Concrete Rose

Mav stares at Red’s wrist, making him nervous. Red hands Khalil back to Brenda and heads for the door. Mav tries to give chase, but Lisa holds him back to ask what’s wrong. By the time he extricates himself, it’s too late. Red is already driving away. The discovery of the watch continues to distract Mav at Wyatt’s Grocery, and he drops a carton of eggs as he rings up a customer. Mr. Wyatt asks what could be so important that it’s distracting him from work, and advises him to focus on one thing at a time until he achieves his goals. When he asks what Mav’s goals are, Mav doesn’t have an answer. No one has asked him this since he was a kid, and “dreams don’t buy diapers” (262).

Mav tells Mr. Wyatt that as a kid, he wanted to be like his father. When Mr. Wyatt asks if that’s why he’s in the King Lords, Mav says no. He joined because gang membership was necessary for survival. When Mr. Wyatt points out that Jamal and Carlos are not in gangs, Mav retorts that they both have the option of staying inside, away from the violence of the streets. Besides, he is Li’l Don, so everyone assumed he would join the King Lords anyway. Mr. Wyatt counters that while an apple may not fall far from the tree, it can roll away with just “a little push” (263).

Mr. Wyatt reiterates his question about Mav’s dreams, and Mav admits that it might be nice to own a business like Mr. Wyatt. Mr. Wyatt tells him that he first has to get his diploma or GED and take some higher education classes to qualify for a business loan. An idea strikes Mr. Wyatt; he’ll leave Mav in charge of the store for a few hours while he runs errands, to give him a taste of what business ownership is like. Mav is surprised to realize that Mr. Wyatt has grown to trust him.

Being alone in the store hardly feels like work, and time flies by until P-Nut and three other big homies enter the store. As Mav rings them up, he tells P-Nut that he saw Red wearing Dre’s watch. P-Nut dismisses this information. He thinks Red is too cowardly to kill, just like Mav. When Mav presses the subject, P-Nut cuts him off with a threat. For the first time in his life, Mav isn’t sure that he can depend on the King Lords.

Mav meets with the Garden High guidance counselor, Mr. Clayton. Mr. Clayton knows about the recent events in Mav’s life, but he doesn’t look at Mav like he is “trash” the way other adults do when they find out about his kids. Mr. Clayton tells Mav that his GPA is plummeting. He will either have to raise his grades drastically or repeat his senior year. Mav doesn’t want to repeat a year, but his only other option is to get a GED by taking night classes and passing an exam. Mav feels that graduation, a diploma, and a GED are all pointless. He already provides for his family through his side business without the need for an education. Deciding that he is done trying at school, he walks out of Garden High.

Mav goes to King’s house to pick up more drugs, but Iesha answers the door, proudly announcing that she is pregnant with King’s baby. Mav accuses her of trying to replace Seven, and she retorts that Mav is having another baby too before storming off in a huff. King arrives, and Mav asks him for more drugs. King notices Mav’s sour mood. They start to argue, but King is one of the only people Mav can still talk to, and he doesn’t want to ruin that. Reluctantly, Mav tells King about quitting school. King assures him that he’ll make more money selling than any of the school staff. Privately, Mav thinks that he doesn’t want to keep slinging drugs forever, but “being a man don’t got nothing to do with what [he] wants” (278). He and King make up, and Mav brings up his suspicions about Red and P-Nut’s lackluster reaction. King and Mav both know what this means. Mav has to kill Red himself.

Mav still hasn’t told Ma he won’t be graduating, because her reaction would distract him from the Red situation. King has promised to get him a gun, which should make the whole thing easy, but Mav’s stomach ties itself in knots every time he thinks about actually killing Red. After putting Seven to bed, Mav sits at the kitchen table to wait up for Ma, thinking about Red. He knows that to do right by Dre, he needs definite proof that Red shot Dre before he “kill[s] Brenda’s boyfriend and Khalil’s daddy for nothing” (282). He remembers that Keisha was on the phone with Dre the night of his murder. He resolves to talk to her after Lisa’s surprise Markham tour, just in case she knows something he doesn’t.

