Momma's Boy: A Philadelphia Story

By Ellington St. John

Momma’s Boy is set in a mixed, but predominantly black South Philadelphia enclave, during the mid-1950s and the mid-1960s. Regina Sonnesta Lacet, who instantly becomes the matriarch and stern ruler over her four younger sisters, when their mother dies, during a simple D&C procedure a month before she could tell her that she would soon become a grandmother. Regina’s one and only child Tory, by all accounts is an exceptional child. At age five, his mother told him a secret that he had to keep from everyone and her much older husband, Teddy. The boy loved Teddy and vice versa. But, the boy loathes his father, when he argues and curses his mother. Tory was the only thing that mattered and Regina has a plan for making a better world for her only child. Although she was an extremely strict disciplinarian, she created and was raising a Momma’s Boy like no other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483558431

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EPILOG

MOMMA’S BOY

The First Chapter

As this young man sits rock-stone still, barely breathing semi-listening to what’s being said around him, he’s reflecting on where he’s been, how and why he’s sitting where he sits and how many ‘near-misses’ he’s encountered. He’s performed feats that Houdini himself would be proud of and escaped to end up here, at this very place, this hospital conference room. He wonders if he has any more prestidigitations or pure unadulterated luck up his sleeve or perhaps up someone else’s sleeve to help him. His mind is traveling a mile a minute through many chasms, caverns and chapters of his life.

Some of his remembrances bring smiles and some bring regret. Some he remembers vividly, just like it happened yesterday. And there are some that are all fuzzy, murky and dim that he’s tried to bury so deeply and forget about, but he cannot. The fuzzy things will all be told, but not by him, because he’s a master at keeping secrets. There are seven of us and we’ll fill you in and let you in on everything around him and what’s rapidly swirling in his head.

It seems like it’ll be a while before everyone gets into the room and settled. So, since we have some time, you be the judge of which circumstance fits which category. Is this really happening or is he on the other side of the looking glass trying to get to what’s real, the truth? Right this very minute he actually wonders if he’s dreaming, is this real or is this another smoke and mirrors bit of trickery, deception, or bait and switch?

It’s funny the things that come to mind when you flashback to one’s early childhood. Tory sits here and recollects a sweet nutty smell, abundant sunshine, and his mother’s sisters having fun with him. Turquoise and Darshelle used to play catch with him out of the left bedroom window of his South Philly, second floor apartment. That’s the first place that his mother, his ‘Daddy Bug’ and he lived, up until he was about six and a half years old. You see, there was no ball involved in this game of catch. I guess you might say that he kind of served as a human substitute. Turquoise would sit in the window, drop him, and Darshelle would stand on the sidewalk underneath and catch him, when Turq released him out of the window. He would land safely in Darsh’s arms, then climb down her sturdy, rugged body and run back up the stairs to do it again, again, and again. In thinking about this, he also remembers a penetrating warmth to his body and a sweetness that draped the neighborhood, especially on breezy summer afternoons. The air seemed to always have a thick, heavy, nutty-sugary smell. The aroma usually permeated the entire South Philly neighborhood on a daily basis, right after the ‘Nut House’ store opened, on the corner of 16th and South. They roasted fresh peanuts, cashews, and almonds that always made the boy hungry, no matter what time of day. They also had various chocolate covered nuts, which were also his favorites. Since he only remembers being the ball in the game of catch that his aunts played with him on two separate occasions; it stands to reason that his mother, who is the eldest of five sisters, learned of this game of catch, after the second time. Needless to say, she did not approve. She put a halt to this game of catch that was being played with her one and only child, as she had no plans to ever have another baby.

He distinctly remembers when the game of catch ended. He was almost five years old and about to enter school, at the Dunham Grammar School, on Lombard Street or St. Catherine’s Catholic School over on Catherine Street in racially mixed, yet predominantly ‘colored’ section of South Philly. He also remembered a time prior to that, when he was about three and asked his amber complexioned, attractive, short, plump mother about going to school. She told him several times that he had to be five years old. She explained why several times, because he asked the same question several times, because he was so persistent, to purposely annoy her with hopes that her answer would change. He felt like he was never going to have his fifth birthday. The day after his fifth birthday party was an extremely sweltering summer day. He arose at 5am and woke his parents and stated that he was all set to go to school, but was told that he had to wait until September, when school was back in session. Also, he learned that he had to be tested to ascertain whether he was smart enough to attend. His mother made that statement with a hint of sarcasm, a raised left eyebrow, and a very groggy five o’clock in the morning smile.

A week later, Tory was tested at St. Catherine’s, an old gothic looking, moth balls smelling combination Catholic Church and parochial school compound. He thought it was really funny that the school and church were located on Catherine Street. Which came first, the street name or the school name? Four days after the boy and his mother met with five very scary looking nuns and he’d taken the bevy of tests, the postman delivered the results. He must have done pretty well on all of their tests, because he was assigned to be in first grade come September.

If truth be told, there were protests from quite a few neighborhood parents. According to the disgruntle protesters, he was too young to be put in first grade, without ever entering kindergarten. The one thing that always pissed his mother off was when someone else got into her business unsolicited. Some of the protesters were the mothers of Tory’s little friends who along with their parents had attended his birthday parties, since the very first one. They all came to the parties, ate Regina’s fantastic food, drank the soft drinks and guzzled the liquor that she reluctantly gave them, when they requested, then begged for a taste. However, these same mothers and fathers hadn’t taken the time to teach their young children how to read, write, add, subtract, deduce and reason; let alone how to use the bathroom properly. They were simply jealous and upset that the test results provided a ticket to first grade and their children had to go to kindergarten or their older kids had been made to start at the bottom and Tory was not. Regina went nuts, when she learned that her own sisters ignited everything by wagging their tongues, bragging and boasting about their nephew’s entry into first grade to all that would listen up, down and all over the streets of the community. Everyone who ate at Baby-Cakes or Belle’s Restaurant knew the results of the tests. They knew at Mushnick’s Grocery, at Manny’s Drugstore, Mr. Clover’s Candy Store, Harvey Dimmelbeck’s Candy Store, Slick’s Florist Shoppe, Clair’s Hair Salon, Father Devine’s Barbershop and Restaurant, Coleman & Sons Jewelers, Dr. Thornton’s Pharmacy, the Nut House, and Zip’s Newspaper and Shoeshine Stand. Even the ushers at the Royal Movie Theatre knew that ‘Regina and Teddy’s boy was starting first grade at either St. Catherine’s or Dunham and skippin’ out on Kinneygarden’, as some of them pronounced it.

