He swallowed.
“And the teller looked at her,” he said. “The same way. Up and down. And she said, ‘Ma’am, do you have an account with us?’ Loud. So everybody could hear. And my grandmother said no, she just needed to cash her check, it was from the cleaning company, it was a real check. And the teller said they needed three forms of ID. And my grandmother only had one.”
He stopped.
“What happened?” Shelly asked softly.
“They called security,” Brandon said. “They thought she was trying to cash a stolen check. A security guard walked us out. In front of everybody. My grandmother didn’t say a word. She just held my hand and walked out with her head up.”
He looked at me.
“On the bus home, she told me something,” he said. “She said, ‘Brandon, you’re going to grow up and go to college and wear a suit. And nobody’s ever going to look at you like that. Dress like you belong, and they’ll treat you like you belong.’”
