*Below is the story that I wrote for my submission. I wrote it specifically for Fiyah, and I don't expect to do anything with it in the future.Hopefully, if you read it, you enjoy it! Formatting didn't copy over that well*
Songbird
I waited outside of the house in my car for as long
as I could, trying to gather my strength. When the screen door of my parents’
house swung open and my brothers came out, I looked in the mirror, pushing the
gray curls from my face and wiped my tears away. I got out of the car as my
brothers came to greet me. It was time to come to terms with destiny.
I smiled. “Tyrone! Tidus!” I ran up to their tall,
muscular frames and threw myself at them trying to get my arms around both of
them. The somber look on their handsome brown faces formed into smiles as they
caught me out the air and held me between them in a three-way hug. Once they
sat me down, I looked at them trying to gauge the situation based on their
faces. Although they were identical twins from their muscular stature to the
gray streak of hair on their heads that we all shared, I could always tell them
apart by looking at their faces. Tidus, the eldest, wore his heart on his
sleeve. He was as sensitive as Drake without the talent. His eyes were clear
and brown. He had probably cried himself out days ago and was now being strong
for us. His face wasn’t the one I needed to see--it was Tyrone’s. Normally, he
held an ever-present stoic mask, but just by looking at his puffy red-eyes, I
confirmed what I knew to be true. Mommy was dying.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“It’s really bad. Just like she said it would be,”
Tidus said.
“Yeah,” Tyrone hoarsely said. “It’s like daily she’d
gotten worse, and then today Dad called and said that it was time. Did he call
you, or did Mom--”
“It was Mommy. She came to me in my dream last night
and said to come home.”
“So, how your semester start?” Tidus asked trying to
change the subject.
“College is alright. Life is about the same.” I
wasn’t purposely being short with him, I was only trying to wrap my mind around
the situation we had found ourselves in. “So, Mom also told me in the dream
last night that a baby is on the way for you!”
Tidus sighed in defeat. “Geez, I just found out
myself two days ago, why Mom tell you so soon?”
“The better question is: why didn’t you tell me?”
Tyrone laughed. “C’mon, you know Mom can’t keep a
secret, especially something like a baby.”
“Or an engagement ring?” I said with a raised
eyebrow at Tyrone.
“Damn, Mom be talking too much.” We all laughed, and
for a brief moment, Mom wasn’t sick, and I wasn’t home to perform a ritual that
would completely end her life.
Our laughter was cut short by the creaking of the
screen door and our father walked out ahead of Ms. Washington. He held out his
hand and helped her get over the threshold onto the porch. Ms. Washington was a
long-time friend of the family and knew my mother since she was a
child--practically raised her. She was so close to the family, that we called
her Auntie. I knew this had to be hitting her just as hard as it was for us.
Tyrone and Tidus had left my side to help Auntie down from the front porch and
walked her slowly down the driveway. When she laid her eyes on me she began to
cry again and became weak in their arms.
“Oh, baby,” she began. “I know this is so difficult for
you, but I was there for your momma when she went through this and I’ll be here
for you, okay?”
I nodded.
“And your mother told me that she thinks that you’ll
be given a similar gift to hers so, if it’s not too much trouble, baby, can
Auntie come and get a healing?”
Anger flared in me, and as much as I loved her, I
wanted to slap her. She had the audacity to ask me for help, today of all days.
Tidus must have seen my face shift because he loudly cleared his throat,
reminding me who I was and who I was talking to at the time.
“Yes ma’am,” was all I could say.
Auntie smiled. “Thank you, baby. Boys, would you
mind walking me home.” Tidus nodded, and they began to walk her down the
street.
I watched them walk away for a moment and then
realized that Dad was still on the porch waiting for me. He was looking at his
hands; inspecting them, trying to busy himself with anything besides thinking
about the woman he had spent more than half his life with dying in the bed
they’d shared.
“Hi, Daddy,” I called out. He jumped at my voice as
if he had not known I was even there. The hurt and defeated look on his face
shattered my heart. His usual unshakable and rock-steady demeanor was now gone
and in his place was an old man who was losing the love of his life of fifty years.
