MaDD Blogger

Pride and Prejudice

I was just a few weeks into taking up my job at Mapco and Inas and I were about to have a very busy weekend. On Friday we had tickets to see John Mayer and Maroon 5 and then on Saturday my best friend Terry was getting married and I was a groomsmen both days had interesting stories to tell but it is the Thursday before that I want to focus on because it is that day that I first met Amber.

I was out putting up stock when this gorgeous red head walked up to me and started talking to me. In truth she talked too much but god help me she had huge breast and red hair and anyone that knows me knows that I have a weakness for red heads. So I listened and apparently she had been coming in for a while and told me that I was her favorite cashier. I'm surprised that I didn't notice her before but being madly in love with another woman will blind you to such things. Later I met her mom and her brother Matt. I found out that Amber was just 17 so thanks to Inas I dodged a bullet there but Amber liked to talk to me about her man troubles so she'd stop in a lot and while we flirted a little bit it never went any further than that. Inas stopped in a few times while she was there and once on the way home she asked me if I thought Amber was attractive. I told her that I did but that was as far as it went and she accepted that and though I am no longer seeing Inas Amber and I are still just friends.

Amber has two other brothers but at age 14 Matt is the youngest and for some reason he has become as drawn to me as his sister. They actually had to work out a way to share me as a few times they came in together and would begin arguing over who I was talking too the most. I like Matt alot but much like his sister he talks when he should listen. I remember one time I was selling a pack of smokes to woman who was quite a bit on the heavy side and he went on this tirade about how pregnant women shouldn't smoke and I kept telling him that that was the person choice. The woman was getting very annoyed but Matt's a kid so she was biting her tongue. I couldn't get her out of the store fast enough and for the record she wasn't pregnant...she was just fat.

Another time these two guys walked in and they were clearly a couple and Matt goes "Those guys are gay aren't they?" and I go " We'll talk about it later" and then he says "They can't hear me. I just want to know, those guys are gay right?" to which I responded "I am begging you to shut up!". Matt keeps on while the two men keep shopping "I just want to know if I'm right or not. Tell me if those two guys are gay." by this time there were other people in the store and they could hear what he was saying and some started falling out laughing. Then Matt says "I'm just going to ask them. It's cool if I ask them right?" I had to shut this down fast so one last time I looked at Matt and said "I am asking you one last time...please shut the FUCK up!". I hated to swear at him but it got his attention and we now have a new rule. If I have customers in the store Matt is not to speak until after I clear them out, after that he can ask me whatever he wants and this kid has a ton of questions.

Amber started dating this guy Roy a few months ago. Not a bad guy and 19 which is much closer to her age. Roy is bi-racial. His father is black and his mother is white but Amber's father was not happy that his daughter was dating someone who was black or at least half black. Fast forward a few months later and Amber is pregnant and Roy's the father which I'm told caused a few problems with dad. He is at least trying to be civil to Roy now out of love for his daughter but it's not his behavior that shocked me the other day, it was Matt's.

A few days ago Matt stopped in for one of his visits and we started talking like usual. He had been there about an hour when Roy popped in to get a pack of Malboros. Matt starts telling me about Roy going into this redneck bar to get Ambers mom and take her home and how all the good ole' boys stopped drinking their beers to take a gander at Roy. He then started talking about the problems the child might face from society as she gets older. Roy was still there by the way and then he made a statement that absolutely floored me. Matt said that he just wanted all the members of his family to be of the same race. I immmediatly looked at Roy for a reaction. There wasn't one. Apparently after being around Amber and her family for a few months there were no surprises but I had to follow up with Matt. I wanted to understand so we kept talking after Roy left. Matt's whole point was that with society being the way it is it would simply be easier for him and his family if everyone was of the same race. No strange looks as the family goes out in public. No raised eyebrows when the family photo album is pulled out and of course the father issues would no longer exist.

While I was offended at first I don't know if it's wrong for him to want that. My brothers wife is white and some of the things that they've gone through trying to raise their three kids I wouldn't wish on anyone. I always tell Matt to think before he speaks and this time he thought and he spoke and I was blown away by his honesty. Maybe if adults were more honest with each other instead of sugar coating everything the world would be better off.

Great post my friend.

{ 9:05 AM, July 7, 2005 } { Posted by Mike, Dorothy's husband }

Hello, I do almost all of the work on Dorothy's web pages and have actually talked to you more than her. She does the writing and I do the rest. I just didnt bother changing the name. Anyways, great story and YES, honesty is a good thing. I just wish society didnt look at some things as weird. It has been changing some over the years and there are many more mixed couples nowadays and it doesnt seem all that weird to me any more. Dorothy and I are both white, but I dont think it would bother me if my children married someone that wasn't. People have to realize that we are ALL human and were born with our skin. We didnt choose it. It chose us. How people ACT is the only BIG difference in any of us.
By the way, is that you in the pic (avatar)?

Thanks Mike

{ 2:10 PM, July 7, 2005 } { Posted by maddhatt }

I wish more people were as enlightened as you but unfortunatly that isn't the case. The avatar is not me it is Dave Chapelle as Tyrone Biggums one of the characters from his Comedy Central Show. Surprisingly I've had a few people write me and ask for me to post my picture and some asked for pictures of my ex-girlfriend Inas. I guess I've written about her so much that they want to see her. I'm always surprised how many people are too shy to post a comment but will take the time to write 4 paragraphs and tell me how much they love my writing. I may post my picture in the future but I like being Oz the man behind the curtain. Once you see that I'm just a man where's the mystery in that.