I heard Charity's impatient footsteps pace back and forth past my open door twice before stopping, walking into the room, and then stopping right in front of me. My small body was flung across the bed, face down, with my head buried into my folded arms.

"Kenney," Charity sighed loudly like I was worsome. "What're you cryin' about now." She sighed even louder and I could just picture her rolling her eyes at me, hand on her hip, finger tapping while she waited for me to take my sweet time answering her question.

"I miss grandma and grandpa," I sniffed, trying to stop the tears before she hit me and told me to "Be a man!" like she usually did.

I heard her walk closer to the bed and felt the bed sink a little when she sat down beside me. "They've been gone a long time, Kenney. They're angels now. What made you think of them?"

I wiped at my eyes and pushed myself up onto my elbows. She was a blur through my tears.

"They said daddy's a junkie because he wasn't raised right because he ain't got no parents."

Charity sat straight up and quickly covered my mouth with her hand. "Don't ever say that again, Kenney. Don't you ever let mama and daddy hear you talkin' like that. Who said that?"

"Ronnie."

"Ronnie from the fo-fo?" I nodded. She shook her head. "What does daddy say about that?"

I wiped away more tears. "Judge not, that ye not be judged, Matthew 7:1."

"That's right, little brother." Charity wiped my face roughly with her hands. My tears always annoyed her. "Fuck them. We don't judge them and they better damn sure not judge us." My sister had a heck of a mouth on her. She talked just like Rico. "Ronnie." She said it like he just made that shit up. Like that wasn't really his name, and he didn't really exist. Like he just made his whole self up.

Then she stood up.

Heads were about to roll. I could see it all over her face.

"Sammy!" She yelled for our big sister loud enough for Sammy to hear her all the way downstairs. When Sammy came running into the room like something had just happened, Charity nodded to the door for her to close it. "Those ma' fuckas' are fuckin' wit' Kenney again," Charity said as soon as the door was all the way shut. Every word sounded like she was spitting it out, onto the floor, and right at Sammy's feet.

Sammy looked at me, and her eyes scanned across my tear-stained face, like she was gathering information. Then she looked silently back over at Charity.

"They called daddy a junkie and said it's because he ain't got no parents."

Sammy watched Charity's lips move, like she was watching the words float out of her mouth, and then she turned and headed for the door.

Charity was right behind her.

"Fuck them," Charity snapped at me over her shoulder. "They ain't better than us. Nobody is. And we ain't better than nobody else, either, little brother. Stop fucking crying all the time, Kenney. Don't you ever listen to anything daddy says?"

And then they were out the door.

The next time I saw Ronnie, him, his brother, and his cousin all had fat lips, and one of Ronnie's front teeth was missing. I'm not sayin' my sisters did that to him.

I'm just sayin'...Ronnie had both his front teeth when he was talkin' all that shit.