Although Regina already knew what was to transpire in September, she was a bit shocked to hear people talking about it in Milt’s Record Shop, when she went into the very tiny, cramped store to buy a few 45’s and 33’s by Sam Cooke, The Platters, and Elvis. Regina was absolutely furious with all four of her sisters. However, she always managed a smile, when she responded to those who inquired how and why her son was being allowed to start first grade.

She simply told Milt and all that inquired, Look here; I took Tory over to St. Catherine’s and had him meet with the nuns who put him through three interviews and a battery of psychological, cognitive and aptitude tests that took almost an entire day. Those nuns are something else! Do you know that at 9am they told me to go have some coffee or run an errand, then come back around one o’clock to have lunch with Tory and all of them, just to see if he would cry, act out or ask where I was and stuff like that? When the Mother Superior asked Tory if it would be okay if I left for a while and came back later for lunch, he looked up at that woman in her penguin outfit and said, ‘Sure, if my Momma says that it’s okay.’ I nodded and he came over and hugged me and said, ‘Bye Momma, I’ll see you at lunch time. They have some very large puzzles for me to put together over there.’ The Mother Superior and the rest of the nuns were stunned and amazed. I left, went and played my numbers with Clover, played a couple with Sarah and talked to her for a short while in her hot as hell store, bought some groceries from Mushnick’s, then went home to finish a dress that I was making for Clair and then went back there for lunch. We didn’t leave that school until after four o’clock that day. I really wanted to have him enrolled there, until they told me how much it costs. Since we aren’t Catholics and don’t belong to their church, it would cost more per month than what we pay for rent to send him to that school! Teddy and me just can’t afford it; so I had St. Catherine’s transfer his test results over to Dunham. I then took him over to see the principal, Miss Trudeau and she says that he starts first grade on September 24th.

On the way home from Milt’s, Regina stopped in ‘the stink store’ and picked up the Philadelphia Daily News, the Tribune, a couple of TastyKake cupcakes and pies, because she knew the delivery schedule and was quite aware that fresh packaged goods had been delivered earlier that day. Everyone in the neighborhood called that place the ‘stink store’ for a very good and obvious reason. Regina made it her business to know the delivery schedules of various suppliers of every store in the neighborhood. Not only was she privy to the schedules, she somehow deciphered and knew what the number and letter codes meant on the sides of each package! Also, she would never buy any meat or produce from ‘the stink store’, because as she always said, Fresh meat and produce does not stink. South P. Market is known as ‘the stink store’, because it smells putrid. Therefore, the meats, fruit and veggies cannot be fresh. This store stunk so badly that one could smell the awful stale, rancid blood and rotted produce odor from the curbside! At times, the scent was so bad that it stuck in your throat. People would cough, in order to try to rid themselves of the smell lodged in their nostrils and in their throats. The only meats that Regina ever bought from this store were prepackaged at the factory and had name brands like Armor, Oscar Meyer, or Swift Premium on the labels. Depending on how many people were in the store that had to be waited on before you and how hot it was outside, determined whether you would be able to stomach standing in there for any period of time at all. There were days, when the stench was so bad that you had to make a ‘B-Line’ detour and walk on the other side of South Street in order to lessen the effect of passing by the open door of the establishment.

On the Friday prior to Tory starting first grade his mother was ironing some of his new school clothes. His mother’s sister Gladys was smoking a Pall Mall, while helping Tory put together a jigsaw puzzle of the Liberty Bell on the kitchen table. The phone rang and penetrated through the sound of Italian singer, Mario Lanza’s voice that was soaring from the thick 78 LP platter that was spinning on the huge, solid mahogany Emerson phonograph. Tory raced to pick up the phone, not knowing they were about to receive some unsettling bad news.

He answered the phone how he’d been taught, Good afternoon, Lacet residence.

The lady on the other end responded, Good afternoon, may I speak to either Mr. Theodore Lacet or Mrs. Regina Lacet please?

He said, One moment please, then handed the phone to his mother and her smile was quickly turning into a frown, as she stopped ironing on the other side of the huge kitchen.

This is how the conversation progressed, Hello Mrs. Lacet, how are you today?

Regina responded, Fine, thank you. Who is this?

This is Miss Trudeau over at the Dunham School, and I have some not too pleasant news for you. Due to the fact that we have received so many inquiries and complaints from no fewer than twenty-some-odd parents asking to have their children start in first grade with your son, he will have to start kindergarten, group K-A on September 24th. You see, uh, we really have no other choice. Also, we had no idea that he is only five. We also thought that he’d done his year of kindergarten at Saint Catherine’s. Oh my goodness, he is so big and smart for his age!

Tears began to roll down Regina’s flawless cherubic face, as she began to ask the woman on the other end of the phone if the other children had been tested and scored as Tory had. It seemed apparent that the principal on the other end had responded with a ‘No’.

Regina said in a very strong and damning voice, Well Miss Trudeau, please excuse my expression but, I think it’s a goddam shame that because other people sit around on their lazy asses, constantly drink liquor, smoke cigarettes, and do nothing to teach their children, that my son has to be penalized. It’s not right and not fair.

