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you know, and ol’girl who was, like, promising me last week at the party that she was gonna—”
    â€œJalen, I really don’t want to hear about your skanks,” Mom said.
    â€œI don’t either. You should see them, Reecy.”
    My mother turned to Tori. “They nasty?”
    â€œMmm-hmm. If you only knew.”
    â€œOh, I’ll pass.” Then my mother turned and gave Tori some dap.
    â€œY’all really need to stop hating. I gets mine.”
    â€œYeah, you get it, all right,” Tori told him.
    My mother started to laugh. “But the question is, can you get rid of it?”
    This time Tori gave my mom some dap.
    â€œAre y’all putting a new comedy show together or something?” Jalen said. “’Cause if you are, let me be the first to let you know your material is wack.”
    â€œJalen, finish, man,” I told him.
    â€œSo, what you want to hear about? The girl at the library or this drama right here?”
    My mother nodded toward Jalen. “Okay, tell us about what you have in your hand, boy.”
    â€œFirst, I ran off some copies of this article where LeBron James is weighing his options about playing overseas and getting like fifty million a year. He thinking about going over there, play a few years, then back in the NBA. Not only that, Earl Boykin ain’t thinking about it. He just signed for like four million for just one year. And Josh Childress he got thirty big dogs for three years. Now, L , as I see it, with you going over there, they going to break you off no less than fit - teen mil a year, baby, so you might as well get that passport ready.”
    â€œ L , are they payin’ like that overseas?”
    Jalen butted in before I could answer. “Yeah, they paying like that, with your lucky self. That’s if L decide to keep you around.”
    â€œShut up, Jalen!” I told him.
    My mother put her arm around Tori.
    â€œNext I have some of those sports agencies that handle all the top stars, which we know you going to be. We got to get cracking and start calling them to let them know a brother like you goin’ to be available and you want to play one or two seasons overseas then we in the NBA. You heard what Toy said—They are goin’ to be after you. So it’s better if you contact the best first, and weed out all the rest.”
    â€œToy?” My mother blurted out.
    â€œDon’t worry, Reecy. Toy is not an issue in this circle.”
    â€œLook, boy, I already let you slip up once in my house. Call me by my first name again and bet you don’t get a fat lip.”
    â€œWould y’all just hold up.” I looked at Tori as she laugh-ed at Jalen and all of his craziness. “Look, all I want to do is go tell the man who got my mother pregnant with me what I plan to do. Then we can sit down and talk about all this. Right here on the couch, okay.”
    Jalen was thinking and mumbled to himself, “The man that got your mother pregnant . . . that’s yo’ daddy, right?”
    â€œSomebody smack him,” my mother pleaded. “Just smack all the taste out of his mouth.”

Chapter Six
    You Don’t Know Me
    Jalen had a few beers on ice in the car. When I found out, I made him drink them and told Tori to drive over to my father’s. I wasn’t getting caught up in the car, with him drinking and driving, when I was about to announce my entrance overseas.
    It didn’t take long to get over to where he stayed. He was on the East side but closer to downtown, in a neighborhood off Bryson Road. It was rough over there too. Lots of fools always beefing about some nonsense, and prostitution from time to time. I always knew where he stayed. One time, my mother had a job interview in Cincinnati, and he watched me. I’d spent the day with him and hated every minute of it, and hadn’t been back since.
    I didn’t want to deal with what I knew more than likely was going