Pete                                          1

I awoke to my moms calling me from the kitchen for breakfast.

“Pete Deshaun Arnez,” she yelled. “If you don’t get your rusty butt outta bed…”

Great, right in the middle of a sexy dream. Why is it that whenever you do get around to havin’ a dream like this, you’re interrupted? My moms always did have great timing. I lay there in bed inhaling the rich bacon aroma intertwined with fresh coffee and eggs. Checking my sheets to make sure the dream didn’t pull a whammy on me. Trying to remember what the girls in my dream looked like. It’s too early in the morning to concentrate. I could never remember anyway, especially when I was interrupted. I thought to myself, “moms you can ruin a wet dream.” As I rolled out of bed, I smiled as I thought about what the new day brought. I guess the first day of college was a big deal for everyone. I would be the third one in my family to go, if you count my moms’ part time attendance. My oldest sister, Denise, had gone off to New York to study journalism three years ago. Denise, or “Nesie,” as I had always referred to her since I was a baby, was interning this fall with CSN and was turning heads all over New York in all the journalism circles. I can still remember how proud moms was of her getting accepted. Now it was my turn. I glimpsed at my high school cap and gown still hanging in my closet with a few shirts that I never wore, and I thought about my other sister, Chantelle. She was only a year older than I was and had chosen not to go to college. It suddenly came to me that I didn’t know why. I stepped into my bathroom and splashed the grimace off of my face with cold water. I remember moms trying to talk her into going, but she could never hold a conversation with her about college without starting a fight. She gave up trying to talk to her about college a few months ago. Chantelle recently got a job at some auto insurance company as a receptionist. As I was coming out of the bathroom, the phone rang. I dove for the bed and snatched it up.

“Well hello, baby brother! What’s up?”

“Whassup, Nesie? How’s my big sister holdin’ it down in N-Y?”

“I’m cool,” she smiled. “I’m really enjoying my internship. So, are you ready for college? Today is the big day, right?”

“Yeah, I guess I’m kinda excited. I was just thinkin’ ‘bout you. Moms was expecting your call. She’s in the kitchen now. You wanna talk to her?”

“Yeah, let me speak to her. Before I go, I just want you to know that I’m proud of you. You show those busters how it’s done in college,” she giggled. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

“That’s cool, sis. Thanks,” I said warmly. “Moms,” I shouted from upstairs, “Nesie’s on the phone.” Hanging up the phone, I turned to my closet where my cap and gown hung. Still in my tank top and boxers, I turned and ran my hand over my freshly cut bald head. I headed downstairs while thinking about what I would wear my first day on campus. A brother has to make the best appearance on the first day. My moms always taught me that presentation was everything. Besides, there’d be mad girls all over campus. “Who was I to disappoint them?” I grinned