Page 29

We all clapped as Uncle WJ and Jakari went to the podium.

Uncle WJ spoke first. “Family, it’s been a rough couple of months, but we made it through.

Some shit went down, . . . shit that we may all need counseling for.

Karima just had a baby, but she said she is willing to help us through it.

We have connections to two other counselors.

Serita Gardner was our counselor in the past .

. . Well, at least mine, Chrissy, and Syn’s.

I think Jenahra’s too. She’s also our attorney, Sidney Taylor’s, sister. ”

He glanced over at Chad from Watchful Eyes, and he nodded. “I was told that Chad from Watchful Eyes has a brother that’s a counselor. He’s also Shyrón Berotte’s brother. His name is Isaiah Berotte. So there is no excuse why you can’t talk to someone. Tiff.”

My mama nodded at him, and he nodded back. I had to assume that meant she would be going through counseling. I needed to hug her. She was really struggling with killing that nigga. My daddy kissed her head and pulled her closer to him.

“I don’t care how masculine you feel. We all need help at times.

Mayor, if you need to talk to somebody, call Karima, Serita, or Isaiah.

Marcus, Kenny, Jasper, Philly, . . . all of y’all.

Every last one of you had to fire your weapon this past week.

It won’t hurt to get that shit out of your system.

Everybody understand what I’m saying? Don’t let that shit fester. ”

Everyone nodded, and Jakari stepped to the mic.

“With all the shit that went down, we didn’t really give Grandpa’s life the celebration it deserved.

” He lowered his head for a moment. When he lifted it, I could see the glossiness in his eyes.

“I put together a little something in honor of his memory. A lot of the footage came from a project I had to do in school some years back, and some footage came from the twins too. Y’all enjoy it. ”

I took a deep breath as I tried to disappear in Ferris’s embrace.

The projector screen came down, and the lights dimmed.

The first slide was of Grandpa trying to rope a steer in his old age.

We all chuckled. That day was funny as hell.

He was telling King and Kane that they needed to study his technique. He had no technique.

It transitioned into pictures. There were plenty of group pictures and pictures of him working, trimming calf hooves or driving a tractor, and pictures of him and Grandma.

When the next video played, my eyebrows lifted.

It was him and me at my first rodeo. I couldn’t have been more than five or six years old.

He was on his knees in front of me and had fixed my cowboy hat.

“You are strong just like your mama. Don’t tell her I said this, or her head is going to get bigger than it already is, but she is my spoiled baby girl. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. I’m so proud of her and her accomplishments. But you know what her greatest accomplishments are?”

“What, Grandpa?” I asked.

“You and Ryder J. You following in her footsteps makes me proud because she is the best example for you. She’s the best in this industry, man or woman.

She’s strong, strong-willed, and a go-getter.

Nothing will stop her from accomplishing just what she wants to accomplish.

You are going to be great just like her. Do you believe that?”

“I’m gonna be even better!”

He looked right into the camera with his eyebrows lifted and his eyes wide, causing everybody watching to laugh. I could hear Karima giggle from the camera footage. I could recognize her laugh anywhere. She was who was recording this. “Well, hell yeah. I know that’s right, Grandpa’s baby.”

My mama stood and walked out with tears falling down her face.

She was taking Grandpa’s death so hard. She was such a daddy’s girl.

I thought there was more to why she was so angry, but after my evaluation of her relationship with Grandpa, I knew that she was his favorite daughter.

He would have never admitted that, but if anyone paid close enough attention, they would know just how close the two of them were.

Whenever my mama was on the phone, there was a 75-percent chance that she was on the phone with Grandpa, especially if she and my dad were together.

More pictures were shown, then there was another video. It was clear Jakari was the one videoing. He’d asked him what was the toughest thing about being married to Grandma.

“Dealing with her loud ass mouth.”

We all laughed as we saw a towel fly and hit him in the head.

The frown on his face was hilarious. He looked like Fred Sanford when he frowned.

More pictures showed and a couple of other videos of him at sporting events, rodeos, and dancing at some of our family gatherings.

Jakari had done an amazing job putting this together.

The last video was Grandpa talking. It was clearly the twins talking to him.

“Grandpa, who’s your favorite grandchild?”

“This gotta be a trick question.”

We laughed. “Come on Grandpa. We’ll split it up. Out of Nesha, Jess, Jakari, Christian, Rylan, KJ, and Jacob, who’s your favorite?”

He acted like he was thinking hard. “I don’t know. That’s tough.”

“Well forget them. They aren’t important. What about us, Maui, Ashanni, Milana, and all those bad a—boys?”

He frowned slightly. “Bali, did you cuss?”

We all laughed. I couldn’t stand them when we were younger. They got on everybody’s nerves. Ferris chuckled. “They’ve been a handful for a long time.”

I chuckled as I tuned in to the rest of the video. “I didn’t cuss, Grandpa. Stop stalling. You said we were your favorites?”

“Hell n—I mean, no, I didn’t say that.”

Everybody laughed so hard. Finally, he said, “Make sure you get this.” He looked right into the camera and said, “I love all of y’all so much.

My kids, my grandbabies, and the great-grandbabies.

I don’t have favorites, but I file y’all in the chambers of my heart under different categories.

WJ, your leadership; Jenahra, your cooking; Chrissy, your sweet spirit; Kenny, your brilliant mind; Jasper, your wit; Tiff, your hustle; and Storm, your I don’t give a fucks. ”

Everybody laughed then quieted down as he continued.

“I have enough love for all of y’all. While there are different things that I love about each of you, I love you just the same.

Together, you all exemplify what it means to be a Henderson.

We all make mistakes and bad decisions along the way, but it’s your heart that determines who you truly are.

Don’t ever lose who you are and who you are to each other based on bullshit you may engage in. Don’t forget each other’s heart.”

“Is that it?”

“Yep.”

“Good.” We could see that they’d walked off, leaving him outside with the cattle. “This gon’ take up too much space in my phone. I ought to delete it like I did Grandma’s. They talk too much.”

I chuckled as the slide show ended. I closed my eyes and thought on Grandpa’s words.

The tears rained down my cheeks as Ferris held me tightly.

I missed that man so much. However, I knew a day would come where I could think about him and smile just like I’d done with Grandma.

When my mama reentered the barn, Uncle Jasper hugged her tightly.

Afterward, he went to the mic. “Yo, family. That shit almost took me out. So, the family smoke session will resume right fucking now, then we will be back on Fridays.”

He stepped down, and I chuckled a bit as he pulled a blunt from his shirt pocket.

He sparked up right there and started passing the shit around.

Cassie slowly shook her head and left out with the baby.

I looked up at Ferris and said, “After all this, I need it slow and rough with plenty of eye contact.”

“Mm, hell yeah. It’ll be my fucking pleasure.”