Page 156 of Don Caselli

“What way you mean, Maverick?”

“In any fucking way, Landon,” he shot back.

“Are you asking if I fucked Angie? Nigga, eww.”

His body relaxed and he nodded his head. “Cool, cool, cool,” he repeated himself, and stopped rubbing his hands and looked at me.

“You gonna tell me what that question is about?”

“Nah.”

We both remained quiet, waiting for them to call me to the back to get this shit over with. Navy sent me a bunch of vasectomy jokes she saw online, not making the shit any better.

“I know I didn’t pay much attention to you, Don. I’m sorry for that.”

I leaned up. “Menace, are you dying?”

“Nah. Just being in therapy has me having to look at my shit… that’s all,” he rubbed his hands together, and was feeling uncomfortable.

“It’s okay not to be alright, Mens… I ain’t gonna never look at you different,” I told him, and he looked over at me.

“We not about to be having sleepovers and shit, Landon.”

I chuckled. “Pooh showed me a house in your neighborhood, so you never know,” I winked at him.

“Advil started helping with the baby.”

I closed my eyes. “Her name is Avril, Menace… Avril.”

He acted like it was news to him. “She don’t ever correct me… been calling her that for a week now.”

“Cause she has learned how to deal with you.”

He nodded. “She’s good people.”

“Yeah, make you feel all warm and shit.” I always felt warm and cared for when Avril was around.

“Reminds me of Mom,” he mumbled.

I allowed him the silence, not pressing him because he became overwhelmed, and then shut down. My hope was that the more therapy he did, the more he opened up about our parents. Working with him, I wanted him to open up about a lot of shit that he had to keep to himself. Kora, Jeffie, and Corleon knew everything about Menace. I just wanted to be included in that.

“I’m coming back there with you.”

“What? You not looking at my dick… the fuck.”

Menace sat there with his legs crossed and bent forward. “I’m coming in there.”

I stared at him before closing my eyes, getting ready to get this shit done and over with. Anything for my baby. Right now, we were using condoms, and I was pulling out. If she felt unsure, she would pop a plan b.

To avoid her having surgery, especially since she had a miscarriage, I was gonna make sure we protected ourselves, and that started with me getting snipped. I wasn’t about to make her take birth control again and fuck up her cycle and shit when I could do this fifteen-minute procedure.

Anything for the future Mrs. Caselli.

24

NavyBLEU

Recommendation: “Unconditional Love” by Hi-Five

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