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"Democracy prevails. The people have spoken. In an anonymous vote of 2 to 1 we will not be doing each other's nails." Declared Huey Freeman.
A sleeping bag with an extra pillow had been placed between Huey and Riley's beds. "But then I brought my nail polish for nothing." Pouted Jazmine Dubois.
"What you think just because you're our guest, you're getting some sort of special voting rights? Nuh Uh N***a." Cackled Riley Freeman.
"But since we're having a sleepover, we should do something, right?" Asked Jazmine, hoping that the two boys would change their mind.
"Yeah sure, but it sure as shit ain't going to be anything gay like painting our nails. Well maybe you can get Huey into that shit, because he's on some gay shit from time to time but not me. Not Riley Escobar, the man on the streets, freeman." Stated Riley while jumping onto his bed to strike an intimidating pose with one of his air riffles.
"Painting nails has been voted out anyway. Board games would be an option if Riley wasn't such a sore loser." Said Huey thinking through their options.
"Man, that's because grandad is always cheating like the dirty old man that he is." Accused Riley, knowing full well that Robert Freeman was out of ear and belt shot.
"That's not nice to talk about your grandfather like that." Interjected Jazmine. "Well it's true." Responded Riley without missing a beat.
"Playing truth or dare will probably just end in a lot of " no n***a I ain't doing that, uh, uh". Said Huey barely even putting in the effort to imitate his little brothers voice or manner of speaking.
"Yeah, because I ain't your house n***a. Yes massah Huey, imma do dumb shit fo yo massa Huey." Said Riley and blew a raspberry." Fuck that."
"Case in point." Muttered Huey. "Well that leaves us with a movie night." Realized Huey as he turned on his laptop.
"Now I ain't accusing anyone of snitching." Began Huey as his eyes quickly looked at Jazmine only to then return to the now backlit Laptop screen. "But for legal purposes I will state that I don't torrent stuff or use questionable streaming sites. So the legal streaming service that grandad actually does pay money for is Disney Plus." Explained Huey.
"Yay, that means we can watch a Disney movie. I love those. How about frozen?" Suggested Jazmine with excitement.
"No N***a. We ain't going to watch no gay ass princess shit." Protested Riley. "Let's put it up to a vote then." Declared Huey, as he prepared the sticky notes they had used to vote on the nail polish before. "Those who want to watch frozen write "Aye" those who don't, write "Nay". As before, put the note in this vase to keep your choice private. Then I will draw them again one by one and count the votes."
The three children did as Huey had said. "Two votes "Nay" one vote "Aye". Declared Riley. "We are not watching Frozen."
"Phew, for a second there I thought you might betray a n***a like that dude from the popeye cartoons." Exclaimed Riley in relief.
"Wrong Brutus." Muttered Huey as he accessed Disney plus." How about a family film. I don't like that grandad is supporting those bloodsuckers at Disney but since I ain't the one who is' paying I don't really see the additional harm of watching one of their popular films. Maybe we can even get one with some representation. Even if they are probably going to mess that up by having the character depth of a kiddy pool." Mused Huey.
"Fuck that." Snapped Riley as he pointed directly at the laptop screen. "That one. That one right there.28 Weeks later. It looks cool, it got zombies in it and it looks cool."
Huey shook his head." A'ight, we can put that to the vote but remember my movie rules for horror movies. Firstly, no lights. That also means no nightlights once we are going to bed.
Second, no talking. Thirdly, my bed is my bed. No matter how scared you get. Got that?" Asked Huey without a hint of ,his already rarely shown, humor.
"Wait, do you sometimes sleep in Huey's bed when you get scared? I do that too with my mom and dad. Oh, and I also got a night light." Said Jazmine, happy to have found something she could bond with Riley over.
Riley's eyes widened as he started to blush. "N***a no. I ain't sleeping in my brothers bed, that's gay." He tried to keep his cool but looked a bit distressed.
"At least not recently but thats mostly because he also hasn't been watching stuff he couldn't handle." Added Huey dryly.
"Yeah, also I learned how to handle those films." Boasted Riley.
"Really?" Asked Hey with a look of disbelief that he had usually reserved for any and all political promises he heard on TV, the radio and the Internet or the newspapers. Basically for any political promise ever.
