“Momma, turn the station, Golden Girls started three minutes ago!” Sway yelled from the small kitchen in their apartment. He looked at the illuminated 9:03 flashing on the microwave. He didn’t have to be in until eleven since he’d worked a double last night.

“Okay, got it. You need some help, Squirt?”

“No, Momma, I got it.” Sway put a couple of pieces of slightly over-cooked bacon onto her plate and about six on his, alongside the over easy eggs and sliced apples. He wouldn’t’ve minded hash browns, but it was time for him to go to the grocery store. “Juice or coffee?”

“Both. I’m feeling adventurous this morning.” His mom laughed.

“Oh really. In that case, I’m bringing you real sugar, not that Equal crap.” Sway smiled brightly as he put the plate in front of her, then the half bottle of creamer she needed to add to her too-sweet coffee. She’d positioned her wheelchair up to the table. She was so happy to have an electric one now. She moved so fast Sway could hardly keep up with her in BJs. The other three chairs at the dinette set were for him and any company they had, which wasn’t a lot at all. Pretty much none.

“You better have saved me some bacon this time, boy.”

Except her.

Sway hurried to get the other plate out the microwave. “Just in time Tweetie, and yes, there’s bacon left.”

He set his mom’s nurse, slash, neighbor, slash, best friend’s food on the table while she set her day bag on the opposite end of the couch so she could crochet under the best light. As soon as Sway and his mom had moved into the Magnolia Park low-income apartments she’d been a whirlwind of information and inappropriate banter. She’d given them the entire lowdown on the neighborhood before they’d even fully unpacked their U-haul. Sway laughed remembering how Dana had adamantly avoided her craziness while he’d helped them move in.

Somehow, her rambunctious demeanor had been just what he and his mom had needed. At that time, his twin brother had only been gone a few years and the pain was still as raw as the first day they’d gotten the news. Things were solemn and quiet in their home. The pressure to be the best son in the world weighed down on Sway like a two-ton safe as he’d tried to figure out how he was going to afford the rent, utilities, his mother’s needs and his own on his small earnings. Fresh out of school, he knew he’d have to put in his dues to get the salary he desired. As he prepared for his first real job as a nurse at Emory, he couldn’t’ve been more relieved when Tweetie had explained to him that she was a home health care aide and she knew how to get Sway’s mom signed up and approved for those state-based services. She could have someone there with her while he was at work to provide basic care if she needed it. There wasn’t much Sway could do about his mom’s arthritis. She had good and not so good days. Her joints could lock up so bad that all she could do was cry from the excruciating pain. It tore at Sway’s heart to see her hurting and not be able to take it away.

Thank the heavens, Tweetie was a riot off and on the clock, but she always took her duties seriously. Regardless of the fact that she only lived in the next building and she was considered family, she always came impeccably dressed for work. Today, her white nursing pants were clean and starched. Her smock was covered with cute kittens rolling around in yarn. The animal ones were his mom’s favorites. His mom was bathed and dressed every day, got outside for fresh air, and she ate nutritious meals… most of the time. Tweetie was a southern cook through and through. She accompanied her to all her day outings and her therapy appointments. Even off the clock, Tweetie would stay and keep his mom company with idle neighborhood gossip and reruns. The woman was truly a godsend.

Tweetie became like another aunt. His mom had slowly begun to laugh more. With Tweetie as her new aide, she started going to flea markets and thrift stores; getting back into civilization, little by little. They’d been holed up in their grief for so long they’d forgotten there was another way to exist. If his mom was understanding that, how come he wasn’t? Stanton wouldn’t have wanted that for either of them. Yet still, he worked day and night for years to help ease the pain of her losing her son.

Tweetie was almost sixty but she moved, and unfortunately tried to dance like she was thirty. Sway still fought not to gag when she had whispered she wanted Sway to teach her how to ‘shake it fast’ like the young ones were doing. She claimed she was only as young as she behaved. While her clubbing days were long gone, she still loved to reminisce and demonstrate what moves used to make all the men chase her. One time, he and his mom had just finished dinner and Tweetie had popped in to show them a new move one of her granddaughters had taught her. Only she was jerking her head so fast that her wig fell off. Sway thought they’d never recover, he and his mom had laughed so hard. All Tweetie did was pick it up and put it back in place and kept right on going. The woman was a full-on pistol who now preferred to spend her evenings and weekends weaving tales and entertaining his momma, which made Tweetie one of his most favorite people in the world.

“What episode is this one, old man?” She grinned at Sway. She loved to persistently mock him on his extensive Golden Girls trivia knowledge. He wasn’t ashamed. It was a damn good show and a classic. Dorothy never failed to make him smile before he turned off the television. He couldn’t think of any other show that did that.

Sway swallowed his toast and glanced up at the TV. He’d only spared it a three second glance when he snapped his fingers and started chuckling, “This is the one where Dorothy sees Stan for the first time after the divorce.”

