Insanity by Omar Tyree Page B

and cars that they can’t really afford ,” Allison calculated. “Oh, it’s all a big business . But we’re supposed to be the dummies, right?”
    Mercille shook her head, ready to surrender the argument. “Well, Queen isn’t even paying for it this time. I told you , she found a government program to pay for her graduate studies.”
    Allison argued, “Now that’s even worse , because you know the government gon’ want their money back. That child gon’ be working years for them years now. I already work with the government and I know . So she didn’t need no extra education for that .”
    Bubby even pitched in on the conversation. “Yeah, that’s like when they wanted to give me a scholarship to play football at Maryland. They make all kinds of money off of you , but you can’t even make a free phone call home without getting into trouble with them college officials.”
    “Yeah, but they would have given you a free education,” his aunt Justina reminded him.
    “But is it really free?” Bubby questioned. “I mean, they getting’ a lot out of it, ain’t they? Football and basketball players bring millions of dollars to them schools.”
    “Not only that, but the sports teams help the schools to recruit all of the other kids who still pay for college,” his uncle Mario added.
    Mercille found herself overwhelmed by it. Pregnant with her daughter by seventeen, she had barely completed a high school GED herself. And she had made certain that Queen would not make the same mistakes that she had made.
    She announced, “No matter what you all say, I’m proud of my daughter. And she’s gonna make something big of herself.”
    “Yeah, after you dun’ paid for her to do it,” Allison rebutted.
    Justina smiled. “As they say, you get what you pay for , right? So let the child get all that she can from school.”
    “Ay- men ,” Mercille agreed strongly. She stepped away before there was any more discussion about it.
    “Whatever,” Allison uttered to her back.
    Mercille headed through the kitchen and onto the deck with her daughter and her new friend. She figured she would spend a little time getting to know the man who her daughter may have been getting serious about. Queen had never brought many guys around her family after her high school years. Her college days were all about having fun and remaining unattached. But she now finished with undergrad and more serious about grad school.
    “So, how are you two doing out here?” her mother walked out asked them.
    Queen shrugged and grinned. “Just chillin’.”
    Her mother noticed that Bryant was nearly finished with his plate.
    “I see you have a good appetite,” she mentioned.
    He smiled. “I was taught to respect good home cooking.”
    Mercille nodded. “That’s a good thing. So where did you grow up?”
    “In the Glen Burnie area.”
    “Oh, that’s around the BWI airport. So you spent time in Arundel too?”
    “Oh, of course. They got a lot of new developments in Arundel now.”
    Mercille looked at her daughter and nodded again. Queen had made a good catch. The south end of Baltimore County was loaded with wealth, land and plenty of opportunities.
    “Where did you two meet?”
    “At John Hopkins,” Queen filled in. “I was doing research on their grad school programs, and whew , the prices were high.”
    “Well, what did you expect at John Hopkins?” her mother asked her.
    “You gotta shoot for the stars sometimes, Mom, no matter what the price is.”
    Having just left a heated discussion regarding college education and personal debt, her mother blew her comment off. “Yeah, yeah, that’s what you always say. So, that’s where you two met?”
    Queen smiled at Bryant, lovingly. “He had to show me how to get around the campus.”
    Her mother knew better than to believe that. Queen had always managed to find her way around places, and no college campus would confuse her. A lost girl on campus was her likely excuse to meet a new