Technically, I shouldn't be living with enlisted men. They'd wanted to kick me out long ago, but nobody could figure out a way to do so when I stubbornly stayed put. In any case, a home meant nothing to me when I had no kin to fill it with, for Sophia and Edward were both removed from me by two separate oceans.
Profanity is a way of life in the military; it's a way to vent off steam, the natural product of an environment with too many men living together in close quarters. No self-respecting man ever wants to be missish about a bunch of words, after all, if you boil it all down to its essence, that's exactly what they are.
At least, that was true until the day I found a group of enlisted airmen blasting one particular song in the common room.
If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son
I got ninety-nine problems but a bitch ain't one
How dare they? I felt that song was taunting me personally, pinpointing the one thing that was missing in my life. After all, I had no problems – I had food, shelter, a good salary, a respectable rank – what more could I possibly ask for, except what I most yearned for but was yet denied?
"Musgrove!" I barked. "Turn that down now!"
"Yes, sir," stammered Dick Musgrove, hastily reducing the volume. "You – you never seemed to mind before," he added, with just a touch of impertinence.
Musgrove and his buddies gave me one more baleful look before turning away and continuing their idle chitchat. Even as I walked away, I couldn't help overhearing little snippets of it.
"Why can't he just mind his own business? If he lived off post like all the officers of his rank, we'd be able to have our fun." I believed that might be Lieutenant Denny, the only other commissioned officer living in the dorm.
"He's gone soft," I could discern Musgrove's voice above the rest, daring me to take him to task. "For a street nigga like him, this stuff ain't nothin'. I betcha, it's somethin' personal."
I walked on, turning the other cheek, pretending not to have heard. Everything Musgrove had said was true – I'd been born and bred in inner-city Detroit, a man of the streets, and by my normal standards, this would've been a kindergarten level of swearing. After all, it was Jay-Z, they had to be able to air it to ten-year-olds on mainstream television. But when it came to her, such a term could only be an abomination of the worst kind.
Song Reference: 99 Problems by Jay-Z