Hey! Here's chapter 2! Yay! Thanks for the one follow, I appreciate the support. Anyway, I'm going to do things a little different than the show, like introducing Jazmine earlier too, since she moved moved to Woodcrest not too long after the Freemans did in the comic strip. Probably the next chapter, idk. I'm kind of just winging it, lol. Also, anytime characters do say the n-word or swear anything harder than "bitch", I'm gonna censor it.
One morning, roguhly a week or so after the four settled into the new house, Robert was doing Tae-bo in the living room, naked as he was sweating from the workout. He was watching the infomercial as Shauna came downstairs to make herself a bowl of cereal. She cringed slightly as she saw her naked grandfather finishing up, muttering "I didn't need to see that..."
Shauna sat at the counter eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs as Granddad pulled out an orange juice container from the fridge, for his "full day's worth of Vitamin C", only to be disgruntled to find only a few drops in the carton left.
After summoning Huey and Riley into the kitchen, with Riley rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Granddad demanded holding the empty carton, "Would one of y'all like to explain this?"
Riley yawned as he asked, "Uh... you mean the orange juice or the miniskirt?"
"Which one of y'all drank the last glass of orange juice? That's the last full day's supply of vitamin C!" Shauna put her bowl away as their grandfather continued his rant, "All I ask is that you act like you got some class."
Riley, confused, asked his brother, "Aye, what's class?" Huey answered bluntly, "it means don't act like n*ggas."
The old man was shocked, and scolded "We don't use the 'n-word' in this house!"
"Granddad, you said the word 'n*gga' 46 times yesterday. I counted-"
"N*gga, hush!" Granddad scolded, seemingly unaware of his sense of hypocrisy as he continued, "You may not like it, but I moved the three of you out here to expand your horizons. There's a new white man out here. He's refined. For example, did you know the new white man loves gourmet cheese?"
Shauna, still in the kitchen to get a glass of water, asked a flat "What?" as Huey put his hand to his forehead, "I'm sorry, did you say 'cheese'?"
"Yep, cheese," Granddad kept insisting, proud of this fact, "You give the meanest white man a piece of cheese and he turn into Mr. Rogers."
"Granddad, that doesn't make sense-"
"Don't you talk back to me, boy!"
"Granddad, you cannot tame the white supremacist power structure with cheese!" This argument went on for several minutes until Huey gave up, irritated at his grandfather's supposed stupidity as he stomped upstairs. Robert could only smirk to himself as he proclaimed, "Guess I win then."
Shauna and Riley could only shrug as they went off in their own directions, while Granddad went to dress in something more than the "miniskirt".
Huey stomped outside, took the ladder from the garage and leaned it onto the side of the house. He climbed and sat down on the roof, scowling over his surroundings in White Suburbia™. Eventually after a good solid thirty minutes of sulking to himself, Huey was joined by Riley, who brought up one of his pellet guns.
"Aren't those guns supposed to have an orange tip at the end or something?" the elder brother questioned. Being quite happy with the results, Riley answered "I used some of Shauna's black nail polish."
"Won't she be mad you went through her things?"
"Nah, it's a drug store brand." Riley then looked through the scope, looking around at the various neighbors of Timid Deer Lane while Huey stewed in his anger from that morning, "How could somebody that old say something that stupid..."
"I know about white people too," Riley boasted as he continued scoping, "like when they talk, they say the whole... word... like...this..." Not even listening to Riley, Huey thought aloud, "Why'd he even move us out here? Probably did it just to make us miserable..."
It wasn't until they saw a strange looking dark blue, almost black car that Huey grabbed Riley's gun to get a closer look through the scope, despite the younger brother's protests.
"Looks like the feds!" Huey took action, heading downstairs via the ladder he'd placed earlier, heading to his bedroom to get a closer look at the man without being suspect.
It was an older man, probably didn't look very good in his prime but now... Well, he looked like he had only money going for him. The man rang the doorbell, getting their grandfather's attention, who grumbled, "if it's a Jehovah's Witness, I'm kicking his ass..."
