BlacktionMagIssue1

24
“But you know I love you right? And I would do anything for you? To
make sure you’re taken care of. To make sure you have everything you could
ever need and want?”
“Of course.”
Vernita sighed. “Before Lewis, we were in such a terrible place. You
remember that? Do you remember how that felt?”
Kennedy shuddered. She would never forget being teased for her Goodwill
attire, or the hunger pains that clinched her stomach so tight she couldn’t
sleep at night.
Or even her mother’s shallow cries late at night when she thought
Kennedy was already sleep. It hadn’t been drugs, or anything that had put
them in such a broken environment. It had just been life. A series of bad
luck as a single parent that Vernita could never quite dig them out of. Until
Lewis.
“I never want you to go through that again,” Vernita almost
whispered. “Never want us to go through that again.”
“Me neither Mama,” Kennedy said when her mother paused. She
didn’t know if her mother was asking for a response or strength with the
pause in her words.
“I need you to do me a favor,” Vernita said, still not able to meet her
daughter’s gaze. “A big favor. But it would change our lives forever if you did
it. Can you do that for me?”
“What is it?”
“First, promise me you’ll do it,” Vernita reiterated a little more
forceful. “I need your promise.” As customary between them, she held out
her pinky in Kennedy’s direction and waited for her daughter to reciprocate.
The silent bond was completely unspoken but once they locked pinkies,
both knew that the gesture sealed the deal between them. All they had ever
had was each other.
Fear had Kennedy hesitating for a brief moment. Brief. But trust
propelled her feet across the room before obediently hooking her pinky
around her mother’s. “I promise,” she said, eyeing their joined fingers.
“What do I have to do?”
She almost didn’t hear the words as she watched her mother’s lips
move.