SEASON 1 EPISODE 29

Ebony arrived to the college campus at 9:15, she had about 30 minutes to spare for a coffee break before arriving to her Juvenile Delinquency class. She went to the local coffee station in the main break area and ordered a Latte and a cream cheese bagel and took out her book. Five minutes later her order was ready. She removed the lid from her cup to let her beverage cool down as she knew that she'd be drinking on it in class. Scarfing down her bagel and putting her book in a bag, she managed to get to the class which was a bit of a distance from where she was currently at and upon arriving, she found out that the class would be a discussion on policing communities.

The professor asked about factors contributing to high crime areas. Answers ranged from a lack of fathers to a lack of money.

"Lack of proper nutrition" one student suggest.
"I worked for the SNAP program and I saw first hand that some of these kids are not getting the food that the program was intended for. I'm talking lunchables, pop tarts, and off brand soda"

"Okay, but how does that come back to violence?" the professor asked.

"Data indicates that this lack of nourishment leads to bursts of aggressive behavior"

"Women wanting welfare benefits so the daddy has to go"

"You mean hiding the daddy during the day and sneaking him in at night"

"I have one son, his father doesn't live with me but we're engaged. We've been together since I was 18. We're getting married in the summer, but I digress. I guess you could say that I have free housing, living with my grandmother. I don't pay rent. One could say that I lucked out. That could have easily been me."

"Is the dad involved?"

"Absolutely. And he will be involved more once we're married, see the ring?"

"So do you think that in these kids case, the fathers are not involved and that this repeats itself. You know? These kids grow up to be totally absent fathers"

"Yes I do. These kids are often looking for a father figure and this is the only way they know"

"What about physical discipline? Some say that a father makes all the difference"

"I'm strictly against it. It doesn't do anything except instill fear and resentment"

This lead to a discussion that got to be pretty headed before class ended. She went to her next class, which would be the last class meeting for this class. It was simply a 30 minute review for the final exam. She went to work for about three hours before calling her mom for lunch.

"Good deal, I'll see you in a bit. Let's have lunch at our spot." She arrived at a cafe 15 minutes later where Denise was already seated. "Well this is an unexpected surprise."

"Why"

"Because I live in the same town as you and I don't hear from you."

"School's just keeping me busy. I'll soon be able to start a home and truly be a family with my son and his dad"

"Have you and Ramiro set a date?"

"Summer, Looking at having a July wedding next year. 2018."

"That's good. Any idea of a caterer?"

"None yet."

"That's okay, you still have a few months."

"You should bring him to Colorado this Christmas."

"Maybe"

"You have no reason not to."

"Perez is looking forward to it. He talks about it non stop"

"The wedding or Colorado?"

"A bit a both but Colorado right now."

"Are you home tonight?"

"Yep."

"Great."

"Mom, can I say thank you for how you've been helping me with Perez?"

"He's my grandson, of course I'll be there. You're in school and you rarely go out. When IS the last time you just had a night out? You know? A movie? A drink? A ladies night out?"

"Does last year count?"

"You mean, the time we went to a light festival?"

"Yeah, that's about right"

While they were having lunch, Perez was in the middle of Social Studies when the teacher informed them of a project that they will be partnering up with a classmate of her choice. The project would be due in a couple of weeks. "Perez and Ishan, you two will be partners."

"Most of the work will be done at the library, we will be going starting tomorrow for our social studies hour. Check out books, use the online catalog."

"Excuse me ma'am?" Perez asked.

"Don't call me ma'am"

"Sorry, can we use outside sources for this? I could have my mom bring us to a public library as well."

"Outside sources are encouraged"

"You will both participate in the presentation and you will be assigned a particular segment, therefore you will be required to do some work in this. Plagiarism and pushing your responsibility on your partner will not be tolerated."

She finished assigning partners before having student's open their books to page 50. "You should also be filling in the blanks for your study guide. Don't forget that you do have a test at the end of the week."

The remainder of the day was used for a study session before the bell rang. "Glad that this will be mainly at school."

"Yeah" Ishan said, "My parent's aren't big on company."

Perez pondered his game plan.  "Project due in two weeks. Gotta see if I can get mom to bring me to the library at her school"

"Maybe I can convince my parent's to let me ride with you."

"We'll worry about that tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll talk with my folks tonight."

His ride arrived shortly afterwards, he gathered his belongings and got in the backseat. "Hey mom, grandma what's the occasion"

"That kid you're talking to? Is his name Ishan?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"His dad teaches at the University."

"Well that makes my next task so much easier. Where are y'all coming from?"

"Well we had lunch and we just came from the mall"

"Anything good?"

"A lot actually"

Perez pulled out the outline for the project. It was a geography project on the state of South Carolina. There were a series of questions to be answered along with several factors listed to be identified. He would find out more information the next day. Asking his mom, how her school days was, he gradually asked if she'd be willing to bring him up to the library for a couple of days over the next two weeks.

"What for" Ebony asked.
"Social Studies project"
"Sure, I'll be there pretty much every evening from now until early December.
"Great."
"Is that what you are reading back there? We can look at it when we get home. Gotta get ready for your soccer game tonight."

At home, he fixed a snack, and started on his spelling homework. Afterwards he put on his soccer uniform and they headed out the door.

"What will the two of you be getting into tonight" Ebony asked Helen and Paulette.
"Nothing, running our mouths."

"Well, see you two later. I'll pick up a pizza or something on the way in."

Helen took a moment to call her daughter, who answered and then suggested that she get her laptop out. "Mama, I've going to send you a zoom link by email. All you'll do is click the link that tells you the join the meeting. I'm going to set the meeting up on the phone for you. Are you at your computer now?"

"I'm on Paulettes."
"Good did you get the message"

"I see it, would it be this one here? "

"Yes, Clicking"

"Good I'll start the meeting. My phone is basically dead and I really need to charge it. I figured it would be easier for me to have some background noise." Yvonne started the meeting, plugging in her webcam. "Still at your office?"

"You already know. These cases have been keeping me busy. Hey Paulette!"

"Hey Mrs. It's been a while."
"How's Denise?"
"She's okay, she was here the other day"
"Would have loved to have seen her"
"We gave her your number"
"Good can I get hers? I'd like to reach out"
"So how's the rest of the family?"
"Doing alright. Dee is keeping busy with school. Her kids are staying with me tonight. How's Sacramento?"
"Having a nice time, got to see this girl here. It's like old times. Just like when we were girls. We was some cut ups then. Don't let us get no wine in us"
"Hell, I wish I was there drinking with y'all"
"In about a month, we'll all be drinking eggnog. And you know we spike that up."
"We gonna have a bunch of kids with us so we can't get too crazy"
"My kids are grown. Two in college. One in high school."
"One of them of drinking age"

The conversation went on for a half hour before Yvonne returned to work. Helen and Paulette decided to find a Holiday movie on Hallmark. "Hallmark don't have any black folks and they use the same actors" Paulette said

"You know, it's the same story but it's light and I can go to sleep on it. I just can't put most of these shows on TV and go to bed."

"It seems like there is an obsession with vampires, the occult, and ugly"

"shoot em up and bang bang"

"Throw in some gay sex for good measure"

"But you BET not say shit about that"

"I don't even get into that argument on Facebook. I'm not anti-gay rights, but I don't wanna see it every time I turn on my TV. I don't even wanna see men and women having sex on TV. Show's used to be a bit more subtle, but now? I might as well be watching the Playboy channel."

"Or gay porn."

They continued watching the movie, it was one that they had seen in the past as Hallmark repeats their movies quite often, until Ebony returned with pizza. Perez was rather muddy. "I take it you had a good game."

"Oh yeah" Perez said as he headed to the shower

"Go get those clothes off. Food will be waiting when you get out of the tub."

"Sure mom"

"Long day?"

"Life of a college student. I'm too damn old for this."

"You're 28, that's not old."

"I know, but ……..goodness"

"Well, think how someone returning to school at 50 feels."

"I have a classmate in her 50s majoring in nursing. Her and her daughter."

"There you have it."

After eating supper, Ebony retired for the night, while Perez sat up and looked through the scrap book with his great grandmother. "Look at me as a girl" Paulette said, looking at a picture on the front porch. "What was all over your shirt?" Perez asked.

"Dirt, I was a wild child."

"Yeah, we were at a church picnic. Playing with the boys. I wore one of my dad's T-shirts for that purpose"

"I got quit a beating for that one." Helen chimed in.
"That's what I heard."
"My mama had a temper. She was in one of her moods" She then opened up to a page of her grand kids. The pictures were that of a vacation to Hawaii before Perez said, "Well, I hate to be rude you two, but I'm going to get to bed. Got school in the morning."

"Night"

"Goodnight"
"One more night" he whispered as he walked to Ebony's room.
"Helen, leaves tomorrow morning so you'll have your room back."
"I like her. She's nice."
"So do I actually, but I need my back. No offense son"
"None taken"

Helen and Paulette found the bed not too far afterwards. The following morning, Goodbyes were exchanged between Helen and Perez and Ebony. "I'll see you two in another month."

"Looking forward to it" Ebony said as she headed out of the door.
"Have a good day at school"
"I will"

"Call me as soon as you get home" Paulette said as she and Helen exchanged hugs.



PART 30 TO FOLLOW

SEASON 1 PART 28

"Would you two like anything else?" the server asked?

"I really shouldn't" Paulette said, but I'm going to get a piece of the carrot cake"

"What about you ma'am?"

HELEN-I guess I'll try this lemon cake

"great choice, very popular"

While waiting on their desserts, Helen revived the topic of their aunt. "Last I heard she was in Rhode Island. I remember her being a total bitch."

PAULETTE-They say she was a bitch as a little girl too. She thought because she was a little light skinned that she was entitled to MORE amenities than the general black population. You know, she had the racially ambiguous features and she used that to her advantage.

