Huey followed the young girl who was tugging him urgently down the hill, her tiny fingers wrapping tightly around his index and middle fingers, unable to grasp his whole hand. A sad smile draped over his lips. She was so much like her mother in th way she spoke, smiled and especially laughed. She was just so trusting, it hurt Huey to remember how horrible he was to her all the time.
Especially the night before he left...
He was happy she had found someone to maker her happy, even though it hurt him to think she had been with another man. Jealousy stung his heart, after all... she belonged to him once.
He was awkaken by his thoughts by the fact he was soon being drug inside a very nice looking house. The young Lillian, burst through the door, dragging Huey deep into the foy'ie.
"Momma!" She called, "Momma! I Met your friend! I met Huey! Momma!"
Her calls were replied with silence. Lillian dashed up the stairs, leaving Huey to survey the front hall where they had entered. He could hear her tiny calls for her mother, as he slowly circled the area.
Pictures of Lillian and awards for for perfect attendance and honor roll littered the walls. Along with colored pencil drawn pictures with blue ribbon awards on them. But no pictures of Jazmine... or Lillian's father. Huey poked out his lip and turned around, only to come face to face with a decorative table with a photo album resting delicately next to the lamp.
Gingerly lifting it, he flipped it open and started browsing. Amazing. All pictures of Lillian. Baby pictures, toddler pictures, first day of school pictures, pictures of her in a bathing suit at the beach and even a few of her getting an award for some paper she wrote. No pictures of--
WAIT! Huey stopped midflip and looked hard at a picture. Was that Caesar? No way. He flipped it again and there was the same black man, carrying her on his shoulders. Lillian was dressed in a pink tutu, showing off a new shiney gold medal.
Caesar and...Jazmine...?
He was awoken from his nightmares at the sound of a horrible scream, followed by hurried tiny footsteps.
"Mr. Huey! Mr. Huey! Mr. Huey!" The little girl screamed, turning the corner of the upstairs hall and heaved her body over the stair railing, Huey's eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he braced himself for a collision. He was able to catch her, without too much damage, he just stumbled back quite a bit and slammed his back against the wall.
"What is wrong with y-!!"
"MOMMA'S NOT HERE!" She wailed, "She musta been kidnapped!! Or...or ABDUCTED!! ALIENS ABDUCTED MY MOMMY!!"
"Lillian, calm down," Huey blurted out. Sheesh, talk about dej a' vue he shook off the thought and turned his attention back to the seemingly hysterical child in his arms.
"She's always home when I come back from the hill top!" She wailed, "Always!"
"Lillian, just because you're mother's late coming home, doesn't mean-"
"Lillian!" A deep voice called. Huey and the child both looked up to see a young black man stepping into the door, dread locks falling just under his cheek. Huey couldn't believe it. The man's eyes at first widened in confusion at seeing a strange black man holding the crying child. The shock vanished from his eyes as they dialated and a very familiar smile formed wide on his face, "Huey Freeman! When... When you'd get in!?" The two men bumped fists.
"Caesar, wow... how... how long has it been?"
"Too long,"
"Mommy's been abducted by aliens!! We hafta go help her!" Lillian blurted out, informing Caesar quickly. Caesar rolled his eyes and collected her into his arms, she sniffed as he tried to console her with reason.
"Lillian, Mommy called me and told me she was going to be late from the super market. There's a big traffic build up and it's going to take her awhile,"
"Are... are you sure?" She sniffed, wiping away her tear
"I promise," Caesar said, holding up his rather large pinky in offering for her. A big smile formed on her face as she wrapped it around his, knowing full and well the bond of a pinky promise, "Now, go do your homework so you can help your mom cook dinner when she gets back,"
"Mmmkay!" Lillian exclaimed, hopping down and running up the stairs, her little feet thumping against the wood as she ran.
Huey and Caesar were left to stand there a bit awkwardly, both had their hands in their pockets and were rocking back and forth nervously.
"Wanna beer?" Caesar finally asked.
"Sure," Huey shrugged, followed his former best friend into the kitchen. He watched as he went straight to the fridge and popped it open, sliding a bottle over to Huey and then opening one for himself. Huey took a sip and then an ueasy breath, looking up at Caesar nervously, "So... is... she your daughter?"
"What?" Caesar asked, shock and nervousness in his voice, "Oh no, man, Lillian is...uh... well... Jazmine's..."
Huey swallowed hard. So Caesar wasn't the father.
"I babysit a lot for Jazz," Caesar explained as he swallowed.
Huey shoved his hands in his pockets, asking the question Caesar was dreading, "So... who's the father?"
Caesar paused, looking at Huey grimmly. He then gulped down another long sip before giving his crptic reply, "You're... going to have to ask Jazmine that one, dude,"
Huey was about to say something but before he could, the telephone rang. Caesar shrugged and lifted the receiver up and spoke clearly and as cheerful as ever, "Hello?" Huey watched his brow furrowed, "I... see. Are you okay? Need me to come get you?... really? Really?... Are you REALLY okay?... yeah. That's fine. She can... stay with me tonight, then. Uh huh... sure. No prob,"
"Damnit," Caesar muttered, hanging up the phone.
"What is it?" Huey asked, his breath a bit hollow.
"Jazmine cousin from the city just hit her up on her cell. She's havn marriage issues and needs Jazmine to stay with her," Caesar muttered, "I swear, that damn woman is gonna drive poor Jazzy insane. Anyway, I gotta watch Lillian but I got a date with CIndy tonight,"
Huey's eyes shot up wide, "Cindy!? Cindy... Mcphearson!?"
