SAIL AWAY

I AM BLACK, I AM BEAUTY

DEDICATION: I'M DEDICATING THIS CHAPTER TO @1901PHOTOGRAPH. THANKS FOR THE AMAZING COVER.

I AM BLACK, I AM BEAUTY.

"shes *sobbs* she's dead"

Pia shook away the events of the previous week. Remembering the call she had gotten. she had almost collapsed on the spot.
The lady on the phone had refused to be audible and had cried for a very long time without necessarily making any sense at all. Piaget had felt a part of herself die inside. Her mum was the only family she had left. The rest she had disassociated with. Her being dead meant Piaget would be all alone. She had later learnt that the dead lady was not her mother but in fact none other than the idealist. J. Johnson.
She was an older lady that had trained Pia during her early adolescence and teenage age, when her and her mother were rendered homeless.
Their house located near a bakery and though it wasn't the best or most comfortable, it was home. One morning, the bakery had caught fire when they were about to start their rounds for the day. There was a lapse in cleaning and an oven had caught fire; burning the place to the ground and taking three others around it, including theirs with it. Her mother had been left with no option than to have her stay with the lady as she sort work and a new shelter.

J. Johnson was a kind lady in her sixties at that moment and was running an unaccredited daycare and housing facility. Paris was a new strange place to her and tho it still held the appeal of the city of love, she never saw that beauty, and quite frankly, she was too young to care. She was one of the oldest children there as most of the women that patronised Johnson were young mothers who had to work late. After about a month, a new girl about her age had joined -Charlotte. She and Pia had bonded and she had managed to become Pias only childhood friend. J Johnson had been a nice lovely caramel colored lady. Looking at her, one could tell that she was much fairer when she was younger and was in fact a most beautiful lady. Too close to being perfect, she had had a little issue. She was an idealist and had suffered from OCD.
She had treated Charlotte and Pia like her own. Rumour had it that her biological children were murdered during a riot on their way back from school. Some angry french men had decided to take their anger out on the little colored children.

Charlotte and Pia were the only colored children that J. Johnson was minding at the moment. She had thought them to believe in themselves, set goals and strive to achieve them and also accept their identity and not pretend that it was a mere passing phase. While Charlotte had readily accepted her identity as a Latin American and had proudly spoken her language in public and during altercation with others. Pia hadn't accepted the fact that she was black. She had somehow been made to think of it as a bad thing and that had also affected her self confidence.

Her father was a black cuban that had travelled out of the carribeans looking for greener pastures and when he had gotten to Europe, had fallen in love with her mother. A young African lady from Nigeria and had taken her to be his bride.
Pia wasn't the darkest of blacks but the fact that her skin wasn't pale white as the others were had affected her outlook on life. In a society that claimed racial equality and no prejudice , she had first hand witnessed the mannerism with which other serving blacks had been treated and had even been a victim of racial discrimination both at school and at the park and other such other public places.
By the time her mother had found stable employment and a house which was about three years later when she was 14, she had left the Johnson homes a different person. One who appreciated diversity and saw the beauty in uniqueness and being different.
With the new self confidence and love she had developed the energy to bloom into the woman she was today. They had lost contact with J. Johnson after that as her illegal business had Been reported after a few months. She had left Charlotte her partner in crime and beloved friend
And the old lady behind. The woman had greatly influenced her. Now as a young full figured lady, she still held the love to shun all feelings of selfconsciousness and hatred for color or race. It's was utterly sad that she managed to forget those who were most important.