Shelton Family Saga

Chapter 55

Frankie - 2021

Harvey Greene is my real father. I shouldn't be shocked, cause I don't even remotely resemble Juntas Callie; so why I never figured out he wasn't my real dad, I honestly don't know. In retrospect, I surmise I never focused much attention on it. My life had always been so easy-going, I never conjured up the inclination to question it. Juntas, with his toasted caramel skin tone, and I, with my naturally dark black coffee complexion resembled in no manner at all. I guess i just figured I took everything after my momma Aniya since we had plenty of resembling features; however, I never imagined her to be my auntie. And, she never did anything, emotionally or verbally, to let on I wasn't biologically her child. Now that I think about it, I was scolded more by Aunt Brisha than I was by Aniya. I didn't think much of it at the time, cause that's just what aunties do, spoil you and scold you, so that your parents don't have to. I didn't see her that much growing up, but whenever I did, she was usually correcting me in some manner, telling me to straighten up my posture or tie my shoes. I remember those things from when I was little. One time she did something really cruel, though. It was a scorching hot Summer day. I think it had to be the Fourth of July. I can't recall for sure if it was, but I believe it was, cause she had come to our house and brought a gift. It was a huge, oval, dark green watermelon. I remember my cousin Sharbie was there with me and some other kids from our neighborhood in Helmsville. The sun was shining so bright that day as we all watched her sit that huge watermelon on the picnic table we had in the yard. She had went inside the house and came back outside with a knife to cut it into pieces so all us kids could have a piece. She'd told us to stay outside and enjoy our watermelon, and to let her know as soon as we were done before having discarded anything. As we alerted her we finished the melon, she made us all wash our faces in the rind and then stand in the sun as it dried. Sharbie, myself and the other kids did as we were told as she and Juntas watched and laughed so hard. It was sheer torture. All us kids were drenched in our own salty sweat in addition to the stickiness that molded our faces and fingers into temporary immobile inconveniences. We couldn't wait for her to disappear back inside the house so we could grab the garden hose and get ourselves washed up. I also remember the first time she saw me with a boy. We had moved to Velma by this time, and I was fourteen. I was walking home. Really, I was being carried as I was on the back of the football teams star linebacker. He was carrying me piggy back style and the route we were walking, no one should have seen us, but her and my real dad, Harvey Greene, had driven by and they stopped the car. She had her window rolled down and softly told me I needed to be careful and not let my parents find out, cause they might not like me being seen in public doing that. They knew the pastor and first lady I was living with would be mad about my sexuality becoming the talk of the town, thus impeding on their reputation at the church. I smiled at her and said, "Okay" as Harvey just watched expressionless. I remember being so grateful I had such a cool auntie who didn't judge me. Two years following that incident, I became open with my sexuality, and when the first lady discovered it, she quickly tried to secretly force me into conversion therapy. In 1991, conversion therapy as we know it today wasn't a thing, but it still existed, if only by a different name. It was such a bummer for my self esteem that after a year, I just ditched everything, including school. I was seventeen, a dropout, and on my way North to explore and find myself. In my quest for self discovery, I ended up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, which is where I met Troy. Him and I became great friends, and even better lovers, but it didn't last long as we were both on a search for emotional freedom. After a year with Troy, I ended up traveling further up the Midwest landing in Kansas. I didn't think I would be staying there long; but, I bumped into Juntas who was passing through on his trucking route, and he loaded me up with a delicious meal from the steakhouse and even more so with a stash of cash. He was making money hand over fist and didn't really have anyone to spend it on since my mom Aniya had passed away; so I used my newfound loot to settle myself in Kansas by getting an apartment, and eventually meeting Corey. I stayed there with Corey for two years and by that time, I was twenty and heavy into doing drag shows. Corey had some kind of side hustle going on for himself that kept him busy, so I just followed my own money trail and headed back to Velma for more stability while still competing in drag shows full time. A year back in Velma, and my young life was all the rage. Sharbie had come to town and life couldn't have been any better. I was living my wildest dreams and it was all gas no brakes, cause I had no intention of slowing down or stopping at all. That was until Sharbie decided to run off to Hollywood leaving me behind in small town hell, and Corey came to Velma crashing my party.