Tory had no idea what she was referring to when she said, Those no-good bitches think that they are going to keep getting away with this shit, but someday I’ll have the last laugh! Regina took a real deep breath and gazed toward the ceiling and said, Lord, why did you make some colored people like crabs in a basket? She closed her eyes tightly and said, Miss Trudeau, please excuse me for a few seconds?

In seeing that his mother was gritting her teeth and holding the phone down by her side, Tory turned and whispered and asked Gladys what she meant by saying that.

Gladys replied, A bunch of crabs see other crabs almost at the top of the basket about to crawl out, and, and…um…then they.

Regina then glared at Gladys who was stuttering and finished the explanation for her by saying, And they scramble around, reach up, and pull the one that’s almost out of the basket back down into the fray with the rest of their sorry asses at the bottom!

Regina did not have a large bosom, but as Gladys and Tory looked at her she appeared to have difficulty breathing, as her chest was heaving in and out at an accelerated pace.

She stopped hyperventilating and took one very deep, cleansing breath and said, Thank you for your patience Miss Trudeau. My son will be in K-A on September 24th. You and everyone else will see a child that doesn’t belong in kindergarten, but I’m sure that you already know that! Thank you for your call, bye now.

During this period of time, the grades in the Philadelphia Public School System were broken-up into sections A & B. Students had to master and pass the A section of a grade, prior to being promoted to B. The boy could tell that his mother was highly upset; because she closed her eyes tightly and she said, Goddammit to hell with all of them!

Just as his mother laid the telephone receiver back in its cradle, Tory’s ‘Daddy Bug’ walked in with a big smile on his face. He looked at Tory and said, How’s Daddy’s Little Man?

Tory said, Fine Daddy Bug, I guess, as he was hugging him.

After Regina told Teddy what Miss Trudeau said, he verbally blasted her about her lousy, triflin’, goddam, loudmouth sistahs. So that Gladys would be spared from hearing more of his tirade, Regina told her to assemble all of the Sonnesta sisters at her apartment, because she wanted to have a serious talk with all of them.

About three minutes later, Teddy left the apartment and slammed the door and said, I need me a drink., as he descended the stairs. Before he got to the last step of the always dimly lit stairwell, Teddy turned his head back toward the 2nd floor and shouted, Regina, those heifers are going to make you cry over and over and might be the death of you. You just wait ‘n see!

When Regina and Tory reached the apartment that her sisters shared, they had already been forewarned, but they were all scared to death.

Regina started right in before she sat down and said to them, Damn it, if you give people ammunition, they will find a way to use it against you! What part do you four numbskulls not understand? Didn’t the United States send scrap metal to Japan, and didn’t they turn around and use it against us at Pearl Harbor? Thank God for a cook named Dorie Miller, whom Uncle Sam thought to be inferior, just because he had dark skin. If Dorie hadn’t grabbed artillery guns and shot down several attack planes, we’d all be either dead or speaking Japanese right now. It’s a damn good thing for all people who call themselves American’s that a man who his own government thought inferior and incapable did not shrink and run away from the challenge and proved to them that they were just plain stupid, prejudiced and wrong! Enough of the history lesson, let’s get back to all of you idiots providing anyone that will listen my personal information. Since you blabbering-asses have caused all of this attention that led to dissention; I’m telling you once again and hopefully for the last damn time to talk about what y’all do, and leave me, my son and my husband the hell out of it. By all of you opening your big mouths, you’ve given the jealous and hateful neighbors and my husband the ammunition to use against me. Teddy is always cussing me about how stupid and dumb he thinks you all are, and what do you do? You turn around and prove him right, time after time, over and over and over again by running your mouths! I hope that I never have to come over here again to speak to you about anything like this, because I’m so angry right now, I could slap the living piss out of all of you!

As all of the women listened, squirmed and tried to defend themselves, Regina said, Shut up! I know that you are proud of Tory, but keep your glee in the family. Ladies, good night! Regina then turned to her son and said, Son, say goodbye.

Tory looked into the face of each of his aunts and saw fear and dread. He waved to them, as he and his mother exited and said, Bye. See you tomorrow.

THE SONNESTAS

Chapter Two

The very neighborhood friends that Tory was to start kindergarten with were indirectly the cause and reason that he was being held back, before he got started. But he didn’t have a problem playing with them. They romped up and down and all over South, Rodman, Pine, Lombard, Bainbridge, Broad, Locust, Walnut, Chestnut, Delancey, Fitzwater and Naudain Streets, to name just a few. Some of his early childhood buddies and acquaintances were Jesse Spring, who was the ‘Spam Prince’ of South Street; Graig Tibbs, who always ate banana and mayonnaise sandwiches; Walter Loden, who was always and forever dirty; Thickly-Tongue, who was called that because he had a speech impediment, but his real name is Aaron Traylor; Warren Loden, who was just two years older than Walter and Walter’s uncle and cursed like a sailor and always wanted to fight someone, anyone; Jackson Jackson, yes, he was blessed twice, who always had some form of gunk in the corners of his eyes, mouth and nose; Mona and Paula Miles, who were called the albino twins. They were actually eight and a half months apart and looked like twins and were always spotless and had huge Chiclettes chewing gum looking front teeth; Flora Shaker, always begging for some of anything, it didn’t matter what anybody had, she wanted some; the angelic Noni Pires, who was cute and always happy no matter what; Bertie Fuentes, who for his age was way too heavy, lazy, and always, always eating things like syrup, sugar and butter sandwiches; and Vance Johnston, who was already almost eight, but didn’t go to school very often, because his mother was an alcoholic and kept him home most of the time, so that he could do things specifically for her. The local children ran, ripped and romped all over the very close-knit neighborhood, and let the grown-ups worry about the other stuff, the grown-up stuff. Most of the parents of these children along with some others that she didn’t know too well were the cause of Regina’s ire and pain. Tory didn’t like seeing his mother upset, but all he wanted was to be able to go to school, period. Kindergarten or first grade; it didn’t matter to him, because in all actuality, he didn’t know the difference, yet. As long as it was school, was all that mattered. At age five, he did not understand how much he was losing and how much he could have gained. A great majority of the teachers at Dunham either knew or had taught Regina’s two youngest sisters at some point, during their elementary school years.

