Lysander

Childhood

Six years later, being a black kid, living in a white neighborhood wasn't as weird as it seem to be. At least you're not living in the hood of DeKalb County, even though that's where my Grandmother lives. I worried about her a lot over there, because I've been hearing on the news about niggas getting killed and shot at. Not to mention police brutality. I was getting ready for school and my mother called me down.

"Ly! Ly! Come on, Lysander, you gonna be late for school!" Katherine called me.

"Coming! Mama." I said as I ran downstairs.

"Did you brush your teeth and comb your hair?" Katherine said as she was straighten out my clothes.

"Yes, ma'am." I said.

"Got your homework?" Katherine asked.

"Yes." I said.

"Good, let's head out to the car." Katherine said as we left the house.

My mother dropped me off at my school, Jenkins Elementary School, as parents were dropping their kids off to school.

"Alright, sweetie, see you later, be good. Give mommy kiss." Katherine said as I kissed my mother on the cheek.

"Bye momma." I said as I got out of my mother's car.

At recess, me and my friend Trent, a white boy, reading The Source Magazine. Trent loved hip hop as much as I do.

"Check this out, man. The new monthly cover of UGK!" Trent showed me the magazine.

"Check this out. Blink 102. Alternative Press." I showed him the magazine.

"Damn!" Trent said.

Suddenly, a white kid came up to us, named Wallace, who is the school bully. Who always picking on us and some of the other kids.

"Hey, what you guys doing?" Wallace said.

"Nothing." Trent said.

"What you got there?" Wallace grabbed the magazines out of our hands.

"UGK and Blink 182? These guys sucks." Wallace said.

"Not like your momma did with my daddy last night." Trent roasted him.

"Don't you ever talked about my momma! You wuss!" Wallace said as he pushed Trent to the ground.

"Hey, you don't push him down like that!" I said.

"Oh yeah, what you gonna do about it, nigga?" Wallace said as rage came out of my eyes.

"I through the first punch and I got on top of him and punched him in the face repeatedly, as a group of kids crowded us. As I continued to punched him his face got a little bloody and two of his teeth came out. I was sent to the principal and called both of our parents.

"Erica, he said he was sorry." Katherine said.

"Did you see my sons face? He knocked out his two teeth out. He's a goddamn animal is what he is" Erica, Wallace mother said.

"Can we just calm down, Erica, please?" Katherine said.

"I want him in handcuffs and I want him gone." Erica said.

"We are taking action." said the principal of Jenkins. "Lysander is going to be suspended for two weeks."

"Suspended is that it?! Do your job, arrest him?" Erica said to the sheriff who was in the principal office.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but that's not your call." said the sheriff.

"After the suspension, Lysander will be in regular session with the school counselor." said the principal.

"Counseling? That's a fucking great idea! He's sick! You people have no right to be in our county. Might well just go back to the ghetto where you all belong." Erica said.

"Okay, you're way out of line, there." Katherine exclaimed.

"I meant, whatever I said. I bet his daddy, was a real psychopath just like him." Erica said.

"I know, exactly what you meant. A white woman like you is trash talking a black seven year old child let you sleep better at night. Maybe you're the one who needs help. And by the way, his father died before he was born. Sorry about your son, even though he said a word he shouldn't said." Katherine walked out of the principal office to get her son.

"She made a good point." said the sheriff.

"Come on, let's go." Katherine said to me as I got up and leave the school. Erica gave me a dirty look.

As we drove off. Katherine start to have a conversation with me.

"Ly. This isn't like. You never been sent to the principal office. We need to find you a better outlet. A more... constructive outlet." Katherine said.

"Yeah... maybe I could." I said.

"Honey, let's not get all sarcastic. You know better than to break that boys face." Katherine said.

"But, he called me the N-word, what was I suppose to do?" I said.

"I know that was wrong what he said, but the world wants us black people, to be more modern citizens, they always wants us to be." Katherine said.

At home, I was looking up the ceiling lights and I saw numbers, I was counting to 1 through 13. Katherine couldn't see the numbers and she was wondering what was wrong with me.

"9, 10, 11..." I was counting.

"What are you looking at, Ly? Ly, look at me." Katherine said.

"1, 2, 3, 4.." I was continuing counting.

"What are you doing, Ly?" Katherine said as I started to cry.

Next morning, my mom took me to the doctor, to see what wrong, the doctor came back to the room and got the results.

"Okay, here's the results, and it turns out that he's suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorders, general anxiety disorder and possibly bipolar disorder. But she's only young to tell." said the doctor.

"Well, yesterday, he got into a little fight, so I guess that explains." Katherine said.

We went to the pharmacy to get my prescription, I have to take two of them each day.

"Honey, it's just the way your brain is hardwired plenty of great intelligent, funny, interesting and creative people and kids have struggled with the same things you struggle." Katherine explained.

"Like who?" I asked.

"Um. Vincent Van Gogh. Sylvia Plath. And your favorite Britney Spears." Katherine said.

Suddenly, there was a knocked on the door.

"I'll be right back, Ly. Yes, may I help you." Katherine said as she opened the door.

"I'm the landlord, I see that you haven't paid your house bills." said the landlord.

"I know, I called you and said I need a couple more days." Katherine tried to explain.

"I'm sorry, I need to rent. I can't wait anymore days. I need you out of here tomorrow." said the landlord.

"Listen, Ly. We might have to moved to your grandma's house in DeKalb." Katherine said to me.

"Why? Why are we leaving?" I asked.

"Mommy, doesn't have enough money to pay for this house. But hey you and see your older brother, Michael over there. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Katherine said.

I nodded.

"Okay, go pack your stuff we got a big day head of us, tomorrow." Katherine said.

The next morning, we packed all our stuff and put them in the car as we drove to my grandmother's house.