Chapter 2

“The trouble with the future is that it usually arrives before we’re ready for it.” A. Glasow

 

Adanya clung to her father’s arm as they pushed through the crowd of Grizzlies fans and into the FedEx Forum.

“Daddy, I have a feeling we’re going to win tonight.”

Kenneth Anniston squeezed his daughter’s forearm. “We better win after having to fight through traffic, not to mention this huge crowd. I don’t think we’ve been to a game this season with as many people turning out tonight. But it’s the first time in a while that we’ve been on a winning streak like this. It looks like we’re going to be good contenders for a championship team this year.”

“Whatever you say,” agreed Adanya. “Do you think those two guys that call themselves

Grizzlies Super Fans will be here tonight?” Adanya laughed as they inched closer to the entrance of the FedEx Forum.

“They always are,” Kenneth Anniston answered.

“I hope we’re lucky enough to be sitting close to them. You know those guys are all over the Forum on game night.”

“Yeah, I know and I’m like you, I hope our season tickets pay off and they’re sitting in our section. Wouldn’t it be a riot?”

They finally made it inside the congested Forum and took off toward the direction of their seats.

Adanya relished the chance to hang out with her father. For her, as long as he was in her life there was no need for her to be involved with anyone.

The game ended with the Grizzlies winning again. To top it off, she and her father were lucky enough to have the two, well-loved notorious Super Fans sitting in their section. After the game ended, they were able to take several pictures with the famous duo. Adanya and her father moved aside so other fans who were in line could take pictures with the Super Fans.

“Honey, I’ll be right back. I see one of my clients.” Kenneth pointed to the left of him.

“Okay, I’ll wait here,” she said as he walked off.

Adanya’s mouth opened when she saw the guy from lunch standing almost directly in front of her. He was laughing and talking with a group of people. She quickly turned her head and shuffled through the crowd toward her father, hoping that Bleak wouldn’t see her. Unfortunately, it was too late. She felt a light tap on her shoulder.

“We meet again.”

Adanya looked around. “Oh, hi.”

“See, I told you that I’ve seen you before. Probably here.”

“I don’t think so. I don’t attend these games that often.”

“Is that right? Well, seeing you here makes it my lucky night.”

“Excuse me.” Adanya rolled her eyes and walked off.

A deep crease formed on Bleak’s face as he watched her leave. He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “We’ll see each other again,” he whispered to himself, before he turned and walked back to his friends.

 

◊

 

“Daddy, you all right? You’ve barely said a word since we left the Forum.”

“I, uh was just thinking about the big win we pulled off. That was a great game.”

“Yeah, it sure was. And we got pictures too. I can’t wait to load them on my social media site.” Adanya smiled.

Kenneth reached over and patted his daughter’s hand. “Honey, where do you know that young man from?”

“Who?”

“The guy I saw you talking to.”

“Oh, I really don’t know him. I only saw him for the first time earlier today when me and Nanette went to lunch. He walked over to where we were seated and introduced himself; saying he thought he’d seen me somewhere before. He asked me my name.”

“Did you tell him?” Kenneth asked.

“No. Of course I didn’t. I don’t know anything about him.” “That’s my girl. You know I want you to meet a nice young man one day, but I don’t think he should be a white guy. You should stay within your own race. Plus, I don’t like the way he approached you. You have to learn how to discern a man’s true motives.”

“Don’t worry. You’ve taught me well. And as far as considering dating outside my race, well, I’m not trying to be racist, but the man I one day hope sweeps me off my feet will definitely be a brother.”

“Just be careful. You’re a beautiful young lady, and I know how men operate. If you have any questions, you come to me. And if you see that guy again, I want you to let me know.”

Adanya frowned. “Why? I don’t think he’s a psycho or anything. He didn’t come across like that. I think he was just flirting.”

“Still, I want you to keep your guard up. You never know what’s on these guy’s minds.”

“Yes, sir.”

On the drive home, Adanya nestled on the passenger’s side of her father’s luxury automobile. Her thoughts leaned toward Bleak. Of all people to run into, why him? What kind of name is Bleak anyway? Why am I bothered about it? Stop it, Adanya. He’s just another flirtatious man trying to get what he wants out of a woman. She would definitely take into account what her father told her.

