5. Gemini Black #2
“I fuck with that. Let me give you a little game right quick. For right now, fuck the truck. Learn the business. It’s a lot of rules with this trucking shit.
Get with a company first, learn as much as you can being on the road.
Put your time in. Do all that, then go for the truck of your dreams. Aight?
” I asked him, sticking my hand out for a pound.
He smiled, nodded his head, let me know that he heard me, and that was that.
Even though he didn’t charge me, I still pulled out my wallet, and I handed him a twenty. I let him know that his dinner was on me. He thanked me for the money, stuffed it in his pockets, and I started driving.
I went over to the area that he told me to park.
There were other trucks over here as well.
I was able to perfectly pull in, park the truck, and I shut it down.
Amina stood up, stretched, and then she went for the back.
While she did that, I stood up as well and stepped out of the truck. I stretched my arms, and my legs.
As I was doing that, I saw Amina make her way back to the front. This time, she had her purse resting on her shoulder.
“What you got that for?” I asked, walking closer to the truck, since she was still on the inside.
“What you mean? We’re at a carnival. I’m sure I’m going to want something. Maybe finally get some food in my system. A drink. I don’t know. Play a damn game. I need money for that,” she said, and I cocked my head to the side, still not understanding why she would need her purse.
“You with me. What you need money for? Leave that big ass purse back in the truck, man. You standing next to a nigga with a wallet in my pocket. You don’t need that,” I was firm with it.
I wasn’t even trying to be a ‘pick me’ ass nigga, but it’s just certain codes that I live by as a man.
I can’t have a woman in my presence paying for her own shit.
I just couldn’t. Shit would make me feel less of a man.
Growing up, having the kind of bond that I had with my mom, and my sister, I just knew the role that I was supposed to play as a man.
This wasn’t an act for me. I carried on like this in real life.
Amina knew that she wasn’t going to win this battle with me, so she walked to the back, and when she came back out front this time, she didn’t have the purse on her shoulders.
The only thing that she had was the phone in her hands.
Instead of getting out on her side, she chose to step out on my side since the door was already opened.
I grabbed her hand, assisted her with getting out of the truck, and once she was standing on her two feet, I let her hand go.
From where I stood, I was able to step back a little bit and examine her.
We’ve been on the road all day, so we were both in our chill clothes.
Amina was simple, wearing a pair of gray leggings, with a matching cropped sweatshirt.
You could see the white Nike socks that went up just a little past her ankles, with silver Nike sneakers.
I fucked with her braids. My appreciation for black women made it wear I loved to see a black woman in braids, or rocking her natural hair.
She had the long braids pulled up into a high ponytail.
Her baby hairs that she styled this morning were still laid perfectly.
I went ahead and closed the door, locked it, and we headed for the carnival together.
It was a random evening in the middle of the week, so it wasn’t like it was a crowd of people that were all making their way into the carnival at the same time as us.
In fact, it felt like we were the only people that were walking in.
There was an admission fee. It was $15 for both of us. I pulled cash out of my wallet and quickly paid the fee. We were let in after that.
I stood at the front, with Amina on the right of me.
This carnival wasn’t shit like the fair we had back at home.
Don’t get me wrong, it was straight for what it was, but it was nowhere near as big.
The entire setup was smaller. Man, when you’re at the Dade County Youth Fair in Miami, that shit felt like its own city.
This carnival didn’t have all that going on.
It was simple, and to be honest, after being on the road all day, it wasn’t a bad thing.
There was loud music playing from the speakers, a good amount of rides, and my favorite part was seeing all he food vendors. That’s what really reminded me of home. Seeing the funnel cakes, elephant ears, corn dogs, kettle corn, turkey legs, and all my other favorites.
“What you usually eat when you come to a carnival?” I asked Amina once we started walking.
“Candy apples. I see they have them over there,” she said, picking her hand up, and pointing with her finger at one of the stands. Hearing her say that she ate candy apples caused me to shake my head.
“You probably the only person in America that’s keeping candy apples in business,” I talked shit to her. It got her to smile too.
