Chapter 14

The living room’s bay window was a one-way portal into the past. From where Karisma sat, in a comfortable chocolate brown lounger off to the far side of the room, she had an excellent view high into the budding foliage of the majestic maple tree that dominated the front yard. The hottest of southern summers failed to produce sunlight strong enough to pierce the thick canopy that deprived the room of natural light. She gnawed her lip to avoid thinking about what or rather who she would

not see no matter how hard she stared.

Her little brother.

Fearless and 100% alpha boy, Wissy was 7 years old when he climbed higher than he ever had before, against his mother and older sister’s admonishments, and without hesitation leaped as if he was some kind of bird. Hearts in throats, they had been sure he was dead when he hit the ground like a ton of bricks. A collective sigh of relief was breathed when he raised his head and said slightly amused, “Mommy, pick me up before I get dirty!” His Mommy had gotten him up, into a car, and to the nearest emergency room where she had been further relieved to learn that her little boy wasn’t going to be crippled for life. Quite the contrary, he had bugged the hell out of her and the whole household for the next six weeks, as his legs healed inside of plaster casts bandaged in red that greatly reduced his mobility. During his convalescence, he had happened upon the movie ‘Forrest Gump’ on TV and convinced he could also overcome, devised ways to walk without crutches and even tried to run with simultaneously humorous and worrying results. He never let anything stand in his way.

             “Why are you crying Mommy?” Hayvn asked wiping at her face with her own small hands.

“Shhhhh.” Karisma hushed her softly. “Your G’Mama is talking to the reporter so we need to be quiet, okay?”

Her tears continued to flow though as she focused not on the tree but rather on the sill of the bay window itself, where an inquisitive and studious little girl had once perched herself to devour book after book. A drawn curtain would make No-No invisible in her own home or so she had believed. Karisma wondered now if her sister ever realized how she must have looked sitting there in the window with her books like a doll posed in a display case. She had never accepted it, but most would have agreed No-No was quite a striking if not beautiful child.

When Hayvn grew older, her mother was eager to see if she would do the things her younger siblings once did: climb the maple tree, read in the window, jump on the trampoline, or help clean out the manmade pond out back with her delicate feet caked with yellow clay dancing in response to the pet store purchased fish nipping at her ankles. She had not wanted this child when a series of bad rebellious choices led to the conception and her own mother wouldn’t hear of abortion or adoption, but five years down the road she wanted nothing more than the child’s security and wellbeing. It was Karisma’s greatest wish that Hayvn never be taken from this home against her will as the long-forgotten uncle and aunt had.

Dorinda glanced over at the two of them from the couch in the center of the room, in front of which a laptop was open on the coffee table. A faint smile crossed her lips when she caught sight of her ever-bubbly granddaughter. In the moments before she laid her soul bare to a perfect stranger she needed all the moral support she could get. Especially since her remaining children had refused.

             Ibrahim, as respectfully albeit bluntly as he could, had adamantly refused to publicly humiliate himself by shamelessly pandering for sympathy from and telling all of their family’s personal business to total strangers. He strongly felt their primary concern should be locating Wissy’s body for proper burial in the plot he’d already purchased and figuring out what really happened to both children, rather than trying to get 15 minutes of fame for themselves. Thanks to the earlier lecture about the dangers of telling their family’s business to strangers on social media, Karisma felt like nothing short of an attention w***e and did not need further persuasion to get off of the bandwagon.

What do you think this is going to accomplish, Mama? There’s nothing the media can do for you that we can’t! Your loud mouth daughter runs her mouth online on nearly a daily basis creating drama and if you think offering a reward will help us get Wisdom’s body back, well I’ve got money in the bank same as Isaac, except it’s all legal….

Dorinda, who had taken strong offense to internet slander once made aware of it, had refused to hear her eldest son’s reasoning. She was grateful that Karisma had attempted to defend her against the endless onslaught of hatred and negativity. With each passing day, her anger and frustration grew, and now more than ever she felt a need to be heard. These were her children and hers’ alone, and there was no one more qualified to set the record straight about all matters regarding them from conception to crypt than her, the devastated mother who had ultimately failed them.

“I’m gonna go to G’Mama.” Hayvn said suddenly wriggling to be put down on her feet off her mother’s lap.

For some reason, perhaps an intuitive sense, Karisma released her and allowed her to cross the room, where she was welcomed into her adored grandmother’s arms and nestled her head against the soft shiny cacao skin of the woman’s shoulder. It was a touching scene to anyone except those with the hardest of heart and caused a lump in Karisma’s throat because again she was filled with sad nostalgia. One of the pictures she had picked and put up in a secure location to go in Wissy’s casket for the day when they were finally able to bury him, had been taken on that very same couch. Taken by a 12 or 13-year-old Isaac, who was in his middle school’s photography club, it showed their mother with a 7-year-old Wissy on her lap and 5-year-old No-No somehow fitted in front of him, her arms around them both as she read them a book. They had all looked so content and peaceful, which made it a true memento of their lost childhood.

Get it together, girl! What the hell is the wrong with you and why are trying to make this whole fiasco seem so sad and tragic?

Abruptly, unable to withstand the stiflingly depressing atmosphere any longer, Karisma rose to her feet and walked out. She left the house with all of its’ painful memories, got into her dated but reliable car, and drove away as she had innumerable times in the past. For the first time since that earthshattering phone call in the middle of the night, she rued the day her mother ever brought that white man’s love children home.

Her guilt had held her hostage long enough and was finally beginning to take a toll on her.

The pain was too much to bare and so she simply refused, running as fast and far as she could with no plans of ever looking back.

 

 

Author's Note

Please feel free to leave honest critiques and let me know what isn't working.

Reviews

[SweetNutmeg]

Goodness, Karisma is leaving?? For good??

This chapter was full of descriptions that brought things alive for me. I love the image of No-No in the bay window. And we all know at least one boy (or man) who decides that jumping from on top of a house or out of a tree is a good idea.

A few minor errors:

pierce the thick canape that deprived the room of natural light.

The word you want is canopy not canape.

or help clean out the manmade pond out back with her delicate feet caked with yellow clay dancing in response to the pet store purchased fish nipping at her ankles.

This was terribly awkward and I had trouble figuring out what you were trying to say.

[MeratheRestless]

"or help clean out the manmade pond out back with her delicate feet caked with yellow clay dancing in response to the pet store purchased fish nipping at her ankles."

You're correct. That is very awkward. Any ideas how I could rephrase it?

[SweetNutmeg]

Hmm... the main problem is that you are trying to attach this idea/image to a list of simple things. It really deserves a sentence to itself. And I'm not sure how you could either make the image clear within the current long sentence, or how to add it in as a separate sentence. Let me think about it.