Emily, the second oldest, who was Tory’s favorite, was the sweetest and most closely resembled the 2 foot by 3 foot portrait of his grandmother Chelsie, that hung in the bedroom he and his parents shared. He never met his grandmother. She died before he was born.

Darshelle is the third oldest sister and the troublemaking, middle child, Amazon, notorious liar and gossip queen. According to anyone you ask; lying and causing confusion are her hobbies and favorite pastimes…and she’s extremely good at it. Regina says that she just lies to be lying and, If Darshelle wanted to do something productive she should become a fiction writer, because about ninety-eight percent of everything she says is made up!

Next in line is Gladys, the fourth oldest and Tory’s second favorite. She’s softhearted; kind of ‘simpleminded and gullible’ is often how Regina refers to her. And lastly there’s Turquoise or Turq, the youngest, often Tory’s most frequent sitter, who could be mean-spirited, venomous, and as vinegary as she is attractive. One of Turq’s high school classmates was heard to say on quite a few occasions, Turq’s got the body of a goddess, the beauty of an angel when she smiles; but she’s got an iceberg for a heart.

Regina, was thirty-five, the oldest, wisest sister who always commanded the mother role of them all. Their mom, and Tory’s grandmother, Chelsie Sonnesta died in the Guardian Hospital; as mentioned before, just several months prior to Tory’s birth. Turquoise was at the precipice of turning twelve when she died.

Regina told anyone who would listen, My sweet and beloved mother went in for a simple D & C, and she died at age fifty-five. Regina seems to think that she received far too much anesthetic medication, which is contrary to the so-called ‘complications’ that the doctors claimed caused her demise. On many occasions Regina had frankly stated, "After what happened to my mother, I won’t go to the Guardian Hospital even for a splinter removal or a Band-Aid for a paper cut! I don’t want to end up dead from complications…like incompetence."

Gladys was a year older than Turq. Darsh is seven years older than Gladys. Emily is ten years older than Darsh, and Regina the oldest, is just a year and a half older than Emily. I guess the reason why Regina and Emily are the closest and get along better is because they were born so close together and grew up on a small country farm in the Maryland.

Emily is Tory’s favorite aunt, because she had always coddled and pampered him like he was her own child. She truly was the sweetest sister that his mother had. Nearly every time Emily came by, she always seemed to be in a fantastic mood. She always had a smile, a kiss, a hug, and a gift or candy for her first, favorite, and only nephew. Emily is a heavy hipped and breasted woman, but she was always neat and very well groomed. Her teeth were all even, bright white and simply perfect. She walked slowly in what would be referred to as a ‘slew-footed’ fashion. I know this sounds crazy, but even when she was in a hurry; she walked `fast’ in a slow manner.

Gladys was Tory’s second favorite aunt, because she seemed to be just as sweet and loving as Emily and tried to always see the good in everyone, even when there was no reason to do so. Gladys wore the most horrific Benjamin Franklin styled, square eyeglasses that made her eyes appear three times larger, but less crossed when she has them on, which is almost all of the time. Gladys was nearly as attractive as her younger sister, with the exception of her frequent crossing eye that all of her sisters pointed out except Regina, whenever they didn’t like something that she said or did. Darsh was always quick to call her, You cockeyed bitch! whenever Gladys said or did something that was in her disfavor or if the spirit moved her and she just felt like being condescending and mean.

Dead last on the nephew favoritism gauge was Turq, because of her moodiness and loudness. This was a little strange, because she was simply beautiful and was nice at times and then she would often display a mean streak to counteract her acts of kindness. She was the tallest, with beautiful hair like Regina and Emily. She could easily be an Ebony model. Turq was extremely statuesque and youthful and was only a tad over thirteen years older than her nephew. He liked the way that Turq smiled, when she smiled. Turq smiling was almost like waiting for the next leap year or a sighting of Haley’s Comet. She seemed to be angry at the world most of the time, by the way that she constantly frowned and always had something sarcastic to say. Even when she was happy; she had a habit of biting the inside of her left cheek, which caused her face to twist and distort.

Darsh, on the other hand seemed to like Tory the least, but had kind of gotten accustomed to him, although she felt he took her big sister away from her. She was nice to Tory sometimes, but it was clear that she was the most jealous of his birth and existence. After all, he was now the number one focus in his mother’s life and it took more time away from Darsh and the rest of the Sonnestas. She didn’t like him being born one bit and on a couple of occasions, she would purposely pinch baby Tory to make him cry, when nobody was watching her. Darshelle was the least physically appealing to members of the opposite sex, Tory included. What did he know? He’s only a kid, right? However, grown men also shared his sentiments. Darsh was tall, about an inch shorter than Turq; broad and sturdy, with short and some would say unruly hair. Some people called her ‘Harsh Darsh’, but behind her back of course. Otherwise, she could and would fight at the blink of an eye. Even right after she’s spent two hours in Clair’s salon, her hair was still a mess. Ten minutes after leaving the salon, it looked just like her hair had been caught in a ceiling fan or that she been in some sort of knockdown, drag-out fight!

Regina couldn’t figure it out and would often say, Darshelle going to the hairdresser was a perfect waste of money. Her coarse disposition often matched her appearance. Darsh was the size of the huge uniform wearing football players that played for the University of Pennsylvania Quakers at Franklin Field, with one exception. The players wore pads and she did not!

