I'll Ride For You, Homie

s e v e n t e e n

Thanksgiving; November 25, 1999

Smutt

The Smiths are hosting Thanksgiving at their house and when I say everyone is here... I'm slightly exaggerating, they family and the only people I fuck with is here. My family, and theirs, all co-mingling. It's still pretty early in the day, around one something, so everybody just chilling.

Psych is here with his gal, I'm here with Ericka, Arique is here by himself, and Joshua is on his way too, from my understanding. Weasel is here, I'm not sure why since his mother throws down every year on Thanksgiving. But what really threw me for a loop was Corey showing up with Mama Janie. I don't fuck with him though.

Crazy thing is, nobody else batted and eye, so I guess I was the only one that didn't know that they were together. "How come you ain't tell me you was a mutt, youngsta?" Mr. Smith asks me handing me a beer before plopping down next to me.

"I didn't think it was important to know." I shrug my shoulders.

"I guess you right, don't ask don't tell." He laughs it off. "How you been doin'? Business goin' good?"

"Business is good sir. How retirement treatin' you, Mr. Smith?"

"It's all good, I get to spend quality time with my family. It's good to spend time with the generations you helped create." He smiles fondly. "I've been meanin' to thank you for givin' Bubba that job down at yo' shop too. It's keepin' him outta trouble." He pats my shoulder.

"It ain't no problem sir. Y'all have always treated me like family so it ain't nothin' really." I take a swig of the beer, watching as Arique talks to Corey on the love seat. "Poo is good at his job." I say tearing my eyes away from them.

"Oh lord," Mr. Smith shakes his head. "Jamie got you callin' him that shit huh?" He laughs a little afterward.

"Yessir." I laugh along with him. "I just do it to get on his nerves, he hates that nickname."

"Oh I know," he laughs some more. "One day when his Aunt Janie was pickin' him up from school, he was standin' there actin' like he ain't wanna get in the car to come home. So she started yelling out Poo real loud." We both start laughing kind of loud making the two of them look over at us. "The next day at school he got picked on. You know kids be the meanest lil motha fucka's. He asked the twins not to call him that no mo'." He finishes shrugging his shoulders.

"Really PawPaw?" Arique straight faces him. "Where is the loyalty?"

"Boy gon' head on." Mr. Smith waves him off.

"So where did the name Bubba come from?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Bookie been callin' him that since she started talkin'. We treat them like brother and sister so we'd be like go get ya' brother and she would yell out Bubba." He shrugs with a smile. "Stuck wit' me better than Pookie ever did." He shakes his head. "We tried to give them twin nicknames since we treated 'em like twins."

"You told me somethin' different, Arique." Corey tells him with a smirk.

He ain't tell me nothin' at all.

"I definitely didn't, I just told you about a specific incident. Either way I was bullied." He rolls his eyes.

"I find it funny how you started dating his ainie, Carrie. You used to stay getting his ass in trouble. Neva understood why a grown ass man wanted to hang out wit' a youngin'." His grandfather addresses Corey.

"I'm sorry sir, my name is Corey."

"Well which is it?"

"What you mean sir?" Corey makes a confused face.