The Streets Keep Pulling Me Back by Brittani Williams

Author:Brittani Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Urban Books
Published: 2022-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

2000

“Y’all stop all that running in this house. DZia, you supposed to be doing your homework. And, Stanley, you supposed to be in the kitchen washing those dishes.”

“I did wash the dishes,” the young boy argued.

“Child, rinsing them off and then putting them in the dish rack is not washing them. Now, get in there, put some soap and water in that sink, and wash those dishes, please,” Mz. Ave ordered. “And, DZia, quit acting like you’re doing your homework and actually do it. Look now, y’all not about to worry me to death.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the two children answered reluctantly.

Mz. Ave had been fussing at two of her foster kids that she had taken in. They had been running around the house despite numerous warnings. Martaveous was sitting on the couch looking at the TV with her. They were watching The Price Is Right. That was their thing. They would watch the show together every day. She didn’t crowd him or force him to do anything that he didn’t want to do. He had been there for a few months, and he had to admit, being there, he was happy. He still planned to leave when he turned 18, but he liked staying with Mz. Ave. She treated him with respect.

“You gonna come help me at the kitchen later?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” he told her, still staring at the TV. “I gotta go take my test, and then I should be able to go there.”

“I really wish that you would just go ahead and finish school, Martaveous,” she complained. “You don’t have but a semester left. You can’t tough it out that long?”

“I just want to get my GED and be done,” he rebutted.

He was tired of school. Every day that he went in there, he was bored. He knew the material. He just didn’t want to be there physically. His boy, Ty, was preparing for college, and he was about to be by himself again. Granted, he had Mz. Ave, but it was different when it was his best friend.

“Well, I just think you should stay,” she fussed. “I wanna come to the graduation and watch you walk across that stage. I wanna be able to scream and say, ‘That’s my baby,’” she smiled.

He laughed, and they went back to watching the show. A few seconds later, a younger teenager walked down the stairs into the living room.

“Well, look who’s finally awake,” Mz. Ave observed. “Are you hungry?”

The boy mumbled something that neither she nor Martaveous could make out as he walked into the kitchen.

“What is with that boy?” Martaveous said.

“Well, you know he’s been moved around a lot. His father was killed. And he just found out that his mother signed over her parental rights. He’s a little depressed right now,” Mz. Ave told him. “He was sleeping behind the soup kitchen when I found him. He just need some time. He’ll come around . . . like you did,” she said, reaching over and touching his hand.

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