Mazani
McDaniels looked at himself in the mirror. He was looking good today. He
stretched himself so that he stood his full six feet tall. He stroked his neatly
trimmed goatee as he admired his raw umber skin. He flexed his toned chest
muscles. He smiled at himself in the mirror. His hard work at the gym was
finally starting to pay off. He was beginning to get some definition in his
muscle. He was beginning to see the chest line forming down the middle of his
chest. He couldn't wait until the summer time so that he could show off his new
muscles.
Mazzi, as he
was called, wiped his feet on the rug in front of the sink before exiting the
bathroom to his bedroom. He looked down at his feet. The rest of him was
perfect, but his feet were jacked up. His skin was cracked. His toe nails never
seemed to grow right. He had corns on his little toes.
Mazzi
thought to himself, "Why did I have to wear my brother's hand-me-down, too
tight shoes?"
Mazzi
quickly whipped the towel from around his waist and threw it on the bed. He
went to his closet and grabbed some clothes. Today was going to be a good day.
Mazzi smiled
as he walked out of his apartment building. It was 7:00 in the morning, so he
knew that the ladies who lived in his building would be walking outside to
leave for work. Mazzi didn't have to be at work until 10:00, but he liked to go
outside at seven and run around the apartment complex to get his cardio workout.
Actually, Mazzi just liked to have the ladies gawking at him.
Mazzi was
outside stretching on the end of the stairwell when Shelia walked down the
stairs. She stared at his rear end as he was bending over. Mazzi could feel the
woman staring at him, so he stayed posed in that position a few extra seconds
to let Shelia get a good look.
Finally, he
stood up and said, "Hi. Ms. Shelia. Have a good day at work."
Shelia
smiled at him wickedly and responded, "You too." She switched to her
car.
Mazzi was
about to start his run when Cassandra walked up to her car from the adjoining
apartment building.
She stopped
by Mazzi and said, "You are starting to look good."
Mazzi smiled,
"What do you mean starting?"
Cassandra laughed,
"You need to quit it."
Mazzi
laughed as he said, "Have a good day at work."
Cassandra
said, "You, too," as she walked off.
Mazzi
started his jog. People often reprimanded him these days because of his
"over confidence" in himself, but he knew differently. Only four
years earlier, Mazzi was a scrawny kid that everyone used to tease by calling
him Angel Hair, after the thin pasta bearing the same name. He grew tired of
being called that a enrolled in a gym and began working on his body. He wasn't
over confident. He was self-confident. He finally felt good about his body.
He still had
his flaws, though. He talked with a lisp. When he got nervous or excited, his
lisp got work. He normally talked slowly because that was the only way that his
lisp wasn't so obvious, but that only caused people to mock him because he
talked so slowly. Mazzi was working on this aspect of himself. He had an
excellent speech therapist who was working with him. The only thing that Mazzi
wanted to change was to make the process go faster. That was his other
weakness, he had no patience.
***
Mazzi was
walking to his apartment building from his car. He had a long day at work and
he was very tired. He just wanted to go lie down on his couch and watch Sports
Center on ESPN. Everything at work had gone crazy; reports were missing, files
weren't in the right places, and the printer broke in the middle of printing
out a document that he needed for a meeting. He was about ready to scream.
Mazzi had
made about ten steps when he heard Mrs. Fisher yell his name. He blew a long
exasperated breath before he smiled and then turned towards the elderly lady.
Mazzi liked Mrs. Fisher. She was always nice to him whenever she saw him. She
was a nice old lady.
Mazzi walked
towards Mrs. Fisher and said, "Hello, Mrs. Fisher. What do you need?"
when he reached her
She said,
"I need a little help with the bags. This little old lady got a happy at
the grocery store and bought more than she could handle."
Mazzi smiled
and grabbed the bags from Mrs. Fisher's car. He did not mind helping the old
lady. He did not mind helping anyone at all.
Mazzi
finished carrying the groceries to Mrs. Fisher's apartment.
Mrs. Fisher
smiled at him, squeezed his cheek, and then said, "You sure are a sweet
young man. We need more young men in the world like you."
Mazzi smiled
and left Mrs. Fisher's apartment.