The closer they got to home, Adanya felt herself growing weary. Her eyelids fluttered and she positioned her head comfortably on the back of the head cushion. It had been a great day and a fantastic evening.

 

◊

 

“Pumpkin. We’re home.”

Adanya raised her head suddenly. “I didn’t know I’d fallen asleep.” She opened the door, stepped outside of the car, and the two of them went inside, and out of the cold garage.

“How was the game?” her mother asked when she walked inside.

“We won.”

Kenneth gave a thumbs up sign. He walked up to his wife and kissed her on the forehead.

“Mom, Daddy, I’m going to my room. I’m exhausted.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” her mother told her.

“G’nite, Pumpkin.”

Once in her bedroom, Adanya prepared for bed and then decided to call Nanette.

“You saw him at the game? How did he look?” Nanette sounded more excited than Adanya ever had about a guy before.

“The same as when we saw him at lunch, except instead of dress slacks and a button down shirt he was in a pair of jeans and a Polo.”

“Was he with a girl?”

“I couldn’t really tell, but I don’t think so. I saw him standing with a few people. I didn’t see a girl next to him but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t with one. Anyway, who cares?”

“You care or you wouldn’t have called me to tell me.”

“Nanette, you get excited over the least bit of things. So what if I called to tell you? It doesn’t mean a thing. I just wanted to tell you because I knew you would get a kick out of it.”

“I’m glad you did. Did you tell him your name this time?”

“Nope.”

“What did your daddy have to say about him?”

“Nothing, because he wasn’t around, thank God. He saw somebody he knew so he was busy talking to them when Bleak stepped to me. Ugh, the nerve of some of these dudes. Girl, I tell you these guys will do anything to get into a girl’s-well, I’m not even going there.”

“You are judging the man without knowing anything about him. That’s totally unfair. You wouldn’t want someone doing you like that.”

“I know and you’re right. But I’m just being cautious. Most of these guys aren’t serious. All they want is sex, and white boys are no exception. And you know me; I’m not about to entertain someone like him who walks up on me like he did. He doesn’t know me from any other female out there.”

“Maybe, he wants to get to know you.”

“Look, I’m tired and I’m starting to feel bad, like I’m coming down with a bug. I’m going to lie down. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Bye.” Adanya turned back the bedspread. Before climbing underneath the cover, she knelt on her knees and prayed. Afterward she pulled the sheet and comforter up close around her neck. The winter season should explain her chill, but it had been warm inside the Forum, the car, and it definitely was warm inside the house. She tossed and turned. During the night, she started to feel feverish and her chills increased. Her body ached with every turn.

After several hours of torment, she got up, took a couple of fever reducer caplets, and drank a glass of juice. She returned to bed and with the morning light, she felt somewhat better.

 

◊

 

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Annalisse studied her daughter’s face for a few moments. “Are you feeling all right? You look a little pale.”

“I feel a little better than I did during the night. Right after I went to bed, I started having chills, and I felt feverish and achy. It’s probably a twenty-four virus, or maybe I was just plain tired.”

Like she was an infant, Adanya’s mother approached her and placed the back of her hand lightly against her forehead. “Doesn’t feel like you have a fever.”

Adanya pulled away. “I know; I told you, I’m better. I’m leaving now. I’ve got to get to work.”

“Okay, try to have a good day.”

Adanya hurried out of the door with her cream colored, wool, ruffled coat buttoned to the top of her neck. She arrived at Rhodes Communications Building, parked, and in record time, jumped out and hurried out of the cold into the warmth of the building. Toward the end of her third lecture of the morning, Adanya was feeling worse than she had the night before.

She reported to the Communications Director and informed her that she was going home. She texted Nanette and cancelled their lunch date.

On the way home, Adanya felt her body temperature rise, and her throat had begun to ache. The weather outside was also turning brutal. The frigid air reached the inside of her car and disregarded the car’s interior heat. She pushed the remote to open her side of the three-car garage when she approached her parents’ massive 5,500 square foot house. Her mother’s black BMW x6 looked like it had never moved.