“What? You don’t like candy apples?” she asked it as if she was appalled.
“Nah. I tried that shit as a kid and didn’t fuck with the taste. Come on. I’ll take you over there to get it. You don’t want food on top of that? I see they have pizza. Wings. Corn dogs. You gotta put something else on your stomach before you pass the fuck out,” I let her know.
“I’ll get a slice of pizza,” she said.
I led the way over to the stand that had candy apples.
She ordered it, and I paid for it. There was a pizza spot right next to it, and she opted for a slice of cheese pizza.
We went to the spot next to it, where I ordered buffalo wings, and fries.
Once we had all the food, we found a spot to sit down. It was a table with benches.
Amina sat on one side of the table, while I sat on the other.
I didn’t waste any time going for my fries, tossing one in my mouth.
Amina didn’t choose to eat right away. Instead, she folded her arms, and she looked at what was taking place around us.
It was a little bit of everything. We could see kids on rides.
Families walking together. People playing those carnival games, where you had to compete to win a stuffed animal.
It was a lot going on. Shit had me missing home for sure.
“Being on the truck, and on the road all the time, you ever have any regrets of missing out on spending time with your family?” she asked, after taking everything in.
She placed her eyes on me, tilting her head to the side just a little bit, waiting to hear what my response was going to be.
“Not really. I learned a long time ago that you gotta live your life for you. You gotta do the things in life that make you happy. I’m content with what I do.
I get to see the world, and that’s always been something that I’ve dreamed of doing.
I’ve traveled to just about every state.
I have the ability of working for myself, and by myself.
I make good money. Anything that I want, I’m able to buy it.
I can buy it with clean, legit money too.
I ain’t gotta be out here robbing and killing to make a living.
My family understands it though. Gianna gives me the hardest time though.
She don’t like when I’m gone for weeks on end,” I shared with her, and when I finished, she smiled.
I knew she smiled because I brought up my sister.
“She loves you so much. I know the rest of your family is proud of you for your success, but if there’s anyone that is truly, truly proud of you, it’s Gianna.
I know so much about you because of her.
She brags on your accomplishments,” she let me know, and I already knew that was the truth.
Gianna will tell a stranger about my accomplishments. That’s just how proud of me she was.
“So, if you know all these things about me, why you tried to make it seem like you were getting on the truck with a stranger?” I asked, picking up one of the wings, so that I could take a bite from it.
“Because technically you are a stranger to me. I haven’t seen you in years,” she let me know.
I let her have that one. I wasn’t going to even do the back and forth this time around. I didn’t see it how she saw it. I just looked at her as someone that I haven’t saw in years. I wouldn’t flat out say that she was a stranger to me though.
“Aight, you say you know all these things about me. Tell me some things that you know. What all did my sister say to you? I’m curious,” I went on.
“Don’t worry about it,” she was quick with her response, as she picked up her pizza, and she took a bite.
As if something was accomplished, since this was my first time seeing her eat, I picked my hands up, and I clapped for her. She knew exactly why I’d done that, so she rolled her eyes at me, as she continued eating the pizza.
“I’m not asking you to run down the entire conversation. Just give me a couple of things,” I continued to press.
While she ate, she looked at me, and you could tell that she was trying to think about whether she should feed into this conversation.
“You went to FAMU,” she threw out something that was easy.
“Man, everybody know that. That’s not a secret,” I shot, picking up a couple of fries, and tossing them in my mouth.
“I know you pledged while in college too,” that’s when she got my attention.
It only caught my attention because that wasn’t something that everyone knew about me.
I wasn’t overly loud with that. People make being a part of a sorority or a fraternity their whole identity.
I didn’t go out of my way to make sure that everyone knew that.
Shit, I pledged, I crossed, and I have brothers all over the country.
“What fraternity?” I was quick, wanting to know if she remembered it off the top of her head.
“Omega,” she said, and I laughed. I expected her answer to be wrong.
“How you remembered that?” I was curious.