Marla's situation wasn't unfamiliar. She was what we would call "passing" today. She fled to the Northeast, married white, raised her kids as white. Her kids married white. So on and so fourth.  "According to Jacqueline, she had three kids. Kids are now grown." That was about as much as they knew up to this point.

"Girl, you know we got some white cousins in this world somewhere."

 "I'd be interested in knowing if her kids turned out to be like her. In the meantime, I'm enjoying this little reunion we've got going on here."

Their miniature reunion would be one of many mini-reunions to come.

"This cake is delicious!" Helen exclaimed taking a bite of her lemon cake which was warm with a lemon cream cheese icing.

"It looks like it, I almost wish I had gotten that."

There came a point when they asked for their checks, "Dexter, probably wondering where the hell we went."

"He'll be alright. By the way, this is on me."

"Aww you didn't have to do that"

"I don't get to see you but every so often, so I want to make you feel welcome."

Returning to the house, Dexter was on the sofa while Perez had already gone to sleep. Ebony was at the breakfast nook with her laptop putting some finishing touches to her Criminal Law essay.

"Is he feeling alright?" Helen asked?

"He's fine, soccer practice always does this to him. They've got a game tomorrow and the coach really worked them today."

"My grandson, Quincy plays soccer for a local team in LA."

Knowing that she wasn't about to go to sleep, she pulled out two bottles of wine and some plastic cups.
"Good and cold. Just the way I like it" Helen responded, looking at her choice between a Moscato and a Pinot Grigio.

"I'll drink whatever you open"

"Okay then, in that case, I'm gonna open this Pinot Grigio right now, there's Sprite in the pantry if you aren't a dry wine fan."

"C'mon Dex, why don't you drink with us?"

"I'd love to, but I got work in the morning."

"I'll drink with you, My first class isn't until 1:00 in the afternoon tomorrow. My morning class isn't taking place. Professor's is out."

"Great. Get a cup and have at it."

Without hesitation, she opened the bottle of Moscato and pulled up a chair. The conversations could be described as men problems, race relations, the current political climate and more.

"How would you describe the race relations in College."

"An ultra conservative would say that colleges are nothing more than liberal hellholes."

"I'm registered as a Democrat, but I'm close to the center."

"I'm right leaning, probably more Libertarian."

"So what's your take on immigration?"

"Obviously we need some immigration policies here. We can't take every immigrant that attempts to come and some obviously have no business here. That said, I do think the wall is senseless. We've do better with having more members of the border patrol rather than a wall, that they are going to just tunnel their way through, drive over, swim over. They building tunnels now, they've got entire pathways built with ventilation, rail systems, and light. These folks are no dummies."

"Okaaay?"

"With Perez being half Latino, how does his dad feel?"

"He's got a soft spot. He understands that illegal immigration should not happen, however he always likes to consider what it is that they are running away from."

"So are you raising your child to be bi-lingual"

"Absolutely! He will grow up speaking both languages."

"Obama did his share of deportation as well. No president's hands are clean"

"I voted for him, but he did more for the LGBT population than he did the black population."

"But you gotta remember, he was blocked in a lot of his efforts."

"Our current president....while I voted for him, I'm not on the "MAGA" train. I believe he has plenty to be criticized about. One being his complete lack of empathy towards anyone who wasn't born with a silver spoon in their mouth. I put no one on a pedestal."

"Me either, I tend to side-eye plenty of these black conservatives. I have yet to find one on TV that wasn't incredibly condescending and really come off more as trying to impress Tucker or Sean than one who truly doesn't do group think."

" 'Get off the Democratic plantation.' They love to say."

"Only to join the Republican one? These "black republican" conventions. If they are about getting black people out of bondage. Why are they almost always being ran by a WHITE republican behind the scenes?"

"You never saw Condeleeza Rice conducting herself in this manner."

"She's a level headed one. These other pundits are bought and paid for. They're paid to tap dance, buck dance, and pander to these racist rednecks that you see on TV"

"You notice how they have no problem with "black conservative movements" but practically shit in their pants with "Black Girls Rock!"?

"Let's not forget when Michelle Obama appeared on the show in 2015. They about lost their damn minds."

" 'ALL girls rock!' As if white girls aren't told that every day. These people despise Michelle but yet they want her to speak for 'ALL women' ".

"If this were an Asian event, you wouldn't have heard a peep about it."

"AAJC-Asian Americans Advancing Justice. They also have their own women's forum, their own health forum. Their own LGBT alliance. Again, nothing!"

"It's because of who we are. What we've come from. Black women are the mother of all races and they HATE it."

"The Eve gene"

"That's right"


The conversation continued on. It was about 2:00 A.M. before they went to bed. Ebony slept in while Paulette and Helen drank coffee while Ebony slept in. Dexter was up early enough to fix breakfast and drop Perez off to school before he headed to work. Leaving Ebony in bed, Helen and Paulette decided to make a run to the grocery store for some red velvet cake mix as a dessert to make for later on. "That cake last night has me wanting something sweet. I hardly bake cakes but when I do, they are typically eaten the same night."

"Remember how our grandmother made bread from scratch?"

"That bread was killer, she used to put so much butter in that bread. I don't know how her and Amos did it on his little pay check."

"She used to sell her jewelry"

"Oh hey, look, ground meat is on sale" Paulette said looking over. She decided to get an extra pack to add to her soup."

"This soup is gonna be full of meat."

"Damn right. I got some tortilla strips to go w/ it too."

"How about a bag of shredded cheddar?"

"Not a bad idea"

Paulette grabbed a bag of cheddar cheese and headed towards the check out line. Paying a total of $12.84 she thought "damn, groceries are high." They returned home to find Ebony on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee with a bottle of whiskey out.

"A bit too early for that isn't it?" Helen asked.

"Probably" Ebony responded is she continued to sip her hot beverage.
"You have a test coming up?"
"How could you tell?"
"Well, you went to bed well after us, and you typically get like this towards the end of the semester. Coffee, energy shots, junk food, and alcohol."
"Finals start in like three weeks. I'll be doing this until about 6:00, gotta go to my son's soccer game. I'll probably bring my study guide out there with me."

 "We'll be over here."

In the meantime, Ebony put her Criminal Law notes away and pulled out her laptop to continue writing her research paper for her Political Science course. She had until Friday to turn it in, her plan was to have it submitted no later than Thursday afternoon. A paper, a test coming up, finals coming up in about 15 days, Ebony had her hands full. On top of carrying for an 8 year old son. She studied for a couple of hours and went up to the University at 12:30, sitting in a common area of the campus grounds before going to her Psychology class where she was listed to a review for her comprehensive final.

"Did you do that extra credit assignment" one classmate asked.

"Ummm yeah.....I need all the points that I can get. Even if it's 15 points. That's a full letter grade for the final."

Five minutes later the professor walks in  and immediately begins reviewing. "If you look online, you should have already printed your study guide and began answering the questions. For those of you who haven't began answering these questions, this is your chance to get those answers as this will be our last meeting before final exams."

The review lasted an hour and a half.  She took a 30 minute coffee break before meeting her classmates for a study session for a history final at the campus library.  She had her note cards ready as well as a final.

"I wish he would have told us what our essay question would be" Ebony said
"Especially when he want at least a page as far as the answer goes." Another classmate chimed in. She left the study session 30 minutes early to type a paragraph of her paper before going to her son's soccer game. At the soccer game, she sat there with her note cards while trying to watch Perez make a goal for his team which he plays a forward while Liam plays a defender. "Don't worry" Ramiro said as he opened up the Facebook App on his phone to go live. "You can watch the footage later."

She managed to see Perez make a few goals and Liam block a few attempts while making note cards for her Psych exam.

"Babe, put it away!" Ramiro exclaimed reaching for her school bag.

"Fine" As stubborn as she was. "Can I atleast keep my purse? I have a flask in there."

"Getting drunk before dinner?"

Now, Ebony is not an alcoholic. There are just certain occasions that drive her to drink such as the busy schedule of college. College was a full time job that she didn't earn a full time income from. Two hours later after the game ended, Liam met up with Perez and walked off the field. "Where's Kai at?"

"He wasn't feeling good today."

They chatted for a bit before Liam went and met his mother.

"See you guys at the house, okay?"

"See y'all in a bit."

At Helen's after an introduction.

"This is my cousin, Helen."

"I'm Tim. This is my son Liam. My other son is home sick with his mother."

"This is Axl's son."

"How is your daddy?"

"He's doing okay. He recently had a bout with cancer."

"I need to see him. How about your brother and sister?"

"Julius is good and Denise is too"

"Denise and my oldest daughter were like this growing up. Same age. Really like the same person."

The adults sat around the kitchen bar while the boys went to the dining room with their soup. After seconds, they went outside. They each grabbed a lemonade before gong to the back porch.

LIAM-So, who's the company?

PEREZ-She is our great gran's cousin.

LIAM-Is she nice?

PEREZ-So far, yeah, though I'm kind of wanting my room back!

LIAM-How long's she here for?

PEREZ-Until the end of the week.

LIAM-"So she's your grandmother's second cousin or first removed?"

PEREZ-"Something like that, hell I don't know. You know in black families, we all just cousins. No first, second, or none of that. Probably further down the line for me."

LIAM-What do you know about her so far?

PEREZ-I know she has five girls and four of them have kids, so we've got some cousins living out in Los Angeles. We're going to meet them over the winter break in Colorado. One of them, also plays soccer. His name is Quincy.

LIAM-Really? Do tell.

PEREZ-So our great grandmother and Helen grew up together. Helen eventually moved to California. She apparently visits from time to time. My grandmother and our cousin Helen's oldest daughter are like the same age.

LIAM-I wonder how Quincy's skills are?

PEREZ-Ummm……….I don't know.

LIAM-Probably won't get to see them in the snow

PEREZ-There's always a video game. Might give us an idea as to how he plays.

LIAM-Cheers

PEREZ-You know something I've always wanted to do? Go somewhere with a heated pool.

