No Gucci.
He looked sixteen.
Actually sixteen.
“Mr. Reed.”
Marcus stopped.
“Yeah?”
“I wanted to apologize.”
Marcus nodded.
Tyler continued:
“My dad says I shouldn't say anything because lawyers.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Your dad is probably right.”
“I still want to.”
Marcus waited.
Tyler looked down.
“I shouldn't have gone in.”
“No.”
“I shouldn't have told you to leave.”
“No.”
“I didn't know you were a colonel.”
Marcus sighed.
Tyler immediately realized.
“Right.”
He closed his eyes.
“That isn't the point.”
“Good.”
Marcus folded his arms.
“What is?”
Tyler thought.
“That it was yours.”
Marcus nodded.
“Better.”
Tyler looked toward the clubhouse.
“Everybody hates my mom now.”
Marcus did not answer.
The boy continued.
“She says it's because you made this racial.”
Marcus's expression changed.
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
“Did she?”
Tyler hesitated.
“She said people would.”
Marcus looked toward him.
“Do you think race had anything to do with how you spoke to me?”
Tyler's face reddened.
“I don't know.”
Marcus appreciated that answer more than denial.
He said:
“Think about it.”
Tyler nodded.
Marcus continued:
“Don't decide the answer because you're scared of what it says about you.”
The boy looked up.
“What if the answer is yes?”
Marcus considered.
“Then you learn something early that some men spend their whole lives refusing to learn.”
Tyler swallowed.
Marcus said:
“Bias doesn't make you permanently evil.”
“Refusing to examine it can make you dangerous.”
Tyler nodded slowly.
Robert approached.
“Colonel Reed.”
Marcus raised one eyebrow.
Robert corrected himself.
“Marcus.”
“Better.”
Robert smiled faintly.
He looked exhausted.
“I apologize.”
“For?”
“For letting the HOA become my wife's entire identity.”
Marcus did not expect that.
Robert continued:
“I checked out.”
“She handled neighborhood stuff.”
“I handled work.”
“Tyler watched.”
“He learned that rules were something his mother used, not something that applied to her.”
Tyler looked uncomfortable.
Robert continued anyway.
“I should've noticed sooner.”
Marcus nodded.
“You're noticing now.”
Robert looked toward him.
“Brenda's furious with me.”
“I imagine.”
“She thinks I'm taking your side.”
Marcus almost laughed.
“Everybody keeps needing sides.”
Robert smiled tiredly.
“Yeah.”
They left.
Marcus drove home.
At 9:30 that night, his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Marcus Reed.”
Silence.
Then Tyler.
“Mr. Reed?”
Marcus frowned.
“How did you get this number?”
“Neighborhood directory.”
Of course.
“What happened?”
Tyler's breathing sounded uneven.