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Compton, California
OMARI WAS GREETED AT THE front door by his girlfriend's nine year old son Enrique. He looked past the kid and saw his girlfriend with her back to him, cleaning some kind of red liquid that appeared to have spilled on the white tiles in the kitchen. Enrique smiled like a cheshire cat, getting excited when he saw his mother's boyfriend. He stepped to the side to let him in.
"Whassup Mari?" He said, shortening his name as he went back over to the couch where he was before the knock on the door.
"Whassup champ," The man replied, following him over to the couch and dapping the kid up. He went into his pocket and smoothly slid a $20 dollar bill in the boy's hand. "You better be staying out of trouble. And nobody's messing with you still, right? 'Cause you know I'll be up there faster than a NASCAR driver."
Enrique gladly accepted the money but got embarrassed at the same time. He'd been getting teased in school lately. He didn't know why, he was quiet and stayed to himself. But in every school there was the popular and the unpopular and he fell into the second category. He hated middle school, they were relentless. He only had about five friends, which also happened to be other kids who were ostracized from their peers.
At one point the bullying had gotten so bad he had no choice but to tell his mother one day. She had to pull him out of school for a while. He recently just started going back two weeks ago. Enrique was ashamed that his mother told Omari. Enrique looked up to him a lot and to know that he knew he was being teased, made the little boy feel like a loser.
But somehow, ever since Omari got ahold of the news, the bullying had stopped. It's why Enrique loved him so much, Omari always looked out for him. He was more than just his mother's boyfriend. He knew they would remain cool even if he and his mother broke up. "No, nobody's messing with me. I'll beat them up if they do!" Enrique said, as if he'd ever gotten into a fight in his life.
Omari winked, "That's what I like to hear. Don't ever go to school looking for a fight, but defend yourself if you have too."
Inola tossed the paper towel soaked with fruit punch in the garbage can and started wiping down the counter. It was 11:00 at night and she'd just come off from a hard day of work. She worked at a diner part time as a waitress, while she went to medical school. She worked four days a week for eight hours and usually asked a neighbor who lived next door to sometimes watch her two sons for the day if her parents were too busy.
It worked out perfectly because the babysitter was a family friend. Knowing Inola had two children and only a job at a diner that paid minimum wage, the neighbor never requested money to watch her kids. Once Inola would get off the train from work, she'd go get her sons, before they'd go next door to their own home. She didn't leave her kids with her neighbor everyday, but enough to where it was common.
