Christian, all you gotta remember to ask yourself is What would Jesus do? That made sense to me. It’s like our free woman thing, plus it’s easy to remember. Once you read the Ten Commandments, what he would or wouldn’t do is pretty clear, so I started thinkin’ about what if we had somethin’ like that about guys.”
“What guys?”
She leaned forward, eager to make me understand. “The guys we . . . you know . . .”
Boyfriends? Babydaddies?
“Lovers?”
“Right!”
“A lot of them are truly sorry, but since they all we see, we ’bout to forget what a good man even look like, much less how one ‘spose to act.”
She’s right about that. Most of these girls have never had a relationship with a man who didn’t abuse them.
“That’s when Denzel popped into my mind, right there in the middle of the revival.”
“Why?”
“Because he put out a lot of movies where he act like a man is ‘ spose to act. He take care of his family. He look out for his friends. He always got a job and he ain’t never hit no woman or abused no kid.”
She sipped her tea, her braids falling on either side of her face like a veil. “I was still with Jimmy back then.”
Jimmy was her ex live-in, a pretty boy with a bad attitude and no visible means of support.
“That’s why I was sittin’ up there in the first place, prayin’ over his ass, because of course, he was actin’ a fool, shovin’ me around, tellin’ Mavis he was gonna whip her, takin’ money out of my purse when I’m sleep. So I thought to myself, if Denzel was your man, what would he do? Just thinkin’ about it, about how different it would be, made me start cryin’ so hard my cousin thought I was gettin’ saved.”
“Maybe you were,” I said.
“I don’t know about that, but I know I went home and told Jimmy he was going to have to make other living arrangements.”
“Is that when he moved out?”
“That’s when I put him out.” She set her cup down. Chamomile tea was the last thing on her mind. “Miz J, you only need to see one do right to see all the others are wrong . I found me one in the movies and I’ma watch him as hard as I can. I’m tired of wastin’ my time lookin’ at niggas who don’t know how to treat a woman no better than they know how to be a man.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe this way I’ll recognize him when my Denzel show up.”
It was such a perfect response to such a terrible problem that I just sat there. In the absence of flesh-and-blood examples of the real thing, Denzel had become the designated man, a good brother, whose behavior could be observed and codified. What would Denzel do? Easy to remember; easy to understand. I wondered if we’d have to get his permission to put it on a button, a poster, a billboard over Times Square!
“Mama!” Mavis was rubbing her eyes sleepily in the doorway. “I woke up!”
“Come here, baby,” Tomika said to her daughter, who staggeredover sleepily, fell into the safe haven of her mother’s arms and went immediately back to sleep. Tomika adjusted the afghan.
“You know what?” I said, excited by the possibilities for the application of Denzel theory. “I think you just had another big idea.”
She shook her head and grinned at me. “I hope this one don’t make me hafta really shoot Junior Lattimore.”
“No way,” I said. “I don’t believe in guns.”
She looked exactly like she would have if I had said I don’t believe in gravity . “You know soon’s he find out what happened, he gonna hafta try and beat my ass or somethin’,” she said matter-of-factly. “He can’t be no punk.”
I had been thinking the same thing myself. “Maybe he won’t find out.”
“Nik gonna tell him.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. One of the others maybe, accidentally, but not Nikki. “Why?”
She shrugged and Mavis mewed softly like a newborn kitten. Tee rubbed her back in slow circles. “First time he make her mad once she stop bein’
“What guys?”
She leaned forward, eager to make me understand. “The guys we . . . you know . . .”
Boyfriends? Babydaddies?
“Lovers?”
“Right!”
“A lot of them are truly sorry, but since they all we see, we ’bout to forget what a good man even look like, much less how one ‘spose to act.”
She’s right about that. Most of these girls have never had a relationship with a man who didn’t abuse them.
“That’s when Denzel popped into my mind, right there in the middle of the revival.”
“Why?”
“Because he put out a lot of movies where he act like a man is ‘ spose to act. He take care of his family. He look out for his friends. He always got a job and he ain’t never hit no woman or abused no kid.”
She sipped her tea, her braids falling on either side of her face like a veil. “I was still with Jimmy back then.”
Jimmy was her ex live-in, a pretty boy with a bad attitude and no visible means of support.
“That’s why I was sittin’ up there in the first place, prayin’ over his ass, because of course, he was actin’ a fool, shovin’ me around, tellin’ Mavis he was gonna whip her, takin’ money out of my purse when I’m sleep. So I thought to myself, if Denzel was your man, what would he do? Just thinkin’ about it, about how different it would be, made me start cryin’ so hard my cousin thought I was gettin’ saved.”
“Maybe you were,” I said.
“I don’t know about that, but I know I went home and told Jimmy he was going to have to make other living arrangements.”
“Is that when he moved out?”
“That’s when I put him out.” She set her cup down. Chamomile tea was the last thing on her mind. “Miz J, you only need to see one do right to see all the others are wrong . I found me one in the movies and I’ma watch him as hard as I can. I’m tired of wastin’ my time lookin’ at niggas who don’t know how to treat a woman no better than they know how to be a man.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe this way I’ll recognize him when my Denzel show up.”
It was such a perfect response to such a terrible problem that I just sat there. In the absence of flesh-and-blood examples of the real thing, Denzel had become the designated man, a good brother, whose behavior could be observed and codified. What would Denzel do? Easy to remember; easy to understand. I wondered if we’d have to get his permission to put it on a button, a poster, a billboard over Times Square!
“Mama!” Mavis was rubbing her eyes sleepily in the doorway. “I woke up!”
“Come here, baby,” Tomika said to her daughter, who staggeredover sleepily, fell into the safe haven of her mother’s arms and went immediately back to sleep. Tomika adjusted the afghan.
“You know what?” I said, excited by the possibilities for the application of Denzel theory. “I think you just had another big idea.”
She shook her head and grinned at me. “I hope this one don’t make me hafta really shoot Junior Lattimore.”
“No way,” I said. “I don’t believe in guns.”
She looked exactly like she would have if I had said I don’t believe in gravity . “You know soon’s he find out what happened, he gonna hafta try and beat my ass or somethin’,” she said matter-of-factly. “He can’t be no punk.”
I had been thinking the same thing myself. “Maybe he won’t find out.”
“Nik gonna tell him.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. One of the others maybe, accidentally, but not Nikki. “Why?”
She shrugged and Mavis mewed softly like a newborn kitten. Tee rubbed her back in slow circles. “First time he make her mad once she stop bein’
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