ALL SKINFOLK AIN'T KINFOLK

Ten years ago, I purchased a beautiful gold antique pocket watch with the engraved initials "E.R.A. "

Also, I was able to score an old Tiffany & Co. Return to Tiffany Tag Necklace and Bracelet in Silver and a pair of ladies Sperry Navy sneakers in a size nine and half. I was so happy with this haul especially since I only paid $50 altogether.

Little did I know that my little weekly thrift store and antiquing outing for my online vintage store called Poor Little Rich Girl would end up allowing me to become a time traveler.

I thought I had scored big by just discovering a pocket watch that had my initials on it. I have always been a huge history buff.

My name is Evelyn Rosalyn Amiss.

 I have been traveling for so long through different time periods. I almost forgot what era I am really from until I heard two Englishmen in 1830 at a pub called "Illusions" say the phrase "Unfortunately Samuel couldn't save him! By the time, he finally arrived back he was too deep in thug life!"

Instantly, I thought about the first time I heard 2Pac song "Thug Life" playing on my dear departed mother's Mercedes Benz car radio while driving home from high school with her. I was sixteen years old and living in Queens, New York with my maternal family. It was Friday, September 28, 1994, on my grandmother's birthday. We were excitedly discussing our plans for her big party that night.

This is really a bittersweet memory for me.

That was the last birthday I ever shared with them. They were all killed in a drunk driver fatal car accident a month later. My mother, grandmother, grandfather, aunt and cousin were traveling back from a sushi restaurant when the accident occurred three blocks from our home. I hate sushi so I didn't go with them. I was able to treat myself to a Philly cheesesteak sub, instead while hanging outside with my friends. To this day, I hate the sight of sushi.

I was already a big fan of 2Pac. The song started playing on repeat in my head as I listened to the two Englishmen tell their tale of another doomed from the beginning interracial love affair.

Kill, kill, kill
Kill, kill, kill

[Verse 1]
Raised by thugs schooled by killers
I learned mathematics from big-time dealers
So how the fuck these love to see a nigga fallin'
Pop the Glock, suckas plottin' on a playa 'cause he's ballin'
Up early in the mornin' four deep
Creepin' in my Jeep, nigga real thugs don't sleep
You'll never kill a real g, feel me

Suddenly, I missed the 21st century, I realized I was finally ready to go home and face the music. I have avoided handling my business long enough. These two Englishmen don't know how much their tale of family drama unfolding in Bombay, India speaks to my past open wounds.

The British East India Company arrived in India in the early 1600s, struggling and nearly begging for the right to trade and do business. Within 150 years the thriving firm of British merchants, backed by its own powerful private army, was essentially ruling India.

In the 1800s English power expanded in India, as it would until the mutinies of 1857-58. After those very violent spasms things would change, yet Britain was still in control. And India was very much an outpost for the mighty British Empire.

They speak of their uncle Duke Charles Manning being sent to the Seven Islands of Bombay, India by order of the royal crown to assist with reshaping the city with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all seven islands into a single amalgamated mass in 1782.

He took his whole family due to the fact it was believed to be a long-standing post.

I had traveled to all Seven Islands of Bombay during the Portuguese Rule from 1534-1661. I had a lot of mischievous fun.