HARRY:

When my mother awakened me from slumber, I didn't remember where I was. It took a moment to realize that I was even alive. All I remember was that I was frantically running through a heavily wooded area, with New Edition's "Candy Girl" song playing from my Uncle's big body Cadillac off in the distance.

The hairs stood on my arms when the barking dogs arrested my attention. Under the glow of a full moon, as beautiful as it was, I was under attack.

I tripped over a long, thick branch before I could reach for a rusty knife I saw by a pile of pissy mattresses.

There was blood on my lower leg, but it was the sight of two pit bulls that arrested my attention.

Before they could ravage me my mother grabbed me by the right arm, snatching me off the ground.

She smacked me. "Are you woke, boi? I know you hear me. Why are you sleeping behind my sister's shed?"

As a five year old in 1982, I knew I had to remain silent. I was taught that just because I had an opinion didn't mean that I expressed it, even when asked.

I knew that I was dreaming, but it was a dream I once lived, around that time, when I was young.

My subconscious was trying to make me remember...

Remember...

I had a voice I couldn't use, especially now that my career-driven mother woke me up a few hours after I hid from my auntie when she caught me kissing a picture of some unknown actor on the cover of Ebony magazine.

"Son!" She was shaking me. I was so weak I fell on my knees, my eyes rolling to the back of my head.

Mama panicked as the sun rays beat down on us. I was covered in sweat. My clothes stuck to me like I jumped in a tub of water.

"Raymond! Baby wake up, oh my God what is wrong with my son?"

My stomach felt like it was on fire. I managed to calm myself, but when my auntie Dee Dee appeared behind my Mama, she frowned, placing a finger over her lips.

Mama picked me up.

"Sun, what's going on?" Aunt Dee Dee asked, faking like she was concerned.

Mama rushed past her without a word.

Opening the passenger side door, she strapped me in my car seat and hopped behind the steering wheel.

My aunt Dee Dee got in the back seat with me.

"Dee Dee, if anything happens to my son bitch I'm going to fuck you up."

"It's not my fault..."

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with my baby."

She mashed down on the gas pedal, smoke erupted from the tires.

"And you can forget about that forty dollars, too."

They were quiet for the duration of our sudden road trip...

And then I awakened from my dream, with a start...