LIAM-That's what they do up north I've been told.


PEREZ-I hear they're AMAZING!

There was a moment of silence prior to Denise opening the door. "Hey boys. What y'all doing out here?"

LIAM-"Hey Aunt Denise. Just talking"
PEREZ-"Hey Grandma"
DENISE-"Hey baby."

After saying hello, she went back in the house and fixed a cup of wine. She asked how Yvonne was doing and what was she was up to these day.

"She's a social worker."

"Child Welfare"

"She deals more with adults"

"We need to catch up. How about Clarissa and Deja?"

"Well Clarissa, Deja, and Azalea are all educators, while Anita is a lawyer."

She poured a second cup of wine and went back outside where the boys were still on the porch. Attempting to better explain the relationship and who exactly Helen was, she began :

"Helen and my mama (your great-grandmother) are first cousins. Their moms are sisters. Like your dad and your Aunt Dominique are brother and sister. Marigold and Sara are your first cousins."

"I'm your dad's Aunt"

"Me and Helen's daughter were like two peas in a pod when we got to see one another as kids. There were times that we accompanied them down to Louisiana, outside of Lake Charles near a town called Iowa. My mom, grew up in a town called Kinder. Her mom, Val was a homemaker, who worked independently as a house cleaner. She made a career from it. Theo , her dad was a architect. They eventually made way to California so that he could expand his business. It was a hard decision, but there was no way that he'd be able to make the best living there at the time. Once they settled and made roots in this state, we were able to help Cousin Faye who is Helen's niece, set up camp. She has four of her own, with her youngest being around the same age as you two. "

"So Faye is...………."

"Helen's niece."

"Right."

"We are living in a time where it is important to know where you come from. What your lineage is. Both of you."

It was true. Liam being the product of a white mother from Oregon and a black creole father who was relatively fair skinned, didn't give much thought to his race. He knew he was passing, people saw him as white more than anything else. Perez on the other hand, while his father was a mestizo foreigner, his mother was obviously black and not racially ambiguous. Either way, they were both moved pretty far away from their Louisiana background and perhaps it was the fault of their parents. As Denise talked, she thought about it. Her mom didn't really go down much. She went down sporadically, however as far as any offspring....none beyond her own children knew about the lineage in greater Lake Charles. In many ways for the kids it was exciting. It was exciting to Denise as well, however she knew that she wasn't quite ready to go down to Louisiana again. It had been years since she set foot down there. This Colorado vacation would be the beginning of breaking the ice so to speak.

"Our people held a mix of jobs. Compared to other blacks, our folks were rather well off. A mix of farmers, laborers, and teachers. For the most part they lived in country. Like plenty of other black people did at that time. Some lived along the water. They were fisherman and crabbers who caught and sold their catch for profit. On the other hand though.....family was subjected to harassment under the Jim Crow laws that prevailed in the south. There was always someone wanting them dead for their business. Mainly white fisherman who felt that it was their birthright to utilize that specific spot. While they made money, there were times where the season was dry. Sending their kids out to California was so that they could have a better life. Daddy owned his own business, and in a step of faith we went west. Some of our people went to the Northeast, others went to the Midwest. They're scattered."

"Northeast?"

"We'll some in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Rhode Island and that's what we know thus far from a bit of investigating."

"Any still in Louisiana"

"Plenty, and one day I hope that the two of you have an authentic Louisiana experience."

The boys interrupted to take a phone pic, by Helen so that she could send a pic to Deja, who was working on an online photo album at the time.

"Who's that?" QJ asked

"That's your grandmother, sending me a picture from Sacramento."

She looked in awe at it. Then forwarded it to Yvonne. Working on chapter 3 of her memoir, she took a short break to cook dinner. She got a baked chicken from the deli with some frozen shrimp, and some Alfredo sauce and made a quick pasta. She helped Malachi briefly with his social studies paper and then pulled her laptop back up. "Mom, what are you working on in there?"

"Same old same old. I hope my publisher doesn't drop me because I'm taking so long."

On her laptop she posted the photo to facebook with the caption "Family Times" before she went back to brainstorming about chapter 3. She texted Helen back who was at the kitchen counter drinking a cup of wine while Denise was getting ready to go. "Hey Perez" She said. "You are spending the night with me tonight. Your mama's gotta start studying."

"Thank you mama. I'll get him from school tomorrow."
"No probably, baby"
"Later honey"

She spent the rest of the night working on her research paper. She was up until about 1:00 am working on the assignment, submitting it at 1:30 am. She managed to submit a discussion assignment for her Sociology course and begin studying for one final exam. Two weeks really wasn't far away.  She slept in until about 9:00, she had to get to work for 10:00 so she had a cup of coffee before she went to the campus.

"Get enough sleep?" Paulette asked?

"About 7 hours."

 She brushed her teeth, grabbed a bottle of water and headed out at about 9:30.

"I should be home around 5:30, I'll bring Perez to the Library with me."

"Showing him a bit of my world."

[11/9/17 TIME 2:00 pm]

Ebony worked until about 2:30 before going pick up her son and then she brought him to the campus library. At the library, she directed him to one of the school computers while she took out her Psychology study guide and note cards and begin flashing those. On the computer Perez began answering a study guide by looking all over the internet followed by a math game that he found at the recommendation of his teacher.

"I know that's school related right?"

"Yes, it's a website we use to do our homework. It provides examples as well as other practice test." He completed his math homework and then he left the computer and sat at the table with his mom to do his social studies homework. "I won't be here much longer" Ebony said, glancing at her textbook.

"I'm good" Perez responded, as he was labeling a map for his geography lesson.
"What are you working on?"

"I'm labeling the oceans on this map. Teacher is gonna quiz us tomorrow on it."

"Mom?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Have you ever seen the Gulf?"

"No, I sure haven't.  At least not in person."

"So, grandma's family is from this state here." He asked pointing to Louisiana.

"Yep, the bayou state."

"Have you been?"

"Sure haven't"

"So no vacations down there?"

"Louisiana is not really a place one goes to vacation, unless they're going to New Orleans. And I have not been to New Orleans either."

"Okay."

"It's a place that I'd like to visit one day, but I don't think I'd wanna live there."

"So what's after you finish school?"

"Hopefully making more money. Me and your dad will hopefully be married next summer. Then we can find a house. Get out of my grandmother's house."

Wanting to know more, Perez asked where she had been looking. "I haven't really been looking lately. I haven't had the time."

Resuming his homework, that he managed to complete while his mom studied, he asked his mom if he could get back on the computer a game. "Not right now, you can get on the internet, but we're about to head home."

On the way home, they stopped at a convenience store so she could get a hot cappuccino. "Want a candy bar." She asked.

"Sure....."

"Well pick one up."

"Here you go" He said, picking up a Hershey's Cookies 'n Crème bar. "This. I'm gonna save for later. Can I get a lemonade?"

"Yeah, grab one." They returned home to see the adults at the kitchen chatting about the news. Perez went to his room and turned on a video game while Ebony resumed studying at home. She asked if she needed to pick up some take out tonight. "Chinese sounds good." Paulette responded. "Good I'll get it around 7:00 pm."

"Why don't you come in and joint the chat?" Helen asked.
"I'd love to, but finals are right around the corner."
"You need a break." Paulette chimed in
"I guess I could for a little while. What are the four of you chatting about?"
"Not much, just family. The news." Dexter responded

Paulette-"Baby, you know you don't need to be in a run to leave."

"I'm getting married next year. With all due respect, I'm not trying live with a parent or grandparent with my Husband." Ebony continued "The house search is on hold at the moment. Gotta get through this semester."

Helen-"I think it's good that you're finishing what you started."

"It was always my intent. I took time off, raised my son. Worked in retail, now I'm working as a student employee. I could barely make rent in my one bedroom apartment, much less think about school. The grants help."

Paulette-"Be glad, you've got family who are willing to help you too."

Dexter-"So, after you get your bachelor's degree?"

"I'd like to get two master's degrees. I'd like to do an MSW and a MBA. I'd like to start my own agency and be an advocate for women who are battling domestic violence."

Dexter-"Opening up your own practice is the only way to make money in that field. Doing it for the state, you'll be one level above the poverty line."

"Oh don't I know it. Going up to the Housing office for my appointments...Those women looked so miserable. Plus they were mean. I think that the job does something to them."

Dexter-"So are you going to try to find work after you graduate or go right on to start the Master's program?"

"IDEALLY, I'd like to work somewhere for about a year or two then start grad school. If I have to do the latter. I'll have to see if there are some scholarships that I can get that would help me. If I can get an internship at a government agency that'll pay for me to go to grad school, I'll do it right then and there."

Helen-"Will you be able to travel with us over the Holiday?"

"Yes, sure will. School lets out early December. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, getting to meet everyone. Plus, I’m excited about the snow, the views are incredible. And it's a much needed break from school. I've already gotten the okay from my supervisor."

Helen-"I really need to thank my daughters for this one. My oldest and my middle. They were the ones really pushing the trip. It was something about Anna's death that just put something in us. However these two? When it comes to research, investigating, finding out, arranging...they've got it down to a tee."

"What about the other three?"

Helen-"I'd say they have an interest, but they aren't as patient when it comes to getting things like this together."

Ebony stepped up to call in the Chinese take out. "What's everybody want? I'll just have y'all write it down"

Helen-"General chicken. TSO"
Paulette-"Just get a large house fried rice for me and Dexter with two orders of spring roles."
"I'm gonna get the pepper steak."
Paulette-"What about the baby?"
"I'm going to get him a small rice and an order of wings."

Helen-"Anna's death? I still hadn't gotten over. I remember being on the porch one night at her home, later the day of her funeral. I overheard Deja vowing to put the family back together. I sent them down there ever summer as girls. It gave me something to talk with them about before they went back to school. I only wish I had been able to be there for her more. The love that I received when I went back home was overwhelming. These last three months have been a rollercoaster. I had the opportunity of reconnecting with another sister while meeting my niece. I'm visiting my cousin and have been blessed with creating new memories"

Dexter-"New beginnings."