Adanya envisioned her mother as one of the “Housewives of Whatever,” and smiled slightly at the thought. She got out her car and turned the garage doorknob leading into the wide open foyer. She had no idea what caused her to ease inside the house rather than announce her presence. Maybe it was the fact that she felt more awful with each step she took.

She heard her mother’s voice going a mile a minute. Annalisse did most of her business consulting from the confines of a huge home office. She was obviously on the phone, one of Annalisse’s preferred past times when she wasn’t entertaining.

“I don’t know, Kaye. It’s been twenty-two, going on twenty-three years. Imagine living with this for that long. I’m tired of hiding. I want to live my life. I want to be freed from the grips of the past.” Her mother’s voice sounded tear-filled.

Adanya remained in the entrance hall, too afraid to move. She was frozen in time. What was she talking about? Any other time she would have disregarded her mother’s conversation and went up the back stairway to her room. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but her feet held still like they were meshed in hardened stone. She continued to listen while she tipped inside the half-bath located right off of the foyer and tore a sheet of toilet tissue off its roll to wipe her running, crimson nose.

“Hold up. Adanya is grown. It’s time she knows the truth. And what about me? I’m only thirty-eight years old. I’ve done more than my share to make a good life for her. I know God has His ways. But this has truly been one of those times when I have to constantly remind myself that I’m not supposed to lean to my own understanding.”

What is she talking about? There was no retreating. She had to know what her mother was talking about, and what did she have to do with it. She took a careful position closer to the kitchen so she wouldn’t miss a word.

“I hear what you’re saying, but you know for yourself that some things that God allows are just too far-fetched. I can’t help but wonder why He does the things He does. I mean, think about my autistic twin sister. Compare her to me. Here I am, a member of Mensa, married to a good man who loves me and God with all of his heart; but because I have a womb that doesn’t ovulate, I haven’t given my husband a child. Tell me how I should make sense of that?”

Adanya felt faint. But she couldn’t stop listening.

“Yes, I hear what you’re saying, Kaye. And I am thankful. I know that the circumstances back then could have turned out different. But on the other end, I feel like me and Kenneth are reminded of our past every single, solitary day when we see Adanya. And then, my sister. Poor Anaya; it’s just hard to imagine what goes through her limited mind.”

“Sure, I hear you,” Annalisse said into the phone. “And yes, I’m appreciative that I had parents that were able to send me to college. I’m grateful that I had the chance to step up to the plate and at least try to make things easier when it came to my sister. I still can’t imagine what Anaya had to go through.”

Annalisse was silent for a few seconds on the phone, apparently listening to Kaye’s rebuttal.

“Okay, so what’s that got to do with any of this? Kenneth was blessed to start a lucrative tech business, and…so what? All of that is truly favor from God, I know. But, just try to listen to me for once. Understand where I’m coming from.”

Adanya heard her mother’s hand hit against what sounded like the granite kitchen island countertop. Her voice rose and the words that came out sounded laced with anger. “I didn’t complain, well except to you, not one time. I accepted full responsibility of raising Adanya after I finished college and so did Kenneth. Don’t get me wrong, I love her like my own. I thank God for her, but the fact remains, she’s not my child. And she needs to know that, Kaye. She deserves to know the truth.”

Adanya suddenly felt light headed. Everything around her grew dark before she collapsed. When she awakened, she was in her bed with a heavy quilt covering her body. She sat up suddenly, and surveyed her surroundings somewhat confused.

“Ahhh.” Her mother rushed inside Adanya’s bedroom while her father’s familiar footsteps trailed behind Annalisse’s. Adanya placed her head in her hands and shook from side to side.

“Adanya, baby, how are you feeling? You scared me to death. You really have it bad, don’t you? I didn’t know what to do when you passed out like that. Tomorrow, you are going to the doctor and get some antibiotics. The flu is nothing to play with.”

Adanya looked past her mother and connected with the awkward stare on her father’s face.

“Who am I?” Adanya cried. “Tell me right now.” She jumped out of the bed, balled both fists staunchly to her side, and started screaming like a toddler having a tantrum.

“Settle down, Pumpkin.” Her father walked closer to her and encircled her body in his arms, but Adanya pulled out of his hold. “What’s wrong? Do we need to take you to the ER?” he asked.

