Part 2

The sun is shining and I'm smiling as I float down the street still proud of my latest conquest. I don't have much time to bask in the sun's and my own glow before I'm brought back to reality.
"Beautiful...I just want you to know...you're my favorite girl"
That's the song my cell phone sings signaling my daughter must either be in an emergency or in trouble.
"Hey Stinka-Bear!"
"Mr. Hodges, this is the nurse here at Parkwood Elementary. I'm just calling to let you know Kiara has been complaining about having an upset stomach, and she's starting to get a little irritated. I'd strongly advise you coming to get her."
The nurse's tone sounds more like, "come get your bad ass kid before I throw her out this window" instead of the genuinely concerned school nurse.
But people say she acts like me, so I can understand why she'd have that annoyed timbre in her voice.
However...
"I'm sorry you can't handle the temper of a 6-year old. I understand what type of burden that must be for you. You know doing your job and all. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
I hang up before she can give any type of reply that might force me to waste anymore brain cells talking to her.
I bust a U-turn (illegaly of course) and make my way towards the love of my life.
I remember when she was born.
I was 19 and a sophomore at the University of Southern California.
I wanted to get away from all my demons, and figured the sun and surf of the West Coast would chase them away.
Instead I met more demons, including one named Charlene.
Charlene was 19 too, but she carried herself like she was 29. That's what initialy attracted me to her. I was just looking for someone to take care of me. She did that and more. A week after meeting her in my Naval History class (it was an elective and I needed the credits), we were shacking up in sin. For 5 months straight not a single day went by without some sort of sexual act. Head one day, doggystyle the next. Then in month 6 came "The Talk". It really wasn't a talk it was more of a declaration followed by some orders.
"I'm pregnant and you need to so something about it because I ain't tryin to go through this by myself. What you need to do is get a damn job so you can support me and this baby, cause I ain't with all that abortion shit. You ain't gonna get no real job being no art major. You better draw me a crib and some Pampers!"
I tried to tell her that I would do everything possible to provide for my child, but during her rant I realized no matter what I said would fall on deaf ears. So I sheepishly hung my head and did what she said.
So I had a choice to make either drop out and play daddy or stay in school and play daddy.
I chose the second one.
Two years later I was the first to graduate from my family with a degree, but not the first with a child out of wedlock.
A year after that I sold my first painting and proceeded to drop Charlene's bum bitch ass for having my daughter around has been drug dealers and wannabe gangsters.
The straw that broke the camel's back was when I came to pick up Kiara and she had a blue bandana on instead of a diaper.
I told Charlene to stay away from me and Kiara, but she was too high to hear me.
Last I heard she was working at a "juice bar" in Chino.
I started to come out of my flashback when I pulled into the parking lot of the school.
I walked inside and asked where the nurse's office was. The P.E. teacher directed me down the a hallway decorated with cut-outs of ghosts and witches. I love Halloween. Not just for the candy, but because that's my birthday. I got to the nurse's office and read the name.
"Ms. Jenkins, School Nurse"
I got ready to meet this inconsiderate demon spawn of a nurse.
I turned the door knob and was greeted by Kiara in a chair with her Dora The Explorer bookbag in hand, and the finest brown-skinned woman I had seen since Pam Grier in "Foxy Brown".

Part 3 on the way...