AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Seventeen-year-old Diego Miguel Benevides, or Benny, is studying hard and working a low-paying job as a busboy. He's trying to graduate high school, go to college and make his mother proud. He's also got a childhood friend named Lawson, who's taking a different path.
REX OGLE: (Reading) Lawson says, I need a ride. He always needs a ride. I don't mind 'cause I've never had a brother. But if I did, I'd want him to be just like Lawson. He's my ride or die, though preferably without the dying. Plus Lawson always pays for gas. He pays with two crisp $10 bills or four worn tired fives or 20 faded and wrinkled ones found in his pocket, the same 10s and fives and ones he earns selling weed. I try not to mind. It's just weed, right?
RASCOE: That's Rex Ogle reading from his new novel in verse, "When We Ride." And he joins us now. Welcome to the program.
OGLE: Oh, thank you so much for having me.
RASCOE: Let's start with Benny's ride. It's on the cover. Tell us about this car and what it meant to him.
OGLE: Everyone has their first car, and it's such a memory. You can smell it, you can feel it, especially if it's an old beat up Cadillac. My best friend - she had this giant 1967 Cadillac, and we called it Big Bertha.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
OGLE: And when she drove it, she had to turn that wheel around and around and around and around. And I mean, it was like sailing a massive boat. But it's - you know, Benny's first ride - it's big. He gets it from his mom. She's like, you need this car more than I do. I could take the bus to work. And for him, it's a source of pride, but it's also something that enables him. It gives him power, especially in a world where he doesn't have much.
RASCOE: This novel takes place during Benny's senior year, and it's month by month. He's really focused on his future, and his goals are so different from Lawson's. Why are they such close friends? What draws them to each other?
OGLE: You know, it's one of those friendships where you meet when you're a kid. You survive an event together, something small. In this case, it was bullying. Lawson stood up for him, and in that way, Benny was like, wow, this guy's taking care of me when I didn't have a father take care of me. And, of course, Lawson doesn't have a father either. It doesn't take a lot, but when you're there for each other, especially when you don't have a male role model in your life, OK, we have to look out for each other.
RASCOE: But those differences - it's one thing when you're both 10, and you're playing Mario Kart. But by the time you get to their age, which is, like, 17 - they're seniors - that's when those differences can really start to come into focus. Do you mind reading another poem from the book that gets at this?
OGLE: Yeah, no problem.
(Reading) When I step out, I'm wearing dirty shoes, holes in them, jeans baggy, holes in them, used shirt from Goodwill, backpack that I've had since middle school with stains on it. When Lawson steps out, he's wearing new shoes, bright white, jeans baggy, brand new, new shirts, new polos, new jacket, gold chains around his neck, matching gold earrings with tiny diamonds in them. He looks pimp, OG, and I look broke, which I am. Am I jealous? I'd be lying if I said no.
RASCOE: Things are going to get bad between Benny and Lawson, and they kind of have these friendship breakups several times during the school year, but it just seems like Benny and Lawson - like, they can't quit the friendship. Why can't Benny leave Lawson alone, you think?
OGLE: At least for me, you know, my best friend was dealing drugs. This was a reality. But the thing was, he was a good kid doing bad things for good reasons. He was supporting his mom who had a drug addiction. He was taking care of his third-grade brother. He didn't want to be selling drugs.
But, you know, I was working at Crystal's Pizza and Spaghetti Warehouse, cleaning tables, being a busboy, going back in the dishwasher and getting paid $3.85 an hour.And he's like, dude, he's like, you can make so much more dealing drugs. I just - that's a line I won't cross. So, for me, Marshall (ph) - like, I loved him. He was my best bud, but I was trying not to judge him, but I was judging him. I think now as an adult, I have a different perspective.
RASCOE: What do you think we owe our friends in situations like that? What is the thing that we owe to our friends who've been there with us for years and since we were young and have supported us?
OGLE: (Laughter) That's such a hard question because, I mean, as an adult, I come from a place of privilege and wisdom that - I know things now that I wish I'd known when I was 15. I've been homeless (laughter). I've been super poor. I've dealt with domestic violence, the death of a sibling. Like, I have lived through a lot. I am the smartest 15-year-old around.
But then my best friend - you know, I'm trying to go to school, and he's, like, just take me to this one drug deal. In my head, I'm, like, I'm risking everything. Like, sorry, that's a good question. Like, what do I owe him? And to me, I need to decide where the line for me stops. And that's a really hard line to draw in the sand, especially when you love someone.
RASCOE: I mean, this is a story, and obviously, there are these tough circumstances. But because this is for young readers, did you feel any pressure to pull your punches or to soften the story?
OGLE: I've been writing kids books for a while, and there are publishers and editors who are, like, no, you can't say that. You have to pull it back. But I feel like these stories are so important because this is reality. This is the truth of what kids are living through today. And I feel very privileged because I had an abuela who pushed me every day, every step of the way, get an education, work hard. I think a lot of people who come from where I do don't, or they get stuck. I'm really grateful to be able to tell a story that is - feels honest and true and lived in.
RASCOE: What happened to Marshall? What happened to your best friend?
OGLE: So it's a very different ending than the book. I introduced him to my other best friend. I had two best friends, my senior year in high school. Marshall was a drug dealer. Casey (ph) was (laughter) class president. She was a straight A student, blonde hair, blue eyes, beautiful, went to church. I introduced them. I hated it. I was so mad. I was so jealous because they fell in love. She got pregnant. Pretty soon after, his leukemia came back from when he was a kid. He passed, but their daughter is my goddaughter. It just makes me so happy that I have her.
RASCOE: Really, so much of Benny and Lawson's identities are part of the stories that they tell themselves about who they are, about what they could become. And it made me think about, like, how much of our destinies are determined by our circumstances and how much of it is determined by the kinds of decisions we make. What do you think of that?
OGLE: I mean, I remember when I was in my 20s, like, I'd survived a lot, and I was embarrassed, and I was ashamed of where I came from. And it was infuriating because, you know, now I look back, and I'm, like, why were you ashamed? You didn't fail yourself. Society failed you. It wasn't your fault that you did what you did to survive. It wasn't Marshall's fault that he did what he did to survive. We didn't choose those situations. We were born into it, and society perpetuated it.
And man, it just drives me nuts because it's so easy for people to look at kids who are dealing drugs and be like, you're a bad person. You don't know anything about them. You know one thing. Talk to them. Talk to them, and you'll find out why.
RASCOE: That's Rex Ogle. His new book is called "When We Ride." Thank you so much for talking with us today.
OGLE: Oh, thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
