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ever done about it. Beer bottles, burger wrappers and napkins from fast food restaurants, even used condoms were strewn everywhere. He wouldn’t touch the condoms, but he still wanted them out of sight. It was embarrassing enough having her see the actual buildings of his housing project without them being decorated with used contraceptives. Well, at least they’re practicing safe sex, he thought amused.
    He found latex gloves in the house and armed himself for the work ahead. His mother watched him from the living room window walking about slowly and methodically, picking up trash, collecting it in a plastic bag. He kicked at the ground to push dirt and leaves over the condoms. She smiled to herself even as her heart tightened. I’m getting us outta here, baby, she thought. And she was. She was going to school to be a nurse and was a few months away from graduation. She worked constantly—often the night shifts at the local hospital—and when she wasn’t working she was studying. It took her many years to get to where she was, but she did it, and she was almost finished. They were almost out.
    He came in after awhile and saw his mother at the sink. She was washing dishes. She turned to him and smiled.
    “I dusted a little,” she said. “You wanna run that vacuum through right quick?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You make your bed? Put your clothes away? I’m always yellin’ at you ‘bout them clothes,” she said. She placed the remaining dishes in the draining rack and scrubbed down the counter tops.
    “Yeah, Mama.”
    They finished the chores in silence then Anton went back outside to wait for Emma.
    She was already fifteen minutes late. He didn’t know if he felt angry that she wasn’t there or relieved. When he saw her pull up, his heart dropped. He wished for a moment that she had never come. But it was too late now. He stood up and walked towards her car, trying for casualness even as his nerves jumped.
    “I’m so sorry,” Emma said exiting her car. She looked frazzled. “I got lost.”
    She slammed the car door in frustration and looked at him.
    “Freakin’ GPS, right? I’m all over No Man’s Land. It’s taking me down roads that don’t exist! What the hell?”
    All of the tension he felt vanished immediately. He expected her to get out of her car with a frightened look on her face. He expected her to look at his house and then look at him with pity in her eyes. He expected that she would try too hard to act like she wasn’t feeling awkward being in a neighborhood so clearly foreign to her. But she did none of those things. In that moment, he was glad that her GPS malfunctioned.
    “Come on. My mama inside. She wanna meet you before she gotta go to class,” Anton said.
    Emma followed him up the stairs to his apartment and was greeted by a short, stout woman. She wore her hair cropped and accessorized her earlobes with large oval hoops. When she smiled, the tops of her cheeks nearly hid her eyes, eyes that sparkled with friendliness.
    “I’m Ms. Robinson,” she said, extending her hand.
    “Nice to meet you. I’m Emma, Anton’s classmate,” Emma replied politely, shaking Ms. Robinson’s hand. She was expecting someone much taller, tall like Anton, but apparently he inherited his height from his father.
    “I’m so sorry I’m late,” Emma continued. “I’m never late for anything.”
    “That’s alright,” Ms. Robinson said. “Would you like something to drink? Iced tea?”
    “Yes, thank you,” Emma replied.
    She looked around the living room. It was clean and orderly with yellow slip-covered furniture and an old boxy Magnavox television. She had never seen a television like that in someone’s house. On old T.V. shows, yes, but not in someone’s house. She thought of her own flat screen television opposite her bed and blushed. She hoped Anton could not see.
    The kitchen was just off of the living room, large enough for a small table and chairs. There was no dining room, she noticed. A