Wrestling With Time by Barry Ward Saturday, 1:00 P.M. (Five hours until wrestling comes on.) I’m at the playground of Curtis’s school with his friend Tyrone. Wo! Those two girls look good. Hey, what’s up Regina and Lashonda says Tyrone. Ya look real fine says Curtis. Shut up boy says Regina. Ain’t nobody trying to talk to y’all says Lashonda. Ya don’t even look that good no way says Curtis. Yeah, you need to quit walking around like you’re all that says Tyrone. Just because those girls turned them down, doesn’t mean they suddenly went from pretty to ugly. Saturday, 4:11 P.M. (Less than two hours til wrestling comes on.) We’re walking up to Curtis’s grandmamma’s apartment. Even though we’re cousins, Curtis’s grandmamma isn’t my grandmamma because she’s from Curtis’s daddy side of the family, and I’m related to him on his mama’s side. Boy, what you want says Curtis’s grandmamma. Can we get something to drink grandmamma asks Curtis. No says Curtis’s grandmamma. Why not asks Curtis. Don’t yo mama feed you asks Curtis’s grandmamma. Yeah, but we been playing all day and your house is the closest from the playground says Curtis. I don’t spend all my money on soda for you and your friends says Curtis’s grandmamma. Damn, grandmamma! Why you got to be so stingy says Curtis. Boy, don’t you be cussing in my house! I don’t want to hear that shit! You need to quit all that muthafuckin’ cussing up in my house! I don’t like that goddamn cussing and neither does Jesus! says Curtis’s grandmamma. I wonder if Jesus likes all that cussing she’s doing. Saturday, 4:18 P.M. (We don’t have too long til wrestling comes on.) When are we going to get something to drink I ask. We can go to my house and get something to drink, because my mom should be home now says Tyrone. Wait. Me and Tyrone got to do something first says Curtis. What is it I ask. We’ve got something important to do says Curtis. Can’t you do it later? I’m real thirsty I say. Vernon, it won’t take long. We just really need to get this done says Curtis. Okay I say. Tyrone and Curtis run in an apartment building. Now, they’re racing out of there laughing. Curtis’s grandmamma is running after them yelling Quit ringing my doorbell like you ain’t got no damn sense! They stopped us just to ring his grandmama’s doorbell over and over. Stupid. Barry Ward is a creative writing student from Elizabeth City, NC. About “Wrestling With Time,” he says, “I was inspired by some of the amalgams and anomalies by writers such as Cormac McCarthy and V.S. Naipaul who wrote in unorthodox ways. These writers didn’t use commas before their tag lines. Although this style of writing was new to me, it wasn’t intimidating because I was immediately attracted to it and saw my attempt to write in that manner as something fun to do. ‘Wrestling With Time’ is loosely based on an actual Saturday I spent with my cousin and his friend in the projects, trying to find something to do until wrestling came on. I pretty much exaggerated and added to things that really did happen to me on that day. I wasn’t trying to be outlandish or ridiculous with my piece, but simply real. I was pleasantly shocked when the class took so positively to it.” Copyright © 2005 by Barry Ward. Photo by Leanne E. Smith.