Mazzi walked
into his apartment. He could tell that his cousin was at the house because the
smell of popcorn filled the house. Mazzi's 18 year-old cousin, Caroline Melton,
was staying with him for awhile. She was having problems with her stepmother
again. Caroline's father was on his fourth or fifth wife, Mazzi had lost count.
Caroline's mother died tragically in a store robbery. Caroline saw the whole
incident occur, so she had some emotional problems.
Caroline's
father did not help the situation either. He was an old school playa at least
that is what he said of himself. Most people just thought of him as an old man
driving a sports car, dressing like a young cat, and having a wife much too
young for him. Wenzburg Melton, Mad Milt, as he was called, was pushing close
to 65 years of age. He had a wife that was 24 years old. No wonder Caroline and
her stepmother argued on a regular basis. Caroline, who was sweet as she could
be until you upset her, had tried to live with her stepmother, but her
stepmother made impossible demands on Caroline. The woman wanted Caroline out
of the house. The evil woman had told Milt on more than one occasion, but Milt
was too busy being a playa to even address the situation. His household was
going down the drain and he was out clubbing night after night.
Mazzi walked
into the living room and smiled at Caroline who was lying on the couch eating
popcorn and watching some music video.
Mazzi said,
"What's up, Cuz?"
Caroline
looked up at Mazzi and said, "Nothing."
Mazzi
laughed, that was his cousin for you. He walked into his bedroom, closed the
door, and changed into his workout clothes. He needed to go workout to let the
day roll off of him.
Mazzi shook
his head as he reached for the toilet paper. It did not roll from over the top
like it was supposed to. He grunted and muttered something he should not have
under his breath.
Caroline was
forever putting the toilet paper on the roll wrong. She put the toilet paper on
the roll so that it rolled from the bottom down. Everyone with any sense knew
that the toilet paper should roll from the bottom under; at least that is how
Mazzi felt about it.
Mazzi flexed
his newly developed biceps. He was starting to look good. He finished in the
bathroom and headed into the living room. His 18 year old cousin, Caroline was
in her usual spot, lying on the couch eating popcorn.
Mazzi walked
over in front of Caroline, obstructing her view of the TV. "Dang, Mazz.
Get out of the way. You ain't made of glass."
Mazzi did
not move. He said, "How many times do I have to tell you to put the toilet
paper on the roller the right way?"
Caroline
smiled, "You are too anal, man. I be forgetting, ok."
Mazzi made a
face, "It's I forget, not I be forgetting."
Caroline
laughed, "Whatever. I forget sometimes. Geez, does it matter which way the
toilet paper rolls anyway?"
Mazzi
huffed, "Yes, it does."
Caroline
made a face and switched sides on the couch so that she could see the TV. Mazzi
moved in front of Caroline. Caroline threw a pillow at Mazzi.
Mazzi picked
the pillow up, "Quit throwing my stuff around. You need to put the toilet
paper of the roller the right way."
Caroline
made a face, "I guess that's an order then."
Mazzi blew a
breath, "Do you have a better suggestion?"
Caroline
said, "Yes, I do. Just sit the roll of toilet paper on the back of the
commode. That would solve the whole thing."
Mazzi
laughed, "You are crazy. Okay, let's do that." That was that, the
toilet paper dilemma was solved.
Mazzi had
been fighting with Caroline about everything in the apartment all day. She put
the toilet paper on the roll wrong. She left the bread open. She left the
peanut butter sitting out on the counter, opened with a knife sticking in it.
Mazzi was about ready to scream. He walked into the living room again and
stared at Caroline.
Caroline
looked up at Mazzi, "What do you want now?"
Mazzi glared
at Caroline and held the tube of toothpaste out so that she could se it.
Caroline
huffed, "Is it your time of the month or something? You have been cranky
all day."
Mazzi stared
at Caroline for a few seconds, and then said, "The toothpaste should be
squeezed from the bottom up, not in the middle of the tube. If you squeeze it
from the bottom up, you will get more toothpaste out of the tube and the tube
will be more presentable. Squeezing the tube from the middle wastes toothpaste;
you know I can't stand to waste things. Squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom
up; that is the proper way to do it."
Caroline
laughed at Mazzi as she went back to watching her TV show. Mazzi knew that his
speech had fallen on deaf ears.
