LOST BOY

LOST BOY: daddy issues

[damien, 23]

"Mommy." Damien called softly, standing in the threshold of his mothers room. "I feel like I could kill a man right now."

She chuckled, tucked away on the couch, wrapped in a blanket with a bonnet on her head. "You sound just like yo daddy." She was staring out her window, looking out onto the street.

"I'm not like him, you know." He came into the room, "I'm better than him. I don't run away from my family or anything like that."

"Damien, I heard what happened the other night. I hear everything in my house."

"Momma, you talking like your old self today." He smiled, "Don't tell me is all because I'm back unda yo roof."

"I kept thinking you was gone die out there, Day. Thats enough to drive any muva mad."

"So what'd you hear?"

"Who was in my baby's room? Didn't sound like Remy or Donovan or Nyia."

"Whew, you don't miss a thing."

"He's your friend?"

"Nah."

"Kill 'im."

"Ma."

"Hmm?" She asked, starting her rocking back and forth, humming, watching the window.

"Mommy."

He went outside, sat on the porch and looked at the sky, thinking. He saw a tan jeep rubicon roll by causing his mind to travel back in time to his first week of basic training.

The dusty roads in the Deep South were nothing new to the 19 year old who grew up in a mildly rural small midwestern town. What was new to him however was the mistreatment he endured shortly before at the hands of his father. Mistreatment he thought had prepared him for duty. He was wrong. Just like the sergeant at Sweetwater, men in high rank in the military had a thing for lightskinned niggas who 'thought they were white'. Too much confidence, not enough fright— not easily ruled.

"What you thinking about G.I.?" A soft voice snapped him out of his memory. She was sitting on the porch next door, a mere few feet away. Kind brown eyes glistened in the sun as they stayed locked on him. She laughed.

He shook his head and leaned back against the stone pillar on the top stairs he was sitting on.

"You're definitely quieter than you used to be."

"Shit, I been reprogramed I guess."

Her smile lessened but didn't leave. "Is everything okay?"

He looked away, sudden heat filling his ears.

"I wanted to come by and see Miss Kisha today."
She offered.

He shook his head, "Today isn't good. Maybe tomorrow." He offered. She nodded and sighed.