He forced a smile on his face. “There’s my baby
girl! Come give me a hug, your dad could really use one today.”
I ran up to the porch and threw myself into his
arms. We held each other quietly for a moment before he broke the silence.
“Latris, baby, I am proud of you. I’m proud of all
my kids, but especially you, and especially today.”
I was too emotional to speak, but I wanted to tell
him that while he felt proud, I felt scared. And ashamed for being scared on
top of that. Mom and Dad had never shied away from telling us of our legacy as
the child of a Songbird, and they took extra care to instill in me that one day
I would have to perform a ritual with Mom to pass her power along to me
whenever the ancestors felt it was time.
Dad detached himself from me, and after wiping his
copper-brown face told me to head in.
I nodded my head. "Alright, let's go," I
said walking away but he didn’t move.
“She needs to see you, Latris, and only you. We
already said our goodbyes to her. This is between you and her, now.”
“But Dad--”
“There are no buts! We all knew that a day like this
would come. The power of the Songbird goes to the youngest daughter whenever
the ancestors feel a shift in the world coming.”
I tried to still argue with him, but it was to no
avail.
“I met your mother when we were twenty-one years
old, and, as of today, I have spent the last forty-eight years with her. Make
no mistake, she and I will always be together, and I don’t need to try to delay
this any further with more good-byes. I know you’re scared. I may not be able
to sense emotions like your mother, but you’re my daughter and I know when
you’re scared. But I--we--need you to be brave now.”
I nodded my head, and after one more hug with my
father and his promise that he and the twins will be in after the ritual is
over, I headed in.
The house held a fading scent of frankincense, myrrh
and jasmine incense. It was essential to burn the incense for as long as
possible up to the day of the ritual to ensure that everyone’s mind was in a
calm state. I walked down the hall of my parents' one-floor home, walking past
the rooms that used to belong to my siblings and me years ago. They now held
Mom's sewing supplies and the other room was Dad's entertainment room. Finally
reaching my parents' bedroom, I stood outside of the door watching my mother
breathe with quick-short breaths. Her body was covered from her head down in
light-blue linens making her look small and frail on the king-sized bed.
“Hey, mommy,” I softly said. Her heavy eyes opened
slightly and she smiled, melting my heart. "There's my baby," she
said in a haggard whisper. She reached her hand out to me and I walked to her
bed and sat down next to her. She laid her hand on my thigh, and I placed both
my hands on top of hers. Even in her weakened state and through the wrinkles,
her skin was still smooth and faint smells of shea butter filled the air around
her.
“You’re ready,” she said. “You’re more than ready.
You need to believe that.”
“I do believe that,” I lied.
“Tell me who you are.”
And that did it. Her asking me that simple question
made me swell with pride that was about to burst from my body.
“I am Latris Maina Jones, daughter of Mahealani
Marie Maina, Songbird of the Maina line.”
She smiled at my affirmation. “That’s right,” she
said. “You are my daughter, and there is no one else deserving of the power of
the Songbird.”
If I had tried to speak I would have started crying,
and I wasn't sure I would be able to stop. I wish I had more time to spend with
her in her final days, but it was the tradition for the heir apparent to only
be near the Grand Songbird in her last hour.
Exhausted, Mom closed her eyes again and gave my
thigh a tiny squeeze. “I’m ready.”
I sighed. I was not looking forward to performing
The Final Duet with her. Our ceremony that every passing Songbird completes
with the next woman in-line to pass on their magic was their final act before
death. But we had our traditions, and Mom would be more hurt if I didn’t go
through with it in some desperate attempt keep her alive longer.
I grabbed both of her hands into my own and a shock
traveled through my body. I would have released my mother had she not gripped
me so tightly, with a strength I thought she no longer possessed. I closed my
eyes feeling the vibration of my infant magic awakening. I could feel the flow
of my magic go into her body and hers into my own. My body was shaking trying
to compensate for such mature magic and just as suddenly as it had come upon
me, it subsided. Now, there was an even flow of energy between the two of us.
