"Man you go through more pussy than an O.B. Gyne. What's her name?" He asked as they walked up to the store front stores.
"Who cares…" Jayden responded, and Avery knew that was the end of the conversation.
* * * * * * * * *
"Well sure as the shit is the shit… You said one day you would own your own store and I be damn if Jayden Eric Townsend didn't do it. Congratulations man." Avery gave Jayden a few hearty and heavy pats on the back as they entered his new shop in the strip mall.
"It's a start." Jayden said proudly visualizing how he would fill up the empty walls and space with merchandise to sell. The store looked big, but they both knew it was because it was empty. Jayden couldn't wait for his goods to get here. He knew that the walls would be bursting at the seams with the amount of stuff he had purchased.
"Has your mom seen it?"
"Who do you think gave me half the seed money?" Jayden asked walking around and checking out the store. His mom had always been his biggest cheerleader and best supporter.
"Man your mom is different." Avery innocently said. "Not too many mommas are telling their sons to quit a good paying job and start their own business. Your mom is a rare find man. Wonder why some brother hasn't snagged her up already?"
"How 'bout it." Jayden said chuckling at his friend's words. "Momma always said quit looking for a hookup and be the one with the hookup. The one who owns his own is the man with the power."
"That's right… Your momma sure did teach us well back in the day." They began laughing as they reminisced about their past of selling water and juice on the street corner.
"Banks don't loan money to hustlers…" They said together as if on cue.
"The bank is a hustler and hustlers don't loan money to other hustlers. You gonna need an address…" They teased as they mimicked some of the words that Jayden's mother would tell them as she taught them the basics about how to run their store.
"Mom is the best." Jayden said thinking about how much time, energy, wisdom and money his mother had invested in him over the years. He had a good mother and could only hope that one day when he got right and had come to terms with his own personal issues with being in a relationship and fatherhood that he would want to settle down with a woman similar to his mother. Mom was absolutely right; the only way to change things is one generation at a time. Don't repeat the cycle; break it.