PEOPLE ARE NOT UP AT 10:00! ONLY THE OPERATOR!!

Those phrases above are imprinted on my brothers and my’s memories. Growing up in a haitian household with strict and religious parents, and being a teenager in Brooklyn is not a compound anyone should form. Anything we wanted to do, our mother had to be with us or we had to be together; always. No one had space to grow up on their own or even experience life as a middle schooler. So when we reached high school, we have been given insight to new customs; up until 2am, going to fetes (parties), and leaving the house whenever you want without a two week notice. Unluckily for us, we couldn’t do any those things; legend has it we still struggle with the last two.

But my brothers and I still tried the attempt of the first teenage custom but with a twist; up until 10:00 pm… on the phone. A reach, we know, but it had to be attempted. We started off slow, on the phone quietly in our rooms so our parents couldn’t hear. Our house wasn’t insulated or sound proof. My brothers and my rooms are separated by only a measly hollow wall, and my parents room is about 5 ft from ours, but I digress.

From tiptoeing around are parents reassurance of their “good kids who don’t have a life”, we took another step, talked a level higher than quiet. terrible mistake, when my father heard me on the phone with one of my girl friends he was livid.

ONLY PROSTITUTES STAY UP AT THIS HOUR? WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE TALKING TO HER AT THIS TIME?

She wanted to talk to me cause she’s going through something,…?

YOU DON’T NEED TO TALK TO HER ABOUT ANYTHING! THE ONLY PERSON UP IS THE OPERATOR, AFTER A CERTAIN TIME EVEN THE OPERATOR GOES TO BED!

My dad had forgotten we were long past the days with phones with cords and if you dialed in the wrong number you heard the dreadful noise. There was no operator on our iPhones to monitor the calls, the year was 2018.

“There’s other people who stay up longer than me, so and so stay called me at 12 just to see what I will where to church. Theres really no issue with staying up.”

He continued, You still have business on the phone.

As he was berating me and accusing me of types of forms of whores and hoochie mamas, I thought “Sam is up later than me and on the phone with his girlfriend!! I know because when I wake up to go pee I can hear him!!” but of course out of sibling code I didn’t utter a word except “ok” after he was done.

Fast forward a couple months to my brother getting caught late on the phone then also getting berated, us continuing to be on the phone but now they know, to now our lights on past 1 am on the phone while doing work or being on live but in my brother’s case on the ps5.

I don’t really understand their argument for not wanting us on the phone or active past 10, i’ll tell you the real reason why though. My dad is scared of us growing up, he fears it. It bothers his soul to see his boys moving out and his daughter almost done with college and getting the “When are you going to get a man to marry” talk. Like every mother’s nest that becomes empty, his house will be 3 mouths less to feed hearing less shivering screams that yell; “DAD COMEEEE THERES A… ” that names the insect or rodent; to run too.