Page 53 of Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming

“I see we’ll have to use other means to convince you. Patrick, if you continue seeing Aimee, then your grandfather and I will not pay for your education. With you wanting to be a doctor, that’s going to be difficult.”

Patrick cannot believe his ears.

I have to pick between Aimee and my future.That’s not fair. Patrick tells his grandmother as much. “This is my life. You can’t dictate how I live it!” he snaps.

“Lower your voice, Patrick,” Grandpa Waylan replies. His voice is calm but sharp.

“I can’t believe this.”

“Call Aimee, now, and end this, or no college.”

“My father can pay for it.”

“Your father? Patrick, my dear, when is the last time you saw or spoke to him? He’s barely ever here. Go ahead, call him. He won’t answer because he’s either engaging in recreational drug use or with some woman. And for the record, Patrick, Aimee’s mother was none too pleased when I told her.”

“You told Mrs. Turner?”

“I did. And she is as against this as me. The fact is, you and Aimee come from two different worlds. The world people like us occupy is cruel, and you know it. Your mother had to claw to getacceptance, and that mainly came from your birth. Do you really want that for Aimee?”

The women Aimee would regularly interact with are the same ones Patrick went to school with, and a lot of them are stuck up and mean. They would, no doubt, ignore or ridicule her. She’d be isolated from anyone she knew, except maybe her mother. What little friends his mom had all came from his father’s influence. Patrick can’t think of a single friend his mother had that wasn’t connected to his father.

Grandmother Celeste continues, “Patrick, if you don’t end your relationship with Aimee, that means, no college and no med school.”

“You would really risk me becoming a failure?”

“It is something I’ve thought about, but I’m willing to take the risk. Everyone will know that you jeopardized your own life by being with that girl. It won’t reflect badly on us. Most will think you made a foolish decision.”

His grandparents’ money and connections have given him a lot of opportunities over the years, and Grandmother Celeste knows that most everyone associated with them will blame Patrick if his life turns into a mess by refusing her and Grandpa Waylan’s financial assistance. But more than anything, he doesn’t want to put Aimee through any potential resentment.

Grandmother is right about everything.I have no clue where my father is, and Aimee will end up miserable.Shit, I really have to do this, don’t I?There’s no other choice.Even if I do get a job, it won’t pay enough for undergrad, let alone med school.Not to mention, Grandpa regularly donates to St. Augustine Hospital.I’d be a shoo-in to become an intern there.

Without saying a word, Patrick gets up and heads out of the room and back to his bedroom. He picks up the phone and calls Aimee.

“Hello?” Mrs. Turner answers.

Aimee doesn’t have a cell phone, so Patrick called her house. She’s usually home from school by now.

“Hello, Mrs. Turner,” Patrick answers.

“Hi, Patrick. Did you speak with your grandmother?”

“I did.”

“Let Aimee down gently.”

“I don’t want to do this.” Patrick cries.

“I know you don’t. Patrick, sweetie, your grandmother is never going to accept my daughter. She made it seem like you marrying Aimee would be doing us a favor. I don’t want my daughter around people who think that way of her.”

“Mrs. Turner, I don’t feel that way about Aimee.”

“But that’s just it, sweetheart. Eventually, you would. After some time together with you working some boring office job, you would start to resent Aimee for robbing you of a future.”

Patrick doesn’t want to believe that he would ever resent Aimee, but being a surgeon has been his dream since his mother took him to the Museum of Biological Science. The exhibit with the pumping heart enthralled him and made him want to know more. But more than that, heart disease is a problem in the Black community, and he wants to provide Black patients with a doctor they can trust.

“May I please speak to Aimee?”

“Yes.”