“No, I don’t need to see a doctor, and I’m not your pumpkin. I want to know what’s going on. I heard you, mother, or whoever you are,” Adanya continued to wail. She glared at Annalisse with eyes that looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Annalisse peered at her husband with a look of fear mixed with concern on her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What is it you heard, sweetheart?”

“Don’t play with me, mother. You know darn well what I heard.” “Adanya, calm down, honey. Just tell us what on earth you’re talking about?” Annalisse continued to look at her daughter with surprise.

“You think I’m like your sister? Well, I’m not Aunt Anaya. I have the capacity to think, and I know what I heard you telling Miss Kaye,” yelled Adanya.

“What is she talking about, Annalisse? What were you and Kaye discussing?”

“Oh, you mean you haven’t told Daddy how miserable you are?” Adanya feigned laughter.

“Wait, please don’t do this,” her mother said.

“No, don’t you do this.” She pointed at Annalisse with contempt plastered across her face.

“Look, will somebody tell me what this is all about?” Kenneth reached out both hands and walked toward Adanya to embrace her, but she quickly took a step backward.

“Don’t you touch me. I bet you’re just as much to blame as she is.”

Kenneth searched his wife's eyes for answers.

“I was talking to Kaye on the phone earlier this afternoon.” Annalisse looked ashamed. Her high yellow complexion turned a shade darker.

“So what does that have to do with anything? You’re always talking to Kaye about one thing or the other.”

“Oh, so you really didn’t tell Daddy. How could you?” Adanya started crying. “How could you lie to me all of these years? I’m not your daughter?”

Kenneth stumbled. His left palm landed on the dresser, which steadied him somewhat. He looked at his wife of eighteen years with an unknowing expression.

“What…what is she talking about? He looked like he was desperately trying to pull himself together. “Where has all of this nonsense come from?”

With tears flowing from her eyes, she answered in a broken voice, “Kenneth, she knows.”

“What did you say?”

“Kenneth, honey, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I was just having one of those days, and, well, I felt like I was about to explode. I’ve, we’ve been keeping this hidden for so long that I needed to vent, and so, so I−”

Kenneth waved her off with his hand. Anger was apparent in his voice. “You…Annalisse. How could you?” He transferred his gaze toward his daughter, and the angry looking expression on his face turned to one that looked like sorrow.

“Baby, I know this has to be hard. But you have to know that we love you. We always have. And we always will. I don’t know how much you know, or what all was said, but please believe me.” He shifted his eyes over at Annalisse. “We are your parents. We always will be,” Kenneth tried to assure Adanya in a loving manner.

“You think I’m crazy. That I’m supposed to act like I didn’t hear what I heard?”

Adanya dashed pass the frightened looking couple and started opening drawers and throwing her clothes out on the floor. Next, she swiftly opened the door to her walk-in closet and grabbed a huge piece of luggage from off the top shelf. Taking the clothes by handfuls, Adanya started throwing them in the suitcase.

“Adanya.” Her father followed her and tried to hold her in his arms.

“Don’t touch me,” Adanya hollered, sending a mist of her saliva in the air.

“Come on, Pumpkin.” Her father pleaded and reached out toward Adanya a second time.

“I said, don’t touch me.”

Kenneth stepped away with hands upraised.

Next, Annalisse walked over to where Adanya stood. Adanya was practically ripping her clothes off their hangers.

“Adanya, listen. Let me explain. I don’t know what you think you heard; but I am your mother.” She grabbed hold of Adanya’s feverish arm.

Adanya broke loose again. Her face was cherry red, her body felt weak. She started to feel lightheaded again. As she walked out of the closet, she staggered.

“Annalisse, get her some water and a couple of acetaminophen caplets,” Kenneth ordered as he caught his daughter’s fall, and led her to sit down on the end of her bed.

Annalisse turned and ran out of the room and down the stairs.

“Pumpkin, I want you to settle down and try to rest. This whole thing is a misunderstanding.”