As Robert answered the door, Huey hid out of sight around the banister. The man at the front door asked, "I'm looking for Robert Freeman."
"I'm... Robert Freeman..."
He then pulled out his card, "I'm Ed Wuncler, from Wuncler Savings and Loans." Robert was still confused, so Wuncler continued in a knowing, almost condescending tone, "I own the bank that owns your house." Robert's own tone changed from slight to suspicion to immediate accommodation as he invited to man who owned seemingly everything inside.
Huey moved from the banister to get a better view of Wuncler as he explained his family history; apparently, the Wuncler family had actually founded Woodcrest over seventy years ago, he was born here, he considered everyone who lives in Woodcrest "family", and was "very selective" about who he lets into that family. Robert, now suspecting Huey was planning something, merely smiled an agreed before offering some cheese.
"Did you just offer me cheese?" Wuncler sounded a bit annoyed, but happily accepted the offer.
"Shauna!" Robert yelled, "Go get the fancy cheese!"
"Just a sec, Granddad!" Shauna yelled back, complaining, "Sheesh, can't a girl rest for nothing in here..."
The questionnaire then started, with Wuncler asking, "Are you gay, and do you have a gay lover with you in the house?"
In his eighty-odd years of living, Robert had never thought about something like that, but answered a little too honestly as he said, "I happen to think a man looks nice with good hair in a ponytail," but then assured he wasn't gay. His opinion on gay marriage went similarly, with him joking about how "all marriage was wrong". Luckily, Wuncler was the kind of man who could take a joke, comforted by the fact that this Freeman didn't associate with, in his words, "anyone of terrorist descent."
Just as Huey was about to get a clear aim, Shauna, not really paying attention to her brother, got in the way, telling this stranger, "We got Kraft, and we got Velveeta," setting the plate down between the two elders, along with a sleeve of crackers.
She was dressed in a pink and violet crop top, some low rise denim jeans, and a butterfly choker. Shauna went back upstairs as Wuncler asked, "Your daughter? Pretty girl..."
Robert nodded sheepishly, not noticing the comment about Shauna's looks, "Granddaughter, actually... Her two brothers are the real hellions, though," and he ended with a laugh.
"Y'know, I have a grandson too-" Wuncler was interruped by Robert, who was doing his best to shield the man from the laser, "Really?"
"He just got back from Iraq. We're having a party for him tomorrow. You should stop by, meet some of the neighbors. Bring the kids." Robert then noticed the red dot on Wuncler's forehead, quickly shooing him out, "Sounds like a splendid idea! See you tomorrow."
Once he was out of the house, Robert breathed out a sigh of relief before Huey's finger slipped on the trigger, shooting a pellet into the front door. The already frazzled old man was irate, gathering his three grandchildren into the living room as he examined the pellet gun, "Damn thing looks real."
Unfortunately, having limited experience with guns, either real or pellet based, accidentally shot Riley in the knee. The eight year old, being the overly-dramatic boy he is, fell to the floor screaming in pain as Shauna and Huey looked at him as he cried, "You shot me! Granddad tried to 'sassinate me!"
"Dumbass" Shauna's attention went back to her phone after scolding her youngest brother. Meanwhile, their grandfather was scolding Huey, "This is the new white man. He's distinguished!" Huey, being the black radical that he is, angrily retorted, "You can force me to go, but you cannot force me to be something I'm not."
"The hell I can't!" Robert stood up completely straight, "You're gonna go, and you're not gonna embarrass me in front of my new neighbors, or I'm gonna beat yo' ass!"
"How come we can't be ourselves?" Riley stood up on his 'injured' leg, "Are you ashamed of us?" With out a second of hesitation, the old man answered honestly, "Very!"
"We didn't ask to move out here!" Huey sat back down, arms folded across his chest.
"Well, you didn't ask to get attacked by dogs and fire hoses so we could live here-"
"Great," Shauna finally put her phone down and glared at Huey, "You just had to get him started on that again..."
