Page 29 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 9-12
Jun nodded. There was something going on between Cedric and Howser that went beyond what Jun understood. Perhaps it was an African American thing he didn’t know. He’d have to ask Damian later. Or perhaps Émeric, but Émeric was French.
Kimbo showed Jun his finished pages. Jun praised him and took him out to the end of the hallway to show him the dance moves he’d promised as a reward.
“I’m the baddest!” Kimbo crowed, missing half the steps but keeping the beat as Jun counted off.
Jun’s phone buzzed. Émeric had sent his estimated time of arrival with food.
Habibi pooed. Kimbo waved his hand over his nose. “Yuck.”
“Yuck is right.” Jun pocketed his phone. “Let’s give him two minutes to finish and then go back to the room to change.”
“One more time!” Kimbo started the dance from the top again.
One clean diaper later, Jun checked on Howser’s homework. There were a lot of notes from teachers in his bag. There were bits of food stuck to his homework sheets, and some of them were torn. Jun cleaned them off as best he could and sorted them by date and whether or not they were complete. After a few minutes, he managed to figure out what was due that week. He spread out three assignments.
“What are you supposed to do here?” he asked Howser.
The boy stared mulishly. “Don’t know.”
“What was the teacher talking about?”
“Don’t know.”
Cedric gave a warning cough from the door. Howser’s face creased with anger. He crossed his arms. “Betti will do it.”
Jun shook his head. Well, fuck. He was going to have to tell Damian that unfortunate tidbit. “It only works if you do the work.”
Howser kicked the desk. “I want to go home.”
“I want you to go home.” Jun sighed. “Unfortunately, your mom hit your sister.”
“Everybody be hitting everybody. Ain’t no reason.”
“She hit her real bad.”
Howser shrugged. “Seen worse.”
“So have I, but it doesn’t make it right.”
“Fine. I want Gramps.”
Jun forced himself to breathe through his nose. “Your Gramps may have done something bad, too.”
“Gramps ain’t bad. He good to me.”
It was Jun’s turn to shrug. “There are people who are finding out if he did or not. If he did, then you’re not safe with him.”
“Is this about girls?”
Jun took a second look at the pre-teen. “I’m not allowed to talk about it.”
“I think it’s about girls.”
“Why do you think that?”
Howser smirked. “When I’m big, I’ll have bitches. Gramps said so. But I can’t let them push me around.”
“I hope you never have a bitch,” Jun shot back.
