Pavane for a Lost Boy (Or Rather, How to Survive Loss after Rejection)

Chapter Two

One week later...

Do you know what's worse than planning a funeral for your family before you even leave high school?

Planning a funeral for your family during summer vacation while dealing with the words of spiteful relatives who think tha it should've been YOU who died instead.

And that was my case as the rest of my school year flew by without warning. There were obituaries to write, guests to greet, meals to cook, clothes to wash, and relatives to comfort. And on top of finishing my finals, no less. It was a blessing to have Mr. Tucker and his brood to lend a hand, or else I might've been too tired even fix myself a bite to eat.

And with regards to my extended relatives- my aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends? If you think that I got one bit of sympathy from them, well...

Demarcus and DeSean had their lives ahead of them and they were the keys to bringing greatness to the family! And they're dead all because of you!

You're a bad-luck coin in this family, boy. You bring nothing but bad karma.

Robert and Vivian should've had you aborted the week they found out that they were having you. It might have made this family better off without you in it.

God don't like ugly. He don't like pretty. And he sho' don't like plain folks. You being the plain kid in our lineage proves that you are what we hate. You make me sick!

Again, folks, aren't they lovely people?

But as always, I kept my mouth shut and my emotions bottled up as the joint homegoing celebration for my parents and siblings came and went without a hitch. But it didn't do me any good since I was the one to do all the work while the relatives were the ones to sit back and pray that I fall on my ass.

I swear to y'all that I considered it a miracle that I kept my cool over the years.

But even through all of that, I never wished my parents and siblings any ill will against them. I mean, they're no Cleavers who kept it wholesome or the Evans who made the most of any situation; but I still honored and respected them with all of my heart, never asking for anything in return. And they were gone all because of some party-loving doofuses thought it would be great to drive intoxicated and stoned that would claim their lives as well as my family's.

Dad and Mom died instantly as did Demarcus from the fatal impact. Camilla, Shantay and DeSean died within minutes of each other while en-route to the hospital.

And I was spared from the hands of death because Mom thought it would be bad luck to take me with them to meet with some college reps for the brothers at Texas Southern.

All I could say was...what now?

****************

The funeral services came and went, and the topic soon changed to my future. Or rather, a reading of the will by my mother's private attorney (a willow-thin Latina named Ms. Suarez). Of course, all the money that was saved up by Mom and Dad and any of their properties all went to my aunts and uncles while my cousins all got what my brothers and sisters left behind. That left me with...well, nothing other than a measly five dollars (which was snatched up by Cousin Ray-Ray, a soon-to-be convict who was given one final chance to say farewell before he was to be locked up for drug dealing).

And as for where I was to stay?

My father's parents Douglas and Evangeline didn't want to take me in. "It's too much work taking care of young folks. We got the economy to consider," Grandfather Douglass said gruffly. It's not like I was a newborn kid or anything. I could easily stay out of their way and help out with their bills by getting a job.