The day was overcast and gloomy, dark clouds, heavy with rain were ready to burst, The clouds thundered and flashed streaks of lightening across the sky line, Then droplets started falling, few at first, within a short time it turned into a heavy downpour, there was a wall of water raining down you could hardly see through, With those kind of thick cloud Malik wondered how long it will continue to rain with that intensity as he looked out the window, clenching his jaw. There he sat, at the dinner table across from his mother in silence. "I have a question. I want the truthful answer. I should have asked a long time ago" He looked at her. Her blonde hair, curled beautifully. Red lipstick also to impress his father. "What is it?"
"Why, am I this way? Am I really a Black man?" He asked, his index finger rubbing against the wooden table.
"Well no, Malik!" His mother laughed, immediately getting up from the table to begin the dishes.
Silence again.
"Sandra May said I was a Black man--"
"Don't believe that foolishness. Just another nigger trying to cause trouble" Her voice raised a little in frustration while she scrubbed a pan
"They are nothing but trouble" She gave a weak laugh and shook her head
"This doesn't make sense. Look at you-- hell, look at me...Nothing alike momma" He bit his lip. His mother dries her hands and walks over to the table, leaning on it and staring deep into Malik's eyes "Don't go around thinking you're one of them, Malik. You are a white man. A little tan ain't bad!" Her southern accent gets rough
"That isn--"
"Enough!" She yells, starting her own self. She has never yelled before.
Malik walks upstairs, bursting into his parents room while his father sits at his desk "What the hell is wrong with you boy!?" His father quickly sits his glasses down
"I'm a Black man, why haven't you told me? hm? How is this..." Malik was indeed afraid of his father who stood 6'0, lifted pounds that an average man surely couldn't. Malik turns around and see's his mother at the door, looking at his father. "What is it?" Malik raised his voice, body shaking
His mother closed her eyes "Malik...That's enough--"
"I deserve an answer. Ain't no way in hell I have two white parents and darker skin"
His father rubs his forehead
"He's gone mad, James" She says softly "He hasn't" He puts his glasses back on, now adjusting them.
"James..." She sighs "Malik you--"
He holds up his hand to quiet her. Malik stood in the middle, confused yet prepared for an answer.
"Malik, now you're about old enough to know...eh, and I shouldn't have waited this long but you paid this no mind" He began "Before you were born, Malik, your mother...Well, your mother wasn't Diane. It was a Black women"