TO BE CONTINUED WITH PART 29






































 

SEASON 1 PART 27

LOCATION: SACRAMENTO, CA
DATE: 11/7/19
TIME:2:20 PM

Helen had just arrived to the air upon seeing Paulette who she greeted with a hug. There were tears, laughter, lots of questions regarding what she had been doing. It had been about 11 years before they had seen on another. While waiting on her luggage, Paulette asked about the girls. "Three of mine are educators now while one's a social worker, and one's a lawyer"

"That's such a blessing. You've raised some fine young ladies"
 "I really did" Helen said nodding in agreement. "I'm proud of all of them. What about yours?"
"Well, Denise is a news reporter. Julius owns a construction business. Axl is a pharmacist. I recently retired from the doctor's office so now I can enjoy spending time with my great-grandkids"

Once she retrieved her luggage and the arrived to Paulette's home, which could be described as a nice cottage painted a light blue with the inside interior resembling that of one you'd see on the coast. She wasn't into ornate or elaborate decor and when it came to scents, she preferred plug-ins over candles.

HELEN-"You've got a lovely home"

PAULETTE-"Thank you"

PAULETTE-"Can I get you some sweet tea?"

HELEN-"Yes PLEASE! This takes me back to when we were girls. That was one thing mama liked to do at every meal. She loved that sweet tea."

PAULETTE-"Did you go to Anna's funeral?"

HELEN-"I did, at my age, I'm kind beginning to long for my family again. Mom is far more tame now that she's in her 90s. She had a temper growing up and was part of what drove me to leave so young."

PAULETTE-"I last went down to Lake Charles about 15 years ago. I'd go every few years. My kids have been down there, however my grand kids haven't"

HELEN-"Y'all moved pretty early on. We were teens when y'all left"

PAULETTE-"Mom just said she had had it. She always knew she wanted us to spread our wings, even if she never left. But you know? We followed the footsteps of many who left during the great migration. Daddy had an architect business, in a step of faith....he took his business on the road. It was tough at first, until he designed a home for another client of our background."

HELEN-"Creole? Black Frenchman?"

PAULETTE-"You already know. Out here, people thought we were white. Anyway, that man begin referring him. Until he eventually designed planned communities for other developing companies"

HELEN-"How's Taj?"

PAULETTE-"She's doing good. She's out here. She's running the old architect firm now. Daddy paid his child support faithfully. She went to Grambling State. Majored in Business. She kept in contact with dad. Her mama never got in the way of that. Once she got her degree, she got her MBA years later. When daddy retired, he left her with handling the firm. I had already been established, married, working for a doctor, while she had just been laid off from a retail company"

HELEN-"Wow. How about Dexter?"

PAULETTE-"He found some partners of his, they went to an early day game. Still married girl. He'll be here later"

While drinking ice tea, a honda accord pulled up in the front yard and out was a young woman, dark skin, nice shape. "That's my granddaughter. That's Denise's oldest. She's got her son and fiance with her."

HELEN-"Latino?"

PAULETTE-"Yes, he's Guatemalan."

HELEN-"How old is her son?"

PAULETTE-"9"

HELEN-"So a year older than my grandson, Quincy"

PAULETTE-"She's living with us right now. You see? She had Perez when she was 19. She had to drop out of college. The relationship between her and her parents was strained for a while. She went back to school and she's got a couple of years until she gets her Criminal Justice degree."

HELEN-"So the guy she's with, is he the Daddy?"

PAULETTE-"Yes to that, he is. He's a bit older than her, he was a graduating senior when they met. He's a civil engineer. They had broken up for a while, but got back together after seeing him at a party."

HELEN-"Girl, these kids"

PAULETTE-"You said it!"

While Paulette went to open the door, Helen went to attempt to begin unpacking her bags,

"Come on in, there's someone I want you to meet" Paulette said as they headed to the kitchen, Helen begin to walk out. "You don't know her, but this is my first cousin Helen."

HELEN-"Hi ma'am."

EBONY-"Hello, I'm Ebony. This is my fiance Ramiro and my son Perez."

HELEN-"Hi, honey."

PEREZ-"Hi."

RAMIRO-"Hola, ?como esta usted?"

PAULETTE-"We were thick as thieves growing up. But she's just as stubborn now as she was then. I finally got her to come and visit me."

HELEN-"I'm not a fan of long drives or planes."

PAULETTE-"Uh huh..................."

EBONY-"So, you grew up in Louisiana too?"

HELEN-"Yes, me and your grandmother. Our mom's Val and Lucy are sisters. Her mother is my aunt and my mom is your great aunt."

Perez sat in the corner listening to the conversation, trying not the chime in but the curiosity got the best of him when he asked if he could look at the photo album pictures with them. "So is this who are we meeting in Colorado this Christmas?"

"Looks like it" Ebony said. Looking at some of Helen's vacation photos.

PAULETTE-"Awww look at us right there."

HELEN-"We must have been in our late 20s in this picture."

PAULETTE-"We had taken a girls trip to Vegas."HELEN-"Yeah, you won yourself some money. Enough to pay every meal we ate after that night."

EBONY-"Who's that?"

HELEN-"Those are my girls right there."

PAULETTE-"All grown up now."

HELEN-"Oh yeah. And they’ve all done well for themselves.No arrests, no encounters with the law."

PAULETTE-"Do you think they would have had the same luck in Louisiana?"

HELEN-"Maybe in Baton Rouge or New Orleans."

PAULETTE-"Right? Not in that racist ass town we came out of"
Perez, bit his lip trying not to laugh as the sound of profanity was amusing to him. Probably because of the context it was often used in, and he couldn't say those words in front of his mom and dad.

EBONY-"Maybe it's changed since then, but the two of you being of the lighter complexion, probably got better treatment than I would have."

PAULETTE-In some ways yes, but in other ways, not quite.

HELEN-A nigger is a nigger is a nigger, to them it doesn't make a difference.

PAULETTE-That's what it was.

HELEN-I saw it coming more from my own once I got out there.

PAULETTE-Our aunt! Once she left for Rhode Island, she pretty much disowned her family. She had no problem going visit them, but they better not come out to California. She was so worried about her cover being blown.
HELEN-Aunt Marla?
PAULETTE-Yes. I can remember us going up there to see her only to turn back around because she wouldn’t receive us.
HELEN-But Rhode Island? What the hell was she doing out there?
PAULETTE-Married a white man, kids white passing. They all married white. You know the story.
RAMIRO-I grew up in a pretty liberal household as far as race relations go. Perhaps I'm different, but I don't get the shaming of black Latinos. That could be more of an east coast thing and more prevalent in communities such as the Dominican and Cuban communities.
PAULETTE-Like where the hell do they think slave ships landed first?

Perez, had a tan complexion, looking like a nice mix of his moms complexion paired with his fathers bright skin tone. He could be described as an athlete, playing soccer and basketball. He also like to swim. On the other hand, he also enjoyed video games, wrestling, and laser tag. His vocabulary was mature for a kid his age, in fact, his mother described him as a 9 year old going on 25. He's bi-lingual speaking both English and Spanish, learning the latter language from his grandparents. That probably came from spending so much time with other adults. Even when not in the presence of adults, he often overheard their conversations and when there was a word heard that he didn't recognize, he tended to look them up. He wasn't so much a bookworm, but he had a fascination with the dictionaries.

Helen, took out her phone and went to her Facebook page. They looked at her daughter's page, where she talked about them and what they were doing. There were pictures of the grand kids that caught their eyes. "That's Dominic right there. He's a sweetheart. He's had it rough".

PAULETTE-"What's wrong?"

HELEN-"He is a hemophiliac."

PAULETTE-"Oh no."

HELEN-"He thrives though. His mom is more worried about him than he is. He has some nights where he's woken up in the middle of the night and she's had to bring him to the ER, yet he doesn't want to be seen as a charity case. His baby brother has sickle cell anemia. Gabriel. He's three. Mia is the only one of Azalea's kids that don't have a blood disorder."

They looked at Miriam's page, "She's in school right now, she's studying to be a nurse".
"Let me get her page info" Ebony said. "I'd like to add her. Hopefully she sees some mutual friends and accepts me."

HELEN-"It would be nice for you two to connect". You know? We are at a time now, and I believe this. It will be more important than ever to know who were are. Our history in this country, our family, and our worth."

PAULETTE-"Amen."

She then told Helen, that she wanted to take her to a few antique shops in town. "I'll show you where I get some of the stuff in this house."

HELEN-"Yeah, I need some ideas for my house. I'm trying to create a garden in my backyard and I'm stuck"

PAULETTE-"You still work in your yard"

HELEN-"Oh yea girl, it's therapeutic for me"

They conversed about everything from gardening to event planning. Lucinda also came up in conversation. "Your mama could be a handful"

HELEN-"Why you think I enjoyed being at your house so far"

PAULETTE-"Me raised as on only child, well my sister , but she didn't live with me, I enjoyed having you all over."

HELEN-"Mom had a temper."

PAULETTE-"Last time I went, she was so ugly, I said it'd be a damn good while before I went back"

HELEN-"She definitely could be difficult to deal with, but when your marriage was already rocky, it's no surprise. I think she resented us on some level as long as we've been alive. That is until Marcus was born."

PAULETTE-"How about Bessie?"

HELEN-"Poor Bessie.....she could never get her drinking under control."

EBONY-"Who's Bessie?"

HELEN-"My sister"

HELEN-"After mama made her give her child away, she sank further and further into depression"

PEREZ-"Where is she now?"

PAULETTE-"Deceased"

HELEN-"She was only 47"

Perez, interested in the conversation regarding the family history, had to be escorted from the kitchen by his dad. "Gonna go run a quick errand, Perez c'mon". They headed out the door when the conversation resumed.Helen bought up why the marriage was so rocky. "She never wanted to marry daddy. She liked someone, however her folks weren't going for that"

PAULETTE-"Where'd you hear that at?"

