me out, Lauren. He’s a good man, but he’s got some problems. He’s got some thangs going on. I am telling both of y’all this, and Aries, I don’t know you from a can of paint, but if you love my niece and you both want to be together, you go on ahead and do that. You don’t need anyone’s permission.”
Lauren tossed her arms around her uncle, squeezing him then kissing him on the cheek. When she pulled away, the man looked rather contemplative.
“I was like Landon once. I felt like Black folk needed to only be with Black folk, and vice versa, but I changed my mind as time passed. I can’t say it was one situation or another, but some people – myself in this case – just start to see things differently as we meet different people. See, Landon doesn’t go many places. He stays in a bubble. All he knows about is the White folk here in Georgia, and that’s not completely fair, either, because everyone is different. I went around the country and to Europe. I learned many things. One lesson was: skinfolk ain’t always kinfolk. Just because someone else is Black doesn’t mean they have your best interest at heart.”
They both nodded in agreement.
“In fact, someone who looks just like you could drive a knife in your back, but the guy that looks nothing like you could help pull it out. People are people. You got bad Black people. You got good Black people. You got good White folk and bad White folk, and everything in between. I don’t know what he said to y’all, but I could tell soon as I walked in the door, something wasn’t right. Lauren, baby, don’t take on his burdens, his problems.”
“I’m trying not to, Huggie. You know he makes it hard.”
“I know. And I’m not just Doris’ brother. Landon is one of my best friends. I knew him as a child so I know that man’s heart. I know things about him some people don’t. He loves you, Lauren.” She dropped her head. “My nephew, Landon Jr., is in a similar situation but that’s a little different. I’m not going to get into all of that, but just know that you ain’t got to prove nothing to nobody. Just live your life and be happy.” He hugged Lauren and gave her another kiss.
“Thank you, Uncle Huggie,” Lauren said, her voice cracking. It was more than obvious that no matter how tough she acted under that roof, she was deeply hurt by her father’s behavior.
“It was nice meeting you, Aries. My door is always open for anyone Lauren cares about. Ain’t nobody got time for all this White versus Black, darkskin versus lightskin, rich versus poor shit. Nobody is better than anyone else. When we go to Heaven, God don’t care ’bout none of that. He’s not going to segregate us, and have different rooms for the Baptists, Catholics, all that mess. We do that shit. Separate one another. At the end of the day, it doesn’t mean much. God just wants to know what we’ve done, how we’ve treated folks.” Aries couldn’t disagree with that. “All that negative shit is for the birds, and that’s why I’m known as the silly one in the family, the one who’ll crack the jokes, because back before Lauren was born, man, I used to be real serious, militant, crazy.” When the man looked at him just then, he felt an iciness in his gaze, as if the memory alone brought that old version of himself back to life.
“Negative. Arrogant. Hurt. Full of myself. Then, one day, I gave my soul to the Lord. I’d almost died on more than one occasion and God brought me back to life.” The mood grew somber. “I’ve seen fire, and I’ve seen rain. Love doesn’t know either. It can only respond to happiness, and pain. And now, I appreciate life during the calm, and the blazes, and the storms, too. All that piddly shit we focus on, man? Some damn skin color?! Pssht!” He waved his free hand as he walked down the driveway. “We all the same underneath. But I tell you one thing, if you screw over my niece I’m going to have a Vietnam flashback and fuck yo’ White ass up!”
“Huggie!” Lauren exclaimed, then burst out laughing.
“I’m serious, now. You’ll be one of us when I’m done. Black and blue!” Uncle Huggie burst out laughing like a hyena, then went on