WHAT HAD HAPPEN WAS~

‘Oh my goodness, that can’t be Cheryl…” Aida looked across the room of the Laundromat. Aida was in town visiting her family and wanted to do her laundry all at once, so she had driven to the spanking new Laundromat. It had been years since she had been in one, though her young life before college and becoming a sought after sports attorney had found her doing the laundry every Saturday morning. Her mother, Elise, was a single mother of four girls and as the oldest, Aida did laundry for everyone. She had hated it then, but was now grateful. Elise had died year ago, but the Smith girls were all successful and a long way from that two bedroom apartment on the avenue. Michelle was a nurse practitioner, still living in the hometown. She was married with two sons. Eliza was a chef living in France and the baby, Marta was working on her PHD in African-American literature while working as a professor. The girls were proof that love, discipline and smarts could move you from the hood. Aida had spent the week with her sister after mourning her mom and not coming home for year. It had been a bittersweet visit. But, she had enjoyed being auntie to the boys.

Looking again, she knew it was Cheryl and she could only wonder what happened to her. Her mind floated back to twenty years ago when they had both been twelve-year old spelling prodigies. The only two Black girls in the bee, they had stood until there were only the two of them. Aida finally won by spelling, ‘egregious’ and defining it after Cheryl missed it. They had high-fived each other as they left the podium. It was nice to be two Black girls from the wrong side of the track who had beat out thirty of what were considered to be the smartest kids in the district. Cheryl and Aida weren’t friends beyond school because Elise didn’t approve the lack of discipline in their lives. But they coexisted peacefully. Rumor had it that Cheryl had been pregnant on that day. That summer Elise had finally become a nurse and had moved her kids from the hood. Aida never saw Cheryl again. Standing up she knew she was going to talk to her.

“I hope she don’t come over here, she looks really good, somebody told me she was a lawyer or some shit…” Cheryl thought those words as she kept her head down, folding clothes. She knew she looked a mess with her missing teeth, broken off hair and the fact that she had given birth to nine kids in the last twenty years didn’t help either. For the first time she had to admit she was ashamed of herself. She could smell expensive perfume and knew she had to look up. She stared defiantly into Aida’s dark-chocolate face and all she could see was compassion. Looking at her from head to toe she had to admit she looked awesome. But, she always had. Even when poor her mom had made them nice clothes that looked expensive.

“Cheryl..?”

“Yeah, it’s me, how are you?” Cheryl literally sucked down tears.

“What happened?” Aida was as startled to hear the question come out of her mouth as Cheryl was. But she knew exactly what Aida meant. Squaring her shoulders, pulling the ragged sweater around her shoulders, she decided to answer.

“You want to know what happened, well life happened. I had my first baby the summer after eighth grade. My mama let me move into the projects and by the time I looked around I had a house full of kids, no husband, a drug habit and I was tired. Now here I am thirty-three years old with four kids at home, no education and a sixty year old sugar-daddy I can’t stand the sight of, but he pays the bills.” The hard words hit Aida’s ears like a hammer. She could hear, see and feel the pain in her friend’s words. Reaching over, she pulled her into an embrace. With great reluctance, Cheryl relaxed into her embrace. Finally, she pulled away. She had just made a decision.
“If you let me, I think I can help you.”

“How?” Cheryl was wary of anyone offering to help her.

“I am going to return here to open up my own law office. I have an extensive client base and I need a secretary and a couple of paralegals. I can hire you as a secretary and pay for your education, if you are interested in becoming a legal assistant in a year.” Cheryl allowed hope to enter her heart.

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I can, I have been so blessed and I want to do something other than earn money and write checks. And it is time for me to stop running and come home. Mostly, it is because I remember how smart you are and I know you would be good.”

“You would hire me an ex-junkie and someone who never really liked you.” Aida smiled at that.

“Absolutely, so long as you are an EX-junkie and you don’t have to like me, just work hard. What do you say?” Fear and excitement raced through Cheryl’s veins. She had been looking for a better life and one stood in front of her dressed to kill. She knew she had to say yes, because she may never get another chance. Aida was also excited and though a bit scared she knew it was right. The two women stood looking at each other. Finally Cheryl said, ‘Okay, I will give it a try, but I keeps it real.”

“I’m sure. I wouldn’t want it any other way. By the way the starting pay is 37G‘s.” The shocked look on Cheryl’s face warmed her heart.

“Then how much does it pay to be a paralegal?”

“Much, much more…” Aida said as she walked out the door with a smile on her face.

“See you in two weeks.” Cheryl stared after the woman who in the span of several minutes had changed her life.

Assume the Position

To really get anything done, we are going to have the assume the position,
The position of personal responsibility and non-excuse making,
Something that SAVED me,
Was my ability to see my responsibility in a situation,
Make no excuses for me and do what needed to be done,
Because by age thirteen I knew that there were stacked decks,
I was daughter of a single mom,
I didn't live in the best place, chaos reigned supreme on 20th Ave. for real,
A rough three years~
There were adult choices being made that didn't necessarily take me into consideration,
But I wanted something,
To do something,
And in order to get there I had to do it,
Thanks be to GOD,
I assumed a position of weird maturity so young,
And even more thanks that I didn't hold anyone responsible for me,
I worked hard in school,
I worked on the same job all the way through high school,
I saved my money,
I always looked forward,
Were there times I was tired, angry and didn't feel it was fair,
Damn right!
But I did not allow that to stop me from handling my business,
The same was true when I got married,
Oh Lord was things different,
And hard but again my goal was to take responsibility for the position I had assumed,
And thanks be to God for that,
Because there are certainly any number of times I could have left or been left,
But here we are through the Grace~
Same held true for becoming a Mama,
Uhn, Uhn, Uhn~
Honey that was sure enough hard,
In a foreign country, money tight, no one most times to do it but me,
Man a soldier gone alot,
But there I went,
Assuming the postion,
Learning the language, stretching the dollar, never borrowing a dime,
Didnt send the kids home,
Found a job,
Took some classes,
Made it work,
Assumed the position of a grown woman,
Knowing that on any given day,
I could have blamed,
Daddy,
Mama,
Society,
But no thank you very much...
I was in it to win it and no one was responsible for me but me,
And that is my position~
ASSUMED~

SMOOCHES!
angelia~