HELEN-"I've heard the stories. You know we couldn't get in grown folks business, but I'd overhear them when I was in the bathroom during bath time. I'd pretend to be soaking, when in reality I soaking up the knowledge of the family dynamics. I've heard her arguing with her parents regarding it. The marriage was a business marriage. Thought I don't know what kind of business, we were both dirt poor. In turn, I think that because she didn't want him but he loved us, she resented us and the relationship that we had with him. I left as soon as I could because I was tired of her temper. I never knew what kind of mood she was going to be in. I jumped and married the first guy that I met. I barely graduated high school before I married my husband and we flew the coop out to LA and I've been living out there ever since."

PAULETTE-"Really, neither of them loved each other. The marriage was set up by the parents."

HELEN-"Drink to that."

PAULETTE-"I'm gonna grab my purse and we can head out."

While they looked through a few novelty shops, some arts and crafts stores, as well as a coffee shop. Additionally they visited Axl before heading back to the house.
"Dexter? Let me have a hug!"

"You look good Helen. How've you been?"
"Busy, Enjoying my grandchildren. I got 8 of em. You still working?"
"Yes, waiting till the day I can retire. Still teaching Chemistry classes at CSUS"
"Two of mine are professors as well, one's a high school teacher working on her doctorate, another is a social worker and my youngest is a lawyer."
"Wow!"
"It's a blessing. You know? You always want your children to do better than you did and I would say mine did. They've all graduated high school. They have advanced degrees, and one is trying to get into some extra work. Anita, my youngest. She's the attorney, but she's also in the process of trying to obtain a real estate license."
"Ain't a lot of us out there"
"She’s so good at math. I don’t know where she got it from she she didn’t get it from her mama."
"Does it feel like we are living through our children?
"I think all parents do that to some extent. Guilt of not achieving as children but then there are those like us who wanted better for ours than we had"
"And we got it."
Paulette popped a bag of popcorn and opened up a second bottle of wine while looking at the same photo album from earlier. The page they were on had a picture of Marla in a hit that shielded her face from the sun. "As hot as it was"

"You already know why" Paulette scoffed. "Didn't want those features to be too obvious."

"Last I heard, she was still living in Rhode Island, Jackie kept contact with her, but she always had to be careful about the language she used in public as she didn't want to blow her cover."

HELEN-"Chances are her husband already knew. Unless she burned every pic from childhood. At the most, she could pass for Indian."

HELEN-"I talked with Jackie about five years ago via phone. I kept contact with her mainly through IM when that was popular."


The conversation continued until about 2:00 am. They talked about the family history, how they would up out there. Paulette left with her family earlier on, Helen escaped by marrying young. She had tried maintaining a relationship with her sisters via Anna, who kept tabs with everyone. Memories of going to the theater on railroad avenue crossed their mind as well as the church picnics that on the fourth Sundays.

HELEN-"If it wasn't for Anna, I wouldn't know anything right now. Anna helped me out a lot. Having her was a blessing, I sure miss her. I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her. It was a blessing that my kids got to know her."

PAULETTE-"Why the hell ran you off like that though? You sent your kids down there but you didn't fool with them?"

HELEN-"I regret it everyday. Not going. I think about it every night. Here I am talking about our aunt when I did something similar."

As late night arrived, Helen began to doze off. "Girl I'm gonna head on to bed."

PAULETTE-"Goodnight. I'm gonna fix me a bite to eat. I'm hungry."

[DATE: 11/8/17]

The following morning, Helen woke up around 9:30 am to the smell of a pot of coffee brewing. At the breakfast table, Paulette and Ebony were sitting down reading the paper while Dexter and Perez were still sleep.

"Good morning" Ebony said as she pulled out a chair.

"Good morning. Coffee smells incredible."

"Gourmet. It's a creme brulee flavor."

On the table was an assortment of creams, sugar, as well as a sugar substitute. While waiting on the coffee to brew, they were reading the news about the possibility of a strike among the Sacramento city district teachers due to low wages and poor working conditions.

HELEN-"It's the same story in Los Angeles. My daughter Deja is a high school teacher, 30 plus kids to a class, the pay is a joke for what she deals with. Even on her off days, she's never off. Her summers aren't really free either because she's always in a training of some sort."

EBONY-"What does she teach?"

"English. In college, she went for English Education and History. She eventually got an MFA."

After 15 minutes the coffee had finished brewing, they chatted over coffee before Perez and Ebony left for school. Perez grabbed his bag and a clip board while Ebony fixed some coffee in a coffee cup to go. "Let me get some of this caramel creamer right here."

"Have a good day you two."

HELEN-"He's so cute."

PAULETTE-"He's a beautiful person inside and out. Really. He does volunteer work wherever he can. He's a sharer by nature and he feels whatever emotion you feel. He can since sadness from the other side of the room."

HELEN-"That'll take him far in life. Malachi, my grandchild, is similar. He loves like a puppy. When he makes a friend he does all in his power to hold on to them. I don't know where it came from. He must have gotten it from my dad. He got that from Amos. Amos was a gentle soul."

After a refill on coffee, they chatted. Dexter headed off to work while the two of them went to an arts and crafts show. "I need some ideas for my house"

"Well this show usually has pretty good stuff" They looked at a few tables purchased some paints, some fabric, etc. "Denise, got me hooked on Pinterest" Paulette said. "You can get some great ideas there"

"Deja uses that too. Normally we have something at the house for the kids on Halloween. She's done things I've never even seen. The kids seem to enjoy it. I'll be like "Where'd you get this idea?". Her response? "Mama you already know."


 Around noon they had lunch at a nearby cafe, light lunch.  Helen ordered a club while Paulette had a grilled chicken salad.  "This place has some of the best iced tea."

HELEN-"I'll take your word for it, I'll get a cup of that with lemon"
PAULETTE-"Do you remember our grandmother having ice tea at pretty much every meal?"
HELEN-"Yep. Daddy would have three cups of it at lunch and dinner."
PAULETTE-"Sunday afternoons. After getting out of those hot church clothes...I miss that kind of eating. If I lived down there, I'd be in some trouble."
HELEN-"I do miss that about Louisiana. But I don't miss the mindset of so many of the people down there though. My girls always had a great time when they went. It was fun to listen to their stories when they'd return. They like the adventure of going down to the south before school started."
PAULETTE-"Y'all all ran to get the hell out of there."
HELEN-"If you lived with us, you would too. You know I recently reconnected with Clarisse."
PAULETTE-"Really? How'd that come about?"
HELEN-"Well, you know Anna died a couple of months ago right?"
PAULETTE-"Yeah, I know about it. Pete told me."
HELEN-"We'll her son and the girls were always close. Deja and Yvonne have been keeping James contact with James and he mentioned Faye who lives in Los Angeles. Through Facebook, she reached out to her. Found out who her mother was next thing you know, they're at my daughter's house for dinner."
PAULETTE-"How was that?"
HELEN-"Emotional. Very much. It was healing. Her daughter works for a cable company, she had four kids."
PAULETTE-"Married?"
HELEN-"Divorced."
PAULETTE-"That's one hell of a child support check."
HELEN-"Right? Anyway, the kids got along great. Come to find out moved out there around the same time."
PAULETTE-"She's been out here for a while. Remember, she came out here a while back. Faye wasn't even a teenager yet."

The stopped the conversation about five minutes before their food arrived. After they ate and paid the bill, Paulette suggested that they go get desert later on. 

"There's a place out here, where you can get some of the best red velvet cake. I wanna bring you later on. Dexter's probably gonna go play golf today so we're on our own for dinner"

PAULETTE-"You all are going to love Colorado. It's beautiful out there in the winter."
HELEN-"I bet. I'd imagine it's far nicer than Los Angeles."
PAULETTE-"Well yeah, Colorado gets a real winter. The kids will love the snow"
HELEN-"Gotta make sure they have the right clothes."
PAULETTE-"Well sweats, maybe some casual khakis, long socks, beanies, mittens. It's gonna be cold."
HELEN-"Think of it as a mini reunion as well as new beginnings. Relationships being revived as well as new ones being formed."
PAULETTE-"I invited a friend over from down the street. You're gonna love her. Her name is Susan"

Fifteen minutes after they settled in the home, Susan arrived at the door. She could be described as a white woman in her 70s. She like to garden. She was in the same gardening club as Paulette.

"Hey ma'am. This is my cousin Helen."

"Hi. I'm Susan. It's nice to meet you."

Susan brought over a few of her gardening magazines. "I love southern living." She said as she sat down. "Would you like something to drink? I got wine."

SUSAN-"Sure"

HELEN-"I'm gonna sit here in listen to this, I need some ideas for my yard."

PAULETTE-"Be our guest"

The meeting lasted about two hours. Leaving the home for about 5:00 pm, the arrived to their destination 30 minutes later.

"I'm really not even that hungry." Helen said.
PAULETTE-"Me either girl, just an outing for dessert."
HELEN-"I gotta try this red velvet cake that you raved about earlier."
PAULETTE- "You won't regret it"
PAULETTE-"So what'd you think of Susan?"
HELEN-"Love her. It's as if I've known her my whole life."
PAULETTE-"She raved when she found out you were coming. You knew she was gonna have a ton of questions."
HELEN-"I figured she would, I'm sorry I didn't have more to give as far as answers."

Their desserts were delivered. The red velvet cake was pleasing to the eye. Very moist and laden with a cream cheese icing. It was served with a cup of warm milk.

"Sometimes doing something simple this"

PART 28 to follow.

SEASON 1 PART 26

DATE [11/3/17]

TIME  [ 11:00 AM,MID MORNING]

There QJ sat in the counselors office, not knowing what to expect as he had not been in any trouble recently. Why did Elaine want to see him? He sat somewhat nervous as she got up to run an errand, within five minutes she returned.

