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“Y’all speak? That was dry as hell.”
“Dry? What was I supposed to say? I did see her at a gala,” I said, tiltin’ my head.
Pops sat back in his seat, smirkin’ at me like he was about to say somethin’ stupid. He relit his blunt, blowin’ smoke out of his mouth, and started laughin’.
“Pops, go ’head wit’ that shit. I can’t. You know I can’t.”
His smile faded a lil’. He knew better than to even go there. And it ain’t have shit to do wit’ her lil’ boyfriend either.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “I know.”
Now that he said somethin’, I knew my granny would say somethin’ too. But my granny was built different. She wasn’t the type of granny who was sweet and innocent. Janette was wit’ all the bullshit. I couldn’t tell her to drop nothin’, ’cause she would still smack the spit outta my mouth.
“What my granny cookin’? I want some seafood for real. I hope she grabbin’ some,” I said, finishin’ off my drink.
His phone buzzed on the table, and he picked it up. He looked back at me, then stood and walked toward the door.
“They pullin’ up now. Come help me with these bags and shit,” he said over his shoulder.
I walked behind him, happy as hell to see my granny. When we stepped outside, Shera was pullin’ up in the driveway. Granny saw me and smiled real big. I went to the passenger side and swung the door open for her. She stepped out of the car, smellin’ like White Diamonds and a lil’ twinge of weed. Janette kept her hair in a short fade, dyed blonde. It had been like that since I was a lil’ boy. She pulled her shades off, starin’ up at me with tears in her eyes.
“What’s goin’ on, Granny? Why you ’bout to cry?” I asked, pullin’ her into my chest.
“You know why.” She hugged me tight. “You don’t bring yo’ ass home enough.”
I laughed, holdin’ onto her. “I miss you too. I’m home now, and I promise to come see you more.”
“You better. I got more days behind me than ahead of me.”
She pulled back, grippin’ my face and turnin’ it side to side. Her long, black nails glided across my head, and she laughed.
“It’s a damn shame you went bald this young, JuMarion. I blame yo’ granddaddy. Nigga had been bald since he was twenty-five. He passed that shit down to my son and my grandbaby,” she said, shakin’ her head.
“Granny, you gon’ talk about me being bald every time you see me? What if I was insecure or somethin’?” I asked, just standin’ there, lettin’ her inspect me like she always did.
“Ain’t nothin’ insecure about you, baby. I be seeing you on TV. You know I got that InstaPic app. I follow you on there. You look confident to me,” she replied, rollin’ her eyes.
“You mean Instagram? Come on, Gran. You gotta know the right names.”
“I ain’t gotta know shit,” she shot back. “Grab them bags with yo’ bald-headed daddy and come on in this house, so I can cook somethin’.”
She grabbed her purse and went straight into the house. I glanced over at my pops, and he was huggin’ on Shera and shit. She was busy tryna get away, and he was holdin’ onto her.
“Jug, you gotta let that lady go before Granny comes out here with her bat,” I said, callin’ him by his nickname.
His head snapped toward me, grinnin’. “Nigga, don’t be callin’ me Jug. I’m Pops. Don’t get it fucked up, Juv.”
“You got it.” I chuckled, throwin’ my hands up. “But I don’t want no smoke wit’ ya muva. What’s up, Shera?”
“Hey, Juvie,” Shera said, pushin’ my pops away. “It’s good to see you. Gimme a hug.”
She hugged me and kissed my cheek, then walked into the house, grinnin’ at my pops.
“Shera, they ain’t gon’ be here to save you later, mama,” my dad yelled behind her, then turned to me. “Let’s get this shit so we can chill.”
We grabbed the food and went inside. It felt good to be back with my people. Surrounded by my blood and love. Comin’ home was startin’ to feel good. Like I could breathe a lil’ bit. All I had to do was stay focused.
All four of us sat in the kitchen. Granny stood by the stove, pullin’ a fresh dozen blue crabs from the pot and pilin’ them on the tray. I had my sleeves rolled up, my butter mix, and my glass of Henny beside me. Pops had the music on, fuckin’ his crabs up, and Shera had just popped her eighth snow crab cluster.
