• Averys Story.


    Its all the same old same old, nothing I ain't used to. I think of myself as born ready, came to this earth already a man. Growing up I never really got the chance to be a kid. Got poor grades in school, and it didn't even mean a thing cause I had no one to show that really gave a damn. Ma was always on that crack pipe, stoned out of her mind, and my dad was never there from the beginning. Never understood the word family and the sound of it put a bad taste in my mouth. I had so much hatred for those fairy tale stories where the mom baked cookies and the dad taught his sons to play football. That jazz isn't real, its just sugar-coating the truth, forget that, its just baking a whole new cake, a fake plastic cake of bull. That's just how I feel.

    When my mom passed away, I hardly shed a tear. It didn't phase me one bit, I could care less about the woman who couldn't even remember her sons name, or note my mere existence. She didn't give a care in the world, and neither did I. Made it a hell of a lot easier when my teachers called home for not showing to class, wouldn't even answer it. That's one thing I didn't have to worry about. Probably was lighting herself another one. So she passed and turns out I had an Uncle Ty down in Memphis, Tennessee. I wasn't down with the notion of being suffocated by some white hillbillies. White people, their always so giggly and happy all the time, that ain't normal, or at least my normal, but anything was better than the hood.

    I must have had a hole in my head to think god was cutting me a break. Travelled to Memphis with a glimmer of hope and a smile on my face, at least my attempt at a smile. Nobody smiles in the old neighbourhood, cops would think you were concealing a gun under your shirt or were hiding dope in your socks. So instead, everybody was mean-muggin', smiling was a useless expression. Besides, took to many muscles anyway. This was the first time I really saw the streets, I mean, sitting here in the back seat of a car, you had a good view. You couldn't see squat running from the police or from the hood rats.

    “ Avery? ”, a deep, lenient voice questioningly shouted as I stepped out of the vehicle. Doesn't sound like my people. The social worker looked at me through the rear-view mirror and reassured me that it was okay. I got out, turned around and glanced back at her, “ Ain't you coming? ”. She nodded and got out of the car. Got to the front door where a man stood waiting. Dang, time had really done some work on him. He looked real shy, kind of makes me think of a turtle. He was leaning against the door holding the knob, twisting it and swaying back and forth. He shook hands with the social worker and introduced himself, “ The names Ty, Ty Owens ”. His eyes drifted away from her and fixated themselves on me, “ and you must be Avery ”. “ Its Ave ” I shot back at him. There was no way I was going to play nice with Ty, he has to earn my trust and I'm just not giving it away that easy. “ Shall we get crackin'?! ” said Ms.Lark. From the moment she met me shes been trying to talk black. Ticked me off cause for one, she sucked eggs at it and I feel like smacking her one every time she does it. I can understand normally, you ain't got to try to “bond” with me by speaking the same. Ty opened up the door and let us through.

    This is sick! Hes doing damn well for a chiropractor, I read that off one of the sheets that were on Ms.Larks desk this afternoon before we left. I ain't got a clue what a chiropractor is, but that was the last thing on my mind. I've never been in such a luxurious environment. My jaw dropped with astonishment, I swear the screws were about to fall off. This was a big leap from being in the projects, I'm not used to all of this fancy stuff. I could hear Ty do a grandpa chuckle behind me. “ You like it, think you'll be able to adjust?”. I was on the verge of answering but I didn't want him to get the conception that I cared. “ Its alright ” I said instead. I cant believe I'm going to live here. Ms.Lark made sure I was down and left. Ty showed me around the house. Every hallway was decked out with framed photos of nude women, not the kind you find in magazines, the kind that's considered art. I found them so blunt I didn't even bother to do a double take to get a better look. I understand art is a way of expressing your feelings and all that jack but why do your feelings gotta be so boring?, I just don't get it. Ty had two washrooms, and just one of them was larger than my room at the projects. Lead me towards the kitchen, the fridge looked like it could hold a lot, but when Ty opened it up for me to see, he obviously needed to do some grocery shopping cause that ain't gonna fly with me. Went upstairs and he walked me to a room that was the most extensive of any other room in the house. “ This is for you ”, he said grinning with his eyes. I couldn't think of any reason why he would give the biggest room in the house to me. Course, that didn't mean I was cool with him. “ You must be hungry, lets go down and Ill whip you up something to eat ”, I nodded and followed him downstairs.

