A Black Man & The Facts of Life

Today I had to tell a thirty-four old black man about the facts of life and it was not pretty.

“Something is different today. I don’t know what it is, but something is off with Kenny today, Momma.” That is what I told my Mom today about Kenny, the handyman who often comes to the home me and Mom have shared since my father’s death some years ago.

He is a pleasant thirty-four-year-old black handyman who often does odd jobs around our home and throughout our neighborhood here in the dirty south U.S.A.

While he was starting to set up a paint job for our outdoor swing set, I asked Kenny, “The last time I saw you, you could not stop smiling. “In fact, dude, I thought you were beaming the last time you were over here,” I said jokingly, poking him on his right shoulder.

“You were talking to me about that cute nurse you met at your church, and you said she was the one for you. You told me you were gonna ask her out. So what’s wrong with you today-what happened? I asked him.”

“Let me ask you, Ms. Fannie (that’s what he likes to call me). Why is it when I meet a beautiful, sweet, smart, got her act together black woman, all she cares about is…