Something New | Taraji x Fantasia

Something Old

Today was my 50th birthday. I've got a house full of people celebrating a milestone I never thought I would reach.

I wish my mother was here to see me and sing to me in her sweet harmonious voice. I remember the tone and brightness of her voice when she started humming a familiar tune.

Hey baby, come on over here and sit, I'm gonna teach you how to sew. I'm giving you this cloth and this thread. I need you to watch me first. First you put the needle under, pull that needle and the thread through the cloth, the same way to pull it through you bring the needle back to where you started. She instructed as she demonstrated another time before she handed me the material.

What is sewing mama? And why do I need to learn it again? I asked her looking at the material and now her teary eyes. A woman should always have a trade, whether you cook, clean, or sew. I saw a tear drop down my mothers face.

Why are you crying mama? I asked with a genuine gaze in her eyes.

I just love you baby, that's all.

Hey Celie, I have a present for you. I made this some years ago and I finally got the record, I hear coming from Shug. I looked in her eyes with tears forming smiling wide with the gift in my hand.

*End Scene*

Cut! yells the director. That is a wrap for today. We have everything we need for the scene, good work everyone. Through the chatter, the director instructs everyone that the call time for tomorrow is 7:00 am.

*Click*
9:45 pm my phone reads as I finally have a moment to check my phone.
* 1 missed call *Mom*
*1 voicemail
* 10 mail notifications
* 100+ Instagram
* 100+ X
* No older notifications
*Click*

I thought he would call, I said to myself. I make my way to the trailer to take the memory of today off.

Before I know it, almost an hour has passed since we wrapped for the day. I sit in the seat to have my prosthetics removed. Once the trailer is cleared, I remove the clothing from the scene and hang them up. I put on my clothes from this morning and I look at my self in the mirror. I look tired.

I'm missing home more today than any other day. I think to myself and then I hear my phone vibrating on the vanity. I make my way over to my phone anticipating its who I think it is.

I look down at my phone and read the time 10:50pm before I glance at the Caller ID.

*TARAJI P. HENSON* flashes across the screen.

I'm too tired to deal with people I've spent all day with. I watch the phone ring out and proceeded to gather the last of my things before exiting the trailer.

I sigh in relief, for the first time in weeks I made it to my car with no one noticing me leaving. I open the door and ease my self into the drivers seat and place my bags on the passengers seat for a moment as I adjust myself. I beginning moving my bags to the space on the ground behind the passengers seat. I sit in the car for a while, appreciating the moment I have to myself.

This role was becoming more difficult the closer it gets to the end of filming. For a moment I am lost in my thoughts of the scene I just finished. I reach back to grab my phone from my purse.

*Click*

" I wonder if he'll pick up" I said as I scrolled through my contacts with tears forming blurring my vision in my right eye and then my left. I blink to bring some clarity to what was on the screen. Before I know it I have tears escaping my eyes. I move swiftly in attempt to wipe the tears away before it touches my cheeks, not fast enough. I am now sitting in a puddle of my own tears, staring at my phone.