"Yeah really n***a." Retorted Riley, standing tall.
"Alright. If you say so, let's put 28 Weeks later to the vote." Stated Huey basically just waiting for Riley to withdraw his suggestion.
"Let's go n***a." Said Riley almost aggressively as he snatched an empty sticky note from his brothers hand.
"Umm. Can we maybe vote on a different movie? I don't like horror movies." Jazmine opined meekly.
"Sorry Jazmine. I believe in democracy. I think there's no point in voting if you're not going to demand fairness and be able to verify each vote. Which is thankfully easy to do at this sleepover." Huey simply responded.
"Ok." Jazmine answered in resignation.
Both Huey and Jazmines votes had already been cast into the brown opaque vase.
Riley was still hesitating.
"Are you going to cast your vote or not?" Asked Huey growing slightly impatient.
"Hey, don't push a n***a. I gotta think." Riley spat back.
"You put this movie up to a vote. One would think that you would vote in its favor or something." Huey rolled his eyes recognizing his brothers hesitation for what it was.
"Hey, don't make assumptions about my voting habits." Said Riley as he finally scribbled something onto the note, folded it in half and threw it in the vase.
He then proceeded to sit on his bed, pouting with his arms crossed.
Huey retrieved the notes and then declared."One vote "Aye" two votes "Ney". Therefore we will not be watching 28 weeks later."
"Oh, thank you, Riley." Said Jazmine as she jumped up and embraced Riley in a tight hug.
"N***a that's gay let go of me." Riley said while trying to push Jazmine off of him.
"Oh sorry." Giggled Jazmine as she let go and retreated back to her sleeping bag.
"Also, don't thank me, maybe it was Riley who didn't vote for the movie. After all. This election was done anonymously." Said Riley, somewhat struggling with the last word.
Huey didn't protest or agree with Riley's statement, as he was too busy scrolling through the streaming services film selection.
"Ok, I think I found something that can make us all happy without anyone getting nightmares after, I hope." Huey explained dryly.
"Mufasa, the Lion King. Now it's not that great of a movie but it does have cute lion cubs for Jazmine, big lions fighting and sometimes killing each other for Riley and a majority black cast as well as Barry Jenkins as the director for me. It's a compromise, sure, but if there is one thing I have learned from history , it's that half-assed compromises are most likely to get a unanimous vote." He finished.
Riley and Jazmine looked at each other with somewhat neutral expressions.
"I do like cute animals." Stated Jazmine in agreement.
"So you saying those lions are going to fight each other in the movie?" Asked Riley trying to make sure that he had heard right.
Huey nodded. "Cool." Mumbled Riley.
"I put it to a vote. "Mufasa, the Lion King", aye or nay?" Said Huey as he handed out the sticky notes yet again.
Less than half a minute later, Huey was presenting the results." Three votes "Aye" and zero votes "Nay." We will be watching "Mufasa the Lion King." He declared, feeling relieved that
he would only have to sit through a mediocre Disney film, instead of having to act as babysitter for two scared children while missing most of "28 weeks later" due to Riley's incessant talking and Jasmines presumed crying.
The highlights of this movie night included both Riley and Huey feeling a bit uncomfortable while the song "I always wanted a brother" played, as Jazmine was looking at them with the expectation that the Freeman's would either, start singing along or show some sign of brotherly love.
A few weeks later the two would end up singing the song together but mostly to get rid of the earworm they had stuck in their heads.
Another highlight was Jazmine whimpering whenever any of the main characters were in danger. Cooing over any and all Lion Cub that could be seen during the movie was the negative version of that. Although impossible to verify in hindsight, Huey could have sworn that he had heard Riley cooing as well.
Riley remarked at one point of the movie:"See, just like Dr. Dre said, bitches ain't shit." and also got ecstatic during the fight scenes.
When all was said and done, the sleepover ended most satisfactory for Huey as neither Jazmine nor Riley were in any need of a night light or proximity to keep nightmares at bay.
He even managed to feel just a bit less negative about the future as he had looked up the movies box office numbers, which where quite admirable.
This in turn, so reasoned Huey, meant that African American Director Barry Jenkings could take on more respectable projects with higher budgets from here on out.
It was all in all a good movie night.