HE LOVED ME IN THE DARK

THE WILD, WILD WEST

       The shelter wasn't all that bad because it was like living in a small apartment.  It had a medium sized living room, a tiny dining room, an even  smaller kitchen, a little bathroom,  and two small bedrooms.  The only bad thing was all eleven of us cramped in such a small place.

        We ended  up staying in the shelter a little over a month, then we moved to Plymouth and Wyoming.  It was a big pretty brick house.  We had  a big living room with a real brick fire place, medium  size dining room, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom downstairs, 3 bedrooms and another bathroom upstairs.  The bedrooms were spacious and we had a glass shower door and brick walls in the bathroom.

        I went to the neighborhood elementary school, Parker, while Kanitha went to Drew Middle School.  My first day at Parker was horrible.  I got into a fight with this girl  named, Evelyn.  She became my arch enemy.  She was tall, skinny, dark, ashy,and bald.  She was so evil and bad. I got into numerous fights, always suspended.  I'd rather be suspended, at home alone, than at school being made fun of, and fighting everyday. Most of the time I got myself suspended on purpose.

        On my way home from school one day,  I was jumped by five people.  Two girls who lived next door to me, broke up the fight, and walked me home.  When  we got there, I burst through the front door, screaming  and crying like someone  had shot off my baby toe, with  my friends tailing  behind me.  They told my mom that I got jumped, she looked at me and said, "stop crying, you'll live!"  I  saw the way my friends looked at each other confused.  I walked them outside  as we talked,  and they were surprised that my mother didn't even  move off her favorite spot on the couch.  They thought that my mother should have chased down the girls who jumped me, and stomp their ass.  They were bragging about the things their mothers would have done to the girls.  I was so embarrassed as well as hurt.  From that day forward, I tried to kill anyone else who tried to put their hands on me.

        Some of the teachers found out about the fihgt the next day, from the crossing guards.  They thought they were protecting me, so they decided to switch my class, which still didn't matter, because now all I  did was get into fights with the smart kids.

        I was  so happy when summer vacation started, I just wanted to sleep in late, and relax around the house.  That summer on our block was bananas!  Aurora Street was the place to be at the time.  Our house was the second house off thecorner, connecting with Mendota Street.

        There were alot of sexy guys that lived on our street. and since we had so many brothers, plus our dad, they stayed in front of our house, and in the driveway, playng basketball all day. Me, my sisters, and all the other teenage girls in tthe neighborhood, would sit on our huge, brick porch everyday, gossiping, laughing, talking, and making fun of each other.  We all would fantasize about which one we would marry, or who we were secretly dating in our head.  Needless to say, we were invisible to them, more like sisters who they protected from other niggas in different neighborhoods trying to hollar at us.  It was pretty funny.

        There was this set of brothers who lived across the street from us,  named Mike and Lonnie, they lived with their mom and Lonnie's girlfriend, Joy.  They were my dad's favorite two friends on Aurora, they went everywhere together, partied together, played ball together, and soon after began living together.  My dad still had a bad habit of letting grown ass men live in his house with his wife, and four daughters, my mother was pregnant with her last baby, Maggie at the time, Thank GOD!

        Ray was nineteen, medium height, dark skinned, about 150 lbs., nice full wide smile, and he was a cook at some restaurant.  He was mature, nice, and respectful.  His girlfriend was pregnant, Joy was eighteen and resembled the R&B  singer, Tiny, from Xscape.  Mike was tall, light skinned, about 160 lbs., goofy, sarcastic, and kept up a lot of drama.  He went to the local high school, Mackenzie, and was very popular in the hood.