As soon as Robert brought up his activism in the Civil Rights era, Huey challenged him, asking if he really was attacked by dogs and fire hoses, or just says that to guilt the younger generations. Failing to come up with a good enough answer, he quickly changed the subject, "Now, we goin' to this party, and your black asses are gonna behave!"
"How come Shauna don't gotta be told to behave?" Riley questioned their grandfather's assumed favoritism towards their sister, but he justified himself, "Shauna ain't a domestic terrorist or a public menace."
Shauna looked up from her phone, putting it in her pocket as she asked calmly, "What happened, Granddad? What you want?"
Robert laughed, answering, "Nothing girl, just dress nice for the garden party tomorrow." Shauna shrugged as she went back to her phone.
The next afternoon, Robert drove Dorothy to the Wuncler Mansion, Huey sitting in the front passenger seat, while Shauna and Riley were in the back, Shauna adjusting her lipstick with the help of a compact. With one last reminder for the boys to behave, Dorothy pulled up to the gate, and a portly black man with an ill-fitting jacket and shoes barely held together by tape ran out, nearly pushing the quartet out of the way with a dismissive, "Out the way, Kunta-Kinte!"
Shauna, a bit annoyed at being brushed aside, got the man's attention with a, "Hey, my granddad was here first!" The fat man turned around, giving the Freeman's a good look at his face: he was balding with what little hair he had left in a ponytail, one eye was bulged out from some sort of trauma, and several teeth were missing, giving him an interesting way of speaking to a security guard, "We got a Code Black, a Code Black at the main gate!"
After explaining the group of "hungry looking n*ggas at the front gate" to the guard on the other end of the walkie-talkie, Shauna, as well as Huey, glared at this man denying them entrance into the estate, introducing himself as Uncle Ruckus ("no relation"), until a security guard dismissed the valet's concerns, apologizing profusely.
Robert, determined to enjoy the rest of the party, cracked a joke, "And you thought we'd be the only black people." Still, Huey couldn't help but feel contempt for the valet, glaring at Uncle Ruckus as the older man took a sip from a flask.
The house itself was quite large, perhaps as large as the elementary school they'd gone to back in Chicago. Then again, it didn't look run down and had a proper lawn instead of asphalt.
The party spread in the back was quite nice as well, full of finger foods, even sushi with chilled trays, with gentle classical music filling the air. The people themselves were dressed nice, dressed in a variety of outfits, either formal military wear or just dresses from brands that screamed 'I have money'.
Wuncler got the family's attention, introducing his grandson, Ed Wuncler III to the Freemans. Despite the formal dress of his grandfather, Ed III dressed quite casual for this kind of party, his pants hanging down low showing his white boxers, a tank top, dog tags, and a chain with a large gold 'W' encrusted with diamonds.
Shauna was smitten with this young man, ignoring how he got his nickname 'Stinkbomb' and just listened to him talk, until he asked Riley, "You like guns?"
"Yeah!" Riley smiled and walked off with him. Shauna, being determined to get some attention from this man, followed them.
Once Wuncler took Robert off for a drink, Huey was left by himself. Determined to make use of this time alone, Huey was approached by a priest who spoke of theological things to the boy until he reccomended seeing The Passion, to which Huey replied cooly, "couldn't see it. White Jesus." After explaining his reasoning, instead of being upset, the priest smiled, "Young man, you speak so well."
Huey was confused but was determined to break somebody's worldview like in his dreams.
Unfortunately, it seemed that these rich, comfortable people were quite comfortable enough to either ignore Huey, or be charmed by his claims of Ronald Reagan being the devil, not because of any ill he did, but because his three names each had six letters.
Eventually, Robert grabbed him and pulled him away, threataning, "N*gga, if you ruin this party for me, I'm gonna put my-"
"Ruin the party, they love me!" Huey was clearly disapointed he didn't 'enlighten' anyone, "No matter what happens, these people will just keep applauding!"
Upstairs, Shauna and Riley fallowed the younger Wuncler to one of his rooms in the estate, at least thats what they both assumed, as nearly all the guns were his. Riley was impressed, though asked if they were real.
