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iced tea. Anton watched Emma’s face for the duration of the song. It stayed screwed up in concentration as though she were taking mental notes. He imagined she would have a lot of questions. When the song ended, she turned off the CD player and looked at Anton.
    “What’s a glock?” she asked.
    “A type of gun,” he replied.
    “What’s a fo fo?”
    “Oh, well it’s four-four. He just pronounce it fo-fo ‘cause he black,” Anton replied. “It’s another type of gun.”
    “Hmm. Apparently he likes guns,” Emma said.
    She was quiet for a moment. Anton chewed his lip for something to do.
    “Do you listen to this a lot?” she asked.
    “No, mostly when I’m pissed or somethin’,” he said.
    “I can’t imagine it puts you in a better mood,” she observed.
    “I don’t want it to.”
    “Oh.”
    “Not all his music like that,” Anton explained. “Some is playful. A lot of it about social issues. Growin’ up poor in the ghetto and stuff. He write about his mama. That stuff is real powerful.”
    “But his music is so old,” she said looking at the back of the CD jewel case. She pointed out the copyright date.
    “It don’t matter,” Anton replied taking the jewel case from her hand. “Some music eternal, you know? It just go on and on. It always be relevant, always make a point.”
    Emma sat quietly, thinking. She had a hard time understanding how the woman she just met allowed her son to listen to such music. Then again, perhaps she didn’t know, but Emma shook her head at that. Their rooms were directly across from one another, and she was sure that in a house like this, the doors and walls weren’t well insulated. She scanned his desk and noticed a Bible.
    “Do you go to church?” Emma asked.
    “‘Course I do,” Anton replied. “What kinda question is that?”
    “I’m confused. You listen to that and then you go to church?” she asked, holding up his Bible.
    “What’s yo’ point?” Anton asked.
    Emma placed the Bible back on his desk and smiled.
    “You’re strange,” she said.
    “Well, then. I guess we got somethin’ in common.”

 
     
    CHAPTER 4
    MONDAY, APRIL 19
     
    Anton stood at the bathroom mirror surveying himself. He actually woke up early this morning for school, something he never did, and took his time getting ready. It was important to him that he looked good. He made a new friend over the weekend and wanted to impress her. He wanted her to find him attractive. He wanted to be more than friends, he thought. He smiled in the mirror examining his teeth, relishing the feel of the glowing ball of excitement deep inside his belly.
    “Man, I got nice teeth,” he said to his reflection. “How she not gonna like that?”
    He looked at the baseball cap on his head. It was sky blue with the UNC Tar Heels emblem.
    “And I look so good in hats. How she not gonna like me in a hat?”
    He chewed his lower lip as he continued his examination. He flexed his right arm and whistled low.
    “Damn nigga, you got some guns. How she gonna keep her hands off yo’ guns?”
    He chuckled.
    “It can’t happen. It just can’t,” he decided.
    He inhaled deeply.
    “And you smell so good,” he went on. “She gonna be crawlin’ all over you ‘cause you smell so good. What girl don’t like a guy to wear some cologne?”
    He decided to wear cologne today. It was an expensive designer brand that his mother bought him last year for Christmas when she began making a little more money. It was a good Christmas, he thought, remembering how happy she was that she was beginning to see all of her hard work materializing. And he had been careful with that cologne ever since he got it, only using it on special occasions. He thought that today was one of them.
    He lifted his blue polo shirt and studied his stomach.
    “Maybe if she lucky, I’ll let her put her hands on these rock hard abs,” he said and then heard an angry knock on the bathroom door.
    “Anton! Get yo’ butt outta that