All five of these sisters had similar complexions, which was medium brown. Darsh and Emily were just a shade or two darker. Turq, Gladys, and Darsh were several inches taller than Regina and Emily. The reason for that was probably due to the fact that Regina and Emily had the same father who died while working the coal mines in West Virginia and the other three were a product of Chelsie’s second marriage.

After mourning her first husband Clayton’s death for several years, Chelsie took her sister Mildred’s and her sister Till’s advice and chose a new husband to help her begin to live again. She married a man named Linwood Bennett. He is still around and lives in the Point Breeze section of Philly somewhere over near Passyunk Avenue. Regina instructed Tory to never, ever refer to him as ‘grandfather’, because he didn’t even deserve to be called father by his flesh and blood, let alone grand-anything. Linwood was Regina’s stepfather, because he married her mother. But she never felt that way about him, because she saw right through him. It seemed that when Regina told good ol’ Linwood about the death of his estranged wife and mother of his three children, after she received the news of the ‘complications’ from the doctors at the Guardian, all that man said was, I cain’t take care ‘o them gals by maself. I ain’t got the room.

He didn’t want to discuss what went wrong with the operation or funeral arrangements or anything. All he said was, You know that I cain’t take care of your sisters, ‘cause afta they dropped my last name, took your father’s and Chelsie kicked me to the curb, I really ain’t seen too much of ‘em, ‘cause I recon they don’t even like me.

He was their blood; their father and he knew that he should have taken some responsibility. But since his wife and he had been separated and now she was dead, he felt that his daughters weren’t his responsibility.

Regina told anyone within earshot, I never liked him even before my mother married him or at any time thereafter. And, Lord knows that I can’t stand him now! For the life of me, I don’t know what my mother saw in that so-called man.

For the most part, he did nothing to assist Regina with the funeral arrangements or raising his young children. He provided no monetary or moral support. Regina said on many occasions, The only thing that Linwood gave his daughters was long legs, knocked-knees, big feet, and loud mouths. All of the beauty and goodness that those girls have, came straight from my dearly departed mother.

That’s all she thought of him and rightfully so. He didn’t even buy a flower for his wife’s funeral and didn’t travel with his daughters to his wife’s final resting place in Pointville, Maryland. After showing his true colors, Regina said to her sisters, "Please do me and Mom a favor and never disrespect the man, because he is your father. When you see him on the street, speak to him and treat him nice. That’s what Mom would want. However, in my case, he is not my father. Thank you Jesus! And, if I saw him on fire, I wouldn’t even spit on him to try to put the flame out!"

Needless to say, there were always a lot of women in Tory’s midst, and he loved every second of it. I think that having so many women around caused his mother to limit her hugs and kisses. However, the Sonnestas more than made up for some of the outward affection that he didn’t get from Regina. Who knows, perhaps later on, when he gets much older, she’ll nurture and touch him more. But from an early age, he knew that his mother and especially his ‘Daddy Bug’ didn’t want him to turn out like Fran and Pat who lived above them on the third floor.

Whenever Teddy had anything to say about Fran and Pat, he referred to them as, The faggots that live up on the third floor-front.

Fran and Pat were two homosexual transvestite drag queens that lived in the apartment above the Lacets on the third floor, for the past three and a half years. They basically stayed to themselves and didn’t bother anyone that didn’t want to be bothered with them. All of the Sonnesta sisters interacted with them and got quite a few make-up, hair and beauty tips from the pair. But, they never took Tory with them, when they would go upstairs and visit. They were extremely protective of their nephew and didn’t want him to interact with them to any extent other than saying hello and goodbye, because they also knew that Teddy would blow a gasket. The three youngest Sonnesta girls got along famously with Fran and Pat and interacted with them just like they did with their other girlfriends.

Once when Fran and Pat had visited with Darsh, Turq and Gladys at their apartment, they were doing each other’s make-up and hair in preparation for a huge Halloween party at the Showboat. Turq said, You know something; Gina always says that she finds it peculiar that homosexual men seem to love and get along with straight women, but homosexual women seem to want to dress and act like men, but seem to really either hate or not like most men at all, except if the man is a relative.

Fran looked at Pat and they both broke out laughing hysterically. Pat who was the more effeminate of the two said, You know something, I never thought about it, but you know something? Regina ain’t never lied. That big sister of yours is a thousand percent right, ‘cause chile, most of them tough as nails gals hate us too, just because we were born with a penis instead of a pee-hole down there. If Regina was here I’d say, Amen. Preach Reverend Regina, preach!

With that comment, all five of them fell out laughing and continued with their make-up session and girl talk.

DADDY BUG & DADDY’S LITLE MAN

Chapter Three

Daddy Bug, was what Tory called his father. His real name was Theodore Ralexander Lacet, but most people and his relatives called him Teddy. If someone yelled out, Hey Theodore, he probably wouldn’t even flinch, because he didn’t recognize that as his name, except way back before he joined the Navy. He went to work every day, rain or shine, sleet or hail, hangover or not. He was a trash man, a rubbish collector. He was a lot older than Regina, by nearly twenty years. This was somewhat of a problem, because Regina occasionally wanted to go out to perhaps a nightclub like Pep’s, The Showboat, or The Uptown Theatre; or just to the movies and have some fun from time to time. He was a homebody and quite frequently, he’d say that he was tired, after hauling trash all day.

