Scratchin’ and Survivin’ Part I (excerpt)

....Uncle Curtis kept asking him if he’d gotten "some" yet, long before he knew what "it" even looked like. When Mama’s boyfriends met him for the first time, they would always comment with a mix of surprise and disappointment that he was big enough to be working with the men down at the stockyards. He noticed they seemed a little scared of him too, even though they were grown men and he was only about thirteen. Mama used to repeat their words about going to work sometimes when she lost her patience with him, which always seemed to be after she lost her job or between paydays.

That first girl called him "Lover Man". He was only about fifteen, so he really liked that. It seemed like she wanted a Daddy more that a lover though. Her mother even treated him like he was her “Special Man” too. It seemed like she couldn’t wait ‘til they were all one big happy family. She really just wanted “A Man” in the house that she didn’t have to be bothered with, but who could pay all the bills.

The girl used to tell him that her Daddy had left them because he wasn’t much of “A Man”. When the girl got pregnant, she realized that Tut wasn’t ready to be much of “A Man” yet either. The baby came too early. Thank God she lost it....