Page 36 of The Sweetest Devotion

The sounds of bouncing basketballs could be heard as I entered through the gymnasium at the Jackson Community Center on Eleventh and Twelfth Street. Boys from their tweens to their late teens were inside having games at the various hoops littering the gym floor. On the bleachers I found other boys reading books, graphic novels and contemporary works. Some were doing homework. And a few were entertaining girls or boys.

Savon stood at the sidelines with an all too familiar young face. Dominique, a kid who was sixteen goin’ on thirty. Hardheaded and headstrong, we often butted heads a lot when I attempted to guide his way. He currently stayed with his single mother and younger sister.

“I’ve been a man since I was nine,” he’d boasted when we first ever chatted.

Dom had a slick mouth that sometimes made me want to knock him upside his head, but because I was once an arrogant little knucklehead, I couldn’t fault him too much.

I made my way over to Savon and Dominique. “Hey.”

Savon dapped me up, but Dom kept his distance. His eyes were guarded as he took me in. “Look who finally showed up.”

I’d dropped the ball. I deserved that. “Yeah, I know, man. I’m sorry for not bein’ around. Had some personal struggles to get through.”

“Uh-huh,” Dominique said, as if he couldn’t care less.

I was only going to take so much of his attitude. “I got some pizzas in the truck. Come help me unload them in the cafeteria.”

For the quickest second Dom’s eyes lit up, but he hid any emotion from bubbling to the surface. I didn’t know his mother’s financial situation, but I did know he had trouble keeping jobs for himself. He didn’t like being told what to do. Had an issue with authority. I knew what it was like to be young, Black, and angry, so I stuck by Dom the most because he worried me the most.

Outside, Savon and Dominique followed me to my truck where I opened up the back where the pizzas were in the trunk.

The smell of Italian spices and herbs mixed with melted cheese and sauce had my stomach rumbling.

“Damn, I’m definitely taking some home,” Dominique commented at the sight of all the pizza.

“Be my guest,” I insisted.

As Dom dug into my vehicle to grab three boxes, Savon peered at me over his head, nodding at me. He silently grabbed three boxes and went in ahead of us.

I leaned against my ride and watched as Dominique got a good hold of his stack. “So, how you been?”

A grim expression covered Dom’s face. He caught on quick. “Man.”

“Just curious,” I said.

“Why?”

“I been there,” I said.

Dom rolled his eyes. “You know, if you wasn’t from around here, I’d feel like you was full of shit.”

“Language,” I corrected.

“There you go,” he sighed.

“Dom,” I said, sounding serious. “How are you?”

His dark eyes met mine and he dropped his guard, if only a little. “I mean, I’m straight. I’m trying to do what I can to help Mom out.”

“You working?” I wanted to know. Outside of working at the garage fixing cars, I had a steady flow of money coming in from those around the neighborhood who wanted me to customize their rides with detailed paint jobs or fresh interiors.

Dominique set the pizzas back into my trunk and leaned against the back of my Tahoe. “I got a job at the grocery store, but they be ridin’ me, Keith. I don’t like that.”

“It’s a job,” I told him. “Go in, do your work to your fullest capability, and that’s it.”

Dom clicked his tongue. “I know. I know. My people be settin’ me straight, though.”

A muscle in my jaw tensed and I had to still myself from reacting. Dominique hung around an older crowd—a crowd of bad influences who did questionable things.

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