![]() “Please don’t ever steal from anyone ever again. I gotta make this last baby, do you understand that? This money is all we got”. “I have to get groceries, put gas in the car and get my medicine all with this twenty dollar bill. “Faith”, she said, “You can not steal from me”. She raised her hand signaling me to be quiet. Her eyes were pink and watery like she was about to cry. ![]() She grabbed me by the arm to lead me to the big stall of the bathroom. The singing paused and everyone glared at us. I show her the $20 dollars and she snatches it from me. “Did someone move my purse?” She glares at me the way she does when she is about to get angry. “Faith, you look at me when I’m talking to you”. “Did someone touch my purse?” Mama asked. I don’t know why I don’t have an allowance and that's not fair. Some of my friends get allowances from their parents. I want it but I know that's stealing and stealing is very wrong. I want to look inside her purse for candy but she might get mad. I look at mama’s purse sitting next to me in her spot. Auntie collapses onto the casket in a sobbing fit. Huey’s friends say bad things loud enough for us to hear like, “I can’t believe they got you man” and “I’ll shoot up that whole block for ya bro”. It looks like they got frozen but I can see something bolting around in them through their eyes. When it was their time to see, they stared at Huey for a long time. ![]() Mama got in line with the other people who wanted to see Huey’s body. “Alright, well sit here and don’t touch or say nothin”. “Do you want to see Huey’s body?” Mama asked me as she got to her feet. That's why we should never ever walk on Sander St wearing green. CJ and Trey are not crying even though it was their brother who died. Huey’s friends gunt to themselves in the back of the church. ![]() Mama pops me for talking to CJ while Auntie gives her speech. There are too many people here but not enough space. CJ and Trey’s suits were old and small too. I giggle because she’ll never know my secret. “Hey baby, mama’s tired, please let go”, She says. She flinched when I wrapped my arms around her. Mama is here! The door unlocks and she comes into the living room. The gravel in the driveway starts to rumble. I pull the key out of the flower pot, open the door, run in then lock the door behind me. Turn left at the liquor store and my house is right there beside two trailers. Pass the house with a gang tag sprayed on it. Take a right at the house that smells like chemicals. Pass the green house with loud people smoking on the porch. Pass the abandoned house with no windows. I can remember the way home all by myself. I ran down the sidewalk as fast as I could. I quickly put my clothes on over my wet bathing suit then run down the sidewalk. I have to be home before the streetlights come on or I will get a whoopin. Well you should go home now cuz the streetlights been on for a minute”. “Hey Faith, are you spending the night again?” CJ asked. I wish the sky could always look like this. The sky looks like God is spitting his food on us. Then, zillions of stars are poke-a-dotted around the sky making it shine like glitter. The sky is black but there are little splashes of blue hues with a green tint in the background that makes everything glow. I think the beauty is hypnotizing me, I can’t look away. I don’t know what a constellation is but I still try to play. We sit on the porch with our popsicles and play “Count the Constellations”. CJ’s big brother, Huey, brought us popsicles. Trey stops crying and we sit on the porch. Me and my cousins played in our blowup pool at night.
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