Concrete Rose

At the busy free clinic, Mav recounts how he ended up in his current situation. King has a friend named Iesha who he used to sleep with often. A year ago, when Lisa briefly dumped Mav, King hooked him up with Iesha as a distraction. While they were having sex, the condom broke. Now, Iesha has a three-month-old son named King Jr. Mav and Iesha assume that King is the baby’s father. They are just waiting on the results of a DNA test to confirm this.

Iesha and her mother Ms. Robinson arrive with King Jr. asleep in his car seat. Iesha looks exhausted. The baby kept her up all night, and Ms. Robinson refuses to help because she’s angry at Iesha for getting pregnant. Feeling sorry for Iesha, Mav promises that he will help out if King Jr. turns out to be his. A nurse hands them an envelope containing the test results. When Ms. Robinson opens it, the smirk on her face tells Mav everything he needs to know. He is the father.

King Jr. needs a diaper change. Mav has no idea how to diaper a baby, but it’s time for him to learn. In the women’s room, Ma helps Mav change King Jr., remarking that there is an excessive amount of clothing in the diaper bag. When the three of them reenter the waiting room, Iesha and Ms. Robinson have left, leaving behind King Jr.’s car seat and the envelope of test results.

Unable to track down Iesha and Ms. Robinson at their house, Mav has no choice but to take King Jr. home with him. He panics at the idea of taking care of a baby, but Ma calmly tells him to step up and “do whatever [he has] to do” (28) to be a good father. Mav gives King Jr. a bottle. Looking down at his son, he feels “[his] heart balloon in [his] chest” as he’s overwhelmed by love (29). The name King Jr. doesn’t feel right now that Mav knows King isn’t the father. He decides to call his son Li’l Man for the time being. After feeding Li’l Man, Mav calls Lisa and makes up an excuse for being unable to attend Shawn’s house party.

The doorbell rings. It’s Dre, who has heard the news about the DNA test results. He advises Mav to “man up” and reveals that he knows about Mav and King’s side business. He threatens to tell Shawn and Mav’s parents unless Mav stops dealing. Although Dre deals to support Andreanna, he wants Mav to “break the cycle” and get out of the drug game (37). Mav doesn’t want to give up his source of income, especially because it affords him money for trendy clothing, but Dre has left him no choice. He can’t risk angering his family or putting King in danger. Reluctantly, he agrees to quit dealing.

Mav finally gets hold of Iesha, who is in “a dark place” and needs some time away from her son (39). When he asks how much time she needs, Iesha hangs up on him. Ma has to go to work, leaving Mav alone with Li’l Man for the first time. Before she leaves, she reminds him that there are many people in the Garden he can call for help, like his grandmother and Mrs. Wyatt. Answering like he thinks a man should, Mav denies needing help. After Ma leaves, he pages King to check how he’s feeling about the DNA test results. As he waits on King’s reply, Pops calls from prison. Mav is hesitant to break the news that Pops is now a grandfather, but Pops takes it in stride. He advises Mav to change Li’l Man’s name from King Jr. to something “that tells [him] who he is and who he can be” (45), just like Pops did when naming Mav. Mav’s full name, Maverick, means free thinker, and his middle name, Malcolm, is a tribute to Malcolm X.

King shows up to the house. He promises Mav that he isn’t upset about the DNA test results, but his expression suggests otherwise. When Mav tells him about Dre’s ultimatum, King is upset. Eventually, he accepts Mav’s resignation, but refuses to quit himself. Mav retrieves the Ziploc bag of drugs he’s been hiding under the kitchen cabinet and gives them back to King, who tells Mav to take care of Li’l Man before leaving.

Dre picks up Mav and Li’l Man and drives them to the local grocery store, Wyatt’s Grocery. On the way, Dre warns Mav to tell Lisa about Li’l Man before she finds out from the streets. Inside the grocery store, Mav and Dre talk to the Wyatts, Mav’s next-door neighbors who have known him since childhood. When Ma and Pops’s house was raided by the FBI during Pops’s arrest, Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt took care of Mav while Ma was held for questioning. Mr. Wyatt, the store owner, offers Mav a part-time job working for him.

Mav doesn’t want the job. He knows he won’t be able to sneak around under Mr. Wyatt’s watchful eye. As he starts to decline, Dre cuts him off and accepts for him. Even if the work isn’t ideal, Mav needs an income to replace the money he was making through dealing. His new job will see him spending some days working in the grocery store and some in the Wyatts’s garden. Mr. Wyatt warns that he won’t tolerate “foolishness” or “gang drama” (60). As they exit the store, Mav and Dre run into Lisa’s best friend Tammy and her mother, Ms. Rosalie. Noticing the stroller Mav is pushing with Li’l Man sleeping inside, Tammy asks who the baby belongs to, but Mav suspects that she already knows. Dre’s right; he has to tell Lisa about his son before Tammy beats him to it.