Page 31 of Sunday

“Well, I think Cedar is a beautiful name.”

“Never said I had a problem with my name. Just that tree shit,” I explained and placed the bread into the toaster.

“Okay, well, back to the drawing board.”

“What else have you come up with?”

I placed the bacon in the cast iron skillet and placed the splatter screen on top.

“For girl names, I like Kaira Dior, Samaria Dove, Leilani Gabriella, Brooklyn Savannah, and Icelynn Rose.”

“Whatcha got for boys?”

“Truce Azaiah and Xavier Kyaire.”

“I’on know about all that, Sunny.”

“All what?”

“Kyaire sounds soft to me. We’re not raising no soft boys, especially not in these times where folks don’t know what the fuck they are.”

“Cedar, that’s insensitive.”

“Not trying to be, but you also ain’t never known me to be politically correct either. Everybody else gets to say how they feel. I’m damn sure gon’ speak my feelings too. Besides, they can do what they want in their lives. I’m strictly talking about my boy.”

“You say that as if you’re certain it’s going to be a boy.”

“Got a feeling in my chest, is all.”

“Aww, Cedar,” she replied with pouty lips and giving me soft, puppy dog eyes.

“I’m serious.”

“I know. So, what names are you thinking of? I mean, if you don’t like the ones that I chose, and you don’t want him named after you, you have to give me something.”

“I never said either of those. I said that I didn’t like Kyaire. If we’re sticking with tree names, if it’s a boy, we can go with Aspen or Juniper. They’re strong-sounding names.”

“I like Aspen. And girls?”

“I don’t really like girl tree names,” I replied as the toaster popped up the bread.

“Acacia. Holly. Laurel. Magnolia?”

“Nope. I’m good with Kaira Dior and Brooklyn Savannah.”

I plated the toast on two saucers.

“So, we’ve got a contender for girl names and only Aspen for a boy’s name. We need another name to go with that. How about Aspen Phoenix?”

“Nah, both of those are unisex names. Need something more concrete and stronger for my boy.”

“You’re getting a kick out of this, aren’t you?”

I flipped the bacon and nodded.

“Cedar, I know that you’re a great guy. You’ve always been a standup guy and a man of your word. I don’t want you to feel obligated to do this.”

I glanced at her, and she had her hand over her belly and was looking down at it.

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