I cry for me. My best friend is gone...my soulmate. We will never be together again...ever.
Alaya is only four years old and sees her mommy bawling. Alaya sits beside me, rubbing my hand. I wish she didn't have to see me like this. So, broken. So, shattered. But I couldn't help myself. My Bobby is dead. Oh God! Our Bobby is dead. Alaya, your daddy is gone forever. But thank God she doesn't quite understand. She cried when she heard the tragic news. But then we told her he was now an angel watching over us and he will always be our protector. That sort of calm her down. But Alaya is growing up. She'll understand the full story someday and she will cry again. Harder next time. With more understanding and a cutting pain. I bawl some more. No one can hush me at Bobby's funeral. Nobody! I am crying for my Bobby. He will never see Alaya graduate high school. Never attend a father and daughter dance. Never see her get married.
***
Bobby was two years older than me. He was Aunt Peaches child. Aunt Peaches was my mother's best friend who was married to Pastor Donald. Pastor Donald was head of the Rugged Cross Pentecostal church in Dawkins town, Albany, Georgia. So, my best friend was a PK. Pastor's Kid. And back in the day, he was far from being an angel, but he was always my angel. And as God lives, he died an angel. His place in glory is secure.
My first memory of Bobby Dickens was us playing inside the church between the pews.
I must have been a little older than Alaya when this big tooth bright eye boy tagged me for the first time. "You are it!" He said and ran away. I chased after him but could never catch up. Bobby was fast. We played other games together like hide and seek, and baseball. We grew into a big family, Bobby and me. I had two younger siblings, Keisha and my baby brother Roger. Bobby had one younger brother named Dwayne. The group of us became the Ferocious Five and Bobby was the ringleader. The name suited us. We were troublemakers.
YOU ARE READING
A Dark Sun
RomanceValerie loved Bobby. Bobby loved Valerie. Everyone in the community knew it, though the two tried to keep their relations secret. They were childhood friends who grew to be lovers. But they were black. And black people can find themselves in the...
