All the Right Stuff (18 page)

Authors: Walter Dean Myers

“He was a human being, just like the rest of us, but he had a harder way to go,” I said.

“So what do you think of him?”

“Because he was a human being, I have to say he was responsible for his life,” I said. “Good, bad, or indifferent, he had to be responsible for his own life.”

“Even though it wasn't fair for him?”

“Yeah, even though it wasn't fair for him,” I said. “But I understand him more now than I ever did. If I saw him walking down the street today, I would have a better idea of who he was than I did before. When he tried to look important, I would know why. I think that's something. And maybe it's something I can pass on to my children if I ever have any.”

“You got to understanding Keisha pretty fast,” Mom said.

“I had more tools to work with,” I said. “I think if my father had worked with Elijah, he might have done more with his life.”

“So do you think Elijah is a better man than your father?” Mom asked.

“That's not fair,” I said. “You know it's not fair.”

“Neither is your social contract,” she said. “So what are you saying? Is Elijah a better man than your father?”

“No, he's not,” I said. “He's a different man, though. He's luckier, and the circumstances of his life are different, and that's good for him, just the way what my father ran into was bad for him. Sly is different, too. And D-Boy. We all have to deal with the life we get.”

“Do you love your father?” Mom asked. “And I know that's not fair, so don't even go there.”

“No, but I understand him better.”

“That's not the same,” Mom said.

“I know, Mom,” I said. “I know.”

Mom came over and stood behind my chair for a moment, and then I felt her arms go around me, and it was good. She didn't bring up Keisha anymore that night, or Elijah, or my father. It was as if she had settled something in her mind, the idea that I wouldn't go through life hating my father. I remembered what Elijah had said about that, that we learn to forgive those who have come before us. I imagined that one day, if I ever had kids, they would have to learn to forgive me.

What I thought, too, was that Hobbes, and Rousseau, and Rawls and all those people who had written about the social contract had had little to do with people like my father. They were dealing with other thinkers and other people talking about social contract ideals in ways that were only vaguely connected to the life my father had led.

When it came down to it, Elijah and I were talking like that too. We were serving up soup and theory, but when it all came together, when the soup was right and you knew it, then it made you feel good. And when the theory was right and you could see and feel it was right, you knew that maybeâjust maybeâyou had a chance to make changes in the world.

In the end, for people like my fatherâlike my dadâand like me, and Paris B and the other seniors, sometimes all we could see at the bottom of the social ladder was our struggle to get someplace we could call fair. But if we worked harder and tried harder, we wanted to lift our heads above the rest, and that was good too.

I liked John Sunday, and I even liked George, who had spent half his life in jail, and I hoped good things would happen to them, but I knew I didn't want to be the same as them. I wanted my share of fair to be what I worked for, and that wasn't how I had started off the summer. That's what I learned while I was cutting up vidalias and making stock.

What some people wanted was sometimes too hard to get, and the stress of trying was sometimes too hard to deal with. I think it was too hard for my father.

What I didn't know was why you could tell people what they needed to be doing and then just watch them sit and do nothing. Keisha was all about getting up and doing something, getting her game together and moving on, while that girl Sly had brought to lunch, Johnnie, wasn't doing much of anything. I think she was kind of overwhelmed. Maybe doing well in life was just too hard for some people. That's not what I wanted, but it was what I was coming to believe.

I didn't think that Miss Watkins's pastor was right about not everybody wanting to go to heaven. Everybody was probably down with going to heaven, but some people just weren't going to bust a move to get there.

I sometimes wonder if I could have taught my father about the social contract. I didn't think he would really ever take it from me. He wasn't comfortable with that whole father-son thing, and me teaching him would have been too hard to take. Elijah could have taught him more. Elijah with his patience and with all the thinking that man had done over the years.

Elijah made me bigger over the summer. It wasn't just having more things to think about. Now I've got more room inside my head for other people, and more understanding of what they are about even though I don't have all the answers. I know a little more about the individuals I met, Sister Effie, Paris B, John Sunday, Miss Watkins, Miss Fennell, and Sly. I really don't know much more about my father, but I think I would have listened harder if he was still around to talk to me.

Yeah, and I can make some good soup, too.

About the Author

WALTER DEAN MYERS
is the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature,
New York Times
bestselling author of
MONSTER
, and winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award. The critically acclaimed author of
KICK, LOCKDOWN, DOPE SICK, GAME, STREET LOVE, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY DEAD BROTHER, HANDBOOK FOR BOYS
, and
BAD BOY
, he is considered one of the preeminent writers for children. Walter's novel
SHOOTER
is the inspiration for the film
Case 219
.

His latest picture-book collaboration with his son, Christopher Myers,
WE ARE AMERICA
:
A Tribute from the Heart
, is a love letter to the United States that reimagines what it means to be an American. Visit www.who-is-america.com to find out more!

Walter lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his family. You can visit him online at www.walterdeanmyers.net.

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www.AuthorTracker.com
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Other Works

From Walter Dean Myers and HarperCollins Publishers

Just Write: Here's How

All the Right Stuff

We Are America: A Tribute from the Heart
Illustrated by Christopher Myers

Kick
Coauthored by Ross Workman

Looking for the Easy Life
Illustrated by Lee Harper

Lockdown

Muhammad Ali: The People's Champion
Illustrated by Alix Delinois

Dope Sick

Game

Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told
Illustrated by Bonnie Christensen

Street Love

Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage

Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Illustrated by Christopher Myers

I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
.
Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins

Shooter

The Dream Bearer

Handbook for Boys: A Novel

Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam
Illustrated by Ann Grifalconi

Bad Boy: A Memoir

Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly
Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins

Monster

Angel to Angel: A Mother's Gift of Love

Glorious Angels: A Celebration of Children

The Story of the Three Kingdoms
Illustrated by Ashley Bryan

Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse

The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner

Now Is Your Time!: The African-American Struggle for Freedom

The Mouse Rap

Scorpions

Tales of a Dead King

Credits

Cover art Â© 2012 by Hill Street Studios/Gary Kious/GettyImages
Cover design by Tom Forget

Copyright

Amistad is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

All the Right Stuff

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Myers, Walter Dean, date.

All the right stuff / by Walter Dean Myers.â1st ed.

p.Â Â Â Â Â Â cm.

Summary: The summer after his absentee father is killed in a random shooting, Paul works at a Harlem soup kitchen, where he listens to lessons about “the social contract” from an elderly African American man and mentors a seventeen-year-old unwed mother who wants to make it to college on a basketball scholarship.

ISBN 978-0-06-196087-1 (trade bdg.)

ISBN 978-0-06-196088-8 (lib. bdg.)

EPub Edition Â© APRIL 2012 ISBN 9780062114280

[1. Coming of ageâFiction. 2. Conduct of lifeâFiction. 3. Social contractâFiction. 4. African AmericansâFiction. 5. Harlem (New York, NY)âFiction. I. Title.