Murphy & Jolen

Chapter 6

The next day was Friday and it was gorgeous out. I wore a white tee under a mild blue t-shirt with jeans and white sneakers.
"Murphy!" They shouted from the back.
"Looking fresh," Marquis said.
Jolen wasn't on the bus, he must not be at a random house this morning. I sat across from dumb and dumber. Just thinking that made me smile. The next stop was Jolen's. He was wearing a white tee with tan, green, and brown camouflage shorts that stopped above his knees and sneakers.
"JoJo!" Dumb and Dumber called. Jolen stared at me as he made his way to the back. He sat next to me and pretty close compared to last time.

Jolen went his separate way once we got to the school. I seen him throughout five of my eight classes and we had exchanged a few words.

Then it was time for work.

This little girl annoyed me when I was trying to help her find a book. She could never make up her mind on what book she wanted. Then this angry mother decided to get vindictive when Macy ripped her a new one. So she destroyed half the children and teen DVDs. She just knocked them down and I had to reorganized them because that's in my job description. The mother was slick and got away with it but Macy knew it was her because she had a previous altercation with her besides the one today. Macy was kind enough to help me get the shelves back together. This was enough to piss me off for the day. Then some other motherfuckers done missplaced the magazines in the magazine racks. The Time magazine was in the Rolling Stone section. The Marie Clare was with the Cosmopolitan. Advocate in Psychology Today. Men's Journal in Mental Floss. Ladies Journal in Real Simple. Sports Illustrator in Ebony. All kinds of fuckery. I usually blame the magazine section on the old white men and the pre-teen little girls. They all pissed me off.

Once I got home I didn't give a fuck. I took a shower and then did my business, I needed it.

The weekend was here and I didn't feel like moving from my bed. Saturday morning and it was too early. There was a knock on my door.
"Yeah," I said into my pillow.
My dad came in. He's a tall, dark, brown skinned, handsome man. He wore his golfing wear. He took up golfing back when we were living in Section 1, traveling back and forth to play and made some buddies. I haven't gone with him yet.
"C'mon, Murphy, come out with your old man today. You look miserable son, you need to get out more. Let's get some air, it's a nice day. C'mon, I'll teach you my ol' tricks on the course, it'll be fun. My buddies have their sons tag along, you might know some of them."
"Okay dad, just stop talking."
He chuckled.
"Meet you outside."
I sighed and looked for some clothes. I came out with some jeans, shoes, and a white tee.
My dad drove his Cadillac up to the golf course. It looked just like how they depict it in the movies and whatnot. I just realized how boring this day might be and swore under my breath. Dad parked and I helped him carry his golf clubs like a good son. We made our way to the field where five men were standing.
"Hello, Ray," All the men called.
"What's up guys, today I brought my son, Murphy. Murphy this is Rick, Henry, Jerry, Samuel, and Tom."
"Hello gentlemen," I said politely.
"Hello, Murphy," Jerry said.
Tom nodded.
"Nice to meet you, Murphy," Samuel said.
"Your father is a pro," Henry said and Rick nodded.
"Don't worry, you won't be the only one here, we have our sons coming too," Rick said.
Great. Preppy, white boys and maybe a preppy, black boy because Rick was a few shades lighter than my dad.

They were playing for, like, ten minutes. I helped set up posts and give and clean balls and bake in the sun. Then I noticed three white boys coming over.
"My son won't be coming today, he has a date," Tom said.
The three white boys, who I do recall seeing at school, were Henry's, Jerry's and Samuel's sons. They introdued us but I didn't like them. They huddled around each other and "giggled" amongst each other.
"My son is late." Rick looked mad. "I told that boy about all that partying." My dad listened. I was sitting in the grass half listening while looking over at a pond.

An hour had passed.

I was busy riding the caddy back up to the rest of the men with my dad. I pulled up in front of everyone and we got out. I turned to look at the others when I noticed Jolen.

What the hell?

He had me stop suddenly in my tracks. He was staring at me too, although Rick was talking to him. Jolen must be Rick's son. Now that I think about it, I see a hint of similarity, although Jolen is darker by complexion, they were both still light skinned. I could make out what looked like confusion and disgust on Rick's face towards his son. I walked away some to clean off the golf clubs and realized that Jolen was following me, having just left his father's side.
"So you're Ray's son. Your dad is a beast."
He was smiling.
"Thanks."
"I'm glad to see you, for years I've been coming along on this bullshit and having to deal with those white boys."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I already knew what they were about when I first glanced at them."
Jolen smile some more.
"At least you understand."
"Why do you come then?"
"To get my dad off my back."
"He was blasting about your business to my dad."
"About what?"
The smile gone off of his face.
"Your partying."
Jolen sucked his teeth.
"Man, I don't party that bad... it was Friday."
I laughed, Jolen smiled.

An hour later we were finally off the golf field. Jolen was trying to say something to me.
"So, like, I don't know if it's too late for you or if you have other plans beause my day is pretty much free..."
I kind of understood what he was getting at but I didn't know why he was beating around the bush. Until...
"Jolen!" Rick yelled.
Jolen exhaled and rolled his eyes.
"I'll see you," Jolen said and walked to his dad.

I went back home and was in the mood to work out. So I changed into some gym shorts and another pair of sneakers. I did some sit ups, push ups and whatnot in my room then I went jogging around my neighborhood. I got all the white women staring and felt good afterwards. A bath called my name so I soaked in one.
I slept most of Sunday after finishing my homework. Marquis and Trent tried texting me but I didn't care, I realized I didn't have Jolen's number.
Sunday night I dreamt of a black night and stars.