Adanya leaned backward, and tilted her head to the side. “Don’t try to insult my intelligence.” Her hands went up over her head, and she pounced up from off the bed. “And for your information, a misunderstanding is when you thought momma told you to buy a stick of margarine but she told you to by a stick of butter. Or, or, when you have a disagreement with someone. That’s what I think about a misunderstanding. Or, or” her hands were all over the place as she stood back up and went back to the closet where she started yanking clothes off hangers again, “when you thought you had an appointment on Tuesday,” she rambled. “But you misunderstood and the appointment was on Thursday. Anyway, this is not a misunderstanding, so don’t even try to make light of it.”

Annalisse reappeared moments later with a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of acetaminophen caplets in the other.

She pointed at Annalisse. “You’re no better than her. You’re a liar, and I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

“Don’t you talk to your father like that,” Annalisse scolded. “This is not his fault. Since you’re so determined to blame somebody, blame me.” Annalisse walked further into the bedroom.

“Why? If the shoe fits, I say he should wear it. Especially since he’s so busy trying to make you out to be some innocent victim, when both of you have been lying to me all of this time,” she said in a weakened voice. “Please, just leave. Both of you. All I want you to do is get out of my room.”

In silence, Annalisse set the bottle of caplets and the glass of water on the round table near Adanya’s bed. “Please, settle down and take the pills. I’ll make you a bowl of hot tomato soup. It’ll help you feel better.”

“Just get out,” Adanya insisted.

Adanya didn’t so much as flinch until after she heard her bedroom door close behind the two of them. She sat up, opened the bottle, and tapped out two red and white caplets. In the blink of an eye, she popped them in her mouth followed by swallows of water. The ice cold water did little to soothe her aching, sore throat. She kept sobbing, which only added to making her feel worse.

Everything had changed in a flash. All because of a stupid case of the flu, or a bad cold, Adanya had walked into a life-altering experience.

She lay in the bed and continued to sob. When her mother knocked on the door and called her name some time later, Adanya refused to acknowledge her.

Annalisse came inside the room anyway, carrying a dinner tray. “Adanya, sit up. Eat this while it’s hot.” Annalisse sat the tray on the table next to Adanya’s bed. “You’ll feel better.”

Adanya didn’t move or say a word.

With shoulders slumped, Annalisse turned and left.

Adanya sat up and reached for her cell phone that was lying next to her on the bed. The aroma of the piping hot bowl of tomato soup wafted underneath her nose, but she had no desire to eat. She called Nanette.

“Come on, answer the phone.” Adanya pulled the bedcovers over her body and hovered underneath them with her legs gathered up to her chest.

“Hello.”

“Nanette.” Adanya’s tears spilled over again. Droplets penetrated inside the cell phone.

“Girl, what’s wrong? I got your message saying you were feeling bad, but I didn’t think you had it that bad. You sound horrible.”

“Everything is messed up.” Her cell phone crackled. “My whole life is a lie.” Adanya sobbed.

“What? What did you say? Your phone is breaking up.”

“Let me hang up and call you from the house phone.”

“K.” Adanya reached over the dinner tray, retrieved the cordless phone, and dialed Nanette again.

“Hey.”

“Hey. That’s better. So what were you saying?”

“I said my whole life is a lie.”

“What are you talking about? What’s going on?”

“That’s it. I don’t know where to start.”

“From the beginning,” replied Nanette.

“I left work early because I was feeling awful. I guess between yelling during last night’s basketball game and being around a crowd, I don’t know; I guess I caught a flu bug. But that’s not what’s wrong.”

“I hear you, so tell me what’s going on,” Nanette urged.

“When I got home today, I overheard my mother on the phone. She was talking to her best friend, Kaye.”

“Uh, and,” said Nanette.

“And, she was telling her that she was tired of playing mother to me.”

“So you were eavesdropping on your mother? Girl, you so crazy.”

“This is no time for your antics, Nanette. I have a serious problem.”

“Sorry, but come on now; you are a grown woman. Your mother is probably wondering when you’re going to get your own spot so she and your daddy can have some time to themselves. I had barely turned in my cap and gown before I was saying adios to my parents.” Nanette laughed.

“I wish it was that cut and dried for me, but it’s not.”

“Well, tell me. What did you overhear?”

“She was going on about being only thirty-eight years old, and she’d basically given up her life to raise a child that isn’t even hers.”

“What did she mean?” Nanette sounded alarmed on the other end of the phone.

