I turn to Chloe, hoping a look of discomfort on her face will dissuade Franklyn from pushing me to talk. But she doesn’t look uncomfortable; she’s eagerly waiting a reply.

Chloe reads the reluctance on my face. “Don’t worry. Nothing you say is gonna get to me. My parents raised me to be super open minded. When I see Franklyn, I don’t see his color. All I see is the guy I love.”

Oh dear God, get me out of here.

“You know what, it’s late. I need to get home,” I inform them as I get up. Devonte implores me to stay and speak my mind.

He doesn’t get it. This is my Bruce Banner moment, right before he changes into the Incredible Hulk. I don’t mean the new movie version, where he’s glossy green and has a Hollywood shine to him. I feel like the old-school 1980s TV show version; the version that takes the time to show the aftermath of what’s left in the Hulk’s wake.

In that version, Banner has to deal with the consequences of Hulk’s actions. That usually means he’s forced to flee yet another town, in hopes of finding a place he feels at home. I just started hanging out with these people; I don’t want to go all green on them and have to seek a new hangout.

I never understood some of the daily anger I felt until James Baldwin explained it to me.

He clarified that being Black in the United States and having even the slightest bit of awareness means you’re pissed off most of the time. He wasn’t wrong. I’m in awe of Baldwin’s genius, but it scares me that a man who died over three decades ago can so easily nail how I feel today.

Anyway, I’m leaving before Hulk shows up and ruins everything.

But, of course, that’s not the way the story of the Hulk goes. In every episode, he does his best to tell the bad guys to walk away. And they never do. They keep pushing and pushing until . . . red radioactive eyes . . . clothes shredding over massive muscles, and then . . . the Hulk.

Today’s “bad guy of the week” is Franklyn.

“Damn, you’re nothing like your mom. She’s a beast. She would have kept it one hundred, no matter what,” Franklyn says.

“Is that really what you what me to do—keep it real?” I ask.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said.”