Shut Up & Listen

16. Maverik & the times (1)

[luna lovejoy, 21]

August 1997

"I give up, ma." Maverik slid down the wall of their small room in the basement. "I don't know why he wont do it for me."

"You gotta have a little patience, baby." She told him, refusing to come out of her hiding spot where she was secretly watching her baby's father try to bond with their seven month old boy.

"Come on, Lonnie." He begged, "I'm right here." He had his arms out with the camera set up near where Luna was hiding. She wanted to show Maverik that the baby had a bond with him too. She hid so she wouldn't influence his decision to walk. "Come to daddy, boy. Use them big ol' legs my baby." He huffed, "It's cause he sees the camera. Move it."

"But then he gonna see me. I don't want him to see me."

"Ma, he can hear you anyway. He looking right over there."

She sucked her teeth, reluctantly reaching her arm out for the bulky canon. The baby clocked her immediately cooing, "Ma." Just how his daddy says it. He pointed at her, looking at his father. "Go ahead." He rolled his eyes as the baby finally moved from his spot, crawling towards his mother. He got close to his father and used his leg as a brace to stand up. Maverik shook his head at the predictable baby. "You only love yo momma." He pursed his lips, watching as he stumbled over to his mother.

She picked him up and Maverik stood walking over to the duo. He rubbed Lonnie's cheek with the back of his hand, "Little momma's boy."

Luna smiled, "Now tell Daddy you love him." And the baby reached out for his father only to fake him out when Maverik went to grab him. Luna laughed along with the baby while Mav stood by with a sullen face. She pushed his arm, "Lighten up big head. He get that phony shit from your childish ass."

"I do not play like that."

"Oooh girl," she started, imitating his voice, "Is that you I smell!" She scrunched up her nose just the way he did when they first met at the corner store before he knew who she was.

He jerked his neck, rolling his eyes, "Who me?!"

"Yeah, you." She paused, looking him up and down, holding back her giggles. "What is that? Roses or Lavender?"

He smirked, moving his hips from side to side with his hands held together in front of him, giggling, "Both."

"Oh shit, i'm allergic. Move." She ran away, going up the stairs and he followed her.

"You told him not to listen to me." He argued, still salty about the baby only walking for his mother.

"No, he just know who taking care of him." Luna retorted, carrying Lonnie up the long flight of stairs from the basement to the kitchen.

"I'm taking care of both of y'all." He held her waist as she walked up the stairs with the baby in her arms, close behind her. "That's why I gotta go back to the city this weekend. Me and Cliff real quick. You cool with that?"

"It depends. What for?"

"Couple thangs. This and that."

"You gone come back?"

"Of course." He knows his eyebrows, watching her settle into the paisley covered cushion on the dinette chair.

"You can promise that." She looked him over, anxiety filling her as it does when he mentions going on any trip outside of Alabama. His 'trips' are always far away and long.

"I mean, I ain't God but if it's God's will baby i'll be here, Monday afternoon." He assured her.

"You gone bring me back something?"

"Whatever you want." He came close to her, holding her face in his hands.

"You know what I want." She smirked.

He smacked his teeth. "Yo, you got a problem!"

"Nah, you the only one who doesn't like Better Made. Like, the only one." She rolled her eyes playfully with her big smile.

"That's dramatic, love. But I gotchu. Sweet BBQ and Hot BBQ. Anything else?"

She shrugged. Looking out of the corner of her eye at the tiled floor suggestively. He knew what it was. It was the same thing she asks everytime and he always rejects the idea.

He shook his head.

"Whyyyyy? Maverik just once, lemme see where you come from." Luna whined.

"I don't come from nowhere Lu. It ain't nothin' to know, ain't nothing or nobody to see."

She nodded her head, "So what my sister said is true?" Her lips were balled softly in defense.

He looked at her.

She sat down, looking up at him with her large brown eyes. He leaned up against the refrigerator, matching her gaze, empathetically.

"What did she say?" He asked, trying, for once, not to believe he could read her mind. Their bond, short but strong, made him think he could— usually he was right. They knew one another, inside and out. The only thing that was missing was certain truths Maverik never spoke out loud but they both knew.

"Nothing. Nevermind." She recanted, handing him the baby who immediately began crying at contact. Maverik was silent. If she had asked he'd have told her the truth is what he'd been telling himself. But she never went through with her inquiry and he never offered up the information she was looking for.

He watched her as she opened the refrigerator and took a packet of breast milk out of the drawer filled with zipped baggies labeled and organized by dates and times. She warmed it up and finished her routine by dripping the milk from an upside down bottle onto her hand to check the temperature. All the while the baby screamed. As he did whenever Maverik tried to touch him or hold him.

"So, you gonna go to your sister house while i'm gone?"

"Yeah."

"I'll leave some money witchu. Maybe y'all can go shopping or like out or something."

"Mhm."

"You mad?"

"No. I just wish I could go to Detroit. I've never been and here you are, on your way, and I can't even slide? You gone leave me here with the baby, again. Last time you said you'd be gone for a couple days and it turned out to be a whole week."

"I'm sorry about that. How many times can I apologize to you? It was a family emergency."

"And i'm family now, right?" She started at him until he nodded. "So, let me be part of the damn family, Mav."

"Only if Cliff let Evis Ann come too. I can't have you wandering around Detroit by yourself with a seven month old." He gave in.

She grinned, showing every tooth and half her gums— her cheeks sat so high up with glee that eyes nearly disappeared.

"It's a business trip for me though LuLu. Don't forget that."

"Promise."

Published December 25 2023.