Closing my eyes, the humming between our bodies started to deepen, and then Mom
spoke. “Go ahead, baby, and let your voice go!”
I opened my mouth and my magic began to flow freely
from me in a sweet melody that no violin or piano could ever imitate. I opened
my eyes at the sound of Mom’s song being unleashed and I see our magic mixing
together in brilliant swirls of metallic blues and sparkling purples--colors
that I never knew could exist. Our song became louder and the colors brighter,
turning into a white light that forced me to shut my eyes again. Our separate
songs became one and the sound was no longer melodic but a deep rumbling hum
like distant thunder.
Then nothing!
I found myself standing in the middle of nothing.
There was a floor beneath me but everything was completely white. I couldn’t
even tell how big the area was because the whiteness blended into itself like a
blizzard. It was as if someone had ripped reality from around me--including
Mom.
“Mom,” I screamed and it echoed loudly into the
nothingness. I’ve never been told what happened during The Final Duet. It was
tradition not to discuss it so, I couldn’t be absolutely sure if what I was
seeing was supposed to happen or not. But I knew my mother should be here.
I started to become frantic--I had to find her.
Somehow our magic brought me here, so she had to be here too. I screamed again
into the void and only my echo answered back. Defeated, I stopped running and
looked around desperate to see something--anything. I fell to my knees. I
wasn’t going to find her, and how could I when I didn’t even know where I was
to begin searching. I closed my eyes and tried to reach out with my new magic,
but I felt nothing except fear and bile rise within me. In desperation, I cried
out again. “Mom!”
“Why are you yelling for me like that, child?” I
spun around to the familiar voice and immediately ran toward it--toward her. I
brought her into my arms and squeezed, feeling the fear leave me the longer I
held her. She smelled of honey and cocoa-butter like she had when I was a kid.
She patted me on my back. “It’s okay, baby. I didn’t
mean to leave you alone, but I had to make sure everything was ready for you on
your big day.”
In her embrace, I had only just then recognized the
difference in her voice. It sounded younger and more spirited. The signs of an
exhausted woman at the end of her life no longer marked her voice. I entwined
my arms from around her and looked at her youthful face for the first time. She
was free from wrinkles, and her skin practically shimmered. Her hair was in the
tight bun with grey streaks throughout. Her body completely vitalized from when
I saw her before.
Taking more of her in, I saw her body completely
covered in a robe of white light and a sense of royalty came from her. “Mommy?”
She smiled and cosmic blue ribbons flowed from her
mouth and into me, carrying the sweet song of her voice. "Yes, of course,
it’s me!”
“Oh, my god,” I yelled in surprise. “What was that?”
Again, the blue ribbon of light flowed from her
mouth and into my body and she spoke clearly in my head. “We’re within the Nest
of the Songbirds-- our final resting place. The song of our soul is the only
language here.”
“This is going to be your final resting place--a
large empty white-nothingness?” I asked, and noticed that I spoke like normal,
with no bright strips of magic flowing from me.
Blue, pink, and purple flashes exploded from Mom’s
entire body as she smiled while holding her hands over her stomach. Her
laughter washed over me like mist, tickling my skin.
I smiled, “What? What did I say?”
“The very same thing I said to your granny when it
came time for her to pass the mantle on to me. It’s funny that the only answer
I have is the same that she gave me.”
“Really, and what’s that?”
“She said all will be revealed.”
Mom stepped aside and, in the distance, I could see
something moving closer to us. The figure hazed in and out of sight like a
mirage in a desert sun. What once had been miles away was now only two-hundred
yards away, and I could clearly make out the figure’s womanly shape. As she got
closer I could make out the thick dreadlock beehive that adorned her head, with
multiple strands of pure white hair interwoven into it.
“A Songbird,” I whispered.
“Not just a Songbird,” Mom said. “She’s the first of
all Songbirds. The Songbird that all other Songbirds hatched from.”
