Everything Is Gonna Be Alright

SCHOOL DAYS

PROM NIGHT

CHAPTER 1

When I had awakened in the morning, I could still hear the whining in my mother’s voice as she argued and yelled with my father about his whereabouts. For some reason, I seem to dream about this on a regular basis. I don’t remember my father being around much when I was smaller; considering he was in and out of jail most of my life. When he was around, you could almost guarantee there would be a fight he would just pick a fight with my mother. I could never understand it; here my mother was, keeping the family together, or at least trying to, and he did nothing but criticize.

I remember always wishing that I had a dad around, like all the other kids in the neighborhood, but whenever he came around and got my mom upset, I would always pray that he would just go away forever. While my mother never talked badly about him, and she never actually said she wished he would go away, she always seemed somewhat happier when he was gone.

Mom was always the laid-back, peaceful type. Even though she was struggling to take care of my sister, brother, and me, you never saw it on her face. She always appeared so content; you would swear everything was going fine.

I always recall my mother working when I was younger. She always had at least two jobs; most of time, three. Even so, we, my sister, brother and I, still managed to play sports, go to movies and concerts, and maintain an extensive wardrobe. Mom would attend most of our sports games, and she was always the driver at the school social events. I can recall one time when my mother was coming to pick me up at a local club for teenagers, called Bull Shooters. I remember this night, because it was the same night that I was fighting with my cousin Missy, because she was dancing, or you could call it grinding, with every brother in the club. Everybody was calling her “freak body.” Every time they played Go-Go music (Go-Go music was a local hometown DC style of music. Go-Go bands included Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, EU, Rare Essence, and Junk Yard Band) she was on the dance floor, pumping her body or dancing with the floor with ten or more guys surrounding her. She was out of control. Bull Shooters was located in Bethesda, Maryland. It was a small nightclub geared for teens. No one over twenty-one was allowed in. It was set up with a bar that served all-virgin drinks and sodas. We had a DJ, strobe lights, a dance floor, and mingling areas. It was a complete club setting, strictly for teens. The only problem was it was located in one of the most rich section of town, and the community had big problems with the teens, the noise, and the music. Therefore, unfortunately, the lifespan of the club was about a year, if that long. There were so many of my friends at the club that night, without a ride home, that my mother drove every one of them home. This was after she had just come home from her second job. I can only imagine how tired she was. Somehow, some way, Mom always found a way for us to survive and have fun. For some reason, we never knew we were poor.