"Just so you know, you aren't in trouble."
"Okay...." QJ said with a relief.

He took the invite and slipped it into his binder and walked back to class. He had only missed the first 10 minutes of his science lesson where the teacher filled him in on what he missed and had him write down his homework assignment in his planner. As he flipped his book open the fire alarm rang as the principal decided to have a fire drill that day.

"Okay Line up" the teacher said. "We are going to take the exit to the right"

The students were instructed not to talk while outside and wait for the announcement to re-enter the building. 

At the same time, Aundrea was released from his second period at the sound of the bell. "So what do you think about the story so far Brianna" she asked. "It's okay" she responded, regarding "the Indian in the Cupboard". "My brother has probably read this one, this homework assignment will be a breeze"
 "Oh and by the way. I want to hear your voice" the teacher said, as she overheard their conversation.
"You were saying?" Brianna sarcastically asked while making a run to the restroom. "I'll catch you later"
"Aundrea, your last essay was really good" her English teacher said as she passed by.

"Thanks, my mom is English teacher so I guess it rubbed off on me." She responded as she was on her way to her next class. She had finished a book report and then this writing assignment. She was ready for a break from it.

In math class, they had just received the results of their last quiz. "A+?" Amber said looking at Aundrea's score. "Good job" the teacher said. "Hard work pays off".

Once all scores were handed out, they begin a geometry lesson on area, base, and height, when an announcement on the loud speaker was made informing faculty and students that the school would be evacuated for a bomb threat that had just been name. Effective immediately, classes would be cancelled for the day while the school would be under investigation.

"Get's me out of a science test" Brianna said the pair headed towards the door and across the street. It was quite a sight after a couple of hours when students took off running due to the fear of possibly blowing up or losing a loved one, not knowing where their peers were. Aundrea began to worry about her brother when she hadn't heard anything from him. "I'm looking now" she remained calm as she had typically done under pressure. That said, her heart was pounding. Five minutes afternoon Brianna, Aundrea, and Simone begin to walk to the ice cream parlor near by while Malachi found Carson, whom he caught a ride with. "You can just crash with Carson" Erik said as he dropped them off and headed back to the high school. "Your mom probably already knows at this point what's going on? We're in the world of social media. You get your news quicker on Twitter, than you do watching the TV."

CARSON-"Want a snack?"

MALACHI-"Sure, thanks"

CARSON-"I'll pop a bag of popcorn"
CARSON-"So man, have a good a good Halloween?"
MALACHI-"Yeah"
CARSON-"How was your mom's signing?"
MALACHI-"It was okay. She sold a good bit"
MALACHI-"Events like that generally are boring, but coffee and sweets does make it more enjoyable. The Q&A was informative"
CARSON-"In what ways?"
MALACHI-"Each desert was made during certain occasions, certain moods. She talked about her aunt that passed, about how they used to ride the greyhound bus down with their aunt as children down there. The rides were hella long she said. Imagine having to piss"
CARSON-"Yuck"
MALACHI-"Right? But she would describe in detail the process of the desserts that her aunt and her grandmother made depending on the event. If it was a fish fry, a peach cobbler was typically whipped up or if the occasion was a special occasion, a chocolate cake, that I really want to try and I've been begging her to make one"
CARSON-"Invite this guy over when she does"
MALACHI-"Making a note"
MALACHI-"Gumbo was something that they cooked on Sunday evenings one weekend every summer. Normally, when one thinks of Gumbo, they think cold weather, but down there? That's irrelevant"
CARSON-You might wanna call your mom now. Phone's right over there.

He grabbed a hand full of popcorn then dialed his mothers cell. She didn't answer right away, "I'll give it about 10 minutes." Within five minutes, she called number back to which Carson answered the phone. "Who is this?" she said "Carson"

 "Carson?" before she could finish asking why Carson was calling, he gave the phone to Malachi and said.

MALACHI-"Mom?"
DEJA-"What the hell? Why are you not in school?"
MALACHI-"Schools out today. They sent us home. Bomb threat. You didn't hear?"
DEJA-"No, I did not. Is Aundrea with you?"
MALACHI-"No"
DEJA-"Do you know where she is???"
MALACHI-"I kind of caught a ride with Carson's brother. I couldn't find her."
DEJA-"You stay put. We'll talk about this later."
MALACHI- "Bye"

MALACHI-"She's not too thrilled"
CARSON-"What else could you have done? They tell us to evacuate, then around 1:00 they sent us home for the day"
MALACHI-"Right?"

They decided to get on the internet to kill some time when Carson noticed that the website had been updated. "Well there you have it"

Malachi decided to just stay put for the time being while Aundrea used Simone's flip phone to send a text to her dad. "We are at the ice cream parlor. School was cancelled this afternoon due to a bomb threat. Tell Malachi that's where I'm at. I couldn't find him"

Quincy asked his boss if he could get get his children from school. "Sure. Just bring them up here."

Arriving to the nearby malt shop he picked up Aundrea after saying hello to her friends. "How about the two of you come to the house Friday?"

"Just be glad that it's not too hot, this shit happened to me in Junior High School, except they didn't let us out for the day, we had to stand outside in the heat."

"Ugh! So what was it? Do you remember?"

"Yep, it was a high school student who found out that he was not graduating so he decided out of anger to call in a bomb threat. He got almost 20 years for it"

Arriving to Carson's, he found Malachi on the couch with a look that could be summarized as a combination of disbelief and surprise.

"Dad?!" He exclaimed, "How'd you even know I was here?"
QUINCY-"Your mama called me. She was freaking out"
MALACHI-"Why? She knows Carson."
QUINCY-"She was worried that you there but didn't know where your sister was."
AUNDREA-"I was looking for you too"
MALACHI-When I couldn't find you, I caught a ride from Erik and hung here. Like 1:00 they told us to go home for the day and Erik had just gotten out of school"
QUINCY-Your mother was worried.
AUNDREA-Talk about a crazy day.
MALACHI-Ditto. Just hope Junior had a more stable day than us.
QUINCY-This is why your cousins are home schooled
AUNDREA-Wish I was home schooled
MALACHI-I'll have to pass on that one sis. 
QUINCY-You still have obligations even as a home schooled student, plus we both work.
 
At the hospital, Quincy introduced  the kids to his boss and coworkers before they sat down to start their homework before the workday ended.

QJ arrived home, surprised to see Deja sitting on the porch, she normally did not get home for another hour at least. She had taken off early due to the incident at her children's school. Once she got the memo on Facebook.

QJ-"It was fine, my school counselor wanted me to give you this."
DEJA- You weren't in another fight were you?"
QJ-"Nothing like that, she told me that she met you at a function. You never told me that."
DEJA-"She's sweet. I enjoyed talking to her"
QJ-"Yeah, she's nice. She also talked about Ezra's 180 in confidence recently"
DEJA-"He's lucky to have you as a friend."
QJ-"That's what she said."
DEJA-"We need to get him over here with your cousins,  have a snack and movie night or video games."
QJ-"You look exhausted. You okay?"
DEJA-"Your brother and sister had a bomb threat at school today, I spent all afternoon worrying about their well-being"
QJ-"Wait, what?"
DEJA-"someone called the school and said there was a bomb there."
QJ-"mom, I know what a threat is. I just can’t believe that it’s happening. Why can’t we get this kind of excitement at my school?"
DEJA-"The day I that I hear of a bomb threat at your school is the day I take you out of that school and put you in private school. You might wanna rethink that."
QJ-"No thanks."

QJ put down his backpack and begin working on a reading assignment while Deja got a glass of water. She sat on the couch and decided to catch up on a talk show while trying to process her day. Why did her son hope in the car with someone, why did her daughter wonder off? She wasn't sure how to address how they lost each other as they typically met up when school let out.

"How's it going in there?"

"All good on my end" QJ responded as he took out his math book. Briefly getting up to grab some chips, he asked what was for supper. "Take out, just gonna pick up pizza tonight. Your dad is gonna pick it up on the way in. Mama needs a break."

Finishing his homework, he played video games for the next couple of hours or so until his Quincy came home with supper. "Junior, come on down!"

He knew coming down it would be an interesting night of talk with the school day that his siblings had at school. Deja didn't waste anytime with what was on her mind.

"You two had my blood pressure acting up. YOU walk off campus without so much as any communication. YOU hoped in a car and....

Aundrea interjected- "Before you get too upset, let me explain. I looked for Malachi and couldn't find him. Around 1:00 pm, they told us that we need to leave as they investigated what was going on"

Malachi chimed in "Carson's brother had just gotten out of school. Carson and I had just walked across the street when Erik picked us up"

"How did you miss each other, that's what I'm not understanding"

"It was crowded. Between law enforcement and students who had taken off running fearing that they might have been blown up, it wasn't hard to miss"

"We still don't know if we are to report to school Monday"

"After a couple of hours, I begin to walk across the street and that's when I got word through an officer that we were to leave for the day"

"I heard the announcement on the intercom"

"We had no real time to prepare."

Deja took a moment to look at the school website and see if there had been any updates on what school status was when she saw that there was no bomb "Nothing was found so far, now they are trying to see where the call came from. No info regarding whether or not you will report to school"

"This probably isn't the time to ask you if I can go to a party in a week right?"
 "What party"
 "A pool party at Nicole's"
  "We'll see"
 "She's invited like the whole track team" 
"In other news, my book has sold five more copies today, they actually want to interview me for the newspaper"
"You're kind of a local celebrity for the moment aren't you mom?"
"What did you say?"
 "I haven't answered yet. They left me a message"
"Mom, you gotta do this"
"When would it be?"
"In a couple of weeks"
 "To think we're talking about swimming right now, in about a month we'll be freezing and in the snow"
 "What's going on with that trip?"
 "It'll take place when the three of you are out of school next month. Junior, you got some cousins who are looking forward to meeting you."
"Looking forward to meeting them too. So how are we related again?"
"Your grandmother Helen is the first cousin of their grandmother, Paulette"

It was interesting that they had not met, but then again they hadn't met their close cousins in Long Beach until this year. The adults for the most part knew each other though the children would be complete strangers at this point. QJ begin to inquire as to why this was all coming out now. Why in his 8 1/2 years of life he had so little contact these cousins who live in the same state and are roughly around the same age.

