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Black Lies White Lies
Black Lies White Lies
Black Lies White Lies
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Black Lies White Lies

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Mattie Robinson, a mother who pitted her three daughters against each other, who were the products of a loveless marriage. It was time and they were coming home to bury their mother. This was the last time they would see her before laying her to rest.
Candice Robinson is what we would call a success story at its best and living the American dream. She’s at the top of her game as a marketing exe

LanguageEnglish
PublisherDranda Laster
Release dateApr 19, 2013
ISBN9781301306596
Black Lies White Lies
Author

Dranda Laster

Being a hairdresser I hear a lot of stories.I knew to most of my customers I was a Lawyer,Doctor, Counselor. The perfect go to person to listen to all there stories. I've always been told I was a great story teller and it turns out I love it. I sat down at my computer one night and my thoughts just came to life. Relationships and how they effect our lives,and When does A Lie Cross The Line? I figured out that a Lie crosses the lie when it is told...I based my books on Human Emotions,and why we do and say the things we do.Love being in the top ten.Its what we all strive to acquire if we admit it or not.Money or things it can obtain were in the bottom. Love is a powerful emotion.. without a little rain we couldn't have rainbows..

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    Book preview

    Black Lies White Lies - Dranda Laster

    Black Lies White Lies

    Author Dranda Laster

    Copyright2013 Dranda Laster

    Smashwords edition

    Contents

    Chapter1

    Chapter 2

    Chapter3

    Chapter 4

    Chapter5

    Chapter6

    Chapter7

    Chapter8

    Chapter9

    Chapter10

    Chapter11

    Chaptert12

    Chapter13

    Chapter14

    Chapter15

    Chapter 16

    Chapter17

    Chapter18

    Chapter19

    Chapter20

    Chapter21

    Chapter22

    Chapter23

    Chapter24

    Chapter25

    Chapter26

    Chapter27

    Chapter28

    Chapter29

    Chapter30

     CANDICE

    Chapter 1

    I’m Candice, the small town girl who is finally getting what she wants, close to top in her marketing department and living her life in secret. I was up for the promotion of a lifetime. Life was starting to look up for me. Except now, I’m going back to the sticks of Tennessee, to a life I had chosen to ignore.

    It seemed life had a way of taking you back, whether you wanted to go or not. My mother had just died and now I was on my way down this lonesome highway, the wind in my hair, the stereo on blast. Donnie Hathaway and Roberta Flack, ’Where is the Love’, taking me back to a childhood I wished to forget.

    Mattie was dead and so was all the drama with her. What could I say about this woman I had called Mother all my life; party girl, bitch, and husband stealer. Well, you got my drift. She was all the things I didn’t want to be. But the fruit don’t fall that far from the tree, or so I've been told.

    I could still hear Al Green on the floor model stereo and see my mother sitting in the kitchen pressing her hair with the hot comb. I hated that smell. I didn’t have to worry about that since I had what people called good hair. People in town always said I was the milk man's daughter. I had pale skin, the color of peaches and cream, and long, curly, bright red hair. My daddy was the color of coal, Momma not far from it.

    Momma had been the most beautiful black woman people had seen in that part of Tennessee. A Naomi Campbell look-alike, but better. Men used to say she was built like a Coca-Cola bottle. She’d known what she had and had worked it like a job. And believe me, it was her job. Getting men's money was what she knew how to do. I can still hear her saying, A fool and his money will soon part, and that’s exactly what she meant. When Sweet went anywhere she was dressed to the nines.

    Sweet was what people called my mother. Her real name was Mattie Mae Robinson. When the weekends would roll around, you could find her in the club. That’s what they had called the holes in the walls she and her best friend Cat would visit. Cat was alright looking. But Sweet, she never hung with girls that gave her any competition, as if there were any. Screwing white men was Mattie’s fancy and she wanted them all, from the insurance man to the city Mayor.

    She had them all wrapped around her finger and eating out of the palm of her hand. She called it that voodoo that only she knew and every woman, black or white, hated her for it. Mattie had cared less what those bitches thought or said. She wanted the best of the best and it didn’t matter how she got it.

    Momma’s white boyfriends used to call her place the sugar shack. They would say the best brown sugar in the world came out of there. Out of the room we were never allowed to enter if the door was closed.

    That takes me to my daddy, or the one I called Daddy. Buck was what everyone else called him. James Robinson was his real name. He was a devoted husband to my mother and took care of my sisters and me. My mother said he wasn't worth a fuck and that was what it took to get him. Either way, Buck was my dad and I loved him. He was the greatest man I had ever known and would ever know. The love of my life is what he was.

