My life seemed like it was slowly getting back to normal. Thanksgiving had come and gone. We didn’t have a fancy Thanksgiving dinner, but it really didn’t matter. I was just glad to have a place to finally call home.
We had been living in Coach Byrd’s Momma’s house for a little over a month. We got a lot of our stuff out of storage. The furniture Coach’s momma had was really nice and Pops drilled me and Nyla everyday about taking care of everything. He didn’t want Coach Byrd to regret helping us out, and neither did I, so I did my best to keep the house clean and made sure Nyla wasn’t tearing up anything. It felt good having my own space again, with my own room and some of my old things.
I guess Nyla loved having her own room too, because she would spend hours in it playing with her dolls whenever we were at home. Pops got most of her collection of dolls out of storage so Nyla was happy.
Living in Coach Byrd’s Momma’s house was way cool. The house was good and warm. Pops said he signed us up for food stamps and so we had food in the fridge. In the past, I probably would have been ashamed to be on food stamps, but hey, I was sort of glad Pops got ‘em because that meant no more stomach growling everyday all day, no more wondering where, or when, we would get a chance to eat, and no more sneaking inside hotels and eating from off the breakfast bar. Definitely, no more St. Mary’s! Our refrigerator stayed full of food!
I could easily tell that Coach and Pops were becoming friends because they started hanging out together, which I think was good for Pops. After he first got fired, and we moved, I remember that I stopped seeing Pops’ friends coming around. I don’t know if it was Pops’ decision or not. Or maybe, when he fell on hard times, they didn’t have time for him. I don’t know what the deal was, and right now it didn’t make a difference to me because Pops was starting to act like his old self, the Pops that I knew before Momz died. He was laughing more, joking more, and drinking less.
Pops said he had an interview in a few days for a job at some place where somebody Coach knew worked. I was going to say a prayer that he got it. Maybe since God was answering prayers lately, he would answer one more, and that was for Pops to get a good paying, permanent job so we could keep living in this house.
∞
Tonight, we had a game and Pops and Nyla were coming. I was determined to show out on the court too, just for Pops. This was his first time coming to one of my games in a long long time and I wanted to make him proud.
I made good on my promise because I scored a season high twenty-six points, had twelve assists and three key rebounds. We lost again, but hey, I was a winner in my book because I showed Pops that I had the heart for the game.
After we came out of the locker room, I talked to some of the guys on the team and then left to go meet up with Pops and Nyla. We were going to go out for pizza with Coach Byrd and his wife and their two kids who were both closer to Nyla’s age.
Sierra and her crew were walking towards me just as I was about to go out the gym door. I looked past her and saw Daisha. I couldn’t see why I ever liked Sierra. Oh, yeah, I know why I liked her, she was Rihanna’s double. I laughed to myself and then smiled at Daisha.
Sierra rolled her eyes and kept walking. I nodded for Daisha to come over, and she did.
“You had a good game tonight.” Daisha smiled at me. She had the whitest teeth. She may not have been Rihanna but she definitely looked good. “Thanks, Daisha. Hey, you gone let me have your phone number?” I didn’t hesitate in asking her.
“Yes.”
Now that I had a real cell phone again, and didn’t have to use that food stamp phone anymore, I had to make up for lost time. Oh, that was one thing I forgot to mention, a couple of days ago Pops surprised me with a cell phone. It wasn’t a Galaxy or an Iphone, but hey, I was just glad I had a phone of my own again. It was the best thing that I could have gotten besides us moving into the house.
Daisha called off her number so fast I had to have her repeat it a little slower.
“I’ll call you later or text you tonight after I get home,” I told her.
Daisha smiled and said, “Okay.”
I walked away feeling like I was the king of the world.