Hi everybody,
it’s me Dee. I know I’ve been away for a while, but Mr. Hawkins has gone really dark here lately and I thought I’d come and lighten things up. Yeah that’s what you get for pushing me out that window. You ought to feel bad. Ya’ll don’t know. He’s been really mean. He pushed me out a fourth floor window. Claims I jumped. Don’t believe him. Crazy old man or what did that student call you-senior citizen. That got him!
Anyway gentle reader here we go. See I can say it too.
Mr. Hawkins and I went to New York a couple of weeks ago. He took me because he knows how much I hate it there. He was trying to make me feel better about the city. The last time I went there was with Mommy and Daddy and it was really bad. I still have nightmares. But this trip was fun.
We stayed in lower Manhattan and took a picture with the Wall Street Bull. You can’t see me. His big ole belly blocked me from view. Hey! He’s trying to pull me to the window again. Ya’ll watch him please. Want me to call AARP?
Okay, okay I’ll get back to the story. We walked down to the battery and took pictures of the Statue of Liberty. Mrs. Hawkins teases him saying she’s going to make him a tee shirt with give me your poor your tired… You get me right? Anyway we had a ball. We ate in a bank vault and sat with a lady who taught Peyton Manning at Tennessee. She’s had dinner with Mr. Manning once or twice and says he’s a great guy.
I didn’t like our room. It was nice but it was on the 31st floor and me and heights and Mr. Hawkins don’t get along too well right now. I broke my right hip when I fell out the window and I still limp a little. Quit saying I jumped! You make me sick.
Anyway, Mommy still likes him. She thinks he’s trying to help me. I try to tell her but she won’t believe me. After what happened to Daddy she ought to know better. He made her a famous painter so she likes him.
She is good though. I called her while we were there and told her I saw lots of different types of people. It reminded me of Atlanta. Only thing we didn’t see any Vietnamese. It’s a lot of them where I live. And I love my Uncle Tien. He’s not really my uncle but he likes for me to call him that.
He came to America from Vietnam because he wanted to be a pharmacist and it’s hard to do in Vietnam. He told me you can own your own pharmacy there and make lots of money. He couldn’t get into pharmacy school there, so he came to the United States got into school and now he’s a pharmacist for a grocery chain. My Auntie Qi is proud of him. She told me he struggled with English so hard when he got here he thought about suicide. But he didn’t do it though.
She told me that after I fell out the window. Mr. Hawkins pushed me, but I’m trying to humor him. Watch who your writer is. They can do really awful things just to tell a story. Especially if they’re a senior citizen. I saw you doing that AARP survey. Want to go play Bingo?
Mr. Hawkins is funny. He was talking to a group of kids last week from Tri-Cities High School. He tried to break the ice by saying isn’t that where OutKast went to high school. They looked at him like that’s my momma’s rapper old folks. Even Mr. Hawkins had to laugh at how they stared at him.
Mommy painted a picture named 1929 a couple of years ago. It shows a couple of groups of Dominicans and Colombians sitting around some tables outside on the porch of a coffee shop on a spring day. They are chattering away and sipping Joe. There’s a mirror hanging on the wall next to them. In the mirror she has some Jews and Italians sitting around some tables at a restaurant chattering away back in the day.
I asked her why she painted it. Her and Daddy went to get some coffee one day and sat near some immigrants speaking in Spanish. She said Daddy told her that America keeps reinventing itself with new groups of people. She told me I’m lucky to grow up in this America. I guess she’s right. It sure helps us half breeds find our place. My Uncle Short Boy calls me that when he isn’t calling me Tiger Woods. That’s okay.
I’m a mammal cause I’m America’s future and Short Boy is a dinosaur because he’s the past. We’ll see who lasts. And what the future brings. If I don’t get pushed out anymore windows I’ll be back soon. Sometimes I’m scared. Mr. Hawkins killed Aaron. He wouldn’t do that to me. At least I hope. I’m his favorite. Ain’t that right Mr. Senior I mean Hawkins.
The symbol of freedom and one day we hope to achieve it!