    He worked like a dog trying to provide for his family. He would haul bricks in his truck all the way down to Mississippi. He was sometimes gone two or three days and would always bring candy for my sisters and gum for me. He knew I loved bubble gum.

    One day, Daddy was supposed to be going somewhere close to Memphis to work. Momma thought he would be gone for at least two days. To our surprise, especially Momma’s, Daddy came back earlier than expected. There he was, just standing in the doorway of Momma’s room.

    That was the night Daddy went crazy on that man Momma had in her bedroom. Let’s just call him the insurance man and say Momma was in capable hands. Daddy was beating this man, blood was everywhere, and Momma kept screaming Don't kill him Buck!

    The look in Daddy’s eyes, they were bloodshot and ready to kill. He was beating him and beating him. Blood ran from the man’s nose and mouth. Momma grabbed Buck and begged, Buck! Please! Stop! You are going to jail if you kill him!

    Daddy came to his senses and stopped. To my surprise, and Daddy’s too, I’m sure, Momma had covered the white man with her body, as if to protect him. My father had just stood there, disbelieving, his eyes clearly saying this bitch had lost her mind.

    As quick as he was there, Daddy left. His world had been shattered. I didn't see much of Buck after that and it was one of the saddest times of my life.

    Going back now was a struggle, but everyone would be expecting me. I was one of the ones that had made it out of that one horse town. I had graduated from Harvard, top of my class and worked for a great company in none other than New York City. A place where dreams came true and no one knew who you were. And now I was back.

    As I rode through town I could see not much had changed. There were a couple of new convenience stores and a strip mall. It was a long way from the city that never slept. Driving up Main Street I thought, here I am again. I drove about a mile down the road where my Aunt Sally still lived, in the same place she had lived since I was a child.

    Aunt Sally was my father’s sister. A real happy woman who always welcomed me with open arms, even though she knew I wasn’t her brother’s daughter. She was tall for a woman, about six feet, with a smile that would melt butter. She would always say, smile and the world smiles with you.

    I pulled up in my brand new Mercedes with all the extras. Aunt Sally walked out on the porch that looked as if it could fall under her weight at any minute. Come on over here, Baby, and give your Aunt Sally a hug and kiss. Your Uncle Tee and I have been waiting on you to get here.

    Uncle Tee was Aunt Sally’s man of twenty years. People called them common law married, so whoever died first would get this house. I’ve been cooking all night for all the folks coming in for the funeral. Got some fried chicken and greens and butter pound cake made with real butter.

    Boy, could Aunt Sally cook. And that butter pound cake? You’d put ten pounds on just smelling it. I hadn’t had food like that in years. I just couldn’t come home and accept what I was trying to forget. I sat down on a couch that was covered in the plastic that stuck to your legs, winter or summer, and listened while Aunt Sally went on telling me all the gossip in town.

    You know, Candice? Your mother missed you after you left for college. She would go on and on about you. How she hadn’t spoken to you in months and the differences you two had. I know your mother was no saint, but she loved you kids as much as she could. I begged to differ.

    Your sisters are coming up from Memphis sometime this evening. When was the last time you spoke to your sisters?

    I just smiled as I said, Maybe a year or two ago.

    Two years too long, Girl. Your family is your family. I don’t care how much money and education you have. I knew she was right, but my sisters and I were on different paths. They had both married black men and had black babies. I wanted no part of that. One thing my mother had taught me was not to have babies by black men who were going nowhere. Even though I didn’t think my daddy was a perfect man, he was my father. But that just was not the life for me.

    Sandra has two beautiful children, Aunt Sally was saying. Hard headed though, she laughed. Bet they have that nappy pressing comb hair that needed grease, I thought. Not my babies. I was going to marry Mr. MBA, Mr. PhD. They had to have a letter in front of their name. Not Mr. Joe the Garbage Man. That life was not for me. Anyway, Miss Candice Robinson had dreams which she was working on making come true. As Aunt Sally went on and on about Sandra and Sabrina, I was thinking about seeing all the people I hadn’t seen in years.

    That evening, as the rest of the family started to show up, the women gathered in Aunt Sally’s kitchen. We all started talking about the old days. Momma had affected all our lives in some way. She was a force alright. She had more men running in and out of the house. You would have thought it was Grand Central Station.

    Then in walked Sabrina. She was all smiles. She always had a smile for everyone except me. Well, look what the cat dragged in. If it isn’t my long lost sister. How’s life treating you these days?

     Fine, I said with my head down. She always had a way of making me feel younger than I was, always looking at me as if she were scolding me. Just like Momma used to do.

    You finally thought you would grace us with your presence? It’s crazy this is what it took to get you back home.

    Well I have been busy working.

    Too busy to come see your own Momma?

    Don't start with me today. I'm not in the mood for that mouth of yours.

