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Instilling Passion
"Homework?" Antonio asked."Ain't got none," Keyera said. Antonio frowned. "I mean," she said quickly, "I don't have any tonight."
He spotted Corrian and asked him how he'd done in school.
"I had to find a way home this afternoon," his brother grumbled. "I didn't have bus fare 'cause I had to pay $15 for that book bag I lost. I'm still short. How about it?"
Antonio raised his hand. "Your responsibility," he said. "You lost it, why should I bail you out? Instead of taking the bus, you walk for a while. Each step, you'll learn to be more careful."
Antonio turned away to make sure his brother and sister couldn't see him smile. He remembered how naive he'd been when he first took charge of the family. He'd wanted to be liked, and made few demands. But the family started falling apart. The grades were terrible, homework missing and no one helped out at home.
And so one night, he closed the door to his room and evaluated his brothers and sisters as if he were a cold-hearted boss sent in to turn around a failing company.
Shronda's grades were lousy because no one pushed her to do better. Corrian was a follower who got in trouble because his friends manipulated him. His twin, Torrian, liked to be sneaky and never feared being caught. Keyera worried too much and didn't believe in herself.
That night Antonio called a family meeting. Everyone found a seat on a dilapidated sectional sofa that relatives had given to the family. He stood in front of them, pacing the floor, making sure they got his message. "We're all we have in the world," he said. "We're going to succeed in life. That would make Mom happy."
He began writing on four pieces of paper. Then he walked to the kitchen and taped the papers to the refrigerator. "Chores," he called out. "Your chores." His brothers and sisters moaned and hustled to the kitchen. Clean the dishes, the bathroom and the kitchen. Take out the trash. Clean the living room. Everyone had tasks, and on Saturday everyone worked together.
They grumbled and said he was too strict. But he was just warming up. He imposed a curfew. Homework would be done on time. He'd read every paper and help figure out every math problem his mother had been unable to do. And if his siblings thought the teachers were demanding, wait until they dealt with Antonio. He planned to bring a little college home to Miami.
And he demanded each of them find a passion, a hobby, a sport, something that would make them see the world was bigger than this neighborhood. Their future would not be the streets, or falling in with drug dealers who claimed turf up the block. They'd go to college, just like he had.
In time, Shronda went from C's and D's to A's. She made the honor roll, as did the twins. Corrian played on the football team. Torrian discovered he liked to sing and joined the school choir. Keyera and her sister joined the dance team at church. One day, the girls brought home two bumper stickers that said: "I'm the proud parent of an honor student." The stickers went on the front door to let everyone in the neighborhood know who lived in this house.
In December 2003, Antonio got a job as a youth counselor for a nonprofit agency, making a salary of $31,000 a year. The job had regular hours, allowing him to be home every day to make dinner for the kids. He attended their football games, church performances and parent/teacher meetings. And every month he put a little money in savings accounts for each of them.
Tonight, another hot Miami evening in 2006 with the old photograph and the bills lying on the bed, Antonio stopped short on the littered sidewalk outside his house. Down the street he saw Corrian talking with some boys. Around here -- in a neighborhood of single mothers -- Antonio is known as the strict man who doesn't tolerate people hanging around or traipsing in and out of his house without a reason.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a copper-colored $50,000 Hummer slowly making its way down the street. "I don't know who that is," Antonio said to himself.
"Hey, you all get over here by the house," he called to Corrian and his friends.
Arms crossed, Antonio stared straight ahead as the Hummer stopped. Fifteen seconds passed before the vehicle moved up the block to where drug dealers lived. "You all stay by the house," Antonio said. "You hear me? You listening?"
Satisfied for the moment, Antonio walked inside and stood next to a display cabinet. His mother's ashes are in a white box on the cabinet. "Mama, we love U always," one of her children had written on the outside of the box. A small snapshot of Dorothea Seay was tucked in one edge, making it appear as though she is looking down, watching her family.
The man of the house yawned and rubbed his face. He had to be up at 5:30 to wake everyone and get them breakfast before he took them to school. From there he'd go to the counseling office. Grab groceries for dinner on his lunch break. Tight, but doable. He sat on the edge of his bed. The bills were still there and the photo of the kid with the dreams.
He heard laughter out on the stoop. "Is everything cool out there?" Antonio asked his brothers. "Don't want no problems."
Everything was cool.
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