Mr. Tan

Chapter 3: The Freeman Household

 I've only been living here for two months now and I've learned some  things:

1.) Mamma worked at a local currency exchange / check cashing place that's three miles away from home. She worked from 8:00 in the morning till 8:00 at night, so that meant on school mornings I was responsible for getting myself up, ready and out of the house in enough time to walk a block to my bus stop and wait for my school bus. 

2.) Clyde slept late and on most days and he'd be gone while I was at home after school. At lease I had the house to myself to do whatever I wanted, whether I was doing my homework or singing out loud to my favorite blues musicians. 

3.) Never sing out loud near Clyde, he'd tell me to shut up and no one wanted to hear my skinny ass screech like a wet cat.

4.) Mamma's husband was moody. Don't mention job searching in front of him, that would just make him mad. 

5.) He didn't work but he always had money to buy liquor.

6.) There was never enough to eat cause he was always taking mamma's money. Mamma only got paid twice a month. 

7.) Don't let kids you know from school see you shopping with food stamps.

 Speaking of school, I hated my new school, I hated finishing my 8th grade year at Phillip Earnhardt Middle School. My school was predominantly black, so not that many white kids, bi-racial kids, or any other race for that matter. I had no friends, not even associates and I really didn't say much to anyone. My mamma got my clothes from the dollar stores or the bin at the flee market, so I wasn't the most fashion forward girl there. My hair never did what I wanted it to do, so the best thing I could do was try and rake a comb through it and push it back off my face with a headband or bandanna. I felt like a walking zoo exhibit at school, plus the kids really knew how to make me feel like a freak show. Most of the time I'd come home from school in tears. At school I did my best to stay out of trouble, do my work, get my homework, then leave. My mamma never packed me a lunch so I always ate the school lunch. I avoided the cafeteria like a plague, so I ate my lunch in the gym room. At least the gym teacher Coach Carson was nice. The cafeteria was the worse place for me cause that's when kids would gang up on me the most. The teachers on lunch room duty were no help whatsoever. Telling me to ignore their mean taunts and throwing things at me just didn't work in my favor. I missed my old school, Dr. Whittier Advanced Learning Academy. I missed my old friends, teachers and being apart of the glee club. Grandma wanted nothing but the best for me and she put me in the best schools she could afford. I enjoyed going home from school and telling my Grandma about my day at school, as she was always interested in what I learned and my homework. Grandma always told me "you can have all the money in the world, but without an education you ain't got nothing to rely on". My mamma hardly ever asked how I did in school. On days when she did ask her tone sounded uninterested. As long as I said "fine" her reply was "okay". As for Clyde, he spent less and less time at home. As for my mamma and him, they've been married for two years. They got married back in"95" the year was now 1997. They didn't have a big ol' church wedding, they got married at the city hall. Mamma also told me he use to have a job working for a company that repaired furnaces and air conditioners but he got fired cause he missed too many days at work. She would say not to worry because he's looking for work.