Hatched? I had never thought about coming into my
own magic as hatching, but it made sense. After the Final Duet, my magic would
instantly mature and I would have the knowledge of previous Songbirds. Mom had
told me it would be like an instant rebirth--a hatching from my previous self.
The woman standing before my mom and I looked
youthful and strong with her back straight and head held high. She too was
covered in a light that floated behind her as if a zephyr surrounded only her.
I could feel the emotion building inside of me as I
stared at this woman whom I had never met but felt an instant connection with
as if we had shared an entire lifetime together. I wanted to grab her into a
hug and never let go. I wanted to tell her everything about my life, and I
wanted to hear everything about her life. I had so many questions that I didn’t
know where to start, so I simply said, “Hi.”
Lights flashed around us as both women laughed at my
astonishment. My ears heard a melodic tone, and my skin felt the tickling of a
joy that was hard to contain.
I smiled. “Sorry. I’m nervous, I guess. It is great
to meet you-- uh, I’m sorry, what do I call you?”
Her smile never faded from her face as she answered
my question without moving her lips. Cosmic blue lights flew from her and
encased my body. I could hear the harmonious voices of hundreds of women, all
strong and wise. “I am Sanaa, the first. But you may call me for what I am:
Mother.”
My heart leaped at her answer. She was my
mother--she was every Songbird’s mother--and I could feel that connection so
strongly here.
“Mother! I like that,” I said.
“We all do,” Mom said.
I looked around, expecting more Songbirds to come
walking in from the distance. “Are there more people coming?”
They laughed at my innocent question.
“This is why I am the first to greet a new
Songbird,” her colorful music said to me. “It was I who sang to the heavens
when famine and death came to my tribe so long ago, and The One-Above-All heard
me and blessed my voice with great power--the same power that I share with all
of my daughters. Close your eyes, child, and receive my blessing.”
Mom walked next to Sanaa and grabbed her hand. I did
as I was told and closed my eyes, completely trusting the women in front of me.
A soft murmur of a song began and then quickly crescendoed. The volume of the
sound came over me like I was surrounded by concert loudspeakers. The sound
vibrated through my body, giving me what could only be called bliss, and behind
my closed eyes, I began to see colors swarm about. The joy continued to build
up in me and the colors started cascading into a single image that began to
form in my mind: a large bird with outstretched wings perched on an olive
branch, all made of light.
My eyes snapped open and we were no longer in a
white-nothingness but in the middle of a metropolis made of light and crystal.
Beautiful and immensely bright, but my eyes needed no shielding--it was like
looking into the sun without harm. The city was bustling with beautiful people
that I had never met before but all seemed familiar. They strolled down the
crystal streets, with bright clothes of light on their bodies and even brighter
smiles on their brown faces.
“Where are we,” I asked.
Mom’s answered rang in my head. “We are where we’ve
been--within the Nest of the Songbirds. This is our home, you just couldn’t see
it. That is the first gift that our mother, Sanaa, has given you: Soulsight. It
allows you to see with your mind’s eye.”
I looked around the city at all the people who
seemed so familiar to me. I felt safe and wanted. I felt like a part of
something bigger.
I gasped. "This is amazing. Mom is this where
you came to when you performed The Final Duet."
Flashes came from her as she spoke. "Yes, but
during my time it looked a little different. The Nest, like the Songbirds who
draw their power from it, is always evolving and growing.” More women began to
gather around Sanaa and Mom, all of them different hues of beautiful brown with
their strands of white hair adorning their heads in unique styles.
“Mom,” I started but another woman walked up to me
instead of my mother. She was a full-bodied woman with even fuller lips that
held her gorgeous smile. Her hair was hidden beneath a head wrap that looked
like a shining crown atop her head.
She held out her hands to me. “Hello, Latris. I’m
your great-great-great-great aunt Sarah,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve been
waiting to see you. I have something very special to give you. Are you ready?”
I nodded and grabbed her hands and a surge of power coursed through me and my
mind’s eye snapped open.
