Black Beauty

Ballin at the Basketball Court

How the hell did someone go from  fine-as-hell to crack-head so fast? Andre wondered, shivering. She must've been doing that shit for years without anyone knowing.  He nodded his head in regret and pity while he sprinted and bounced his ball past the swimming pool and to the basketball court. Cracks riddled the paved concrete but it was the only full court in the area. Boys from the neighborhood and surrounding apartment complexes came here to play.

Bouncing the ball, he surveyed his competition.  There were six guys on the court playing 3 on 3 with no one on the side waiting to get tagged in.  Just as he began to lose patience, two girls sitting near the playground caught his eye. They sat on the picnic tables watching a small child in red overalls climbing up the jungle gym. They must have been new because he'd never seen  them before.  As he stared, one of them glanced his way and smiled before she turned back to her friend. They were both white, one had pale blotchy skin and slightly with strawberry-blonde hair. The other had smooth tan skin, slender but had meat one her bones, with blonde hair and dark brown roots. 

"Nigga you playing or what?" asked Malik, sweat clung to his dark skin and glistened off the bald spot on the top of his head.  

"Get your old ass off the court," Andre said placing his ball on the grass and stepping onto the court.

"Talk shit now, but I'll kick your ass once I catch my breath," Malik said, in between labored breaths. 

"Whatever, nigga," Andre said.

Every time Andre made a goal, he couldn't help but look toward the table. The girls smiled, laughed, and turned away every time he looked over.  He wondered if they were from the neighborhood or new to the apartments. The longer he played. The more curious he became. Relief washed over him when Andre saw an excuse to walk over there. Benita, Corey's girlfriends cousin, was talking to them. 

"You're up," Andre said to Malik who had been drinking red-colored Kool-aid and talking shit on the sidelines

"Why you leaving? You scared?" Malik accused, setting his drink on the grass.

"Man, I'll be back," Andre said, dismissing the insult with the wave of his hand.

As he approached, the two white girls laughed and looked away, trying to pretend they didn't see him coming, but Benita eyed him coldly and with a scowl.

"What's up, Benita?" he asked.

"What's up, Dre?" she asked, eying him up and down as if to say she knew exactly why he'd come over and she wasn't going to make it easy for him. Benita was dark, but pretty. She usually wore her hair down, but she'd gotten it braided a few weeks ago and it cascaded down her back making her look Janet Jackson from Poetic Justice.

"Who are your friends?" Andre asked.

"None of your damn business," Benita said.

He turned from her, still feeling her hater gaze on the side of his face. "Where y'all from?" he asked, staring at the shorter one with the tan.

"We just moved in," the girl with the tan said. She was even prettier up close.

"What's your name?" he asked, putting as much bass in his voice as possible, while eying her up and down and licking his lip, hoping she'd take the hint.

She glanced away for a moment, but then she looked him in the eye and smiled. "I'm Julia," she said. He couldn't remember the last time a girl made his feel this good just by smiling.

"I'm Dre. Like Dr. Dre," he said. His heart pounded, but he kept his face straight.

"It's Andre," Benita said. "Not Dr. Dre and why are you over here anyway. They don't care what your name is."

"Man, I'm just trying to be friendly." Fuck. He should have come over when Benita had left. He'd forgotten the girl had tried to get with him when Corey had Latreece had first hooked up. She was nice and all but he hadn't been interested. He hadn't thought twice about it because she'd always been friendly. 

"Take your skinny slanky ass back to the basketball court cause nobody wants you over here," Benita said, her braids swinging as she rolled her neck.

From the corner of his vision, he saw Julia and the other girl giggle.

"You're just jealous cause nobody wants your ass," he said, acting fast to recover his pride. He couldn't let this girl mess up his game.

"Fuck you, nigga. Why whenever some white girls come over here your fake ass be all over 'em?"

"Cause y'all black girls is loud and look like cockroaches."

Benita's mouth dropped and she turned grey, looking as if she'd just swallowed a fly.  Andre looked around. It seemed like the entire apartment complex had gone quiet as he realized what he'd just said.

He hadn't noticed before but Crazy Jade and her son were a few feet away. Her son sat on the swing rapidly kicking his legs, but going nowhere because his mother held the swing's metal chain while she stared at Andre. 

"I'm telling your momma," Benita said, jabbing her finger into his chest. Her moment of speechlessness gone. The entire complex came alive again, the  squeak of the shoes on the basketball court, Crazy Jade began pushing her son again, but she still looked over here.

"Girl, I was just kidding," he said to Benita, but she had already stalked away anger rolling off her in waves.

The white girls had left. Apparently, they knew better than to get in between and argument. He should have ran after Benita and tried to get her to shut up, but he knew a lost battle when he saw one.  But Julia he could salvage that relationship. He started after her but something, someone grabbed his arm.

He looked up to see Crazy Jade. Where has she come from, she'd just seen her at the swings.

Andre tried pulled his arm away, but her grip was hot and strong like a vice. "Excuse me," he said, trying to be polite.  He was in enough trouble already. The last thing he needed was for his mother to find out he was being rude to an adult also.

She held on. "All black woman look like cockroaches?" she asked.

"No, I was. . ."

"Isn't your mother black?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Jade. I was talking shit. I didn't mean it."

"If all black girls look like cockroach, and your mother is black, then that makes you a cockroach." Her face was strained like she was trying to decipher a difficult math problem.

"I was just kidding," he said. "Benita was talking shit to me first."

She narrowed her eyes and then said something in a language he couldn't understand.

But he knew enough to be scared. He tried again to pull his arm away, but her clutch was too strong. He started to panic but then she let go and he fell to the ground, landing hard on his butt.

Jade's reddish-brown eyes glared down at him before she turned to her son who still sat on the swing pumping his legs while he flew up and down on the swing.

"Come on, baby," she said. "Let's get inside. There are s one too many cockroaches out here."