Page 88 of You Can Make Me
“This place is not for you.”
My mother gasps. She yanks me back.
And I see red.
“Cooper, your nose! Here, Frank, hand me your handkerchief.” Mom frowns at the man while Dad shoves the cloth to my face and forces my head back. I choke and sputter as the blood runs down my throat. So much blood.
The man stands to his full height and gives me a sad smile, holding up his hand to wave goodbye.
Mom leads me back to the car, and I try desperately to keep looking for the man. Why send me away? I’ll stop bleeding and then I can come play, right? Why can’t I go inside?
We get to the car and Mom grabs some wet wipes from the back seat to clean me up. Dad huffs and plops into the driver’s seat. He turns on the radio—the news station, of course, he’s always gotta know what’s on the news—then he curses.
“Dammit. Deb, I have to get to the studio. Get Cooper in the car, please. This is important.”
She protests but does as he says, and I can’t tear my gaze away from the man.
“What? Frank, we need to get Cooper home. He’s bled all over his clothes.”
The view before me is yanked back like a rubber band and when it snaps back into place, I’m sitting at Granddad’s. We’re watching Dad’s news program and there are people rioting in the streets of LA.
“Why are they so angry, Granddad?”
He puts his arm around me and tucks me into his side. My nose isn’t bleeding anymore, so I can sit on the white couch in Grandma’s living room. She gave me clean clothes when we got to her house.
“Do you remember seeing the news a while back when a man named Rodney King was beaten by several police officers?”
“I do remember. Dad said it was important that everyone see the video many times or else we’ll forget his name and this’ll keep happening.”
“Precisely. And today, those men from the video received the verdict of their case in court. They were found not guilty.”
I frown up at Granddad. Now, I know he knows everything. He’s the smartest man in the world and everyone looks to him for the truth. “But…I saw it. We all saw it. We saw the video. They hurt that man. How can they be not guilty if we all saw it?”
Granddad lets out a big sigh and pulls me closer, pressing a kiss to my head.
“Sometimes the courts get it wrong. Sometimes two people see the same thing and each believe it’s something different. The truth is right there in front of us, but what we see is tainted by our beliefs and our experiences.”
“But why?”
“Well, Coop. Some people see Rodney King and they see a man who has done bad things in his past. Those people think he deserved what happened to him. Other people see a man who has made mistakes, a human being, and believe that no one deserves to be beaten, that it’s not the job of the police to beat people.” He leaned forward and drank from a glass of wine.
Mom and Grandma sit at the kitchen table whispering to each other, but my focus is glued to the TV. People run through the streets with TVs and boxes from stores, they break windows, they set things on fire, and I don’t understand. If they’re angry, why are they hurting each other? Hurting the stores?
Granddad swears loudly and leans toward the TV.
“Frank, maybe Cooper shouldn’t see this.”
“Cooperneedsto see this,” he snaps at Grandma. “Cooper needs to know the truth. He needs to witness the world around him and learn to understand it.” He turns my chin so I’m looking at him. “Honey, it’s our job to tell the truth. Always. People do confusing things, they hurt each other, they hurt themselves, but if we ever hope to make this world a better place, some of us must make the choice to witness. To share those stories. I have made that choice. Your father…well, he helps others tell the truth on TV by being in charge of what happens behind the camera. Butyouhave always asked why. You’ve always asked the hard questions, and I know in your heart that you’re like me. A witness. A truthseeker. That is your purpose.”
“His purpose,” Mom says, raising her eyebrow at Granddad, “is to be a kid. To do kid things. If he decides when he grows up that he wants to be a journalist, you can tell him all this. But you’re not the one who holds him when he has night terrors and screams until his throat is raw. You want to teach him something? Teach him how to stand up to bullies. They terrorize him every day and the school can’t seem to stop it. He needs?—”
“They bully him because he knows the truth. He sees who they are and they can’t handle it. Cooper, you are stronger than you know. Sometimes life is going to be really, really hard, but we endure because we have a purpose. Got it? Now, you come by tomorrow and I’ll invite Sensei Hernandez to come over. You liked learning from him, didn’t you?”
I clapped my hands together. “I did! I want to go to his school. When can I start?”
Granddad kisses the top of my head again, and when I look into his eyes, they’re red like he’s been crying.
“Let’s ask him tomorrow. Deb, why don’t you tuck him in upstairs. He can stay here tonight. I don’t see Frank coming home for a long while.”
