Roseanne's Prince - 1

The long whine of a harmonica blared… from nowhere in particular; signifying that the setting of this home was in a small town called Lanford, Illinois; the town of loud-mouthed momma's, bar-brawling daddies, and sociopathic teenagers.

Judging by the dingy green walls, gray carpet, and the brown plaid couch with a hand-stitched afghan draped over the head of it, this was definitely the Conner house: the embodiment of the Lanford experience.

The house was so quiet; the sound of the leaky kitchen faucet could pass for a sledgehammer against concrete; the hum of the fridge like a tenor singing to the audience of the coffee brown dining table and chairs placed before it. Silence in the Conner house was such a rare experience, Kodak could've made sound recorders just to properly call it a "Kodak Moment".

But of course it wasn't long before the patio door creaked open, and the youngest Conner, eleven year old DJ – short for David Jacob – tip toed into the kitchen in his blue-collar shirt and acid-washed jeans, his brown paper lunch bag in hand—courteously prepared for him by his mom earlier that morning. He peered around the wall into the den. Barely a minute ago had Mrs. Conner walked out the front door after sending her son out to the corner to await the school bus—or at least that's what she thought.

DJ knew he was alone; he slammed the lunch bag into the trash bin beside him with disdain. Reaching for the mounted phone, a voice called from behind him —

"Hey!"

DJ jerked around.

Sitting at the kitchen table was a boy with chocolate brown skin; his eyes partially illuminated as if screening light bulbs. Beneath a black fez with a golden incrusted sun symbol on the front, were two black shoulder-length plaits. Queer to DJ was the light of a blue flame burning silently above the boy's fez.

The child smiled sideways at him.

"Who are you?!" DJ asked with his blackish eyes agape.

"I'm Prince Lockett," the boy said as he got up from the table and leaned against it. DJ could now see the boy was dressed in black overall shorts with an orange t-shirt underneath, black Keds on his feet, no socks. Like DJ, he was slender and about the same age and height (maybe taller by an inch or two).

"What are ya doin'?" Prince Lockett asked.

"How did you get in here?" DJ said.

"How did you get in here?" his Majesty playfully retorted.

"I live here!"

"Yea, now I live here too. See?" Prince picked up one of the six blue placemats from the table and displayed it to DJ, but it wasn't blue anymore; it was orange and spelled out PRINCE in white balloon letters; big and as bold as day.

DJ looked at the placemat perplexed. He had obviously never seen that before in all the years he'd lived in that house, which was all his life.

"Oh, uhh… okay," he said confused. "I was about to call my friend George to come over."

"Neat," Prince said with a smile. "Can I stay too?"

"Yea," he replied and turned to pick up the phone. DJ was actually kind of excited that he wanted to stay. But then a thought flashed into mind: what if Prince Lockett liked George more than him? Or what if George annoyed him with all his of stupid rambling? No. George was going to scare him away for sure.

"Uh, maybe we can just play my video game instead. I have a Nintendo."

"Okay, sounds like fun," Prince replied and headed into the den ahead of DJ. He kneeled to the coffee table where the Nintendo console waited.

"Do you want some chips?" DJ asked.

"Okay," said Prince.

DJ grabbed the chips from the pantry shelf, walked into the den, and sat them down on the table in front of Prince who said, "Thanks!"

"You're welcome."

DJ started the game and began showing his new friend how to play Cybernator. Prince was a quick learner, and as friends should, they took turns playing, going in and out to the pantry and the fridge, eating snacks and talking about DJ's life in Lanford. He told Prince a lot about him, which he actually already knew, but hearing it through DJ's own words and from his perspective was more entertaining.

A few hours passed and noon time rolled around; they realized they had spent more time on Cybernator than they thought. In no time, the game had become a mere screensaver to Prince.

"Okay. Beat that level," Prince said and huffed with boredom; lounging sideways on the couch. "What other games do you have?"

"Not many," DJ replied a bit embarrassed, "My parents don't pay me enough allowance to get new games and when I ask them to pay for it, they just complain about money."

"Yea, I know what you mean," Prince said.

Then a light bulb went on and he pulled himself up spiritedly on the couch. "Hey! Maybe we can try out some new games," he said.

"But this is all I have."

"You wanna see what games are gonna look like in the future?"

"Yeah!" said DJ. "But how?"

Prince clapped his hands—Clap Clap!

POP!

In thin rays of orange light, not unlike a mini sunset, a brand new Nintendo 64 game console materialized on the coffee table. The cords and all were there; plugged into the TV set, and ready to play.

"Oh my god!" DJ panted, equally astounded and mesmerized. "How did you do that?!"  

Prince giggled.

"That's the Nintendo 64. It doesn't come out for another—three years, I believe."

"Wow," DJ said. He had barely heard what Prince said—lightly touching the console as if expecting it to be some sort of hologram. "What kind of games does it have?"

Clap Clap!

POP!

A transparent orange storage bin materialized next to the coffee table about the same size as the table itself; it was full of game cartridges for the Nintendo 64. DJ was beyond ecstatic. He gawked at Prince for a moment, then eventually picked up his jaw before rifling through the bin like a ravenous game addict.

By Prince's suggestion, the boys played Mario Kart 64 for another hour, which eventually escalated into a gameathon; one almost for the sake of gluttony, and returning to Mario Kart 64 in intervals as it had easily become their favorite. DJ could've definitely gotten used to having a friend like Prince around. He'd never met anyone like him before, and much less could anyone do the things he could.

"Oh no! Red shell!" DJ hollered.

"Hurry! Turn the corner! Turn the corner!" Prince yelled back.

Both boys were swaying and jerking their controllers left and right; yammering insults at King Bowser and Peach discriminately.

"Hey watch me crash Bowser into the railing!" Prince said.

As the kart careened across half of the TV screen and collided with the railing, the boys laughed with hard enough hysteria to make a mad man gape in concern.

Suddenly Prince's laughter ceased and he paused the game.

"What?" DJ said looking at him with potato chip crumbs falling away from his lips.

"Your sister's on her way. Don't tell her about the games or what I did, okay?"

DJ nodded quickly, his Eddie Munsterish bangs bobbing on his forehead.