AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As I called my mother back, I leaned in close to her and for her ears only said, “Keep talking shit and I’ma withhold this old dick.”
She kissed me. “That’s a lie if I ever heard one.”
I smiled. “And you know it.”
“Hello?” filled my ear, and I leaned back in my chair.
“Hey, Ma. Sorry I missed your call. What’s up?”
“You sound happy,” my mother said instead of answering my question.
“I am. Very,” I shared.
“It was good for you to go to Romey. You found your heart there. Remember what I told you?”
She’d told me a lot over the years, of course, but I knew exactly what she was referring to and instantly I was back in her kitchen three years earlier.
Sharla and Jovani had just left, and Mama and I were sitting at the kitchen table while Rabbit finished up his cornbread and buttermilk.
With no preamble, my mother began to speak. “You were led to come here because of the ancestors.”
“The ancestors?” I said, as confused as ever when it came to the stuff my mother said.
“Yes. I have a message for you, son. You’re going to face something, a test that will change the very fabric of who you are. It will break you down, but you’ll come out of it stronger and better and with a reward you’ve only dreamed of having.”
“Cancer was the test. Brooklyn is the reward,” I nearly whispered.
“Yes! But she’s not the only one. I called to ask you to do something for me,” my mother said.
“You know all you gotta do is ask.”
“Watch the news tonight.”
“The news?”
“Yes. It should be covered on all the major outlets because it’s a big story.”
“Okay?” I said slowly.
“Tell Brooklyn I said hello and thank her for me.”
“For what?”
“For pulling you out of the hole you were in before you left here.”
“I will.”
CHAPTER29
VANN
“Good evening. This is Trina Jacobs with BNN—news for us, by us—as we join a press conference broadcasting live from the governor’s mansion in Jackson, Mississippi.”
The TV screen switched from the serious looking sister in a purple dress to an empty podium flanked by the American flag and the Mississippi state flag. I sat on Brooklyn’s sofa next to her as Bailey sat on the floor doing her homework.
“You okay?” Brooklyn asked.
Glancing at her, I answered, “Yeah, why?”
