the backseat. I hadnât even seen a fraternity yet, but I felt like Iâd already been branded.
âDizamn!â I said, instinctively jumping out of his whip. âDonât you have some kind of towel or something I can put back here?â
âI was just about to get that out of the trunk when you jumped in, nephew,â he said, laughing. âYou didnât even give me time to look at you. Boy, you done shot up. Youâre taller than your uncle now, huh? What are you now, about six foot?â
âSix-two, to be exact,â I said confidently.
âIt looks like you done put on a little weight too,â he said, grabbing me by my biceps. Youâve got to be at least a hundred and thirty-five pounds now.â
âTry a hundred and seventy-five,â I said, flexing my muscles. âYou feel these guns?â
âI see you got a little sumptinâ sumptinâ, but you know youâre still no match for your uncle on the hoop court. I post up young guys like you in the gym all the time.â
âNo offense, but I think your glory days are just about over, Unc, on and off the court,â I said.
âWell, since I have to pass the torch to somebody, I guess your glory days are just about to get started,â he said.
âLeroy, your torch burnt out a long time ago,â my mom said. âNow, would you hurry up? Itâs burning up out here!â
After checking in at the Best Western in College Park, a residential area near the airport, my uncle dropped us off in front of the Student Center on Atlanta Universityâs campus.
âDonât do nothing I wouldnât do, young buck,â he said.
âFarting in public elevators and looking around like it was somebody else ainât my style,â I said.
âWell, do you, then. Ainât that what yâall young folk say? Do you.â
Before I planted both feet outside the car, a female wearing a short skirt and a cut-up shirt with her belly ring showing walked up to me and passed me a flyer. The females on the flyer were dressed sexier than the girl who gave it to me. All of them were showing their tattoos. The girl who gave me the flyer had a huge tattoo of a butterfly just above her ass. I peeped it as she walked away.
I heard my uncle mutter, âMmm, mmm, mmm. Hate to see ya go, but I love to see ya walk away, sweet thang,â as he pulled off.
I read the flyer as my mom and I walked toward the Student Center. It said something about a back-to-school tattoo party. On the back of the flyer, it said everyone showing their tattoos would get in free before midnight. Ladies showing their body paint would be admitted free of charge all night. The flyer had my undivided attention. Nobody had ever just walked up and dropped a flyer on me like that before. My momâs voice snapped me out of my trance.
âYou need to be worried about getting your classes straight, not a rattoo party.â
âItâs a tattoo party, Mom.â
âAinât gonna be nothinâ but some hood rats in there showing their tattoos. Sounds like a rattoo party to me. Just get registered for your classes, boy.â
âFa sho. First things first. But this party still sounds like itâs gonna be crackinâ.â
âYou just need to be cracking the books,â my mom said as we walked toward the main entrance to the Student Center. âIâm not spending all this money for you to come out here and play games, J.D.â
I laughed.
âIâm serious,â she said. âThis ainât high school. Youâre really going to have to buckle down.â
âDonât trip, Mom. Iâma handle my business.â
âI know you will, baby. I believe in you. But you know I gotta keep it real.â
The sun was beaming. Walking outside felt like doing jumping jacks in a sauna. The air-conditioning in the center felt almost as good as the females inside it looked. The