Southside With You Page #2

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- You keep saying that.

- And you keep ignoring it.

- For good reason.

You're my advisor insomuch as you introduce

me around at the beginning of the month

and you show me how to use

the coffee machine,

which, by the way,

I still can't figure out,

so some advisor.

Secondly, it's not our law firm.

It's your law firm.

I'm just here for the summer.

And while you're here,

it's inappropriate.

So, you think I'm attractive enough

- to set up with your prettiest friend?

- You think she's that pretty?

You and I share a lot

of the same interests.

I don't know that that's true.

- We both love Chicago.

- I get it.

You think we have a lot in common.

And maybe we do.

Maybe we can be friends.

But if you can't understand this,

then you can't understand me.

It's hard enough being a woman

at a giant corporate law firm.

For all the talk of

equality that goes around

and all those filled quotas,

I'm still surrounded by mostly men.

So, I gotta work just a little bit

harder to earn everyone's respect.

I gotta work a little bit

harder to be taken seriously.

Now add on that I'm black.

All that extra work I put in to

compensate for being a woman?

Being black erases that and

brings me back down to zero.

So, now I'm working double-time

just to be seen for who I am

and what I'm capable of.

Now, how's it gonna look

to a guy like Thompson

if I swoop in and start dating

the first cute black guy

who walks through the firm's doors?

The liberal-minded people

will think it's precious

and the closed-minded people

will think it's pathetic.

You think I'm cute?

I didn't say that.

- Some of the secretaries described you that way.

- Nice dodge.

Listen, listen, we're a few blocks away.

Why don't we go in

and check out the exhibit?

I'd still like us to go to

the meeting a little later.

It would mean a lot to me.

Okay, it's... it's not a date.

- Fine.

- Until you say it is.

That's Ernie Barnes.

You read that in the brochure?

No, no. I can spot a Barnes a mile away.

You know,

Barnes is a real interesting brother.

- Did you watch "Good Times"?

- Not a family staple.

Really?

There was a black family in Chicago

that didn't watch "Good Times"?

We were more of a "Brady Bunch,

"Dick Van Dyke" kind of family.

Those kids on Euclid Avenue, man,

I'm telling you they had it good.

"Dy-no-mite!"

Do you remember that?

- Yes, I remember the line.

The character's name was J.J.

Right.

He was kind of a screwup.

He would steal here and there,

couldn't read or write, talked jive.

You know,

just a bad TV stereotype, right?

Mm-hmm.

But, see, as the show progressed,

J.J. developed

this interest in painting.

As it turned out,

he actually had a lot of talent.

But he didn't take it seriously.

Not until his dad,

who was this tough, blue-collar guy,

encouraged him to keep painting.

He saw it as his son's only

way out of the projects.

What did he paint?

Black ghetto life.

They were crisp,

exaggerated, very colorful.

His style was a lot like these.

That's because Ernie Barnes did

all the paintings for the show.

Hmm.

Michelle:
My brother would love this.

- Barack:
Craig, right?

- Yeah.

How did you know?

I may have overheard you talking

about him at the office.

- Stalker.

Yeah, but who's the bigger Looney Tune?

The stalker or the victim who willingly

goes to a museum with a stalker?

Willingly?

I'm more inclined to describe

this as a hostage situation.

I'm that bad, huh?

Oh, hush.

Craig shoot hoops?

He's decent.

Pick-up games? Office league?

He's an assistant coach

at Illinois Tech.

No kidding?

I assume he played ball at school?

Yeah, at Princeton,

then for a couple of years in the BBL.

He actually got drafted by the Sixers,

but they never played him.

What?

I'd say "decent ballplayer"

is a gross understatement.

He was decent.

Great is NBA.

Uh, no. Good is college.

Great is your brother.

Superhuman is the NBA.

I think I came to my realization

when I missed varsity

my junior year of high school.

Cut class for a week after that.

- Why?

- I was hapa.

So, in everyone's eyes I shouldn't

have just made the team,

I should've been the best.

- What's hapa?

- Hawaiian or mixed.

Hmm.

Maybe they didn't

expect you to be the best.

Maybe you put that

expectation on yourself.

It makes me think of Gwendolyn Brooks.

Barack:
"The Pool Players.

Seven at the Golden Shovel."

"We real cool.

We left school.

We lurk late.

We strike straight.

We sing sin.

We thin gin.

We jazz June.

Both:
We die soon."

Barack:
"Room Full A'Sistahs."

What do you like about this one?

I guess it reminds me

of our house on Sundays.

The boys would be upstairs

watching football

and the girls would be downstairs

singing around the piano.

- Do you sing?

- I play.

- Any good?

- I'm not bad.

My Aunt Robbie was a piano teacher,

so I started young.

- How old?

- Four.

That's young.

Not for my mom.

She started us early on everything...

reading,

French lessons.

- You speak French?

- Mm.

- Are you fluent?

- I know a few words.

I never would've taken you

for a Frenchie.

I mean, any other language but French.

It's just so sentimental.

What does that mean?

It means

"Things are not always as they appear."

Turkey on rye coming right up.

Thanks.

Here.

It's on me.

Okay, okay.

And now for the grand finale.

What, no good?

That was sweet of you,

but I don't like pie.

No, you're mistaken.

This is not a slice of pie.

This is a slice of heaven.

Mm.

Who doesn't like pie?

I'm an ice cream kind of girl.

Oh, yeah?

Which flavor?

Chocolate.

- Ugh.

- What, you don't like chocolate ice cream?

I don't like ice cream, period.

Now, that's weirder than not liking pie.

Not when you spend

a summer in high school

working at Baskin-Robbins, it's not.

I overdid it.

They have Baskin-Robbins in Hawaii?

You do know Hawaii is part of these

here United States, don't you?

It just seems so foreign.

Honolulu's pretty normal.

Played hoops all day.

Went to a good school.

Then again,

there's a lot about my high school years

I do not remember.

Why?

Let's just say a lot of it

got lost in a cloudy haze.

Oh.

Because you smoked a lot of marijuana?

Yes,

because I smoked a lot of marijuana.

I had a lot of growing up to do.

One time, when I was nine years old,

I go to this girl's birthday party

and I show up, and it's me and 20 girls.

I'm the only boy there.

When I asked them why,

they all just started laughing at me.

I remember running all the way home.

I was mortified.

What made you think of that?

I don't know. It just popped in my head.

Could never figure it out.

Hey, you're a smart lady.

Why were they laughing at me?

They probably had crushes on you.

I mean, everything's

backwards when you're little.

When a boy likes you,

he pulls your hair.

When you like a boy,

you kick him in the shins.

You do any shin kicking back in the day?

If you were on the playground and

you were brown and cute, watch out.

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