"Papa! I missed you!"
My little Bethany ran up to me, a whopping age of 9. I had flown down from my trip to Louisiana to our little town of Thomasville just for this occasion. Her petite little form latched to my waste and held tight as I cradled the little one like she was still 5 weeks old. Her long brown hair clumped together in tiny curls, her light caramel skin the perfect blend of black and white, but her eyes.... Oh she had her Mama's big doe eyes. Warm as hot cocoa... with a large amount of curiosity.
Made me wish she was here... My Eve...
" Well hello there little bell! How were you with Grandmamma Sweets?" I bellowed as I patted her mess of her mam's curls.
She let out a sweet laugh and looked at me happily and full of idolization... Oh how she reminded me of her...
Mamma Sweets walked into the little living room, her tall slim figure showing her graceful, tired stature as she gazed at me. Her chocolate brown skin had started to show wrinkles, her age keeping up with her profusely. Messy black curls put into a tight bun and her apron covered in splotches of batter from a strawberry cake they had just put in the oven.
"Why, Anthony sweetie bell! She was just fine, always nice to have my only grand daughter around once in a while." She said smoothly as she hugged me tightly.
"It's good to see you too Mamma Sweets, how's the baking going? Anything burnt while I was gone? I don't want to come back to a charred house!"
She guffawed and patted my cheek softly... her hands warm against the bitter cold of winter outside. The Christmas tree in the corner gleamed with the lights wrapped around it like a shawl around a woman in the cool days weather. It was Christmas after all... It was her birthday too. Made me think of all the memories we had together, sittin' next to there holding each other close against all the ridicule in the segregated war outside. Oh I remember how she glowed in the light like a queen, the light made a halo around her... making her seem like the angel she was. She was a beautiful woman...
I sometimes couldn't believe she would want to live as long as she could with someone like me... especially since she was a lone African-American beauty in a sea of Great White Sharks ready to share their crude opinions and tear her soul apart when her guard was down. I was sometimes ashamed to be of that race... with all the hate fueling our violent protests. But she always assured me...
"No race seems ever perfect honey... No one goes without their mistakes. We are human after all, we cannot live without fear and ridicule against someone at one point or another," She said as the lights made her eyes seem mischievous and passionate while gazing at me from her rocking chair, her large stomach covered with the blanket that now sat alone on the back of the chair now. With no one to sit under its warmth anymore like she used to...
It was like a lone item in a museum of memories now...
Mamma Sweets saw me staring at her daughters old chair and her sad smile showed that she knew what I was thinking of. Her eyes grew weary and her shoulders dropped a little as she stared longer at the place her daughter sat not even 3 years ago...
"You kno' I still miss her too... But she's always with us, Anthony. She always is..."
Bethany tugged my arm, asking me to tell her a story before she headed off to bed... So I scooped her up in my arms, and walked over to the rocking chair with a purpose. And sat down. Wrapping the blanket around us like a cocoon, Mamma Sweets beside us on the couch. I started to tell the story of a little Angel who had come to stop a conflict between enemies. And as I looked up I saw us in the mirror across the room. All of us
A wispy version of my Eve standing behind the chair and leaning over it lazily, like she always did when we told Bethany a story. She looked at me in the mirror too, her warm smile inviting me to go on. Her long floor length white gown and halo shining as bright as her eyes, her chocolate brown skin and dark messy raven black curls a sharp contrast to my pale blonde hair, hazel eyes, and milk white skin. Bethany looked in the mirror, her eyes landing on the figure of her Mother. And she smiled sweetly.
" Happy Birthday, Mommy..."
Eve smiled brighter and we heard a loving whisper soon before she left us again with her warmth.
"Merry Christmas, Baby..."
Now every Christmas we sit at that chair, surrounded by her embrace every time...