Ma arrives home from work, asking Mav how his appointment with Mr. Clayton went. He lies that everything is fine and starts to head to bed, but Ma says that they need to talk. She nervously tells Mav that she has a date on Sunday. When he asks if she’s seeing someone behind Pops’s back, she breaks the news that her date is her “friend” Moe. They have been dating for several years, and Pops already knows. Mav is initially shocked, but he reflects on the fact that Ma is always happy after seeing Moe. He asks if she loves Moe, and she answers that she does. When he asks if she still loves Pops, Ma says that she will always love him, but she refuses to put her own happiness on hold just because he made choices that stalled his life. Mav asks if she is happy, and she says yes as she starts to cry. That’s all Mav needs to hear. He embraces Ma until her tears stop.

Mav continues lying to his mother about his whereabouts all week, telling her he is at school when he is really tailing Red. He has memorized Red’s schedule and knows that Red always ends the day in Rose Park. It’s the day of Lisa’s surprise, so Mav has to pause his observation to drive her to the Markham campus. As he leaves, Mav asks if can take the car again to visit Pops sometime. The things Ma said about his life being stalled have really stuck with Mav. Ma agrees that a visit would be a good idea.

With its stately buildings and manicured lawns, the Markham State campus looks like a school you’d see on T.V., except that all of the students are Black. Lisa is overjoyed when Mav reveals the surprise. As they walk around campus, Mav starts to imagine life as a college student. His daydreams are interrupted by a page from King, who has acquired a gun. King’s message reminds Mav that “Markham ain’t meant for drug dealers who flunk outta high school and plot to kill people” (300), yanking him out of his happy daydream. After the tour, Mav and Lisa meet up with Keisha and Andreanna at a Chinese restaurant. When Lisa gets up to use the restroom, Mav seizes the opportunity to ask Keisha about the night of Dre’s murder. She recalls that the robber who shot Dre had a raspy voice. Mav’s stomach turns because Red has a raspy voice. He’s almost sure now that Red is Dre’s killer, but he resolves to speak to Bus Stop Tony before carrying out his plan.

On the drive back to the Garden, Mav asks Lisa if he has a shot with her after the surprise. Lisa sighs. She appreciates the effort Mav went to, but they are still not going to get together. The things that he’s doing for her don’t matter because, in her eyes, he is still wasting his life with the King Lords. Mav tells her that it’s harder to walk away from the gang than she thinks. Lisa stares hard at Mav, then asks if he’s still selling drugs. She cuts him off before he can answer and says that, with his current lifestyle, she doesn’t expect him to be around for her baby and has started planning her life without him. They are both silent for the rest of the drive.

Mav’s self-esteem is in the gutter after his fight with Lisa. He’s hurt the people who are most important to him, and he feels like “the kinda dude who end up in the news or in one of them PSAs” (307). With nothing left to lose, Mav goes looking for Bus Stop Tony on Monday morning. Tony’s not in his usual spots, so Mav heads to the “White House,” a notorious crack house on Carnation street named for its peeling white paint. He searches and searches and is about to give up when Tony walks into the living room. At the sight of Mav, he tries to bolt, but Mav holds him back and explains that he just wants information. Tony protests that snitching could put a target on his back. Mav offers his word that no one will retaliate against Tony, but Tony doesn’t want words. He wants drugs. He insists that Mav must have something on him, after all, he’s “just like [Pops]” (310), who sold Tony his first crack rock.

Tony’s right. Mav does have drugs on him, but he demands the information first. Tony says that on the night of Dre’s murder, he saw a car near the scene of the crime. It was a red Impala, the kind of car that Red used to drive. Having given Mav all of the information he has, Tony wants the promised drugs. Instead, Mav hands him a couple hundred dollars and instructs him to get some clothes, food, and a motel room. Tony takes the money and walks off, delighted. This encounter is the first time in a long time that someone has told Mav he’s like his father, and it doesn’t feel as good as he expected it to feel.