"Yeah," Caesar's eyes narrowed, "Look man, She's chilled out alot,"
"Okay, okay, whatever you say," Huey said quickly. Caesar huffed and bit his lip, wondering how to get out of the situation.
"Wanna watch her for me?" Caesar asked, popping an eyebrow up at Huey.
"Me!? Oh, I don't know," Huey said, his eyes falling on his feet, "I'm not... good with kids, Caesar,"
"C'mon, Huey!" Caesar begged, "I need ta see ma woman,"
Huey shuttered at the thought of Cindy as anyone's "woman", but he fought back a rude comment before admitting, "Fine, I'll watch her... WIll Jazmine mind, ya think?"
"I highly doubt she will, Huey,"
oOOoOOoOOOoOOooOOOOOoO
"This is where you live?"
"I used to,"
Lillian gasped at all the dust. She was currently helping Huey unpack things in his old bedroom. She let out a shriek when she dusted off a few dirty spines of some books. Huey jumped and turned around.
"Look at this!" She yelped, "This is the Isis papers! Ooh! And Angela Davis's biography! Ahhh!! Behold A Pale Horse! I can't believe it!" She snagged the large dusty text and started thumbing through it, "Wow this is like...! Amazing! I've been looking for a copy of this for nearly a month now! And it was right across the street the whole TIME!"
Huey forced a smile, "You can keep it if you want,"
"Really!?" She exclaimed, "Thanks!"
Huey stood up after cleaning off his old bed, "Well, what time does your mom make you go to sleep,"
"Nine," She stated simply.
"Nine!? Nine O'clock? Really? Sheesh..." Huey muttered, looking at his watch. 7:30, "Mmmkay. Whaddia wanna do?"
"Wanna play a game?"
Huey heaved a sigh, "Lemmie guess; House? Oh, no wait... Gone with the wind?"
"Are you kidding?" Her nose wrinkled, "House is okay but why would I ask to play a game about two slave owning lovers?"
Huey cocked an eyebrow, "O...kay. So... whaddia wanna play?"
oOoOOoOOOOOoOOooOOooOOo
"The slave master can't hold down the fort much longer!" She spoke in a stage whisper to Huey as they crouched behind the couch, "As soon as he least expects it, we attack!"
Huey gave her a puzzled look, looking down at his weapon- a pillow case stuffed with a basketball and some old action fugures they found in a toy box.
Before they could rebel against the slave master (aka Lillians polar bear doll) something made Lillian jump up and run to the couch, taking all of her weight and throwing it down so the cough made a "poof" noise. The TV had switched to the Fox News and was showing the candidates for President of the upcoming elections.
Huey blinked in surprise as she stared, eyes glued to the screen, "You watch the debates?"
"Yeah," She stated simply, "But all the candidates are too corrupt to really have any hope for. I don't see why people act like one is so much better than any other,"
Huey looked down at the girl with confusion, "How old did you say you were, again?
"Six," She shrugged, "How old are you?"
"25,"
"Oh," She stated, "Same as Mommy,"
Huey didn't say anything, just slumped down next to her and cleared his throat, "So... what about your dad?"
A hurt expression filled the young girls eyes. She looked up at the ceiling as if wondering if he was trustable. He was the only person she ever met who could understand the way she talked and even though he was surprised by what she said, he seemed to sympathize with her. He was smart and he was nice... even if he hardly ever smiled.
"I don't have one," She shrugged, her knees tucked under her elbows and her face buried in her arms, "I see other kids with them... at the park, picking them up from school... buying them stuff at the stores. I just don't got one I guess,"
"Your mom never told you about him?"
"No," She shrugged, "But she tells me every now and again how I remind her of him... She says I say things that he used to say and I talk like him sometimes... it usually makes her sad but she leaves the room before she starts to cry... I don't mean to make Mommy sad... and I wish I didn't. I think I'm going to stop talking,"
Huey's heart melted. She was sweet as sugar and yet she was brilliant. He wracked his massive brain for a reply that would make her feel better. Something to help her see that to deprive herself of speaking would only make a selfless person like her mother only sadder. He wanted to point out her good qualities and what made her so special... but nothing came.
He was still a wreck with words.
Instead, he did what he knew he should have done everytime he was left with a sad Jazmine. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him so she snuggled up into his shirt, hugging him tight.
"You're so smart," He said quietly, knowing that he hardly ever heard that earnestly as a child from any adult he had known.
"That's what everyone tells me," She said simply, her fingers entwining in his shirt.
"Do you think you're smart?"
She shrugged, "I'm just weird,"
Huey was taken back by this statement. When he was a kid, he was proud to be smart. He never thought for a moment he was ever weird. In his eyes, everyone else was blind, "Why would you think that?"
"No one likes me," She buried her face into his shirt, a tear threatening to fall, "No one plays with me at school... and they never pick me to play games ever... I hear them whisper when I'm reading... they think I'm a nerd,"
He tightened his grip on her back, his large hand covering most of her back, "Well I like you very much. And I don't think you're weird,"
She looked up at him, a tear sliding down her smooth cheek, but a smile broke its way. She didn't say anything, just tightened her grip on his body, snuggling her face into the side of his chest.
oOOoOOoOOoOOoOo
D'awwww!!! I'nt DAT pwecious!??!?!
yah... Huey's ben cut open by a sugar coated knife and now his fluffy insides are flowing like a freakin river