Page 127 of Goodbye Days
We take sips of our milkshakes.
“I’m sure I’d have reacted badly,” Judge Edwards says. “And I imagine he wanted to please me.”
“Dude, come on,” I say. “It’s more fun with two players.”
“Bruh,” Mars says, “I told you. Tonight I’m sketching. I have work to do.”
“Come on.”
“No.”
“Dude.”
“Dude. Do you think I’m going to make it if I don’t work my ass off constantly? Think I’m the only person out there who wants to write and illustrate comics? Plus black people have to work twice as hard for everything.”
“You definitely have to work twice as hard to get girls.”
“Oh, all right. All right. I see how it is, funnyman.”
“Mars. Just one night off.”
“One night off leads to two. Two leads to three. Three leads to…”
“Four?”
“A hundred.”
“You sound like your hard-ass dad right now.”
“That’s not from him. That’s all me.”
“He’d be impressed.”
“Honestly, dude, can I tell you something?”
“Sure.”
“For real, though, I don’t give a shit about impressing my dad.”
“Serious?”
“Yeah, man. He’s never going to get or dig what I do. So why’m I gonna break my ass trying to impress him?”
“Yeah, I mean, makes sense, I guess.”
“I’ll tell you what I am gonna do: I’m gonna take all that work ethic he’s always going on about, and I’m pouring it into what I love doing, and I’m making it so he can’t help but be impressed someday. But I’m not trying for his approval.”
“So that’s why you won’t hang out and play.”
“Exactly.”
“But it’s way more fun with two players.”
“Really, bruh?”
“Mars didn’t care about that, actually,” I say.
“What? My reacting badly to his artwork?”