Teddy was born in Ralph, Virginia and was for the most part a displaced down-home country boy. If truth be told, he’d have been much happier, if he stayed in Virginia. Tory is the miracle child that everybody on Teddy’s side of the family always wanted, because Teddy never had any brothers that had children. Therefore, this young ‘miracle child’ was the only one who could continue the Lacet family name. One would not consider Teddy as handsome, cute, or very attractive. Yet, he had a very striking presence for a five foot six, partially baldheaded man. The only hair on his head kind of encircled his scalp like a halo. Teddy wore bifocals, was a diabetic, smoked and drank often times to excess. But on Sunday mornings, hungover or not, he and Tory would be at Holy Fellowship Baptist Church, over on Wharton Street. Teddy was a member of the usher board, and was the premier singer of the choir and sang in a powerful baritone voice that would rattle the entire congregation and shake the bodies of those standing or seated nearby. Simply put, a microphone was not needed when Teddy Lacet sang. His voice was so powerful that his booming baritone could be heard a block away from the church! The only time Tory heard him curse, was when he was highly upset with his mother, her sisters, or upset with others, due to them doing something that he vehemently disagreed with. At those times, Tory didn’t like being around him very much, because he scared the hell out of the boy. Especially if the venom was directed at his mother. He never raised his voice or hands to his one and only child and always referred to him as ‘Daddy’s Little Man’. Teddy never had to spank Tory for infractions, because his penetrating voice alone definitely kept the boy in check.

Teddy may have been a rubbish collector, but didn’t dress like one. The man could put on some glad rags! When the father and son went to church, they were dressed so well that people did a double take. Gina made sure that Tory’s clothes were of high quality and as good as or better than any other child’s in the neighborhood. Tory was always thought of as the neatest kid on the block, the playground and the congregation! He lived up to it and then some. All of the neighborhood children would frequently play on the hilly, grass and dirt-covered vacant lot on Rodman Street for hours at a time. Tory was the only child that could go home with perfectly clean clothes, with the exception of a little dust on his PF Flyers or shoes. He was always the child that everybody wanted to take out with them or wanted their children to emulate. He was often with his mother, or her sisters ‘The Sonnestas’, or another pseudo ‘aunt’, ‘uncle’, ‘cousin’, going out to dinner at Bookbinder’s or other fancy restaurants, shopping at Wanamaker’s, Gimbel’s, Lit’s, Strawbridge and Clothier and Krass Brothers. Sometimes Tory was taken to the neighborhood poolrooms and taught how to play billiards or cards. With all of the friends that the Sonnestas had, he was always riding around in new Cadillacs, Lincolns and other fine cars. He was well liked, envied, admired, and despised at the same time by many children his age and older. There were also quite a few adults that were envious of this child that seemed perfect. Their angst and envy stemmed from the fact, the simple fact that he wasn’t theirs. For some strange reason, they felt that it made them look bad, because Tory was considered so special and their children were not. Perfect strangers would come up to him and give him money, mainly silver dollars or five-dollar bills, just because he was dressed superbly. It wasn’t considered unusual for adults to give neighborhood children money for being a good kid, saying something nice or running an errand, because the children were known to everyone around the way and everyone knew everybody else; and if they didn’t they would be closely observed.

One time when he was only about three years old, Teddy’s sister Marge from New York asked him, "Tory, what do you want to be when you grow up?

His response was, I want to be either a doctor or a pimp and a hustler.

You see, South Philadelphia was filled with an abundance of really nice, professional, white collar, blue-collar and family oriented people. However, South Philly also had its share of pimps, prostitutes, bookies, cons, boosters and hustlers too. It was not uncommon to encounter the harmonious combination of professionals and hustlers in the restaurants, stores, barbershops, hairdressers, poolrooms or the various nightclubs. They coexisted and didn’t have issues with status, rank and class. They realized that they were all struggling in one way or the other in trying to make it in the land of the free, where the Declaration of Independence states that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights’ that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.’ But in truth and reality, that wasn’t quite the case. Those were simply great sounding words on a piece of parchment that was penned by Thomas Jefferson and an original facsimile hung less than a few miles away from this neighborhood, down at Independence Hall.

Tory didn’t know exactly what pimps and hustlers were at three, but he was only repeating what he’d heard from those somewhat less than intelligent folks that thought that it was cute to have those words coming from an oversize three year old that wore tailored suits, coordinating ties, fedoras, and silk pocket-squares. Everywhere he went people seemed to fall in love with him and give him money. His mother made sure that his knowledge, manners, diction, style of dress, behavior and maturity level was superior to even children five to ten years his senior. Teddy loved the fact that he could take his son anywhere and he was so well mannered and behaved.

Teddy loved showing him off and stuck his chest out with pride in saying, Yes, he’s my son; that’s Daddy’s Little Man right there. Daddy’s Little Man.

Although he looked older due to his size, everyone still marveled at how Tory carried himself. Tory loved hearing those words ‘Daddy’s Little Man’ come from Teddy’s mouth just as much as Teddy loved it when Tory called him ‘Daddy Bug’. They had a father and son bond that was genuinely connected through love and mutual admiration.

THE CLEANEST KID ON THE LOT

Chapter Four

One mauve colored and steamy Philadelphia summer day, Tory was out on ‘the lot’ on Rodman Street with about ten other kids playing. A nicely dressed and well groomed, tall man walked down Rodman Street, stopped, called to him, and asked him his name and where his mother got the outfit that he was wearing.

The child responded, I’m really not too sure sir, but either Boys Togs or Krass Brothers.

Krass Brothers down on 8th and South? I shop there too, but they never have anything that sharp for me, the stranger said.

He told Tory that he’d seen him around the neighborhood looking sharp as a tack and he liked the way that he dressed.

Tory said, Thank you very much, and continued to play with Jesse, Graig, Noni, Bertie, Flora, the albino twins, Jackson and even Vance who was out there playing, because his mother had drank herself into a stupor and had passed out. Tory’s outfit consisted of a pair of brown and white seersucker walking shorts, beige short sleeve shirt, a tan seersucker vest, tan and brown argyle socks, burgundy and tan Buster Brown shoes, as well as a tan straw hat that had a cream and burgundy colored band. All day everyone had been telling him how nice he looked, but he didn’t see the big deal, because his parents dressed him this way everyday.

