We walked around the mall, and even though it wasn’t my birthday, Auntie Nora got me three new outfits, a pair of jelly sandals, and some lip gloss. She bought me whatever snacks I wanted, and by the time I’d stuffed myself with pizza slices and pretzels, and started in on an ice-cream cone, I realized I’d been talking too much.

“Your mama tell you where she want to move to?”

“She won’t tell me nothing,” I said, rolling my eyes. She laughed.

“I told her she ought to move on out here. Then I could see you all the time!”

I thought about what it might feel like to live in Roseland, where maybe I wouldn’t have to drop to the ground to evade bullets. “Were you scared to leave the projects?”

“No, I couldn’t wait to get out and see something different! I got married in the middle of college, real young, and it seems like I’ve lived away from the projects longer than I lived in them.” She paused for a second, then said, “That’s how it’s going to be with you. I can tell you’ve got people to see, things to do!” I smiled at the thought of being that way, like her. Mama’s things to do were always for me and my brother. Auntie Nora seemed to live a life of adventure and freedom. Even though she had a son, she somehow managed to go off and do what she wanted without him.

Mama and Auntie Nora were really different. There were obviously things you’d notice right away, like Auntie Nora’s desire to dive into things enthusiastically, but if you were paying closer attention, you’d see their values in how they raised their kids. Mama worked hard to make sure that me and Meechie were respectful of people and the things in our home, even though we lived around some wild people and we didn’t have many things in our home worth much value. Auntie Nora and Uncle Tim seemed to let TJ have whatever he wanted and go anywhere. I’d later learn that they trusted him, and that he was aware of the dangers in Roseland.

After our shopping spree, we headed back to the house on LaSalle. Uncle Tim and the boys were not hanging at all. What really happened that day was that Uncle Tim slipped into the basement, and the boys did whatever they wanted, separately. TJ and his friends huddled around a PlayStation even though he was supposed to be with Meechie, who wasn’t anywhere in sight.