“This one is so funny.” His mom laughed with him, they were probably both thinking of their favorite part in the episode.

“As soon as Dorothy rips Stan’s toupee off, I’m gonna head out, Momma. I want to bring some coffee for my boss, I have to talk with her before my shift starts.”

“Okay, honey. I’ll see you this evening.”

Sway’s eyes widened at the mention of this evening. Wasn’t he supposed to be meeting with a certain silent and mysterious man tonight? He tapped his hand nervously while he stared at the episode, not really seeing it anymore. Tweetie and his mom let go another round of laughter, oblivious to his situation. He had so much going on; how could he think of getting into anything too stressful? Relationships were just that. Brian clearly wasn’t interested in a hookup. They’d already been there and done that and neither of them seemed satisfied with it. If Sway pursued this, he’d know exactly what it meant.

“Tweetie, are you busy tonight?”

She dug at a piece of bacon that’d wedged between the small gap in her bottom teeth before she answered, “Nothing that I know of. What comes on tonight, Steph?”

His mom seemed to think about it for a moment just as her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh! Grey’s and Scandal, honey. Yes. I need this in my life tonight.” His mom said dramatically, and just that fast they both exploded into a conversation about what they wanted to see happen tonight.

“I was asking—” he yelled over them, smiling when they glowered at him. “I was asking because I was hoping you’d be interested in some extra hours tonight?”

Tweetie smiled broadly then narrowed her rich brown eyes. “I been asking for more hours forever, but you never seem to have anywhere to go… old man. So, what’s changed?”

She was just as perceptive as Dana. Loved piecing something together. Sway huffed teasingly, “Nothing Angela Lansbury. Just hanging out.”

“With some friends… or a friend?”

His mom was trying to act as if she wasn’t hanging on his every word, but she wasn’t fooling anyone, staring at the television like a zombie. It was her and Tweetie’s mission to get him settled down, no matter how much he resisted. “A friend, okay. Miss Nosey.”

“Hmmm. How can we turn that friend into boyfriend?” She tapped her chin as if she was deep in thought. “Are you putting out the vibes, baby, you know… for you guys’ radar.”

Does she mean… ‘gaydar’?

Tweetie just kept talking like she was being so PC. “Now, I’ve been talking with my cousin, Jamar, he’s my gay cousin I mentioned a while back. He’s a barber. Do you know him?”

Sway just stared dumbfounded for a second then answered, “Of course I know him. Gay barber, Jamar.” He couldn’t be mad at her. She was only trying. Tweetie grew up in the Deep South, in Haleyville, Alabama, before her mom passed and she was sent to live with her aunt in Gainesville, Georgia. In the early seventies, neither of those backwoods towns had been known for their acceptance or tolerance. So, he was glad that she always tried to say the right thing… even if she rarely did.

“Yes.” She beamed. “He said a man can give you the look and sometimes that’s all it takes. Give him the look tonight, Sway.” Tweetie batted her eyelids and puckered her toffee-colored lips a little, flicking her head in a come-hither motion.

“Oh God. Okay. I think I’m done eating.” Sway picked up his plate and put it into the sink. When he came back out he kissed his mom on the cheek. He went over to Tweetie and pecked her cheek as well. “Now, I’m going to take my newfound ‘how to score’ knowledge, and I’m gonna head to work.”

“I’ll be here all evening, Sway. You be sure to take your time and enjoy yourself tonight. You know I got your momma. Matter of fact, take an overnight bag. And don’t worry. I’ll call Mr. Brown and submit the hours, all you’ll have to do is sign my sheet like always at the end of the period.” She grinned, then turned to Sway’s mom. “These extra coins are sure going to come in handy for the summer, Steph.”

“Oh, I’m sure, Tweetie.” His mom finished her breakfast, only leaving a couple of bites on her plate. She pushed the power button, and the familiar beep sounded on her scooter right before she backed it up from the table. She hit the new potted plant Sway had set at the end of the sofa, tipping it over. Dirt spilled onto the light beige carpet and two of the leaves broke off. His mom looked behind her then up at Sway and shrugged indifferently. Her grin infectious.

Sway shook his head. “I’m revoking your driver’s license.”

“I said it was a bad place to put that plant.” She laughed, her frail fingers pulling her robe tighter. “Tweets, I’m ready to get dressed now, buttercup. I say we get an early start before the weather cools this afternoon.”

While Tweetie went into his mom’s bedroom to get started, she rambled on about her grandkids. She held up a soft pink sweater and his mom gave a quick nod and a smile of approval, Tweetie never missing a beat. “I told them if they want some Jordans then they better call him in Chicago and beg him for some, because that’s the only way they’ll get’em.”

Sway walked out of the door, letting their usual conversation of the entitled Generation Z, and the grandparents who put up with them, fade into the background. He hefted his backpack higher onto his shoulder, glad he’d thought to put in an extra change of clothes.

Presumptuous of him, yeah. But did he want to stay in the big hunter’s arms all night… hell fucking yeah.