Chapter 4

“It means why they say what they say.”

“Or why you do.”

“Me?”

“What you say as a joke could rub someone the wrong way just as easily…about race, about a boy’s mannerisms being girly, about a girl being butch because her fastball’s faster than yours…”

My father wasn’t speaking hypothetically. He was teaching me a lesson regarding past transgressions I didn’t even realize he’d known about. I huffed. “Why does everything have to be so complicated?”

Dad smiled again. “That’s what a lot of people ask. Sometimes it’s all pretty subtle.” He ruffled my tight dark curls. “If you don’t know prejudice when you hear it, trust your gut to know when you feel it. As long as you’re aware of the intentions behind your own words and act accordingly from now on…as long as you can defend what you say, apologize when you can’t, and even when the best of intentions go awry, because that will happen too…I think you’ll be okay.”