The Grandfather Dialogues: One

Brandon never stops reading, listening, thinking, and then writing his responses to the world. He does this through fiction, essay, memoir, and short articles. What follows is the first in a series of dialogues between a grandfather and his teenage grandson about all manner of topics, social and political.

Brandon would like readers to suggest topics, and write to him directly via his prison address:

Mr Brandon Astor Jones, 400574
Georgia Diagnostic Classification Prison
P.O. Box 3877
Jackson, Georgia
GA 30233
USA


THE GRANDFATHER DIALOGUES: ONE


Grandpa: Well, you’re going to be a teenager tomorrow. I’ll be calling you a ‘young man’ from now on.

Grandson: I’ve been a young man for a long time now.

Grandpa: Okay, I stand corrected. So tell me young man, exactly what was it about the woman who just walked by us that caused you to turn around for another look?

Grandson: I wanted to see her walking away.

Grandpa: Well, what do you think?

Grandson: No onion!

Grandpa: Don’t tell me you’re going to grow up and be one of those guys who make all kinds of silly assumptions about women, based soley on the size of their backsides?

Grandson: Gramps, nice behinds are important to young Black men––at least, that’s how it is with the guys I hang out with.

Grandpa: Let me be sure that I’m understanding what you’re saying here. That woman’s beauty as she was walking towards us, in your opinion, deserved a second look when she passed, but because she was not about to pop the seams in that dress you think that she fell short on your beauty-meter’s scale?

Grandson: I guess so.

Grandpa: You guess so? Are you saying you don’t really know who or what you like?

Grandson: Well…

Grandpa: Since you can’t answer that question, maybe you can answer this one. Tell me exactly who determines who is, and who is not, good-looking in your life?

Grandson: Me!

Grandpa: Okay, tell me, what color are her eyes and hair?

Grandson: I don’t remember.

Grandpa: Light brown eyes, black and brown hair, and she’s wearing a gold wedding band on her left thumb.

Grandson: You saw all that in one passing glance?

Grandpa: Yeah, but only because I was looking at the whole package of the beauty she projected – not just her backside as she walked through this mall.

Grandson: So you’re saying that I need to expand my female-vision a little more?

Grandpa: No, I’m saying a lot more. I’m saying that a woman is a lot more than what you see behind, or in front of, her. One more thing, just in case you have not noticed, I’ve been a Black guy for a long time now, too.