A/N: So I literally just thought of this today, on Easter Sunday, when I was coming back from brunch this morning. So now I'm writing this and hoping I can finish writing it and editing it by tonight, cuz I gotta go back out to my grandma's around four this afternoon.
By the way, if you're a reader of my fic Don't Look for What You're Not Willing to Give then something happened to the fifth chapter so I just had to re-upload it.
Anyways…
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN The Boondocks,
3rd Person POV:
Maroon eyes.
Maroon eyes filled with curiosity looked around the park in the distance. Walking down the dusty, dirty sidewalk of the Chicago slums, the boy with maroon eyes looks up at the woman next to him. His eyes travel down from her round, yet skinny, face, with a button nose and big brown eyes, past her curves, all the way to the bleach white sandals on her feet that match her one white, church dress. The pair had just come from church, along with the boy's younger brother and the boy's father.
Although the family couldn't afford much, the mother and father made sure to set aside money for one church outfit for all four of them. All three of the boys had tan suits on, and nice dress shoes. Still, the majority of each and every paycheck they made was put into their sons' college funds. They only spent money on weekly expenses, such as food, and then their bills and taxes. They barely spent any money on clothes solely because they wanted their children to have the best education that they could afford, and setting aside money for their education would mean that they could afford more.
The father, who had a long face, green eyes, and a small afro, looked down at his two sons, preparing himself to speak. "Riley," he looked at the hazel-eyed boy, "and Huey," he continued, looking at the maroon-eyed boy, "we're almost at the park. Now I know we've been walking quite a few blocks, but you better get your energy back up because your mother and I have a surprise for you."
"What's the surprise, papa?" three year old Riley inquires. Both him and five year old Huey look at him for the answer, then to their mother.
"We're bringing you to an Easter egg hunt," their mother tells them.
"What?!" an excited Huey asks for confirmation; a scowl never having appeared on his face before.
"What's an Easter egg hunt, mama?" Riley questions, full of confusion. By this time, they had gotten to a better part of the city, which was populated by people of all races.
"There's a bunch of plastic eggs on the ground, and the other kids like you all go around a pick up the eggs and put them in a basket," Riley and Huey's mom explains.
"And at the end, you get to open up the eggs and see what candy is inside of them," their father adds on.
"But, these kids don't look like us," Huey observes. The family takes a few steps up the stairs, and then walks to the main booth in the field to sign in for the Easter egg hunt. There was a tall, White woman with black hair and blue eyes who sat behind the desk.
"Are you the Freemans?" she asked. Huey and Riley's parents both nodded their heads. "Alrighty, so both of your sons are signed up for one round right now. I'll give you both these tickets," she hands the tickets to the two small children, "and you go hand them to that woman over there to get ready for the hunt," she finishes, pointing to a short, White, blonde woman standing next to a tree.
Huey and Riley both run over to the blonde woman; Riley tripping more than half the time because of his small legs. Upon arriving, both boys eagerly hand the woman their tickets, who hands them baskets in return, followed by the two jumping into the crowd of kids, all of who are waiting for the signal to run and pick up Easter eggs in their baskets.
"On your mark… get set… go!" some adult calls out, and each and every kids takes off sprinting as fast as they can.
Huey ran as fast as he could, taking his and Riley's basket with him so that his little brother could catch up. His big, maroon eyes focused in on a sparkly, pink and yellow Easter on the ground. He was completely and utterly enchanted by it. Next to him, Riley picked up a purple and blue striped egg, and put it in his green basket. Huey did the same with his egg, putting it in his orange basket.
The pair continued to move in this fashion until five minutes later, when the round was over.
"Any parents who signed their kids up for two rounds may now come to me again!" the blonde woman near the tree announced. Huey and Riley saw that almost all of the kids who were just picking up eggs with them in this first round went back to the blonde woman, whereas Huey and Riley had to approach their parents who were clearly arguing. In the distance, their father laid back on the tree.
"Just tell me how much money you have on you, Xavier. If we collectively have five dollars, then we can sign them up for another round! You saw how much fun they were having out there; it'd be a shame to take that away from them," the boys' mom pleads to her husband, Xavier.
"But Tanya… it's not like we're made of money. We're not like these folk. We can't just give up five dollars, we gotta earn it and save it. Five dollars could go towards dinner tonight, or better yet, the boys' college fund," Xavier replies to his wife, Tanya.
"X," Tanya uses his nickname. "The ghetto already takes away a large part of our kids' childhood. They gotta grow up quickly in these streets so that they won't be hurt. And if you don't wanna put money towards bailing these children out of jail when they grow older, I suggest we put some money towards making them happy and making them better people now." Xavier gives in, and passes Tanya a dollar and seventy cents to go with Tanya's three dollars and a quarter. Counting the change, she shakes her head in disappointment. "Damn, we're five cents short," she sighs.
