Read Online Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bro by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
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entryway to a lifestyle he didn’t want Coco to even understand.
Jessica’s life was getting bigger. She was one of Boy George’s girlfriends now. She’d head out to the store for milk and not come back for five days. George had already taken her to Puerto Rico and to Disney World. “Here comes your portable sister,” Lourdes would quip to Cesar whenever Jessica materialized. She no longer traveled by bus or foot like she used to; she came and went by cab.
CHAPTER FOUR
B oy George’s earliest childhood memory is of hot water burning him during a kitchen-sink bath. His next is looking out a window over Tremont and seeing his cat get hit by a car. He remembers crying for the dead cat. “I loved pets. I tried to keep dogs, but they were always getting hit, too,” he said. Electrical fires were also common in his neighborhood. Once, while he and his little brother, Enrique, were watching Laverne & Shirley, the TV burst into flames. That day, George managed to save his cat. From the sidewalk, he and Enrique and the new cat watched their apartment burn.
After his father left when George was six months old, his mother changed apartments frequently. The family lived on St. Lawrence, on Prospect, on Tremont, east and west. They stayed in the Soundview Projects. They had an apartment across from Woodlawn Cemetery. “We were always moving around,” George said. He recalls no childhood friends. Enrique was a sickly, fearful boy. George was the solid one. He was decisive. Said Enrique, “My mother is a heartbroken person. My own heart gets broken quick. But when it comes to heartbreaking matters, George knows how to deal with it professionally. He was the bravest in the family.”
George quickly grasped the importance of solving the small problems that can quickly become big problems in the ghetto. Poverty raised the stakes of even ordinary activities, such as walking down the street. George instructed Enrique how to carry himself in public, how to be cautious without looking cautious: “He would always say to me, ‘Choose what you want in life. You got to be serious when you do things. You have to stop being a little faggot boy.’ ” George also taught his brother how to read. He would tell Enrique, “Look, you don’t know the words? Break it down.”
George said that his mother, Rita, beat them, sometimes with an extension cord. Most mothers hit their children; what was more disturbing to George was the unpredictability of Rita’s rage. He ran away for the first time when he was ten. Enrique dropped blankets and clean clothes out the window when his brother appeared on the sidewalk below. George wandered around the wastelands of Hunts Point. He slept on a bench inSt. Mary’s Park and washed his face in the dribble of a fire hydrant. He also slept in abandoned cars and once camped out on a bus. At the time, he must have been terrified, but George recast the hardship as an opportunity. “I wasn’t a mama’s boy no more. I was out on the street by myself. I had to fend for myself. I had to make money for myself,” he said. “That taught me responsibility.”
When he was twelve, his mother requested a PINS from family court. PINS, the acronym for Parent with a Child in Need of Supervision, gave a judge final say in a child’s care and discipline. A PINS was one of the early markers of a troubled kid’s life, and it usually meant there had been steady trouble for a while. The authorities sent George to a diagnostic center called Pleasantville, where he stayed for three months. George crossed paths with Mike Tyson, who had also landed in the system. They once argued over a pool game but became friends afterward. George was transferred to St. Cabrini’s, a group home in New Rochelle, New York, where he was to stay until he and his mother worked things out. He lived there for three years that he later called the most important in his life.
George welcomed the new routine at the group home, and he was relieved
Jessica’s life was getting bigger. She was one of Boy George’s girlfriends now. She’d head out to the store for milk and not come back for five days. George had already taken her to Puerto Rico and to Disney World. “Here comes your portable sister,” Lourdes would quip to Cesar whenever Jessica materialized. She no longer traveled by bus or foot like she used to; she came and went by cab.
CHAPTER FOUR
B oy George’s earliest childhood memory is of hot water burning him during a kitchen-sink bath. His next is looking out a window over Tremont and seeing his cat get hit by a car. He remembers crying for the dead cat. “I loved pets. I tried to keep dogs, but they were always getting hit, too,” he said. Electrical fires were also common in his neighborhood. Once, while he and his little brother, Enrique, were watching Laverne & Shirley, the TV burst into flames. That day, George managed to save his cat. From the sidewalk, he and Enrique and the new cat watched their apartment burn.
After his father left when George was six months old, his mother changed apartments frequently. The family lived on St. Lawrence, on Prospect, on Tremont, east and west. They stayed in the Soundview Projects. They had an apartment across from Woodlawn Cemetery. “We were always moving around,” George said. He recalls no childhood friends. Enrique was a sickly, fearful boy. George was the solid one. He was decisive. Said Enrique, “My mother is a heartbroken person. My own heart gets broken quick. But when it comes to heartbreaking matters, George knows how to deal with it professionally. He was the bravest in the family.”
George quickly grasped the importance of solving the small problems that can quickly become big problems in the ghetto. Poverty raised the stakes of even ordinary activities, such as walking down the street. George instructed Enrique how to carry himself in public, how to be cautious without looking cautious: “He would always say to me, ‘Choose what you want in life. You got to be serious when you do things. You have to stop being a little faggot boy.’ ” George also taught his brother how to read. He would tell Enrique, “Look, you don’t know the words? Break it down.”
George said that his mother, Rita, beat them, sometimes with an extension cord. Most mothers hit their children; what was more disturbing to George was the unpredictability of Rita’s rage. He ran away for the first time when he was ten. Enrique dropped blankets and clean clothes out the window when his brother appeared on the sidewalk below. George wandered around the wastelands of Hunts Point. He slept on a bench inSt. Mary’s Park and washed his face in the dribble of a fire hydrant. He also slept in abandoned cars and once camped out on a bus. At the time, he must have been terrified, but George recast the hardship as an opportunity. “I wasn’t a mama’s boy no more. I was out on the street by myself. I had to fend for myself. I had to make money for myself,” he said. “That taught me responsibility.”
When he was twelve, his mother requested a PINS from family court. PINS, the acronym for Parent with a Child in Need of Supervision, gave a judge final say in a child’s care and discipline. A PINS was one of the early markers of a troubled kid’s life, and it usually meant there had been steady trouble for a while. The authorities sent George to a diagnostic center called Pleasantville, where he stayed for three months. George crossed paths with Mike Tyson, who had also landed in the system. They once argued over a pool game but became friends afterward. George was transferred to St. Cabrini’s, a group home in New Rochelle, New York, where he was to stay until he and his mother worked things out. He lived there for three years that he later called the most important in his life.
George welcomed the new routine at the group home, and he was relieved
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