Sweet Dick's Family Values

2010-

< The bed springs rocked.....The bed shook from side to side....

< "Ohhhhhh...Ohhhhhh.....ouuuuuuuuuuuuu....ohhhhhhhhhhhh.." moaned Georgia Ray.

''Quiet...you're going to wake up my daughter and my grandbaby." I smiled as we continued to thrash about in coital glee. We had come to Philadelphia to see my daughters...We were staying with Corabeth and Clerow and their daughter, Chloe, who was just taking her first steps...My grandbaby!!

"Ouuuuuuuuu...Ohhhhhhhh Sweeet dick..oohhhhhhhhh.." moaned Georgia Ray, my wife..

Finnally...I exploded...

"Uggggggggghhhhhhh...." The bed stopped rocking...

"Ohhhhhh, Oh my God Sweet Dick....Ohhh my God....I think we made a baby." she said...

I looked puzzled...The last time a woman had said that to me was 18 years ago...In this very town..... A woman I had never seen again after that, but a woman I remembered still.. Malika, was her name...and I still remembered those sparkling eyes..that beautiful dark skin, that sly seductive laugh....

She had said that after a lovemaking session much like the one I'd had with Georgia Ray...I hadn't meant to do this in somebody else's house...but Georgia Ray was looking and smelling particularly good last night...and I'd been drinking wine and oh well you know.
"You think anyone heard us?" asked Georgia Ray..

"US? What us? I wasn't making a sound..that was you making all of that noise." I said.

If they did...They didn't say anything...but that fish eyed son in law of mine, Clerow looked at me kind of funny all that morning as we got dressed and prepared to meet the rest of the family at

a nice restaraunt for brunch...I had finnally forgiven him for breaking Mabel's heart by cheating on her with her sister Corabeth...and worse, gettin Corabeth pregnant!! But..Corabeth was always a flirt and a tease..just like her mother.. Clerow had done the right thing though and married her and he had quit the post office and gone into business for himself... A very lucrative business from what I understood...Real Estate...Rehabbing and renting Houses, Apartments and condos...I had to respect him for that...He had made a good home for Corabeth an little Chloe....But he didn't fool me, Ever now and then..I'd see him look at Mabel funny...He wasn't completely over her...

Mabel was living with some jive ass musician..Call himself "88"...A nice enough fellow, but always on the road...I knew enough musicians to know how they rolled with women....but my girls was grown now...They had to make their own way, learn they own lessons.Mabel and Corabeth were my only legitimate children you might say....The only ones born from a wife...My first wife... My oldest daughter, Victoria was now married to a Deacon...I liked Deacon Larry Weatherford...He was a step down from that ramblin Pastor Struthers...but a nice decent fellow...And my baby girl, Anita....Got herself a lawyer...Cat named Chance..Chance Howard....I liked him...Better than that Basketball player she was dating.....

Here I was with my new wife and all four of my daughters and they men....at a nice friendly buffet style brunch...It was nice..and good... That was until I got a look at the waiter....A tall 18 year old boy with a bald head and a platinum earing in one ear. He had taken our order and had been very polite and courteous....I noticed his ID tag on his shirt...Robert Glanders....Glanders.... Glanders.....Where had I heard this name before?? I had to think.....
While we were eating it didn't hit me, but when I excused myself and walked to the men's room, I saw him again...He was talking on a Blackberry...The way he was talking and moving looked familiar...He was talking to a young lady...I knew the signs...and his eyes were darting and he was smiling...and when I saw that smile...those expressive eyes...I saw his mother...a woman I had only known for a few hours one night 18 years ago......It couldn't be...No....It couldn't be...

I waited until he finished talking and I walked up to him....

"Hey son....I noticed that your name is Glanders....Robert Glanders.." I said.

"Yeah...Who wants to know?" he asked.

"Your mother named Malika....Malika Glanders?" I asked...

"Uh, yeah...Why...you know her?" he asked.

"I uh ,knew her...years ago...before you were born...Haven't seen her in years...I don't live here

I'm from New Orleans.." I said.

"Yeah? Katrina and all that?" he asked.

"Yeah...and all that." I laughed...

"Well you can see my moms in a few when my shift is over...My car is in the shop and she and my dad are coming to pick me up." he said.

"Your dad?" I asked.

"Yeah...My name is actually Robert Glanders the third...but there wasn't enough room to put all

of that on my name tag..." he said.

"How old are you?" I asked..

"Look man, I'm 17....but I'll be 18 next year....They don't know that...Please don't say nothin." he said.

"Mums the word boss. You were born in '93 eh?" I asked.

"You writin a book old head? Yeah, I was born in October of '93." he laughed.

I sighed releif....I was with Malika in May of 1992.....By October of 1993,I was in California with Anita and her mother...;This boy wasn't my son....My seed ended with Anita.....Though it would have been nice to have had a boy......Nah....The world could only stand one Sweet Dick Jenkins.

I walked back to our table...Mabel, 88, Anita, Chance, Victoria, Deacon Larry, Corrie ,Clerow and Chloe and my new wife, Georgia Ray were all getting along famously...I thought about sticking around to see what Malika might look like now....and to see this boy's father...but for what? She had gone her way and I had gone mine....There was no need for any confusion or any digging up of any old memories.

Still I thought about how cool it might have been to have had a son...A boy to carry my name....Nah...

The world could only stand one Sweet Dick Jenkins!