Response Read Online Free PDF Page B

to get the attention. Not the workers.”
    Munch had a buzz cut, and I’d even dreamed of flipping burgers off the top of his flat head. But I just held my tongue and pushed the paper hat part of my uniform over to the side.
    â€œThere you go, boss ,” I answered, pissed, walking over to the deep fryer. “All covered up. Like it never happened.”
    About an hour into my shift, the girl on the drive-through register got sick, and Munch hollered for me to take her place while she was in the bathroom.
    People ordered over the squawk box, talking into a clown’s face. Then they’d drive around to the side window where they picked up their food and paid.
    My Mickey D’s is off the highway exit, just outside of East Franklin and a few blocks from the start of Hillsboro—close to Carver High. So the customers are mostly mixed. But every kid I knew, white or black, called that space no-man’s-land, because there was no hood you could lean on for backup if you ran into any drama there.
    That whole time I was on the window, I was uptight listening to people’s voices, trying to figure out who they were. I’d never stressed over anything like that before I took that beating with the bat.
    Then a bunch of rowdy dudes drove up, yelling their orders over each other’s. They changed around everything they wanted—twice.
    â€œGot it right now, clowny?” one of them asked, nasty.
    â€œYou’d better or it’s free !” snapped another one.
    I knew in my bones they’d be white, and they were.
    The total came to twenty-three bucks and ninety-nine cents.
    They looked through every bag, like I was too stupid to get their order right.
    I went to hand them the penny change and the driver cracked, “Keep it, bro . Buy your family something nice.”
    The five of them howled like a car full of hyenas, and pulled away with me holding that brown penny. I looked Abe Lincoln dead square in the face. But he just stared off to the side, like my problems weren’t his. Then I slammed that penny to the ground wishing I’d spit into their food.
    I got home that night around six thirty, tired as anything. But I opened the front door and saw Grandma feeding Destiny Love her bottle. That picked me right up.
    Destiny Love slept over at our apartment every other weekend and this was my weekend to have her.
    Deshawna was there, too. We were going out and my family was going to babysit. Then Mom called me into her bedroom and handed me a long, thin box with a blue bow. Deshawna’s birthday passed while I was in the hospital, and I’d forgot all about it.
    â€œAm I more interested in this girl than you are?” Mom whispered to me, sarcastic.
    Deshawna loved the wristwatch inside, and I took her by bus to the new multiplex in Centreville. Before the flick, she caught me checking out a shorty in the next row, but I started talking fast and said, “Nobody else’s watch looks as sharp as that one on you.”
    And she backed off, half smiling.
    There were some steamy sex scenes in the movie, and the two of us started kissing. Then I let my hands take a walk where they wanted. We were both into it, but we didn’t have any place to go. Since our daughter was born, we’d only had sex twice—both times at Deshawna’s house, while her dad was at work.
    I didn’t have money for a motel or anything like that. And I wasn’t about to do my baby’s moms on some park bench. So I let all that heat just pass.
    Later, Deshawna wanted to stop for something to eat. I was working a double shift at Mickey D’s the next day, and I didn’t want to see another Big Mac. But there was a Taco Bell close by and we went inside for a burrito and soda.
    â€œI’m going to get my nails done tomorrow with my girls,” she said from across the table. “Then on Sunday, Daddy’s taking me shopping for new jeans.”
    â€œI got no work