Mac chugs his coke, squints, and recalls something Ret said earlier. "Your little sister—I mean, I didn't know you had one." Ret doesn't volunteer a word. "She's cute? Got a boyfriend, huh?" Ret manages an oblique shrug.
"Let's cruise on by there."
Ret twists his neck at him: Where? And what for?
"Think she'd go out with me?"
"Man—let's don't get into that."
Mac's silent for a while, sucking the straw. "Is it because I'm white?"
Ret's sigh amounts to a small invocation of despair.
"Hey, that's cool—I just wanted to know. She has that right. It's down with me. Like, I've dated black girls," Mac stammered, "but, but that's me—it doesn't matter to me. Any color's as good as another, and I guess I can tell you this, some of my best dates have been with colored gals. Some real cute ones, too."
Mac waits a while. "It's because I'm white, huh?"
All Ret's energy is gone. Nothing to do but surrender; "Yeah, that's it."
"Like I say, that's cool." Mac seems cheered.
