Imperfect

S I X T E E N - M A S O N C L A R K

I wore a jacket, because it was chilly in the end of January.

  I knocked on the door softly, hearing a female's voice, "Hold on a minute..."

Turning towards Johnny's car, I waved, smiling—I was so excited that I couldn't control my movement.

  I continued to bounce up and down from NOT only the cold weather, but also for possibly finding out some more information on my father.

The window's curtain moved, someone was looking out of them, but no one came towards the door.

Knowing that they heard me the first time and intentionally NOT answering the door, I knocked again.

  "Hello," I said, "is anybody there?"

"What do you want boy!?" the female voice yelled from inside the house...

"I just wanted to know some information about my father. I was told that you could maybe tell me..."

"I'm going to count to ten," the woman warned me, "and if you're not off my porch by then, I will blow your brains out!"

I laughed, thinking that it was a joke, "Are you serious?"

"One..." she warned me.

I looked at my brother, Johnny in the car confused, shrugging my shoulders—not knowing really what's going on.

"Two..." she continued to warn me.

Johnny got out of his car, "What's going on?"

"Three..." she continued.

"I don't know," I explained to him, "she's counting to ten..."

"Four..."

"Why is she counting down to ten, Mason?" Johnny asked me as he stood behind his vehicle.

"Five..."

"She said if I—," I tried to explain, but...

"Six..." the woman interrupted me.

"She said what, Mason? Spit it out!" Johnny begged me to answer.

"Seven..." she went on.

"She said if I don't be off her porch by the count of ten, she'll blow my brains out." I laughed to my brother.

Johnny's facial expression changed from very confused to very worried. He left the spot of his car and charged up to the porch as if someone was after him...

"Eight..." she continued.

"Get off the damn porch," he yelled, "are you completely crazy!?" my brother yelled at me worriedly.

"Do you really believe this woman," I said laughing, "she is just trying to make me run..."

"Nine..."

"Well I'm not that stupid," I went on, "that's not going to make me get off of her porch... she's going to have to try harder than that."

"Ten..." she finished, opening the door, pointing a gun in my face.

The woman looked at Johnny for a second, then she continued to look at me.

"What kind of a joke is this!?" she yelled.

"What do you mean?" my brother asked the pale, old woman.

"Why are you with him?" she asked my brother as she continued to point the gun at me.

"This guy is my brother, why do you ask?" my brother felt offended.

"He's not your brother," she laughed as she held a tight grip on her weapon, "he's black, you're white—races do not mix..."

"Excuse me," Johnny got offended, "this shit is crazy!"

I held my brother back from attacking the woman, I didn't want anything to happen to me, NOR him. I quickly grabbed Johnny and I hurriedly backed off the lady's porch.

"You sick bastards," she yelled from her porch, "get the hell out of my yard!"

"Go to hell you sick woman," my brother yelled out of rage, "you deserve no life. You deserve no love. You deserve no peace! You are evil, I throw hate towards you because you have no love in your heart; it's filled with hate!"

I held my brother against his car, "Calm down Johnny, calm down..."

"It's filled with hate," he continued to scream, "you will rot in hell for your judgement on different color relationships!"

"Calm down brother," I held on to him, "it's not worth it, it's not worth it at all...

Johnny took a deep breath, and he calmed down.

"You're right," he said standing straight as I let go of my grip from him, "you're so right..."

He smiled as he walked over towards the driver's side of the car. He looked up at the "gun holding woman" and waved at her as if nothing happened a few seconds ago.

"You have a bless day, miss," he waved to the woman with a smile, "I hope your day and life is blessed like ours are..."

After that, Johnny quietly got inside of his car, not saying another word to the woman.

I took a deep breath of relief as I got inside of the car, thankful that it didn't get worse than that.

Looking at my brother, "You know that could've gone differently... What if that woman would've shot you?"

"No," Johnny responded with a creaky voice, getting emotional, "what if that woman would've shot you?"

I stood speechless, not saying a word—not coming up with a word or sentence to say...

"Right," my brother continued to explain to me, "you could've died. I don't want to lose you little bro... You are the only thing that I have left—you are everything that I have left..."