Free At the Crossroads by Travis Hunter Page B

both were lost in their own thoughts. They were waiting on one of Jason’s relatives to show up.
    “Jason,” Franky said, breaking the silence and throwing his arm around Jason’s little shoulder. “You’re going to be okay, lil whoadie.”
    “But when is my grandma coming home?”
    “I don’t know, but we all know she’s a strong woman, and she’s gonna beat whatever this is that messing with her,” Franky said.
    “She don’t have muscles. It’s just fat,” Jason said with his head down.
    “Not that kind of strong, boy,” Franky said, shaking his head. “She’s strong in the brain, and when you believe something hard enough, a lot of times it helps your body make it happen. As bad as you are, she’s crazy about you, so you know she’s gonna fight extra hard.”
    “I’m not bad,” Jason said.
    “Well, what do you call it, Jason? Because where I’m from, we call it bad with a capital B. “
    “My teacher said you shouldn’t call kids bad because they will start acting like that. She told me I’m a good boy,” Jason said, rolling his eyes and bouncing his head from side to side. “Now what you got to say to that, Mr. I’m Fifteen and I Already Quit School?”
    “I didn’t quit school, chump. Didn’t you just see me with a bunch of books?”
    “You probably stole them from somebody.”
    “I don’t steal. And your teacher is crazy. You’re bad. Super bad. You’re probably the baddest little boy I’ve ever seen in my life. You have supernatural powers that make you extra bad, whoadie.”
    “Nuh-uh,” Jason said. “My grandma told me that I’m her angel.”
    Franky chuckled. “You know what, Jason? Your grandmother and your teachers are right. You do bad things, but you’re not a bad kid. You just do stuff to get attention, but it’s the wrong kind of attention. I checked your homework, and you got all of the answers right. Everybody knows you’re smart, so why not use it and stop trying to get on people’s nerves?”
    “How you know what everybody knows? You ever talk to everybody? Have you talked to all the people in China, Asia, Mars?”
    “Mars?”
    “Martians,” Jason said, twisting his lip up. “You so dumb.”
    “Call me dumb again and I’m going to smack you right upside your lil knotty head,” Franky said.
    “Okay,” Jason said, then scratched his head. “What about stupid?”
    “Shut up,” Franky said. “Like I was saying. You’re smart enough to know that you shouldn’t be doing some of the stuff you do.”
    “Stuff like what?”
    “Stealing, fighting, talking back to your grandmother, sneaking out of the house. Should I continue? You’re only seven years old. Why would you sneak out of the house? What if somebody kidnaps you? Whatchu gonna do then?”
    “I wish a fool would try to kidnap me. I’ll kick him in the nuts and bite him. I bet he won’t try to kidnap nobody else. I ain’t scared of no kidnapper.”
    Franky laughed. “Yeah, they’ll probably bring your lil bad butt back.”
    “They better,” Jason said. “I’m staying with my grandma not some crazy kidnapper.”
    “Where is your mother and father, Jason?” Franky asked, even though he already knew that Jason’s father had always been a no-show and his mother was living her life with a rich man across town. The man didn’t want kids, so Jason was pawned off on Mrs. Bertha. With the exception of the day he was born, Jason had never met the woman.
    “My momma lives in California,” he said proudly. “She’s rich. She makes movies.”
    “Is that right?”
    “Yeah, she said she’s gonna come get me when she finishes working. And when I get out to California, I’ma make me a rap record with Snoop Dogg.”
    “Can you rap?” Franky asked.
    “Yeah, stupid,” Jason said.
    “That’s it,” Franky said, grabbing the little boy and playfully putting him in a headlock.
    “You said dumb … you said dumb,” Jason said through his laughter as he tried to cover up. “You said I