    Sabrina was always Momma’s favorite. She always seemed to take her side when it came to anything. She was the most outgoing and had a way with the boys too. She had been the most popular girl at our high school. Everyone just seemed to take to her. She’d been the head cheerleader and had been voted most likely to succeed, in more ways than one. But who am I to judge. She had it all, or so I’d thought.

    She’d gone on to attend TSU. Sabrina had her sights on one thing, the quarterback. And when she wanted something, she always got it, one way or another.

    Quarter Back, Anthony Long. What could I say? He was every girl’s dream. Built like a god, smile so bright, you needed sun glasses to look at him. He had a way about him. Fine and intelligent, always on the Dean’s list. I think he wanted more out of life and he was determined to get it. Everyone thought he would turn pro and Sabrina had thought so too. That’s why Sabrina had a plan his senior year.

    He would not leave her and move on after all her hard work just to be with some white girl. Not in this lifetime. She was going to get her man, even if she had to trick him. Like this old woman from Louisiana used to say, she put that voodoo on him.

    Pro scouts had started looking at Anthony early in his senior year. The coach for the Tennessee Tigers came to TSU to take a closer look and see what all the hype was about. That night had been the championship game and Home Coming night and Anthony put on a show. He threw three touchdown passes and TSU won the game. Sabrina had been all smiles that night. She was wearing that smile that said we’re going to be rich. And now here she was, standing in Aunt Sally’s kitchen, trying to be clever.

    Anthony walked in, smiling that smile he always had. How are you Ladies doing today?

    We’re just fine, they all chimed as one. And how are you doing today, MVP?

    I would be better if this knee wouldn't keep showing out.

    Night fell quickly and everyone started heading home, until it was just me and Aunt Sally sitting on the porch in that rickety old swing. Child, your mind seems a million miles away. This can't be all about your mother.

    She was right, but I didn’t want to tell her, so I just evaded the question. Aunt Sally, do you think Daddy will be at the funeral?

    Candice, I honestly don't know. After he left your mother Buck just went off to himself. He worked all the time and started drinking and throwing his money away on loose women. Buck was never one to tell anyone how he feels.

    Yeah I know, but I was thinking maybe he would come by to see me. I had hoped so. I wanted to see him.

    It has been a while. Well, Child, you know how I hate to leave good company, but I better go to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.

    Go ahead. I’ll be there in a moment. I continued to sit there, listening to nothing but the bull frogs and crickets. I thought about everyone I’d seen today, all the family and friends. My family, the people I couldn't tell my friends about back in New York. No. They wouldn't understand this ordinary life. No. I was a long way from the life I had created, or should I say, the lie.

    Aunt Sally had made the spare room pleasant and comfortable for me. I hadn’t realized I was so tired until I lay down across the large feather bed and fell into a deep sleep.

    I woke the next morning to the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen along with fresh eggs, pancakes and hot rise biscuits. I knew Aunt Sally would have fresh strawberry jam that she canned every year. I went into the bathroom that was so small you couldn't turn around in and turned on the water in the claw foot tub. This was 2010 and zero down here had changed.

    God I needed a bath. I poured the rose scented bath beads into the tub. It smelled fantastic. I slipped out of my silk nightie. In Tennessee, it was hot this time of the year, even though it was early May. My grandmother used to call it a blackberry winter when it got a little cooler in May, which was almost never. She had been a wise old woman.

    Lying back in the tub I thought of all the things and people I had seen, but the one who kept coming to mind was Lance Jackson. If there was any black man I genuinely wanted to be with, it was Lance. He had been my first crush, always playing the clown. He had lived two doors down from where my Aunt Sally lived now. I had seen him every summer when we came to Aunt Sally’s. Momma had always said we went to Aunt Sally’s to give her a break. She’d always said, let your Daddy's people keep you and your sisters for a while since he never does.

    And every summer, there was Lance Jackson, the finest guy in the neighborhood. Or so I had thought. He would always come down to Aunt Sally's to see if I wanted to go fishing. We would go down to the corner store to buy candy or sodas. He always had money from his weekly allowance or from working around the house for his folks. He would sit on the steps of my aunt's house and wait for me until my chores were done. Aunt Sally would call out to him, You thirsty, Lance?

    Yes, Ma’am, and she would give him a glass of water. She always said, water is beneficial for the soul. I guess my soul was lacking because I had never like it all that much as a child. I remembered that on this particular day we were going fishing, which I hated. The worms were slimy and gross. But just to be with Lance aka Mr. Jackson, I would suffer through it.

    Aunt Sally snapped me out of my thoughts, Child, are you done in there yet? The food is getting cold.