Suddenly, I was in a field that stretched long and
wide. I could feel the heat of the summer’s sun bearing down on me. I looked up
to a clear sky. We were no longer in the Nest.
“No,” Aunt Sarah said standing beside me. “You’re
still in the Nest, but I brought you here to my memories to see how I used the
gift I’m passing to you.” She pointed forward and I followed her line of sight
across the field. There were black people in the field, who looked more tired
and worn than the tattered clothes on their bodies. As if choreographed, they
picked at plants and then placed what they’d picked in burlap bags that hung
off their shoulders.
“Oh, hell no,” I said, realizing what I was
witnessing.
“Unfortunately, baby, what you see is what it was.
But don’t pay this no mind--just listen.”
I did as I was told, and I could hear a woman--no,
it Aunt Sarah from this moment in time--shouting to the others. She walked up
the row of tobacco plants and picked the leaves from the stalk but spoke loudly
so all could hear. “Tonight, is a full moon, and I’ll sing any clouds away so
the stars and moon can light y’all’s way. Travel northwest for about ten miles,
then you should come to a house with three candles in the front window.
Mr.Beaucamp will be expecting you, and he’ll hold y’all over for a day or two
until Moses comes to take you the rest of the way, ya hear?”
The slaves in the field who heard shouted back with
joy and praise, screaming hallelujah as if a sermon had just been heard.
Panicked, I looked over at Aunt Sarah. “What are you
doing, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
Pulsing lights flashed off her body as she laughed.
“You can hear my words because I wanted you to hear my words but listen again.
Listen to what the people whose turn for freedom hasn’t yet come hears. Listen
to what the overseer--that ol’snake--hears.”
I looked on and Aunt Sarah’s past-self began
speaking again but this time I didn’t hear instructions on how they’d escape
but instead I heard the song, “Steal Away”. It sounded pained but beautiful.
Aunt Sarah sang the song by herself and most people just worked on paying her
no mind, but others stopped and looked on bemused. Those were the people who
were hearing her coded message, loud and clear. She was using her magic to
conceal her voice to help them escape.
I looked at Aunt Sarah in awe. “You’re amazing! I
had no idea that Songbirds could do that.”
She smiled brightly and grabbed my hand, as her
words echoed in my head. "We do what we have to do to guard the ones we
love--to do what's right. My power wasn't strong enough to change people’s
hearts so I had to figure out how to save as many as I could.”
“Did you get away too,” I asked even though I was
scared of her answer.
“No, I didn’t. We didn’t live that long back then
even in the best of conditions. My mother and I performed The Final Duet the
moment I was of child-bearing age to ensure I had enough magic to protect
myself if need be. I did the same for my daughter. but before I passed it on I
tried to help out as many people as I could. Survival of our line is of the
utmost importance so, the gift I give to you is the ability to Soulsing. You
will be able to speak to the souls of anyone you choose while others only hear
singing."
She leaned in and kissed my cheek and I became warm
all over as her magic was added to my own. The image of the field had vanished,
and we were once again back in the crystal city, that I now knew as the Nest of
the Songbirds. Aunt Sarah stepped back into the group as another woman stepped
forward. Her hair was tightly pulled back into a ponytail with the signature
gray hair streaking the left side of her head.
“Hi,” I said.
Her voice sang softly in my head. “Hello, my name is
Asha. Our line is connected from a Songbird who passed away before either of us
were born, but when your Final Duet began I got the call that you would need a
particular skill of mine.”
“And what would that be?”
She waved her hand over my eyes and just as before,
through my mind’s eye, I was taken to her past. She and I stood in the
freshly-cut grass of a small ranch-style home surrounded by a white-picket
fence. The suburban street was quiet, and I could smell the scent of spring
flowers nearby.
“What happened here?” I asked.
“Nothing happened here. No great battle or
liberation of people. It was just a normal cloudy day in Chicago,” her voice
said in my head. Then the side door to the home opened and Asha’s past-self
walked out holding a basket of white linen. Her hair flowed freely in the
breeze as she began to place the linen on the line, humming as she did so.