"He's a little older than you. His mom is about three years younger than your Aunt Anita." Deja stated, attempting to answer some of these questions.  "Paulette comes down to LA once or so every 10 years or your grandmother will go up there."

Reaching for another piece of cheese pizza, he asked "Perez?"

"His dad is Guatemalan, his mom is black. Aunt Yvonne's complexion. She had him her first year of college, so about 18-19. "

"Right"

Once they had all eaten dinner, Malachi went to his journal and entered:

"Dear Journal, some crazy shit went down today. We spent two hours in heat while before the administration gave us the okay to go home. Mid morning........we get an announcement that we need to step outside immediately. We get outside, we see law enforcement galore, eventually an officer tells us that a bomb threat has been called in and that we would likely be out of school for the rest of the day. With that in mind, me and a friend start walking, his brother picks us up. I have no idea where my sister is at this point and I later find out that she's at an ice cream parlor. She calls my dad, we spend the day at work with him. Now we find out that no bomb has been found so far. Yes we eventually were told that we could leave for the day, however I found myself walking off slightly early on. Mom freaked out when she found out that the two of us had separated. Like mom, I'm not a baby. Me and Aundrea are like the same age, even if she was born a few minutes early, but I digress. Right now, I'm kind of in Limbo."

It would give him something to talk to Taylor about tomorrow afternoon.
MALACHI-"Hey mom?" Could I use your Skype tomorrow?"
DEJA-"Why?"
MALACHI-"I wanted to connect with Taylor tomorrow afternoon"
DEJA-"She has Skype?"
MALACHI-"Her dad does"
DEJA-"I guess....as long as it's for this only"
MALACHI-"Sweet!"
 DEJA-"Wanna come watch this old black and white with me? You know your dad isn't interested in this kind of stuff. If there's no eye candy, it won't get your sister's attention and you know your brother isn't trying to watch this, no gore"
MALACHI-"Alright"

Malachi sat on the couch, grabbing a hand full of pop corn. "Can you pause for me? I'm gonna go grab a soda"
 "I loved the fashion during these times" Deja said as she opened a candy bar.
 "Candy too mom?"
 DEJA-"I know son, I shouldn't but what else does one do when watching movies all night?"

They eventually finished the movie when Malachi went to check the status of the school's website, "No update as of yet"

When he came back to the den, Deja put Hulu on where she found some old comedies from the 80s and 90s. "This is what we used to watch growing up, you know, when you watch these shows as an adult you catch things that you didn't realize."

She had a good time laughing at some of these old shows and as an adult, they were far funnier than they were when she was an adolescent. Malachi, on the other hand, begin to have an appreciation for the older comedy of his parent's youth. Eventually he dozed off on the couch. After about an hour, he got up to get a glass of water, used the bathroom and went to bed, not taking long at all to fall asleep.

"Hey mom" Aundrea said as she came downstairs.

DEJA-"Hey sweetie, what are you still doing up?"
AUNDREA-"It's the weekend, nowhere to be so I've been chatting with Brianna online"
DEJA-Your brother just went to sleep.
AUNDREA-Already?
DEJA-"Oh yeah. Well, come on sit down with me. How's school going for you? Where did you go when you left?"
AUNDREA-"Ice cream shop right there, I used a friends flip phone to call dad. Mom, it was crazy. DEJA-"Sure isn't something I'm used to seeing at school. Other than that, schools going fine. I'm passing everything. Teacher said my last essay was great. Made an A+ on my last math quiz."
AUNDREA-"Good. Glad to hear that. You know? When I was in high school, we had two bomb threats. Two of them my 11th grade year. The first one was just before the Christmas Holidays. We were heading to school when we got to the parking lot, the sheriff department was directing traffic the other way, informing us that the campus was closed. They did find out who did it, however they didn't disclose it to the student population. The second one, on the other hand was actually on a day where it was supposed to be a tornado drill. However, someone called a bomb threat from the convenience store located just down the road from us. So you know they tracked the number with no problem. Gas stations have camera's everywhere. They pulled the phone records to see the time it was called, they matched the footage as no one else had been there within the last two hours prior. Needless to day, he got 17 years in jail. He was 17 at the time. Assuming he's still alive, he's only been out about three years."
AUNDREA-"Wow!"
DEJA-"More than likely, this is a high school student. That's typically who it is. It never ceases to amaze me. As easy as it is to track these calls, there will always be those few who feel that they can outsmart the state. This will be approximately 20 years in prison whoever did it, can kiss their life good bye"

Aundrea sat silent for a bit. "You okay, honey?"

"Yeah mom, I'm okay"

Aundrea had an idea as to who this may be. Of course, she didn't have any proof, however as one to follow gossip there were hints given as to who may do this and why.

"So mom? Did you know the guy?"
"I did not."
"Not to generalize, but was the guy black or white?"
"He was white."
"Oh"
"I know you wouldn't do this but I'm gonna say it anyway. Do not get the idea of doing this. You will get caught."
"Mom, I think we're good in that area"
"Just have to put it out there. I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't. Well I'm going to bed, don't stay up all night"
"Goodnight."

[SATURDAY 11/4/17]

The following  morning around 10:00 am, Caleb and Noah came over. "Good morning"

"Hey boys, come on in"

Malachi and Junior were already sitting on the sofa when asked if they'd like to play a game of soccer.

"Aundrea, c'mon"

They got on their bikes and  headed to Calebs house, where the goal had been set and they begin picking teams. While they were out, Deja decided to reflect on summers in SWLA. She thought about time she camped in the Cameron Parish. Uncle Pete liked to fish and at Rutherford, he always caught much redfish. That day was typically followed by a fish fry. A fish fry with plenty of sides. She was momentarily interrupted by her husband handing her the telephone, "Azalea"

DEJA-Hello?
AZALEA-Hey ma'am, what's going on?
DEJA-Not too much on my end. The kids just went to a neighbors house, they're having a soccer game. What about you?
AZALEA-Dominic is playing outside, Gabriel is sitting on the couch next to me and Mia is in here crawling. I'm catching up on a soap opera. Anyway, you know mom is going to Sacramento in a couple of days right?
DEJA-No, I didn't know anything.
AZALEA-She's going see her cousin up there.
DEJA-That's nice. How's academia treating you?
AZALEA-Grading papers later on. I'm gonna type of my study guides for my final exams. They are going to be comprehensive.
DEJA-I hated those in college.
AZALEA-Alot do, but to me, you should not throw away any notes until a class is over.
DEJA-Most of them probably won't remember this. My students barely remember content from a week ago much less months.
AZALEA-So once you get your doctorate, you gonna stick to high school?
DEJA-Maybe, and then be an adjunt instructor at one of the Universities out here.
AZALEA-Right now I'm in a dispute with a possible plagiarism case, and that's kind of what I need to get your viewpoint on. You busy?
DEJA-Not right now, come on over. I'll show your what plagiarism software I use.
AZALEA-I'll see you in a bit.

While she waited for her sister to arrive, the kids had just taken a gatorade break after playing their first game. Caleb asked Malachi if he had any updates. "Well, it's been confirmed that school will be closed Monday."

CALEB-"Kick ass, it gets me out of a math test"
QJ-"No fair, so you and Aundrea are gonna sit around and watch TV while I have to see the guidance counselor."
CALEB-"Any word on who?"
AUNDREA-"Nope. Nothing on my end."

They chatted for about 30 minutes before getting back to the yard to resume. They played about two more games before heading home for a lunch break. Upon arriving home, Aundrea raided the refrigerator for lunch meat and bread when Deja pointed out a pot of taco meat.

"On second thought........." Aundrea said closing the refrigerator, she grabbed a plate and put some shells in the oven.  "Damn!" Deja exclaimed, in reference to how sweaty her three were. She continued. "The two of you will be out of school Monday, however I just got word that the school will be open on Tuesday."

"Figured" Malachi said. Aundrea was curious to know who it was. "Well, it was a high schooler, made the call from a payphone outside of a grocery store. He will be spending the next 17 years of his life behind bars."

AUNDREA-"How old was he?"
DEJA-"17!"
QJ-"So he'll be over 30 when he gets out"
DEJA-"Yes, people take these threats very seriously. In this time, one can't afford NOT to."
AUNDREA-"So what was it?"
DEJA-"A bookbag located under the bleacher of the football field"
MALACHI-"How'd he get it there and how did no one ever report this to lost of found?"
DEJA-"We don't know. Sometimes I don't know what the hell goes throght these teens' heads"

After eating, they sat outside for about 40 minutes to let their food digest before going back to resume their soccer games which would continue until approximately 6:00 pm.

"Made six goals!" QJ said as they wrapped it up.
MALACHI-"Noah is a beast!"
AUNDREA-"Eddie's team kicked all our asses in the last game"
CARSON-"So what you gonna do the rest of your day?"
MALACHI-"Shower, then get online"
AUNDREA-"Hittin up our cousin?"
MALACHI-"Yep"
CARSON-"Catch y'all later"
NOAH-"Later QJ"
QJ-"Later man"

After having gotten out of their athletic attire, Malachi made the call to Taylor via skype where they'd catch one.

