then Tabari’s friend turns around and I realize it’s my son.
“Edison?”
“Ain’t it nice,” Adisa says, smiling. “The cousins hanging?”
“What are you doing here?” Edison says, in a tone that lets me know this is not a pleasant surprise.
“Don’t you have homework to do?”
“Did it.”
“College applications?”
He looks at me, his eyes hooded. “They ain’t due for another week.”
Ain’t?
“What’s the problem?” he asks. “You’re always telling me how importantfamilyis.” He says that word as if it is a swear.
“Where exactly are you and Tabari going?”
Tabari looks up. “The movies, Auntie,” he says.
“The movies.”Like hell,I think. “What film are you seeing?”
He and Edison exchange a look and start laughing. “We gonna pick when we get there,” Tabari says.
Adisa steps forward, arms crossed. “You got a problem with that, Ruth?”
“Yes. Yes I do,” I explode. “Because I think it’s a lot more likely that your son is going to take Edison down by the basketball court to smoke weed than to see the next Oscar nominee.”
My sister’s jaw drops. “You judging my family,” she hisses, “whenyouon trial for murder?”
I grab Edison’s arm. “You’re coming with me,” I announce, and then I turn to Adisa. “Have fun doing your interview with Wallace Mercy. Just make sure you tell him, and the adoring public, that you and your sister are no longer on speaking terms.”
With that, I drag my son out of her home. I rip the hat off his head when we get downstairs and tell him to pull up his pants. We are halfway to the bus station before he says a word. “I’m sorry,” Edison begins.
“You better be,” I answer, rounding on him. “You lost your damn mind? I didn’t raise you to be like this.”