Asha spoke again, "My mother, unfortunately,
passed before we could perform The Final Duet."
“What? But how did you come into power?” The Final
Duet was the most important ritual for a Songbird, and I had never heard or
even thought about what happened if it couldn’t be performed.
Asha smiled. “Our ancestors have contingency plans.
I wasn’t the first Songbird who hadn’t performed The Final Duet with her
mother, and I won't be the last. Life happens. Then life finds a way. In my
dreams, I would come to the Nest, and my power matured over time."
I breathed a sigh of relief, and Asha continued. “It
was on this day that I found out how I could use my power to help others. My
husband had gone down south with his band. I was scared as could be knowing
he’d be down there. I’m sure you know that the sixties weren’t any better for
our people than any other time, especially in the South. But for musicians that
was where they could get the most work--out there working the Chitlin Circuit.
And he loved it, I couldn’t take that away from him, but I would get these
feelings sometimes.”
“Feelings?”
“Like the air would shake around me, turn me all
around. And I would just know that something wrong was coming--something bad. I
got one of those feelings here, but I didn’t know where my husband Sonny was
staying at that moment. He’d always call me at night before his shows, but by
then it would have been too late to tell him what I felt. So, I was trapped
there, just hanging linen and feeling scared to my bones.”
“So, what did you do?”
She smiled. “I sang.”
At that moment Asha’s past-self, who was still
hanging linen, began to sing. I knew the song, it was “If You Knew” by Nina
Simone and she was singing it with perfect harmony. Unbeknownst to Asha, her
magic left her mouth as she sang and flew into the air. She finished the song
almost at the same time that she had finished hanging her laundry, then from
her home the phone rang.
Suddenly, we were in the home standing outside of the
entryway to the kitchen. Asha had come running in, scooting on the linoleum
floor to get to the phone. I heard a child from somewhere in the house
redundantly scream out that the phone was ringing. My spirit-guide of Asha
laughed at the child’s voice and then refocused on her past-self.
“Hello,” she said. “Sonny, my god, I was just
thinking about you! I had one of my feelings.”
We watched as Asha leaned against the wall,
listening intently to Sonny. “What do you mean, you heard me? Yeah, I was
singing our song. Really, you dreamt all that? Wow! Well, baby, then listen to
that dream and come on home! ...I love you, Sonny.”
Asha hung up the phone and placed her hands over her
smiling mouth. She looked at the ceiling and shook her head as tears began
falling down.
“So, what happened,” I asked.
“My magic--my song--it allowed Sonny to see what I
was feeling. It gave him a premonition of what was going to happen if he and
his band drove to the club that night. There were some Klansmen looking to
start some trouble, and I just knew in my bones that Sonny wouldn’t make it
home to me if he had gone. Somehow, my song traveled to him and gave him a
premonition.”
“That is amazing,” I said.
Asha turned to me and smiled. She encased my face in
her hands and kissed my forehead. "My gift to you is my… feelings. You can
hear the Universe's song. A special talent called clairaudience and it will
help you--guide you through your years, and you can share your visions if
needed.”
“Thank you,” I said. We were now back in the Nest as
Asha walked back to join the others who proudly stood there looking at me. Then
Mom walked away from the crowd and came up to me.
“Baby, those gifts are what we believe will help you
in your life but remember being a Songbird is so much more than just these
gifts. It’s a voice. Remember what I used to always tell you: you’re a voice in
this world, and you deserved to be heard!” I nodded my head, feeling tears roll
down my cheek. The ceremony was coming to a close. “Sanaa, our Mother, opened
your soul to receive the gifts. Your Aunt Sarah shares with you the power to
Soulsing, and Asha gave you the gift of clairaudience. Now, I give you your
final gifts.”
Mom grabbed me in an embrace and my mind’s eye
opened transporting us to our hometown. We stood there in front of the Urban
League that had been in my community since before my birth.
“I remember this place,” I said.
Mom smiled, and I could hear her voice in my head.
“You ought to, you spent more time here in the summer than home it seemed
like-- playing basketball up here with them boys!”
