Pink Dandelion Quarterly_Fall 2020

Bon Voyage

An excerpt from the Wattpad novel, The Middle Passage

By Cynthia Dagnal-Myron

So, as soon as I got home that night, some little high yellow heifer I'd never seen before rang the doorbell.

You young folks don't know what a "high yellow" heifer is, do you? Back in the day those were the Beyoncés. Or that "Becky With the Good Hair" even she's scared of. Light-skinned, silky hair. Blonde or red hair maybe, sometimes. Kinda hair Beyoncé buys a ton of every year.

I went to the door all aggravated cause I had that plate Shirley promised me. Woman's catfish'll make you slap your grandma. Church begs her to sell plates. Probably paid for every hymn book and choir robe they've had for the past few years.

Anyway, I snatched open the door and Missy Thing shoved this manila envelope at me and said, "Damon say to give you that."

Now, I didn't know her. But I could tell she knew me. That's what the attitude was about. Somebody had told her how I feel about girls showing up at the door asking for my boys.

And she was just the kind I warned them about. All painted up and wearing some of those little booty shorts they actually walk up and down the halls at school in. Have a big old "cuff" on 'em so they can pull them down over those "cheeks" if we get after 'em. But as soon as they get out of the principal's office, they roll that back up. Higher than before, if they can.

These lil' bitches are shameless nowadays. Tryin'a do what they see in those videos.

So, I said, "Child, what is this and who are you?"

And she goes, "You ain't got to be all mean'n' shit." Widening her eyes to show me she wasn't afraid of me or anybody else.

But Sarita came out of the kitchen then and said, "Tanaya, don't be cussin' at my Mama like that."

And Miss Tanaya folded her arms over her perky little teenage titties and said, "That's from Damon. Axed us to sell some stuff was over my house."

"Over your house?" I said.

But Sarita butted in with, "Well, you done what you came to do. Gon' back home."

And Tanaya gave me one last little glare before she went strutting off. And that's when Denisha and Vanessa came running from back in the house somewhere with all these video games and things in their arms.

Denisha was holding the thing they played them on, too. One they got for Christmas year before. I don't know what they call them. Playstation or something?

And she said, "We gon' sell this, too."

And I said, "Baby, y'all begged me to get you one o' those things."

"Damon the only one ever plays with it," Denisha said. "But he can't play it where he is now."

I turned to my daughter, but she just opened the envelope and took out a big old stack of bills.

And said, "Well, I bet you can go to Mexico now, Mama!"

I folded my arms and said, "With that money? I don't think so!"