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After expressing to any and everybody who cared to listen, her displeasure with CeeCee and there being no way in hell that anybody other than her was going to name that baby, when it came time to name him, Shy drew a blank. When Black stared at his newborn son and asked, What are we going to name him? Shy heard herself say, I haven’t decided yet.
And that had been her answer to that question each and every time somebody asked her.
What are you going to name him?
And yes, everybody asked her; and yes, everybody, including Shy, was getting frustrated with that answer. It was Easy that gave Shy the inspiration to come up with a name for their son.
One afternoon while Shy was feeding him, Easy came running in the room and sat down next to his mother and new baby brother.
“Hey, little Prince.”
“I thought that you were the little Prince?”
“I was, but now he’s the little Prince. Daddy’s the king, and one day I’m going to secede him as king of The Family, and the little Prince will secede me,” Easy said, repeating the words that RJ had said to him the night before. “And we are going to be great and powerful kings of The Family,” Easy said emphatically, with his arms extended.
Although she shook her head in amusement, it gave Shy an idea. Her son would be king, and she set out to do some research. That’s when she came across Mansa Kankan Musa, The Richest African Warrior.
Mansa is the Mandinkan word meaning king, sultan, or emperor. It was particularly associated with the Keita Dynasty of the Mali Empire, which dominated West Africa from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. The powers of the mansa included the right to dispense justice and to monopolize trade, particularly in gold.
During his reign, the extremely powerful leader was able to conquer twenty-four cities. By the time of his death he had amassed a fortune which, adjusted for inflation, would have set Mansa Musa’s net worth at well over four hundred billion dollars.
“Yeah,” Shy said, nodding her head. “That’s my son.”
So, despite the fact that the name began with an M, something else Shy said she wasn’t going to do, she named their son Mansa.
“It works, especially since everybody calls him Man anyway.” Black laughed when she told him.
As for Valencia, the meeting, which turned out to be more than just a formality to address any final concerns and answer any open questions, was attended by Meka, Donald Anthony, the vice president of operations, and James Cox, the director of information technology. Also, in attendance was Jaila Bell, the head of the finance division. Although she spearheaded the initiative, they were talking about spending money now, so Jaila asked the majority of the questions.
At the conclusion of the nearly three-hour meeting, Valencia and her associates left the conference room. Although she was blindsided by Jaila, the meeting went well and she may have made the deal, but she left there knowing that she hadn’t even scratched the surface of her real objective—bringing Mike Black to the table.
As they walked away, chatting about how the meeting went, Valencia saw Shy come out of her office and head toward the reception desk. She quickly told Drew and Christian to go ahead without her.
“I’ll meet you back at the office and we’ll discuss final thoughts and next steps,” she said, and slowed her pace to wait for Shy.
“Are you finished for the day, Mrs. Black?” Lenecia asked as Shy got closer.
“Yes, I have a meeting this afternoon,” she said, and that was when she saw Valencia walking toward the exit.
“Have a good afternoon.”
“You, too, Lenecia,” Shy said and waited for her. “How did your meeting with Michael go?” she asked, as Valencia held the door open for her, and they walked out of the building together.
“I think that it went fine.” Valencia let out a little giggle. “I didn’t get a chance to meet with your husband.”
“Yes, and I’m so sorry about that. I understand that Michael had another meeting that he couldn’t get away from,” Shy said, knowing that the meeting that he couldn’t get away from was with her.
What actually happened was that he’d spent most of that time in her office, talking about where they wanted to take the family on vacation.
“He did stick his head in the door, said ‘Morning everybody; good to see you, Valencia,’ and then he was gone again.”
Shy knew that too because it was her idea that he stop in for a minute. “That sounds like Michael,” she laughed.
Seems like she’s really looking forward to talking to you. The least you could do is stop in and say hello, Shy encouraged.
“Well, it was truly a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Black,” Valencia said, quickly fishing a business card from her satchel.
“Good to meet you, too, Ms. DeVerão.”