I playfully rolled my eyes at mom’s insinuation that
I came to the Urban League to do anything else except play basketball. She had
caught me kissing one of the neighborhood boys one time, and she’s never let me
forget it anytime I bring up something about my childhood and the neighborhood
in the same sentence. “So, why are we here, Mommy?”
“You’ll see,” She said, and just then the doors to
the Urban League opened and people came out looking determined and empowered.
Signs were held high in people’s hands that read “Fight the power!” and “Keep
Up The Pressure On The Oppressors!” and “Enough Is Enough!”.
Mom spoke again. “We were going to march downtown
and interrupt the city council meeting and demand that the city properly
investigates the killing of Tamir Martin. He was an innocent young man. I knew
his parents, his grandparents--his whole family. He came from a really good
family, and still, he was shot down like a rabid dog and then criminalized. And
as far as we know, his only crime was walking on the north side of town after
sundown. He didn’t deserve this. No one does, so we wanted justice as swiftly
as possible.”
People began to pass by us, marching the five blocks
to City Hall. They moved around and through us if they were images from a
projector, but I could feel them and hear their souls as if I had been there.
People were angry, they were scared and they were exhausted. Emotionally
exhausted, but I could also feel that they were empowered in this group as well,
and they had hope.
We moved with the crowd but had barely got two
blocks from the Urban League when cop cars began coming toward us, with flaring
lights and wailing sirens. They formed a line with their vehicles to block the
street, and then the cops got out to form a long line of defense in front of
their cars that stretched from sidewalk to sidewalk.
Everyone stopped walking and stared as they came to
a crossroads within themselves: fight or flight. I looked over at Mom as she
continued walking with me. I still had not seen the past versions of her in
this mindscape, and I was starting to wonder what she had to show me here. What
other gifts did she need to give me?
A cop with a loudspeaker spoke to the crowd.
“Alright, that’s enough. It’s time you all disperse and go back home.”
The crowd erupted in an anger that was so strong I
almost doubled over in pain. Once I got control of the emotions that I felt, I
looked around for Mom's spirit but she was gone. Within the crowd, there was no
one clothed in light, just a kaleidoscope of black and brown faces of people
who were sick and tired of being sick and tired.
The cop spoke again. “You have ten seconds to
disperse or we will disperse you. Am I understood?” The crowd began walking
forward, and I could see some cops reaching for their batons, and others for a
more lethal option.
“Everyone stop!” I screamed at the crowd even though
I knew that none of them would hear me, but the fear I was feeling was too
great inside me to not say anything. “Mom? Mom, where are you?”
The crowd started yelling at the cops that had drawn
their weapons, but the cops just stood there waiting for a chance to use them.
I could feel fear coming from the cops as well, but a few of them I could also
feel a genuine hate and excitement. They wanted this to happen! They wanted to
do more damage to black bodies under the guise of fearing for their life. I
could practically hear the lies they had prepared already forming on their
tongues. This was not going to end well at all for anyone.
A woman spoke as she came through the crowd. “Move
out the way. Move, please.” I turned around just as my mother--still beautiful,
but younger--walked right through me. She turned around and smiled directly at
me as if she knew she had passed through the spirit of a Songbird.
“Mommy,” I whispered.
Then a man came up behind her, telling others to
calm down and it was all going to be handled. It was my father--handsome and
vibrant.
Mom walked to the front of the crowd of protesters
putting herself between them and the cops. My father was right behind her,
slightly to her left, like a guard to his queen.
She spoke to the officers. "You know who I am.
You see the streak of gray in my hair, and I know you've heard the stories of
women like me. Believe me, when I say, I am a keeper of order, and that young
man needs justice. We want to ensure that he gets it!" The crowd cheered.
The officers held steady.
The cop spoke. “I know exactly what you are: a
glorified psychic; a witch! Tell me, am I bluffing when I say that you now have
five seconds to disperse or people will be arrested.”