Ed smirked as he answered, "Real? Lemme put it this way, if I pick one up and put it to your face and pull the trigger, will you be dead?" Riley, while shocked from this answer, quickly got his bearings back as Ed offered him a gun. Shauna sat down on one of the spare chairs, watching as Ed put on a bullet proof vest. Shauna couldn't help but blush as she got a brief glimpse of the young man's abs, looking away as Riley asked, "hey, why you actin' like that?"
Shauna got defensive, blushing harder, "Shut up, dumbass, before I take you back downstairs!"
"Aye, li'l mama, no need to be bailin' so soon with the li'l man." Ed smirked and winked at Shauna, making her blush and smile, "Okay, okay..." Riley was still confused at his older sister's sudden change in attitude, but changed his mind as he got a good look at the gun.
Shauna and Riley were fortunate to not be in the garden when Uncle Ruckus went on to the stage with the musicians, singing a song he brilliantly named 'Don't Trust Them New N*ggas Over There', clearly directed at the Freeman family. Robert and Huey, as well as the rest of the guests, could only stare in stunned silence as the clearly-drunk man was rambling his racist tirade in a sing-song way, not officially a song until the musical accompaniment somehow managed to follow along until Ruckus fell off the stage onto his back passed out, leaving the crowd confused until one woman suggested, "I think the n-word is okay, as long as they say it," and leading the crowd clapping again.
Without warning, Ed III was shot out the window, somehow managing to not get any cuts from the broken glass or spill his beer. When he sat up, he angrily asked the crowd, "The f*ck y'all lookin' at?" before things went to a relative sense of normalcy.
A doctor was called for Riley, who's shoulder was dislocated by the sheer force of the gun. Fortunately, it was determined to not be serious, and he'd just need a sling for a couple weeks. Shauna and Huey sat at a table eating a few of the finger foods as Riley asked "You think we in trouble?"
"You shot his grandson out the window," Shauna glared at him, "What do you think?" Still, she couldn't stay mad at her 'dumbass' brother for too long, offering him a plate of food as Huey, feeling somewhat guilty, confessing, "I didn't wanna move here, but I don't want Granddad to lose his house. He worked his whole life to get here..."
"I like that house," Riley confessed, sounding a little guilty, but his attitude changed when he remembered, "I shot a n*gga!"
Shauna couldn't help but laugh as she hugged him, "You are such a dumbass," though Riley tried to pull away, "Ew, Shauna, that's gay!"
Upstairs on the balcony, Robert attempted to apologize, ending with a meek, "Are you mad?"
Wuncler, instead of being mad, answered as honestly as he could, "In thirty years, that boy is going to be president of the United States. And he'll still be a f*cking idiot." The two men shared a drink, toasting "to the old school".
That evening, Riley fell asleep on the car ride home, and Robert made Shauna carry him up to bed. While complaining that she had to do all the work, she managed to do it, dressing him in his pajamas while careful to not remove the sling. As she pulled the blanket up to Riley's chin, he mumbled in his sleep, "Can I sleep in the bed wit'chu you, Mom?"
Shauna smiled and kissed the boy's cheek before leaving her brother's shared bedroom as Huey came in from a shower, with Shauna asking, "Disappointed you couldn't 'enlighten' anyone?"
"Little bit," Huey confessed as he tossed the towel for his afro onto the back on the computer chair as he mused "uppose I set my hopes too high."
"Well, not every revolution is all at once," Shauna put her hand on his shoulder, "sometimes it's just little things that add up. Here. Don't tell Granddad I gave you chocolate before bed," Shauna gave Huey a chocolate bar. He didn't exactly smile, but speaking to Shauna always seemed to make him feel better. After a quick hug, Huey got under the blanket, eating a bit of the chocolate, thinking to himself "Maybe I'm reaching the wrong audience..."
Next Chapter: Nubian Queen. The DuBois family moves to Woodcrest, and Huey finds himself oddly drawn to their mixed-race daughter, who has an interesting story herself.
