Rude Boss

“She came into this house and talked to you and Dad?”

“Yes,” she reiterates. “I thought I told you that. You remember that, Senior?”

She calls my dad Senior, since I’m supposed to be ‘junior’.

“Yeah, I remember. It was about six—maybe seven years ago.”

Mother says, “And what a beautiful woman she grew up to be—I tell you that!”

“Did she say what she wanted?”

“She was interested in how you were and where you were and we couldn’t tell her anything since you wanted us to keep your lil’ secret about changing your identity and all that. And why does it have to be a secret, anyway? I never understood that.”

“Mother, we’ve been down this road so many times—I don’t care to take another trip. I’ll tell you now like I told you then—I did what I had to do.”

She shakes her head in disappointment.

I continue, “And why are you just now telling me she came back looking for me?”

“I didn’t think you cared to be honest,” she says, rolling her neck.

“Why wouldn’t I? Tessie was my entire world back in high school.”

“That was then. I didn’t think you cared anything about the girl anymore now that you’ve become this whole new man.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I thought your interest in her waned just like everything else.”

I shake my head and stare up into the sky. I say, “I found her, by the way.”

“You found Tessie?” Mother asks.

“Yes. I hired her to work for DePaul & Company.”

“Well, I’ll be…did she recognize you?” Dad asks.

“No, I don’t think so.”

Mother frowns. “Now what kind of twisted stuff is this? Do you hear this, Senior?”

“Darlene, let the boy talk.”

The boy. That’s the problem I perceive with most parents. They never acknowledge their children are grown. I’m in my mid-thirties and all they see when they look at me is a boy – a child. The grown man who I am now – a man who’s got it all together – they don’t know what to do with him.

“I guess she wouldn’t recognize you, since you done became somebody else,” Mother says. “But that’s neither here nor there. If you want the girl, what’s taking you so long to sit down and have a conversation with her? She’s all you ever wanted. You were obsessed with her the moment we moved here. Remember when she used to come over and help you with your homework?”

How could I forget? Quintessa wasn’t like other girls. She didn’t care about how I looked. She just liked me as a person. One day soon, hopefully, I’ll find out why. I always wanted to know that about her.

Dad says, “And she has to like you the same way if she’s willing to come over here after all those years to see how you were doing.”

Mother purses her lips and shakes her head again.

“Mother, why are you always giving me a hard time about this? I made myself a better person.”

“In whose eyes, though, son? In the eyes of the world—of people who don’t matter? When it’s all said and done, do you really think these people will have your back? Family is all there is. Try taking that to the bank over them millions of dollars you can’t get enough of.

“You mean the same dollars that bought you this waterfront property?”