BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! As my eyes open, and the world is still fuzzy, I look at the clock and see that the red letters are glowing with 5:30. I guess it’s time to get up, and feed my son. Oh Fuquan, how I wish I hadn’t lost that bet in college, and had to name him that. He’s a good kid though, and he just turned two a couple weeks ago. I turn and see that Beyonce is still sleeping, which is good, since she works so hard during the day. She doesn’t complain though, which is amazing. As I go to Fuquan’s room, I’m hoping he might say “Da-da” again today. He said it last week, and I got goose bumps. I tried to tell Beyonce about this, but she claims that I am making it up.
So I go to his room and he’s already up, playing in his crib. He got his mother’s eyes, but he got my smile – a good combination. I pick him up and take him to the kitchen and sit him on the high chair. Then I open the cabinet and take out the Gerber baby food. I remember the first time I went to the store, and how the clerk had to help me out picking the baby food. I had no idea what I was doing. I figured apple sauce was good enough, but apparently that didn’t have enough nutrition. He seems to enjoy the baby food even though I tried it one time and almost puked all over the bathroom.
So I feed him and make sure he gets some milk from the fridge, and then I take him back to his room. I go ahead and get to the bathroom quickly, while there’s still hot water left. I quickly shave, making sure to be careful around my lip because I cut it last time. A couple years ago, I tried to grow a beard, but people said I looked homeless and bits of food kept getting stuck in it, so I got rid of it. I hop in the shower, and am out in five minutes. I still refuse to use Pert Plus because of the incident when I was four years old, so I use Head and Shoulders instead.
Anyhow, I throw on some lotion when I’m out the shower to keep from getting ashy and to soothe the skin, put on some Old Spice, my shirt, tie, pants, and belt. Then I go for the final four – cell phone, keys, wallet, and watch (still the UNC watch). I check to make sure my hair is looking fresh, throw on a spray of the cologne I know is the bomb, and then I’m out the door. On the way out I kiss Beyonce on top of the head, but she just makes a soft sound and stays asleep. I put Fuquan in the car-seat, make sure his belt and my belt are on, and then it’s on the road under an orange-red sky. As I drive in the Nissan on 22s to work (actually they’re 10s, but I keep them clean though), I am still rocking out to some good tunes. Fuquan will learn from an early age to appreciate music, and he already bobs his head along. I drop him off at Daycare, with Nelly, the attendant there. She says he’s always pretty good and doesn’t really bother the other kids. Well, he doesn’t take after his old man, that’s for sure. I was a terror at daycare.
I get to work by 7:30, park the car, and take the elevator up to the 7th floor. As I get to my desk, I see that I left lots of post-it notes for me today. They all contain different to-do lists, or tell me where things are supposed to go. Nobody else would understand the system but oddly enough, it seems to work well for me. It seems like only yesterday, I was getting hired. I remember applying for job during my last year in law school, out in San Francisco. I was worried about the job, not because I didn’t like it, but because it was in Washington DC, and I had just met Beyonce a couple months earlier. I knew that the job was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to be apart from her either, so that’s when I decided to ask her if she wanted to marry me.
It was just another beautiful day in the Bay Area, and we had gone out to lunch. I had called ahead to this bakery she likes and asked if they put the ring on top of a cupcake. After lunch, we were just walking, and then we stopped inside (the chef winked at me as I walked in). We were looking for some stuff that we could get in a to-go box, when the chef popped out with two cupcakes and said, “On the house for the beautiful couple.” Beyonce was about to take a bit of her cupcake when she noticed the sparkle and then she saw the ring.
So at the point, I got down on one knee. I’m not really one for the traditional stuff, so I just said point blank, “I am moving to Washington, and I want you come with me. If you eat the cupcake, I’ll know you’re for real and want to come with me for life.” She looked at me for a second, and then ate the cupcake, frosting and all, and then held out the ring for me to put it on her finger. It was an odd way to propose, but all our friends thought it was cute.
Anyhow, as I get back to work, I think about all that I have to do today. The case I have today is a big one. If I can get Gonzalez family a chance to win back their house, it will be a tremendous win for me. They were kicked out of their house because of the terms of their contract, but since it wasn’t printed in two languages, I am going to try and argue that the contract was never broken, and instead that it was not firmly acknowledged yet. I go ahead and get some coffee, and then sit down and prepare my statements for the judge. I need to be pretty baller today if I’m going to pull this off.
“Whoosh.” As the wind rushes past my hair, I let out the traditional smirk. I rocked that courtroom today; the judge didn’t even know what to say, and the other prosecutor was speechless. The look on his face was priceless. I had effectively argued that a contract can’t be upheld if people don’t know what they’re agreeing to. Even though there were signatures on the original contract, we effectively showed that people will put needs first and it was the job of the housing department to provide a translator. Anyhow, I shook hands with the Gonzales family and then got back to the office. I finished my paperwork, let my boss know about the win in the courtroom, and then left work around 5:30 pm.
As I pick up Fuquan from the day-care center, we jam out with a little Lupe Fiasco. Even though it’s like 12 years old, we still love “Superstar.” That boy is going to be a good dancer, he just lights up when he hears music. As we drive home, we stop at a Dairy Queen, and pick up one of those brownie milkshakes and 3 spoons. We make it home a little bit before Beyonce gets back. She is wearing her doctor’s coat, and still carrying her stethoscope. The patients must love her.
Anyhow, we have the milkshake together and talk about our day, and then we change real quick like, and take a walk around the neighborhood. The scarlet tinged sky is fading in the background to a cool blue dusk. Some other families are around, so we wave, and sometimes I miss the days where I would do the same thing – take a walk, but instead of thinking about my cases, I would think about my students, and what I would say to them. I don’t know if they ever listened, but sometimes I wonder what their lives have become. As Fuquan sits on my shoulders, and I see Beyonce’s hair fluttering a little bit with the wind, I think to myself, am I living a life I’m proud of? As we get to our front door, and I think about my times in North Carolina to Phoenix, to San Francisco, to Washington DC, I would have to say that if nothing else, I never stopped striving to be better. So I am proud of that, and one day I think I will start giving Fuquan little speeches here and there. In the mean time, dinner waits, and since it’s my day to cook, it looks like it will be chicken soft tacos yet again. I guess I should start cooking soon because 5:30 tomorrow morning will come faster than I know it.
THE END