    I sulk into the hard surface of the wooden chair. “ You cant eat with your hands glued in your pockets ”. I don't move my hands an inch. “ You live here all alone? ”, I asked cutting the abrupt moment of silence. “ Not anymore ” he replied joyfully. “ You don't got any wife or kids ?”. “ I had a wife, we divorced three years ago. If there's one thing that I can tell you boy, don't get married, its just one thing after the other, that isn't good for your health, why do you think I look like this when I'm only fifty four?” “ For real? ”, that's hard to believe, I thought the dude was around his resting age. “ For real ” he answered giving a faint chortle. “ I don't have any kids, thank the good lord, and as for family, its just me, apart from that the only family I knew was my sister, your mum ”. I wanted to ask him what he meant by the only family he knew was ma, but I decided to drop it. “ How come I ain't never met you before?” I was feeling a sense of empathy for Ty. I mean, I never had a fami - - you know, and neither did he. “ Your mum stopped speaking to me, she was just fed up with me talking about Mike, I was trying to help her understand, he isn't a good guy, but she didn't want to hear it ”. This Mike fella was my father, course I ain't ever had the misfortune of meeting him, and I'm glad I didn't. I know his name was Mike cause when ma was high, she would start talking about the past, asking herself why she had me, why she met him, and angrily chanted his name over and over. “ - - So that's why I've never even laid my eyes on you till now”. I realized I had gone into deep thoughts and completely blocked out his voice. Ty quit the chatter, looked down and concentrated hard on a spot at the table. I think he wanted to say something cause he was biting his lip real hard, and his faded eyebrows kept squirming every second. He didn't utter a sole syllable, and it fell dead in the room. I took my hands out of my pockets, picked up the PB & J sandwich and took the biggest bite.

    Ty gave me a new towel and a toothbrush, since I forgot mine. He had a huge untampered with box of toothbrushes, grabbed the first one he could get a hold of and tossed it over to me. I took the hottest shower, probably causing some permanent damage to my skin, but its only right, cause in my head I kept thinking about whether Ty was artificial or not. What if hes just like all them other fakes, and what if this is the only hot shower Ill ever get? I hopped out of the shower with my towel on and stood in front of the mirror. I'm as thin as ever, all that running in the hood has really took its toll on me. I ain't gonna lie, I'm a good looking brother, I know it. The girls in the neighbourhood couldn't keep their sticky hands off of me, but I never paid them any mind, cause I ain't about to be nobody's father. With an abundance of cogitation spiralling in my head, I headed to my room, and got into my bed.

    It was eleven forty in the morning when I woke up. Went downstairs and heard music playing, James Brown. Not my kind of music, I wanted to ask Ty if he had any Lil Wayne lying around but didn't because the only thing he had close to being new was his record player. I went into the kitchen and he poured me a bowl of milk and cereal. “ I have a plan for us today ” he said while handing the bowl over to me. “ What kind of a plan? ”, I was curious. “ Bowling ” he answered gleefully. “ Bowling, you serious? ” I questioned. “ You sound a little nervous, afraid I'm going to beat you? ”. “ That's real funny” I responded. I actually never been bowling before, so I was anxious about it. We kicked for a bit and then around seven he told me to go get ready, so I did. Got dressed and came back downstairs. We arrived at All Star Lanes about fifteen minutes later. As soon as we walked in all eyes were on me like bees on honey. They act like they never seen black people before, but I brushed the hate off. Got ourselves a lane, and I kept dropping the ball, came so close to my feet but I got a handle on things after a while. Left at about ten seventeen, bowling with Ty was a blast, even though we came out with him whooping me in the game. My plot to be Ty's worst nightmare wasn't working, cause turns out, I kind of actually like the guy.

    I wanted to ask him about what he meant yesterday, the thing where ma was the only family he knew. We were in his car now, he signalled me to get my seat belt on. He turned the radio on and I turned it down, “ What did you mean yesterday? ”. “ What are you talking about?” He asked cluelessly. “ You told me that ma was the only family you knew, what did you mean by that? ”. Ty went silent for a moment, and looked like he was thinking about it, real hard. “ Your mum and I never had a mother, we lived with our dad and he was out getting drunk with a new woman every night and when he was home, he didn't have time, he would stress over the unpaid bills he should have paid the month before. He didn't care about us, so we didn't care about him”. “Your mum and I were very close, until she got older, mutated to a whole different being, and met Mike”. Damn , I never knew Ty and I had so much in common, I mean, I understand exactly where hes coming from. I almost feel sorry for ma, and never in my life have I came this close to feeling sympathy for her. “ I feel you ” I told him. He glanced at me and gave me one of his timid looking smiles, and that was that.

    The days swam by quickly, and have formed themselves into a year. I became quite close to Ty. I see him as the father figure I never had. From the time that I've spent with him I've learned that you should always give everyone a chance. Sure you might have your first impressions but you might be wrong, there not always accurate. You might judge that person from the way others have treated you, but what if that person is different?, you'll never truly know unless you give them a shot. I'm going to be heading to tenth grade next year, and that never would have happened if I hadn't met him. I'm trying to cut back on saying “ ain't ” or “ gonna ” cause Ty hates it when I talk like that. For the first time in my life, I want to try to get good grades, and this time there is someone I can show that will give a damn. If you've had a rough ride in life, or just bad day, always remember that god loves you and everything that's hes doing is happening for a reason. Cause for every dark night, there is a brighter day. I learned that in church. I've taken all the hardships I've endured in my life and I'm trying to turn them into something positive, cause I've seen the worst of the worst, no level is lower than the one I was on. I believe that slowly my life is shaping itself, and my feelings toward family? That cake is all real, doesn't matter if you only got two people, family means loving them the same as when there in their ugly state. I mean, we don't have a mom that bakes cookies or a dad that teaches football, but we have store-bought dough and video games where you play football, I think that's close enough. I'm Avery Owens and this is my story.