Rodrick

For the four years that I've lived next door to the Sanfords, I've known of Rodrick. He is the grandson of Frieda's sickly cousin Laverne.

Occasionally, Rodrick appears at various Sanford family events. He's more or less a young cousin to Frieda's children Jessie, The Bulldog, and The Tiger.

Frieda has taken in Rodrick while Laverne was in the hospital for the last several months. Laverne is back home now, but Frieda is allowing her cousin to rest by keeping Rodrick throughout the summer.

Rodrick tags along Frieda and family to all of their daily activities: garage sales, family parties, etc

In our hyper-sensitive, over-emphasized racial culture of the southern US, Rodrick doesn't visually fit in any of these surroundings. He's black. His wheelchair-bound, oxygen-masked sickly grandmother is white. And Frieda's family is mostly hispanic and Spanish-speaking.

I don't know the story of Rodrick's parents. I think his real dad is the boyfriend of Laverne's daughter. And for some reason they can't or won't raise him. So Laverne has legal custody. And now Laverne's health is failing fast so the Sanford's are his surogate family.

I've only been able to talk to Rodrick a few times. He's very withdrawn and spends a lot of time alone. Painfully shy, he's one of the most brilliant sounding kids ever.

Last night I was watering some flower beds in the front yard while the Sanford's were hosting a small, bud-light gathering out front. He came over to show me some new thumb-sized toy handcuffs that accompany his wrist-sized ones I inquired about a few nights ago.

I was trying to explain to him some of my plants by using dumbed-down language. Rodrick responded by using large words like "photosynthesis" and such.

So, he's obviously smarter than me.

Rodrick's going into the sixth grade this fall. He hopes to either join band and play trombone (because you can make it sound like a race car) or join orchestra since he really doesn't want to play a wind instrument.

I really feel for Rodrick.

Here's a crazy idea: If the CEO was to open the door for some sort of "big brother" type relationship with him, I may just go for it. I've always avoided those things as I never saw myself as a kid person (although, having my own kids have changed that). But Rodrick is about my pace and level of interaction. He's pretty subdued and quiet.

I can't imagine what it's like to be tossed off from a set of parents to a grandmother, then to a quasi-functional distant relative. He must feel real unwanted.

I'd hate to be unwanted.