CONVERSATION

TAYLOR-Hey!!!! So we finally see each other.
MALACHI-Yeah, remotely but it's nice to see what you look like
TAYLOR-Same here, looks like you've got company with you.
AUNDREA-Hi, I'm Aundrea
QJ-I'm Quincy
TAYLOR-Hey y'all.
AUNDREA-So, how's it down there in Louisiana
TAYLOR-It's okay. Kind of warm. It's getting dark early, Daylight Savings Time just ended so it's like getting dark by 5:00pm.
MALACHI-Well, the two of us had a crazy day at school
TAYLOR-Do tell.
AUNDREA-We had a bomb threat
MALACHI-What she said
AUNDREA-Mid morning, we were told to leave school immediately
TAYLOR-So what did you to today Malachi?
MALACHI-The three of us have been playing soccer in the neighborhood all day. Took a shower, now we're skyping with you
TAYLOR-Well the three of you are supposed to be coming down sometime in July next year. Did your mom tell you?
AUNDREA-No, haven't  heard anything.
TAYLOR-We're looking forward to seeing y'all.
MALACHI-Same here.
TAYLOR-Well gotta get ready for dinner, I'll catch the three of you later.
AUNDREA-Bye

After Taylor ended the call, she went to the kitchen to fix a plate of pinto beans. "So, did y'all win any money when y'all went to LC?"

"Not really" Kima responded as she poured a cup of sprite. Jameson chimed in  with the admission of winning about $900 at Delta Downs

 "I won about $500 at the Isle of Capri. And the winnings were less as the days went by" Kima continued. "What about you three?"

CRYSTAL- "Not much went down on this end"
 KYLA-"Is there a reason that you didn't just go to the Belle"
 JAMESON-"Lake Charles has nicer facilities"
 KIMA-"Plus we had points. that we needed to use."
JAMESON-"Do as we say and not as we do. Don't develop this habit"

An added bonus was that the bars in Lake Charles stayed open relatively late compared to those in Baton Rouge. In BR, the Belle casino bar closed at midnight. In LC, one can get up at 1:00 am and have a drink somewhere.  Furthermore with the crime in Baton Rouge as high as it was, he just didn't feel comfortable going out in Baton Rouge anymore. He typically went to work and went home. He was hesitant to allow his children to go out with the fear that they'd be the witness to something they might not recover from. He was just waiting on two of them to graduate high school and then move to an outer lying area.

TAYLOR-So through my Skype with Malachi, I was able to meet his brother and sister.
KIMA-That's nice.
KYLA-I assume that we could be meeting them this summer
JAMESON-We're trying to get that worked out.
TAYLOR-Looking forward to it. They seem like they'd be fun to hang w/.
JAMESON-Me and their mom had fun as kids. They came down during the summers. Growing up as an only child, I looked forward to it. They were like the sisters that I never had.

Taylor went silent for a moment, not telling her father that she had read the letter that Anna left him confessing the whole ordeal and the reason behind why he was raised by his aunt and not his mother. He didn't feel that dinner would be the place the tell them what he didn't realize that they knew, even if they didn't know the full extent of it. In his mind, he wondered why? What? How come him and not Yvonne as well?

He thought about it for several nights a week since Anna confessed it. He felt in a way he was deprived of a better life in Los Angeles, but on the other hand, it was nice to have siblings that he didn't know he had.  Him and Yvonne were roughly a year apart in age. Growing up raised by Anna as a single parent, he missed out on the father in the home, however he his uncles in his life to feel the void.

JAMESON-"So what were you and Malachi talking about?"
TAYLOR-"Not too much, they're out of school until Tuesday. They had a bomb threat. Today, they've been playing soccer in the neighborhood. He's a bookworm. I got to meet his sister and brother in our chat today. Him and his sister are twins. His brother is around Crystal's age. Seem like cool kids."
CRYSTAL-"Does he like sports?"
TAYLOR-"Yeah, they're all athletic"
CRYSTAL-"We are speaking the same language"
KIMA-Well what about you Kyla? What's going on?
KYLA-We had a college fair the other day.
KIMA-Well, are you thinking about colleges? Maybe doing some early admission?
KYLA-Maybe next year I'll do some.
KIMA-What colleges are you checking out?
KYLA-I might do go to BRCC first and then transfer to ULL.
JAMESON-Lafayette?
KYLA-Yeah, I like Lafayette.
JAMESON-Didn't want to go to LSU?
KYLA-Too big.
TAYLOR-LSU is like a city within a city
KIMA-I went to SUNO. I went to an HBCU.
JAMESON-Wherever you go, you need to do your research to see if the classes you take from BRCC will be accepted at the University of her choice.
KIMA-I believe BRCC does early admission.
JAMESON-I know McNeese does
TAYLOR-Could always do trade school or technical school.
JAMESON-I was reading an article suggested that more were doing that instead of college.
KIMA-HBCUs are good about finding internships for black students.
KYLA-Maybe I'll luck out and get an athletic scholarship somewhere
KIMA-Maybe. But it's probably time to start studying for the ACT or the SAT, maybe get TOPS.
JAMESON-Louisiana is the only state that I know of that emphasizes the ACT over the SAT. Everywhere else, the SAT is what's used.
KIMA-I really don't like standardized tests, they don't give the most accurate representation of how smart someone is.
JAMESON-Right! I'm terrible at those but I was good student.

After finishing dinner, Kima and Kyla decided to put on a movie while Jameson, Crystal, and Taylor decided to go out.

"Where y'all going" Kima asked.

"Just gonna go to Perkins Rowe"

"Y'all be careful out there, we gonna watch this movie"

"See y'all in a bit"

In Barnes and Noble, Jameson picked up an SAT book, while Taylor went to the fiction section and begin diving into a story. He picked up a math book for Crystal to prepare for the LEAP test coming up in the spring. "We're are gonna get you some prep stuff in addition to the practice tests on the website"

"Dad, that's like 5 months away"

"It'll be here sooner than you realize"

"I'm gonna get me a cold drink, y'all want anything?"

"Sure, I'll get a DP"
He bought a Dr. Pepper and Taylor a lemonade. While he, picked up a book on coding. It had been something he wanted to learn to do for some time, and perhaps start a side business. A small business. His reading was interrupted by a phone call from Clarissa that begin with a bit of small talk, eventually she invited him to trip to Colorado this Christmas.

"Gotta make sure that Kyla doesn't have any tests. I may have to leave early than some of you. I could go for about a week or so."

Clarissa understood. He looked forward to the idea of a white Christmas. He had to think about the last time he even saw one close to that. It might have been when he 15 and had gone to Arkansas for a week during Thanksgiving. Now in his late 40s and the last few winters feeling more like Summer in December than Christmas, he was looking forward to a change. "Snow angels, a ski resort. I'm in here in Barnes & Noble now you got me looking at the vacation magazines." They laughed before she hung up. "Talk to you later cuz."

Once he grabbed some magazines and took a seat Crystal asked who that was. "That was my cousin, Clarissa"

CRYSTAL-"What'd she want?"

"What have a told you about getting in grown folks business?" he asked, before he continued "She called me to invite us to spend a week in Colorado this Christmas break."

TAYLOR-"So is that why you've got all these vacation magazines in front of you?"

After staying at Barnes and Noble for about an hour longer, they headed back home, where Kima was cuddled on the sofa and Kyla was dozing out in the La-z Boy chair.

"How was your movie?"

"It was good"

Crystal and Taylor went to their rooms while Jameson discussed the trip invite. "So you mean I can finally wear those snowboots that I've had in my closet forever?"  They begin singing "White Christmas" while laughing when suddenly Kima begin singing "Like a Dream"

"C'mon now, Chrisette Michele?"

"Yep" she continued. "If make the request now, may AT&T will give me that time off"
JAMESON-"They should , as hard as you work for them"
KIMA-"I have not had a real vacation in two years"
JAMESON-"I'm civil service and I earn a lot of comp time, but I never get to use it"
KIMA-"I'll make my request tomorrow, you need to do the same."
JAMESON-"Duly noted. We looked at some school prep books"
KIMA-"For what?"
JAMESON-"Kyla needs to start prepping for the ACT"
KIMA-"Who's to say she's even interested I college?"
JAMESON-"Not interested? Not an option"
KIMA-"Don't scare out child away. She can always go to college later. My coworker is doing that right now. She's getting her degree in General Studies online at McNeese"
JAMESON-"She gonna get a master's degree?"
KIMA-"Doubt it. She's probably gonna retire from AT&T but she wanted to get a degree. She started way back but took breaks off and on like some do."

Kima left to go to bed while Jameson turned on ESPN. "Goodnight"

"Night"

He fell asleep on the couch while catching some sports highlights. Taylor passed by to get a snack. before. It never failed. It wasn't unusually for her dad to hog the sofa and fall asleep right afterwards.

 "Who's that?"

"It's me." Taylor said. "Dad, you were knocked out"

"I know. I'm about to go to bed. You don't stay up all night. We've got church in the morning"

"I won't. See you in the A.M."

Church was interesting. After a 45 minute P&W session, there was a collection and one number. The sermon could be described as one describing the signs of the time. It was a message of urgency. A code red type of message. The kind of sermon that left you feeling like "oh damn! He was talking to me." The church service began at 10:00 am and let out at noon. They ate lunch at the Golden Coral where the conversation about Colorado was bought up again.

"So it's official?" Crystal asked.

JAMESON-"No not yet. Still gotta get the time approved"

TAYLOR-"It would be nice to have a winter where I'm not dressed for the beach"

KYLA-"Right? We wear our jackets the moment it gets cool out just to say we've worn it once"

Taylor was probably looking forward to the trip to most due to talking with her cousin remotely the last couple of months, getting to know him and what he was about. "Maybe I'll get a lesson in skiing" she said as she took a bite of food.  Crystal chimed in stating she was more interested in making snow angels or getting on a sled. "I wonder if we can rent snowmobiles out there"

"You're guess is as good as mine, Ky" 

KIMA-Y'all are really turning this into a vacation aren't you
KYLA-Well isn't that what this is?
JAMESON-Yes, but it's also serves as a purpose of getting you with family that you didn't know you had
TAYLOR-That's a bonus


The family finished their afternoon out with the buffet around 2:30 pm before returning home.



PART 27 TO FOLLOW.