After peeing Alphonso went downstairs. Scotty thrust the freshly dressed baby into his arms.
"Feed him."
The younger boy propped the baby up on his hip expertly and looked outraged. "Feed him what?"
"Mix some of that powdered milk in with some cream of wheat. There's like two boxes of cream of wheat." Scotty hurried upstairs to shower while his brother whined and cursed.
"You shoulda took your ass to school," was Scotty's response.
After his shower Scotty wiped the fog from the mirror and stared blankly at his reflection. He was fourteen and he was tired. He stared into the reflection of his blue-grey eyes, which spiraled infinitely through limitless versions of himself. He smelled beer and onions on his breath so he brushed his teeth and then grabbed the comb from the medicine chest and combed his damp hair back where it would soon dry into longish blond strands that would brush his shoulders. When he cared enough he could then feather it back from his face like Vinny Babarino from Welcome Back Kotter. But most times it just hung in his eyes to be swept behind his ears. He thought he looked okay for a melanin deficient kid living in a mostly black housing project.
He found clean boxers, put on the jeans that he had worn the night before and then pulled on a plain white t-shirt. He listened at Tino's door and heard his snores. He didn't bother opening it because he was mean when he was awakened too early. He hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen where Tyrone was in his high chair scooping lukewarm cream of wheat into his mouth with his fingers and Alphonso sat at the table with his breakfast of beer and day old hamburger.
It was the end of the month and the pantry had slim pickings, hence the steady diet of Ramen noodles for the last three days. He let his mother do whatever she wanted with the welfare check but not the food stamps. They needed to eat and as long as Tracy Tremont fed her children they didn't have many complaints against her.
Scotty stood in the doorway and watched the two youngsters. I'll see you in school tomorrow."
Alphonso burped. "You going to hunt me down?"
"No. I'm just going to walk past your classroom, Phonso." The younger boy smirked. "And if you're not in there I'm telling Tino." The smile fell from the younger boy's lips. Tino had broken his wrist several years ago and every since, Scotty had done everything in his power to keep the older boy from 'punishing' him again. Scotty had then been thrust into the role as the non-violent disciplinarian.
Alphonso couldn't believe that Scotty would ever sic Crazy-man on him. But he studied his brother's eyes and believed him. Truancy would mean being taken away. Being taken away would mean the end of Tino's fun. The end of Tino's fun meant that someone would have to pay.
Alphonso finally rolled his eyes. "I'll be there."
II
Scotty left without his bike, knowing that Alphonso would take it, but he considered it a type of peace offering for reading him the riot act. No … he wouldn't tell Tino. He'd never do that to any of the kids.
Knowing to avoid truancy officers, Scotty went to G's house. Garry was sixteen and Scotty's best friend. He had also dropped out of school last year. G and two other guys were already over there. It was the hangout spot because G's Mom worked during the day and his brothers and sisters would be at school and couldn't tell on them for smoking and drinking.
He'd known G all of his life--since before he'd even gone to nursery school. He was just a neighborhood kid but unlike most of the kids he didn't treat Scotty any different just because of his melanin deficiency.
Blue and Kareem were the other two guys and he liked them okay so decided to cop a squat.
"Yo, Scotty." The two friends slapped hands. The older boy was sitting on the floor in front of the T.V. where he had hooked up the Atari game system that he'd gotten a few months back. Everybody always fought for a turn to play on it except Scotty who still preferred playing a simple game of pinball. The Atari sounded cool and looked fancy but he still preferred being at the arcade then sitting in someone's swampy house.
"Yo, G. Wassup man?" Scotty replied while ending the intricate hand-slapping greeting.
"Hey Kareem, give my man a turn!" G nudged the other player.
The young man's brow shot up. "What? Man, I'm about to cream your ass, now you want to skip?"
Scotty reclined on the couch. "Nah, go ahead. I'll watch."
G play boxed Kareem. "You about to cream you nasty mutha fucker?"
"Shut the fuck up and play, yo!"
Blue passed Scotty a joint and he swallowed back his distaste and just passed it on. He and drugs just didn't mix. He had walked into the bedroom once to see Tino shoving a needle into his arm. He had been so stunned that he had just stood there staring. Of course he knew his brother smoked pot but he couldn't believe that he would skin pop after watching their mother do it for most of their lives. He remembered wondering why people were so stupid to waste their hard earned money on dope. They risked their livelihood doing something illegal or immoral to make money, only to just shoot it up into their veins. He vowed that it would be different with him. Every bit of cash he made would go to making a better life for himself.
He stared at the game that was playing on the television screen and his eyes became glazed as the sound of his friends droned on around him and another day in the life of Scotty Tremont came and passed.