Good Boys Never Lie

Ch. 2: Good Boys Always Speak Their Truths

One week later, Grandma Dru and I were currently shopping for final school supplies and new clothes in Walmart with the air of being sent to Massachusetts thick in the air and in our hearts. Needless to say, neither of us was thrilled with the thought of me being forced to leave my Texan roots, even if it was for the school year. And while I was a bit relieved to not see any of the jocks again, a part of me wanted to fight my family and then burn down the house for making me leave town.

To say the least, I was a bag of mixed emotions with the one apparent being that of rage- pure, unfiltered, unbound rage. And it was all aimed at my family.

"It's going to be hard without you, my child," Grandma Dru told me after paying for our purchases and making our way to her trusty SUV to pack everything away in the trunk. "You being the only no-nonsense grandchild in the family helps me sleep at night and the thought of you being sent up North without a familiar face is something that's bound to give me nightmares for weeks on end."

"I know, Grandma," I replied, placing a bag of new clothes in the trunk. "The past several days have been a bit of torture with Tiana and Fiana's friends coming over to 'wish me luck' and try to have me get laid at one of their wild parties- Mom and Dad's orders, by the way. After a couple of hours of being seduced, I was ready to walk home. I actually did at one point yesterday- walked out of the party despite Tiana's threats to have me sent to Mi'Chelle and her crew in Dallas and made the two-mile trek to McDonald's before being given looks of disappointment from Mom herself."

Grandma Dru hummed as she motioned for me to put the shopping cart in the space next to us before we got into her SUV and pulled off in search of lunch.

"You know something, Grandma?" I asked as Mahalia Jackson blared from the CD player. "I never really understood why Mom and Dad didn't care for me at all since I mainly grew up in your care. They knew that I was the oldest child, yet they treat me as if I'm nothing but a bag of rotting trash. I mean, I did all the chores around the house, cleaned up after their impromptu dinner-party binges on the weekend, and attended church every Sunday morning and Bible study on Wednesday nights. I did everything that I needed to do, yet they all demanded me to be a party boy like my younger sisters- to finally add some muscle to my bones and to be 'a real All-American man' that every woman wants to bed. The girls get all the love while I...I just get left in the dust."

I brushed away a stray tear that was starting to fall down my face.

"I know," Grandma Dru said soothingly, using one hand to pat my shoulder. "I think your grandpa Othel would be turning in his grave if he heard about this. And knowing him, he'd be ready to whup your father and mother's asses while beating those harlots and your uncle black and blue before coming to your rescue with promises to send you to seminary."

I smiled faintly, knowing that the late Othel Joseph Sinclair was a man who didn't fancy any of God's anointed to be bullied by one's family members. God bless the old man for dying in his sleep when I was five.

"Anyway, child, you know that your family has gotten you up a creek without a paddle, but you're still determined to keep the family name pure and free from scandal," she went on. "And you telling Mrs. Rosseaux that you plan to do that proves that you're not going to be deterred by your family. You're a Lemieux by blood, but you still have the sharp wit of a Fabatier and Sinclair that's not to be messed with by anyone. Make the family proud, my child."