Adanya wanted to holler but her aching throat wouldn’t allow her. “Can’t you connect dots? Dang, Nanette, I’m not her daughter.”

“Not her daughter?”

“She was talking about my Aunt Anaya like she’s my mother, but that doesn’t make sense but even if by some outrageous chance that was the case, who is my daddy? This is like some kind of television drama, a nightmare unfolding before my eyes. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Did you ask her?”

“Of course I asked her.”

“What did she tell you?”

“What she didn’t tell me was the truth. All she said was I didn’t hear what I thought I heard. Like I’m some kind of an idiot.” Desperation filtered through Adanya’s voice.

“I can’t explain why she said that. Maybe she’s stressing out about something. You know how we get sometimes. Look, I’m leaving Harbor Town. I’ll stop by your house on my way home.”

“What are you doing in Harbor Town?”

“Gerald.”

“Oh,” Adanya mumbled.

“When did Gerald move to Harbor Town, and why couldn’t he have come to see you instead of you going over there?”

“He and two of his friends moved in together.”

Gerald and Nanette had been in a relationship for nearly four months. Nanette really liked him and he seemed to like her just as much. But in Adanya’s opinion, Nanette made herself too available to Gerald. She was like that with most of the guys she’d dated in the past.

On numerous occasions, Adanya told her that she acted clingy and possessive whenever she was involved with someone. Nanette either didn’t care what others thought or she was just plain naïve.

“Look, it may take me a minute to get there. It just started sleeting,” Nanette explained.

“No, don’t come. Concentrate on getting home safely. I’m in the bed anyway. I don’t know what happened to me, but I passed out earlier today.”

“Hold up. You mean as in like you went unconscious?”

“Yes, Nanette. That’s the ‘I passed out’ I’m talking about.” Adanya’s words dripped cynicism. She shook her head and pursed her lips. “Anyway, all I remember is coming home, walking into the foyer, and hearing my mother saying all of those terrible things. She sounded like she hated me, like all these years I’ve been nothing but an imposition in her life.”

“Now you know that is not true. Your mother loves you.”

“Yeah, right; sure she does.”

“I’m not going to get into that because you’re talking crazy. Anything else you remember?”

“Not really. I recall opening my eyes and feeling confused; I couldn’t remember how I got in my bedroom, let alone in my bed.” Adanya peeked outside of her window and saw plum size pieces of sleet falling.

“Adanya,” Nanette gasped. “Girl, that sleet is coming down hard.”

“Yea, I just looked out my window. You need to get home before it gets bad. From looking through my window, there might be the makings of an ice rink outside. Be careful driving.”

“But I don’t want you by yourself feeling the way you do.”

“You’re my best friend, Nanette. I know I can count on you, but I want you to go home and get out of this weather. You know these Memphis drivers. When a few sprinkles of white stuff, especially sleet, comes down, all chaos breaks out on the streets and highways.”

“You’re right. I’m going to head home then, but only if you’re sure you’re going to be all right.”

“I’ll be fine. Haven’t you heard the saying what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger? Guess I’m about to find out.”

“Look, I’ll call or text you when I make it home.”

“Okay. I’m going to try to sort some things out. I can’t think clearly right now. I’m too dumbfounded,” Adanya said in a choked voice.

“Hang in there. Try to get some rest so you can feel better. There has to be some sense to this madness.”

“Yeah, I hope you’re right. I’ll talk to you later.”

Adanya put the phone back on its charging base. Snoopy whined at the foot of the bed. It was the first time she noticed that he was in the room with her, but it was no surprise. Adanya adored her eleven-year old English bull dog. She’d had Snoopy since he was eight weeks old. He was what her daddy called a just because gift.

When she first saw the short, chubby puppy, with the flabby jaws, she fell in love with him right away. He had indeed proved that he was not only man’s best friend, but hers as well.

“Come here, Snoopy. I need a friend.”

Snoopy took two small pounces and was in Adanya’s arms. She held on to him while her wet tears fell on his white coat. Snoopy didn’t budge. It was as if he sensed that something wasn’t quite right. He lifted his head and licked the salty tears from off the side of Adanya’s face as she rocked back and forth in the bed.

“Why now?” she whispered, followed by, “Who am I, and what happened to my life, Lord?”