This person, the stranger whom he did not know, but looked familiar for some reason, asked him to take a walk with him to Mr. Clover’s store. Mr. Clover’s store was about fifty yards away, right across the very narrow street, at the corner. Frequently, when Tory walked past the wide steps on the other side of this narrow street adjacent to Mr. Clover’s store, he’d have a horrible flashback of what happened around this time last year. At that very instance he remembered the day vividly.

It was a bright, sunny summer day and there wasn’t a cloud in the crystal blue sky. The freshly roast nuts from the Nut Store saturated the air. He, Noni, Jesse and Flora were playing the card game ‘War’ and Jacks on the smooth five-foot by four-foot pinkish marble side stair of Flora’s house, while eating cookies and candy that they’d gotten from Mr. Clover’s a short while earlier. Tory was the only child that wasn’t chewing, because his parents did not allow him to eat food of any kind when he was outside, unless it was at a picnic or something of that nature. However, he was allowed to chew bubble gum, as long as he disposed of it in a trash receptacle, when he was through with it. Since Tory never liked chewing gum, he never indulged. After they’d been playing for about ten minutes, Tory looked up above the building on the other side of the street that housed Mr. Clover’s store on the first floor and his residence on the upper floors. Mr. Clover owned the whole four story building. The reason that Tory looked up was because he thought a plane or cloud was passing by that caused the sunlight to dissipate and dim a bit. When he looked up he didn’t see a cloud, a bird or a plane. His friends looked at him and then followed his sightlines and saw what he was focused on above that was shielding the sunshine. As all of these four and five year old children tilted their heads to see what Tory was looking at; what they saw was Westminster Clover atop the roof. Mr. Clover’s oldest son spiraled and plummeted to the sidewalk near the back alley that ran behind the store, less than thirty feet from them!

To say it was a grisly scene is an understatement. The girls were screaming and crying after witnessing and hearing Westminster’s head and body hit the pavement, break open and spew his blood and guts. The boys were ringing Flora’s bell, knocking on the door and yelling. With all of the commotion, people came running from everywhere. The neighborhood beat cop, Sergeant Buchannon was on the scene in no time and took the children around the corner onto 17th Street and the front of the store, as Mr. Clover went in the other direction toward the commotion and saw his thirty-one year old son’s bloody, splattered, lifeless and mangled body. Mr. Clover was heard to say as tears trickled down his face as he kneeled over his son, I tried to help this boy fight his demons all of his life. But damn it, it looks like that heinous bitch named heroine has succeeded. The white horse won! Oh my God Wes, you let the white horse win! Why Wes, why? Oh my God why Wes, why?

After shaking off the flashback and locking it away again in his mental vault, Tory went into the store with the somewhat familiar stranger in full view of all of the other children who had stopped playing and adults that were sitting out on their stoops, whom the stranger spoke to and called some of them by name. So, this guy really wasn’t a stranger at all. At that time, everybody kind of looked after other people’s kids, whether they liked the kid or not. In some cases, when an adult didn’t like a child very much, they kind of watched the child more intensely, because they wanted to catch the kid doing something wrong so that they could either reprimand or report the child to their parents in hopes that the child would be spanked or punished in some way.

Mr. Clover was in his normal position behind the counter in the front of the store with all four of his ceiling fans churning. He always wore a hat. This day he had on a white straw hat with a dark blue band around it. There wasn’t a morning, noon or night he didn’t have a hat on. He was always extremely neat, clean and well groomed. Although Mr. Clover was a rather short and stout man, he bought and wore clothes that complimented his frame. His shirts were always nicely starched and pressed, and most days he wore a bow tie. His eyeglasses often seemed to defy gravity. None of the kids or grown-ups for that matter, could figure how they stayed on his face. The glasses didn’t have the two pieces of metal that went around the ears to hold them close to one’s face. Yet, these glasses sat perfectly on his nose.

On many instances, after returning from running errands to Mr. Clover’s store for his mother, Tory would nonchalantly state, Mr. Clover’s glasses are still glued on his face. Whenever he’d return, he’d say that every single time and every single time his mother would either laugh or smile and shake her head wondering if he was ever going to stop.

His mother would often ask him, Tory, aren’t you tired of saying that yet?

He’d simply shake his head from side to side and put the bags on the kitchen table or counter and say, They must be glued; they must be glued on his nose. Why?

Then his mother would always say with him in unison, Because those glasses don’t have any arms. Then they’d both just laugh, as if it was the first time that he’d said it.

As they entered the store, the stranger-gentleman said, Clover, give this sharp young fella here whatever he wants. And put me down twice for 157 in the box for tomorrow, while putting a ten-dollar bill on the counter.

Tory thanked the familiar stranger and began to call out and point out and request red-hot dollars, Milky Ways, 4 large kosher-dill pickles, Sky Bars, potato chips, Almond Joys, oatmeal cookies, Chuckles, chocolate chip cookies, Clark Bars, pretzel sticks, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, peppermint sticks, Squirrel Nuts, waxed lips, Hershey Bars, waxed teeth, Sugar Daddys, milk bottles, Mary Janes, Sugar Babies, 4 Duncan yo-yos, 8 balsam airplanes, and 8 bags of M&M’s, as well as an assortment of toy flutes, 5 spinning tops, 3 harmonicas, Mexican Jumping Beans, whistles, and of course 7 pimple-balls so that he and his friends could play stick ball and wall ball. He kept ordering until he had three shopping bags full of stuff. Needless to say, by this time, all of the neighborhood children Jesse, Walter, Warren, Jackson, Graig, Noni, greedy Bertie, greedy Flora, the albino twins and a few others were gathered outside peering through the screen door of the store and were shocked to see all that Tory ordered and it seemed like he wasn’t going to ever stop pointing to and requesting different goodies!