"No you're not, mama," little Huey interjects.
"Oh my, I didn't realize you boys were there," she says in shock.
"Yeah, we just walked up here two seconds ago. All I heard was, 'five cents short'. But you're not because I have a nickel in my sock! Remember, earlier today in church, I spotted it on the floor and I didn't have anywhere to put it, so I put it in my sock," Huey replies, pulling a nickel out. "See, mama? Remember, mama?" He asks, handing it to her.
She nods her head in response. "Why don't you two go over to the woman at the booth again, and get yourself two more tickets so that you can play in another round," Tanya encourages them. Huey and Riley scurry over to the booth, then to the blonde woman, tickets in hand, ready to participate in another round of this Easter egg hunt.
"On your mark… get set… go!" the same adults calls out, and once again, all the children run off.
This time, Huey carried his and Riley's baskets again, but he didn't slow down for his brother. He still ran as fast as he could; wherever the wind would take him. He spotted a white egg in the distance that had a black 'X' sticker on top of it, which immediately reminded him of his father. He ran and ran, sprinting hard, only to fall even harder. A hint of embarrassment, a wince due to his fall, and a tear-streaked face consumed the boy in that moment.
And that's all Huey Freeman remembered about Easter Sunday when he was five years old.
Five Years Later
Woodcrest, MD
Five years had passed, and Huey was now ten years old. Due to a fire that occurred at his house in Chicago, his parents had died, and he had nothing much to remind him of them except for a few pictures that other relatives and friends had of the couple. Even their legacy had died in a sense because the hard-earned cash that they had put aside for Huey and Riley's college fund all went to the big house in Woodcrest that Granddad had bought.
But right now, it was Easter Sunday, and a certain maroon-eyed boy was being pestered by a certain emerald green-eyed girl.
"Come on, Huey!" Jazmine pleaded. "I know you don't believe in God, or a god or goddess, or anything like that, but it won't be the same without you!"
Pinching the bridge of his nose, closed eyes, scowling as extremely as ever, just as he had every day since moving to Woodcrest, Huey responds. "Jazmine, I heard you the first, second, third, and one hundredth time. I am not going on a stupid Easter egg hunt with you."
"But Hueyyyy…" Jazmine whines.
"No," Huey quickly asserts himself.
This time, however, in the face or rejection, little Miss Jazmine Dubois took a different approach to gaining a positive answer from Huey. "What," she thought of something to tease him about, "are you scared you're gonna trip and fall on your face while hunting for eggs or something like that?" she gave him a sly grin, feeling pretty proud of herself for making a half-decent diss.
Huey opens his eyes instantly. "How… do you know… about that?" he asks with quick breaths.
"Huh?" Jazmine asks in confusion.
"Do you work for the government? Are you really Jazmine Elizabeth Dubois? Are you lying to my face?" Huey throws a barrage of questions at her.
"Huh?" Jazmine asks again, her naivety clearly displayed. Huey sighs a breath of relief.
"Never mind, Jazmine," he answers nonchalantly, as if two seconds ago he wasn't just scared for his life.
"Well, Freeman… tell me how you're gonna raise our kids if you were never a kid yourself?" Jazmine inquires.
"O-o-our kids?" Huey stumbles over his words, amazed by her rare, blunt moments.
Still, Jazmine ignores him, and proceeds on with her point. "Now I know your mom and dad passed, and I'm very sorry for that, but don't you think that they would've wanted you to have fun while you're still young? I mean, you can't tell me that they never took you to at least one Easter egg hunt as a kid."
"They did," Huey admits, looking Jazmine in the eyes.
"So don't you think now, looking down from Heaven, they'd rather look into your eyes, as red as the red wine my mom drinks, and see you having fun?" Jazmine questions him.
"Jazmine, that was beautiful… and yes, they would. But that analogy you used…" Huey murmurs off into the distance.
"What, red as the red wine my mom drinks?" Jazmine asks for clarification.
"Yo, did I hear you right, Mariah?" Riley asks, emerging out of nowhere. Jazmine nods her head in response to Riley, while Huey shakes his head in disbelief. "Well, shit… we all got our problems," Riley laughs it off.
"Now let's go get those eggs!" Jazmine screams in excitement.
A/N: so I hope you liked that. It's kinda sorta short I guess, but again I've literally just been typing nonstop for the past two hours and this is all I got—I have to leave the house now. So goodbye, and happy Easter if you're celebrating!
