Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Spurgeon, an African American teenaged boy, has borrowed his mother’s car and bailed his father, Ray Bivens Jr., out of jail in Louisville, Kentucky, in October of 1995. Ray, who was arrested for a DUI, is ranting to Spurgeon about the importance of investing. Ray likes to tell stories about “his Black Panther days” and refers to cops as pigs (83). Spurgeon suggests wryly that Ray ask the “pigs” for a refund on his bail money if he wants investment funds. Ray asks Spurgeon about the prize money he won in a debate competition, but Spurgeon says that he spent it on bail. Ray asks Spurgeon a question about investing and then grabs his arm roughly when Spurgeon ignores him.

When Spurgeon’s parents got divorced, Ray petitioned for partial custody, so Spurgeon was stuck taking a bus every weekend to see his father. Bored, Spurgeon began to work ahead on his schoolwork. When he saw a sign recruiting students for the debate team, it specified that members should expect to give up their weekends, and Spurgeon saw this as his ticket out of his visits to his father. Spurgeon was a strong debater, but his cool logic gave way to anger when he was confronted with someone like his history teacher, who told him that he would succeed in life if he could avoid drugs.