Aaron ‘Thickly Tongue’ Traylor said to Bertie, Ya, um, you, you, um th-th-th-th-think, um T-t-t-t-t um To-ry g-g-g-g-gonna g-g-give us any, any, any, anything huh?

Bertie frowned at the question and said, You know the answer to your fi-fi-fi-five minute question already, you tongue-tied dummy! Don’t he always share whatever he has? My mommy says he is one of the most free-hearted kids she ever seen. Every other kid peering trough the door, nodded their head in agreement.

Noni nodded and said, He sure is. One time I went over his house and he was about to eat a ham sandwich with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomatoes and he gave it to me, because I told him that it was my favorite and I was hungry!

It was Halloween and Christmas in summer and the man who was playing Santa Claus had crept out of the store without the boy or Mr. Clover even knowing it.

When Tory got tired of ordering, he asked Mr. Clover if he had any money left and Mr. Clover’s response with a big smile on his face was, You tell me.

It seemed like he was going to allow him to continue as long as he wanted. When other customers came into the store, Mr. Clover called one of his helpers from the back room and told her to wait on the others. His exact words were, I’m waiting on a very, very special customer here, and I’m not going to wait on anybody else until Tory Terrific is through.

Tory said, Excuse me Mr. Clover, is there enough money left for ten packs of baseballs cards?

Mr. Clover’s reply was, Yes sir. Absolutely. Whatever you want.

After asking for ten packs of baseball cards, he told Mr. Clover, I think that I’m finished now. I hope that I get at least one Willie Mays in the bunch of cards.

Mr. Clover peered over his magical suspension eyeglasses and said, I hope that you get a couple Willie Mays cards and a Hank Aaron too. Mr. Clover walked from behind the counter and handed the boy three large shopping bags. He took the bags by the handles and thanked him. Mr. Clover then said, No son, thank you! Because of who you are is the reason why business has come to my store. You’re kind of like a good luck charm. As he pushed open the screen door and left the store, Mr. Clover slightly raised his voice a couple of tones and said, Tory, you’re a lucky child! I know that I don’t have to tell you this, but always try to give some of what you have to the others. I got a feeling that in your life you will surely come across many that aren’t as fortunate as you are and you’ll do good by them.

Mr. Clover didn’t have to tell him, but Tory took his advice and gave away quite a bit of the candy and toys that he had multiples of, so that his friends and other kids would be happy too and wouldn’t follow him all the way home begging. Tory hated when people begged. For some reason it turned his stomach. He made sure that Noni got hers first. He let her take as much as she could hold in her pockets and hands. Next came Jesse, Graig, the twins, Walter, Flora, Bertie, Thickly Tongue, Jackson, Vance and then the rest of the smaller children who were sitting in their mother’s laps out on the stoops on Rodman Street. Although he gave a lot of candy to everyone who was out on Rodman Street, including the five mothers, he still had a sizable amount to take home. When he got finished distributing, he still had two shopping bags full. He quickly took the rest home, without eating anything himself, although his mouth was watering for one of the delicious kosher dill pickles with every step he took. He understood the rules his parents set about eating out in the street and knew that a spanking would occur, if he didn’t obey.

Upon his arrival home, his mother was shocked. She stopped preparing dinner and she wanted to know who this man was who allowed him to buy two full shopping bags full of candy. This was at least the seventh or eighth time this had happened over the past two years. Each time it had been a different lady or gentleman. Regina looked at her son and said, I swear, there must be some type of conspiracy going on in this neighborhood to ruin your teeth! Did you give Noni, Jesse, Paula, Mona and the other neighborhood kids you play with any, because these bags are full to the brim?

He responded, Yes Ma’am a lot, because I have a lot. I had three bags, when I left Mr. Clover’s. I gave away a lot to my friends, the tiny kids and their mothers that were sitting outside on Rodman also.

Although things like this were a regular occurrence for him, his mother still wanted to know who these generous people were, and this time he simply didn’t know who this man was, but he looked somewhat familiar. He told his mother that he didn’t think he’d ever seen this man before, but he kind of looked familiar. The next thing he heard other than the baseball card wrappers that he was fumbling with, was his mother speaking to Mr. Clover over the telephone.

Hey Clover, how are you doing? This is Regina. Tory came home with these two huge shopping bags full of candy and junk. Uh-huh, I see, I see. Yeah, he told me that he had three bags, yep. You know how I’ve raised Tory; he said that he gave candy, toys and cookies to all of his friends and everybody else outside on the block. Oh yeah? Eight dollars, huh? Well, who is this guy? What do you mean by, ‘he was someone who knows how to spoil already spoiled kids’? What the hell is that supposed to mean? What are you trying to say? Is that supposed to be funny or something? Well, how come you are the only damn person laughing! Clover, you go to hell and make sure that you have a can of gasoline in your right hand and a can of kerosene in the left, when you get there! Next time, make sure you double wrap the pickles, they sort of leaked on some of the cookies. No, I don’t want to send him back to get more cookies. He has more than enough stuff already to last him quite a spell. Just remember in the future, don’t send my child home with anything leaking. Double wrap the pickles man, all right? Also, have you heard the second one yet?

The ‘second one’ that Regina was asking about was in reference to the number of the horse that finished first in the second race at the New York race track that seemingly most adults in the neighborhood made bets on.

After saying, Tory, you know better than to eat more than two pieces of that junk. It’s almost time to eat your supper boy! Oh, never mind, I’m sorry, you’re just chewing the gum from the pack of baseball cards. Regina then said, Clover, did I hear you right? She closed her eyes then said, Oh, yes! Thank you Jesus, come on 4!

Tory knew that the numbers that were out were a 9 and a 2. He’d heard one of the pool hall bookies tell Slick down at his newspaper stand, ‘9 and 2 are the only digits that I know thus far’ on his way home from Clover’s store. Gina’s pet number was 924, which was also her mother Chelsie’s pet number, because those were the numerals of the date when she and the love of her