He had his fists up, circling me.
“Let’s go, Trevah! Come on! Put
your fists up! Hit me! I’ll show you
I’m still a man! Let’s go!” I couldn’t
hit him because I wasn’t about to
hit my elder. Plus I’d never been in
a fight and I wasn’t going to have
my first one be with an eighty-year-
old man. I ran to my mom, and she
got him to stop. The day after his
pugilistic rage, he sat in his chair
and didn’t move or say a word all
day.
Temperance lived with his
second family in the Meadowlands,
and we visited them sparingly
because my mom was always afraid