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Auset had to shame Asar into coming to his own son's 10th birthday party. From the open French Doors, Asar's hazel eyes scanned the dining room. Their almond-shaped squint stopped on the Westminster Chimes grandfather clock against the far wall. Two-twenty-five. He was glad he was late.
Next to the six-foot walnut time-piece, Miss Beaudreaux, his son's new Creole school teacher, wearing a Louise Brooks helmet-hob and curtain bangs, was clearly trying to make a good impression on Auset. But the cream flapper frock and black Mary Janes - with the diamante trim - were working against her.
Asar's downcast eyes shifted to the lion-paw feet that grounded the Regency dining table. At the head sat io-year-old Heru Amativus. Asar's only child. And the only child at his own birthday party.
Chocolate cake in front of him. Untouched. Unsweetened face. Shaped into oval coal by East St. Louis and his father. It was an appropriate shape to complement the almond-shaped eyes bulging out of his sockets. When Heru looked in mirrors, he saw a black frog face with anvil irises.
At Heru's upper forehead was a reverse widow's peak: a widow's cave. The peach-fuzz hairline receded into a "U" that cut through his scalp. It gave his soft face the look of an onyx bald pubis.
That's what Asar focused on as he stood in the French Doors looking at his son. How much his little boy looked like a little girl. Asar loved little girls. Their curious intelligence that emerged long before that of little boys had made him fall for Auset when they were kids. But Heru was a boy and Asar wanted him to be a boy. Be a pirate, be an adventurer, and take up space like he had done when he was a boy. Watching his feminine son from the doorway caused a tipping inside Asar's forehead. Made him remember his inability to protect Heru. Made him acknowledge his fatherhood failure. Confront his moment of cowardice. Memories oozed down his neck and shoulders, past his now deep-breathing chest. These memories turned Asar's deep love for his son into feelings that he knew were wrong. Feelings that Asar had long tried to change, but were now becoming feelings that,...