Groom Wars

28. Before He Leaves

Before the elimination, the house had this electric buzz. Some, who considered themselves safe, were drinking. Others were working out. And a small minority were chatting about the different women they had fucked. However, I didn't join them. I went outside and found a third building, tucked behind the gymnasium, that held a game room. Inside, I discovered a pool table and a bar with various bottles of alcohol, which I ignored after the mess that had occurred on my first day. Three guys were sitting around one of the poker tables.

I went over to them and said, "Yo, what's up?"

The boys looked at me with puzzled expressions. One of them had dark skin, the colour, and smoothness of charcoal. His ink-black eyes had a faint blue rim around the edges. His coarse hair was divided into equal halves. One section was white: the other, black. He sported a pair of retro gold glasses with multi-coloured lenses hanging on a string around his neck. The boy smoked a cigarette, took a long draw, then said, "Yo."

Next to him, a brown-skinned guy with a red afro nodded in my direction and asked, "I think I've seen you somewhere. Where you from?"

"Canada, but I have ancestors in Puerto Rico and Haiti?"

"Do you know voodoo?"

"Why would I know voodoo?

"Isn't voodoo a thing in Haiti?"

I stared at him with an expression that said I thought he was a complete idiot. A third boy with an afro pick sticking out of his bushy black hair chuckled and said, "Ignore him. Take a seat."

Out of convenience, I took the empty chair next to Afro Pick. A part of me thought we would get along because we were all black, but we were off to a bumpy start. Afro Pick said, "I'm Myron. The one with Zebra hair and funky glasses is Eddy. The one with red hair is Pumba; he's got a real soulful voice, you know?"

"Pumba," I said, trying out the name for myself. "I also sing a little."

Pumba laughed and said, "You're not from the ghetto, are you?"

"Well, not exactly."

Eddy said, "The boy grew up in an all-white neighbourhood, didn't he?"

I countered, "Mostly white, but there are other races as well."

They laughed.

Myron collected all the cards and reshuffled them.

The stink of the cigarette stung my nostrils. I turned to the boy who resembled a zebra, Eddy, and asked, "Do you mind putting that out?"

Pumba mimicked me, but his voice sounded more British and proper, "Do you mind putting that out, dear Eddy?"

Eddy said, "Well, Pumba, sir, if it affects you so much, I will." He snuffed it in a nearby ashtray and looked at me, "Happy?"

"Delighted."

Pumba laughed and said, "Yo, the way this guy talks.... 'Delighted.' 'Actually.'"

My face warmed.

Myron said, "Guys, stop picking on him." To me, he said, "They're harmless, I swear. You learn to ignore them."

"Is that so?" I asked.

The boys chuckled, and Pumba continued to mimic me with his atrocious British accent. "Is that so?"

Eddy said, "No, bro, his voice is a bit higher. And you have to sit all prim and proper when you say it." He fixed his posture, then said, "Is that so?"

Pumba laughed so hard his eyes watered.

I clenched my jaw and said, "I think I'm going to go." I rose to leave.