Murmurs in the crowd began as people became more
fearful as the cop began his countdown. Mom raised her hands in the air
defensively and the unseen force of her magic forced the weapons from the cops’
hands and pushed them and their cars aside pinning them to the sides of the
street. At that moment, they were the Red Sea and she was Moses.
My dad shouted. “Let’s move on. She’ll take care of
them.” He kissed her cheek and led the protest on. Mom stayed back holding the
officers behind an invisible field. Everyone walked past Mom cheering her on,
completely unafraid of her power. When the protesters were a block down the
road she released the cops. The few officers that scrambled to grab their
weapons were flung onto their backs like ragdolls by her magic.
Mom walked closer. “What is wrong with all of you?
Can you not see that we’re hurting? All we want is justice and you come here to
threaten us. Is that really upholding the oath you took to serve and protect?”
One of the officers struggled to his feet. He was a
young white man with dark hair and sky-blue eyes. “You’re trying to incite
violence and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“We incited nothing!”Mom shouted back.
"It wouldn't have happened if he stayed on his
side of town!"
The officer who was in charge shouted at his
subordinate. “Halstead, enough!”
I knew that name. Halstead. He was currently the
chief of the police and was one of the nicest men that I had ever met. He
always made real efforts to be a part of the community, but I guess he wasn’t
always that way.
“If he had stayed on his side of town,” Mom repeated
with a venom that made my skin crawl. Mom lashed out, loudly screaming from her
soul. Her magic entered through the cops’ ears and eyes, lifting them off the
ground. They weren’t in pain, but they all looked horrified.
The spirit guide of my mother had finally returned
to my side watching the image of her past-self unleash her voice on the
officers.
“What are you doing to them?”
“Letting them feel what we feel, if only for a
moment and hoping that it changes them. Their minds are in a world that my
magic created. A world where they're oppressed. A world where they want to just
be happy but being on the wrong side of town can get them killed. They're now
living in a world where even their joy in public is seen as an offense to the
people who are in power. And they’re in a world where their loved
ones--whomever that may be to them, whether it’s their children or parents or
spouses--are being shot down and no one will listen to their cries. It was the
only thing I could think of at that time: make them feel what we’ve always
felt. Make them understand.”
The officers floated to the ground as they were
released from my mother’s song. Some sat on the ground covering their heads, a
few cried, and others were in shock.
I turned to look at the spirit guide of my mother
and we were again back within the Nest and surrounded by the previous
Songbirds. She walked to me and kissed my cheek. “Baby, to you, along with the
ability of empathy, I give you the gift of making sonic constructs with your
voice and the power to heal. Help as many people as you can. Help them heal.”
She released me and returned to the group.
Sanaa walked to the front. “You are my daughter. You
have been blessed with the knowledge and skills needed to help you in your life
to help bring harmony to the world. I’ve glimpsed at your future, and you have
much to give.” Her voice was thunderous in my mind but it also filled me with
purpose. "On your journey, you will come up against those who want to
destroy whatever peace you've helped to cultivate but you must fight on, and do
not be afraid."
Together, with their hands clasped together, all the
Songbirds spoke to me. “We are a voice in this world and we will be heard!”
A light swelled
from them, shining throughout the crystal city like an exploding star.
Shielding my eyes from the brightness, I could feel the emotions of love and
joy that was so freely expressed within the Nest of the Songbirds begin to
dissipate. I could still feel it but it now felt distant. I opened my eyes and
I was now home, back on the bed beside mom, holding her hands. She looked at me
and smiled, her skin again wrinkled and dull.
“Momma,” was all I could say before the tears came.
Daddy and the twins finally walked into the room at the sound of my whimpering.
In a weak tone, Mom said, "You did great, baby,
and when it is your turn to perform The Final Duet with your daughter I will be
there to guide you and welcome you into the Nest.”
I laid on her chest and quietly
sobbed. I wanted to hear her
heartbeat for as long as possible. When Daddy and
the twins came in, I got up and stood with them. After her last breath, she
burst into starry lights that flew through the house, around all of us, and
then out into the air, returning to the Nest.
