Page 38 of I Can't Even Think Straight

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“You know as well as I do,” says Mr. Ndour,

“there are other young people in this local area,

who don’t attend school,

and who regularly have run-ins with the police.

Those officers keep an eye out for our students

to stop you getting caught up in all that.”

Nathan mumbles under his breath:

“You say ‘all that’ like you’re not talking about

our friends, family, and neighbors.”

“What was that, Mr. Anderson?”

Ms. Sarpong asks Nathan.

She sounds like the bad guy inThe Matrix.

“Forget it, miss,” Nathan mumbles again.

“I hope you know I’m here to listen.

This could’ve been just Mr. Ndour

supervising a silent detention, as usual,

but I chose to free up my time

and be here to hear your points of view.”

“You really wanna know

my point of view, miss?”

We all turn to face Nathan.

“Yes. I want to hear from everyone,

but if you want to get us started,

please go ahead.”

Nathan lists the times

he’s been stopped by the police,

with The Boys and on his own,

and then he shares this:

“And this one time when

I took my little brother to the park.”

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