    Yes, Ma’am. I'm getting out now. I stepped out, dried myself off and got dressed. I looked into the antique mirror and thought I was looking look pretty decent for thirty two. I still had the body for sin and the face to match.

    My stomach was making this sound like a caged lion. Better go get some of this down home cooking, I thought as I walked down the hall to the kitchen. My Aunt Sally and Uncle Tee were already sitting down. I thought you weren't ever going to come out of the bathroom, Uncle Tee said with a smile.

    Well it takes a little more time for a woman, Uncle Tee.

    He just laughed, I clean up and get out. Takes me about 15 minutes, tops.

    Don’t pay Tee no mind, Child. He's just talking. Just sit down and eat your breakfast before it gets cold.

    Breakfast ended and I started getting ready for the funeral. I dreaded the moment Sabrina, Sandra and I would all be in the same room. I slipped on my black, designer dress along with the pearls my grandmother had given me. I put on my black dress, Louis Vuitton heels, brushed my hair back in a French twist and thought, I'm ready for the fireworks.

    Chapter2

    When we arrived at the church seemed like everyone in town was there, including the Mayor. I always knew he and my mother’d had a thing going. He would always give her hundred dollar bills to pay for our Christmas. I think Daddy sent what he had, but it never seemed like much to Momma.

    We were ushered into the church and seated up front with the family. Sandra’s husband was officiating. He was a pastor in one of the largest churches in Memphis. Sandra seemed happy enough. She was dressed in all black with a hat so ridiculously large it kept brushing Sabrina’s head. Sabrina tried moving over with this look on her face like she wanted to snatch it off.

    Sandra had actually married up. She’d always wanted to marry a Christian man. When we were kids she would always say, I want to marry a man just like Pastor Anderson. Who was now the Pastor of the church her husband was preaching in this very day. She had two kids and a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence. I guess she’d got three out three. Now that’s good for a girl whose mother was the talk about town.

    Here we all stood, saying bye to the person that had molded us into the people we were today, in one way or another.

    Bryan, Sandra’s husband, preached a beautiful service. He spoke highly of Momma, who had thought he was an uppity nigga and would constantly tell Sandra that. She would tell Momma, you’re just full of the devil. Momma would always say, you and your husband live in that big house of yours on other people's money. Christians my ass, you and your husband are just getting rich. When Sandra could finally take no more of Momma’s ranting she would tell Momma, I'm out of this hell hole. Momma would say, the truth hurts and that's why she left.

    After the services we went to the cemetery, her final resting place. It seemed sad at that exact moment, but I had no tears to shed that day. Maybe one day in the future.

    After the funeral everyone went back to the church hall. There, friends and family gathered to say their goodbyes and go their separate ways. The first thing I noticed was my father was not present, here or at the funeral. Guess he wasn’t going to come and cause himself any more pain. I didn't blame him. After all, this woman, my mother, had put him through hell.

    The one other person I wanted and needed to see was Lance. I knew he would make me feel better. I started looking over the crowd to see if he might be there. To my surprise, he was, handsome as ever. And he was there alone. We finally made eye contact and he strolled my direction. Candice, you're looking well on such a sad occasion.

    Thank you, Lance. I smiled a little, not wanting to appear too happy. Yeah, this has been a sad day.

    I know just how you feel, he smiled back, in that knowing way he and I shared. I had always told him how I’d felt about Momma and her I don't give a damn ways. He would always say, we don't choose our parents or our family. I saw your car at Aunt Sally’s. I knew it was yours from the license plates. Sally told me you were living in New York. So you’re a city girl huh?

    It was just the place I ended up, I guess.

    Well, Miss Candice. I can call you Miss? You didn't go off and get married on me did you?

    No, I’m not married. Nothing real serious going on with me right now.

    You’re too gorgeous to be single, so where is he?

    Well I have a friend. I lied with a straight face, because I considered him more than a friend.

    Oh, he's just a friend? I'm sure your friend wouldn’t mind if I take you to dinner before you leave town.

    No, why would he? We’re just friends, I said as I smiled.

    The crowd started to thin, everyone going their separate ways. All the food was being put away or given away by Aunt Sally and the sisters of the church.

    I’d better get going. It's getting late. But don’t forget about dinner. Here, let me put my number in your phone so you can call when you get settled tonight.

    Ok, I will.

    Wow, Candice. It's been so lovely seeing you again, he leaned over and he kissed me on the cheek. Call me.

    I stood there wondering if I would call. He was gone, but his cologne lingered. When we had been in high school, hanging out together, Lance had been an outstanding athlete. Even when he would sweat, he would always smell pleasant. We would walk home together after school. Who are you trying to impress, Lance Jackson? I would ask.

    You, for one, and the ladies like the way I smell.

    "You are just so

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