Page 60 of Pen Me

Menace

I hadn’t seen my niece in a few months, and you could tell. That girl hardly came up for air all the way through dinner. As we sat around the living room relaxing afterward, she told us about her field trip to Chicago and described a large dinosaur skeleton she’d seen.

“It was the coolest thing, Uncle Menace. The absolute coolest. That thing was so tall.” She stressed the last two words. “And the food is the best up there. They have all these different types of authentic food. Will you go back with me so I can show you, please? You’ll love it. I know you will!”

“That part I could almost take the trip for. As to the dinosaur bones,” I canted my head.

I’d take her. If I could, I’d pack her up and take her to see anything she asked. At this rate, I just hoped to be around to see the eagles’ nest one more time.

“What do you have against dinosaur bones?”

“Nothing. They’re alright, I guess.”

“You haven’t ever seen one.”

I laughed, guilty as charged. “I saw a thing an owl hacked up one time, in biology class. We picked it apart and had to lay out the rodent bones inside the– well, nest of upchuck.”

“Gross,” Rumi said with more approval that I probably could have gotten out of a boy her age.

“Yeah, that’s about all the animal bones I can see myself admiring. Those eagles that nest along the river road, though–”

I tried to steer her off topic, ’cause it was bringing me down a little.

“They just left. They’re only around from December to March,” she pointed out.

“It’s a date then, December.” I smiled.

Octavia glared at me. Sammy stared at her ice water.

“You missed my awards ceremony.” I zoned out as she talked about some cheerleading award or other.

I blinked, feeling something bump my hand and realized she was handing me her award certificate. It was a cardboard-type paper or something with a bit of weight to it. There was a gold sticker in the center with an official embossing around it.

“Oh, wow,” I drawled, admiring the fancy scribbling on it. “So, you can finally do all the tricks huh?”

“I think it just means she has the loudest mouth and smiles the most,” Octavia teased.

“Hey,” Rumi protested with a guilty laugh.

She whipped around and pinned me with a squinted gaze. “Promise you’ll be there for my first cheer next season?”

Octavia sucked in a breath, cleared her throat, and sat up, “It’s getting late, you should get your bath, Mija. Do your homework and get laid down. You have school tomorrow.”

Rumi shot toward me and flung her arms around my neck.

“Please, please…” she whispered.

“I wouldn’t miss it, love.”

She laughed, gave me another hug and tore off for the bathroom. Octavia glared at me.

“Menace, I’m gonna say this one time. Do not sell my daughter dreams. She deserves better than that.”

I felt Sammy tense beside me as the mood around us turned frosty.

“I’m not selling anybody anything.” I denied, unwilling to back down.

“No? You’re actin’ real fuckin’ pendejo, you know that? You ain’t goin’ to no damn game and you know it. So, stop building her hopes up for people who ain’t gonna be there, and shit that ain’t gonna happen. She’ll be dealing with me not being there. She doesn't need your bullshit on top of that. You ain’t gonna be free that long, is all I’m saying. So, stop.”

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