Daddy and Tea Cakes

Cookie crumbs fall on a red polka-dot cotton dress. Chunky, smooth fingers dig into a red chitterling bucket, turned cookie jar. The outstretch fingers reach for another butter brown tea cake.

“Timberrrrr.” shouts a voice. The hands of the little girl recoils from the cookie jar. Her head snaps in the direction of the voice, and quiets her breathing. If her granny finds her head first in the chitterling bucket, she could expect something said about her body. She could already hear...

“Timber I know you not down head first in that bucket?”, “Come here,” her granny says above the kitchen table.

Timber looks up to see bright, painted red toes in tan sandaled heels. Her granny’s brown maltose legs compliment the blue linen dress. Felicitie, Timber’s granny, bends down to face her granddaughter. Her hair smoothed back into a shiny synthetic drawstring ponytail. Timber’s dark brown eyes meet her granny’s gaze. Her curls now decorated with powder and crumbs from the tea cakes.

“Come on.” Felicitie says.

She feels her granny’s hands pull her away. She almost topples over the bucket when her granny drags the last of her body out from beneath the[…] Felicitie responds.

“Timber, git on up here girl. Let me see yo pretty face.” Stella says, whose full attention was on her great granddaughter.

“Gone up to Stella.” Felicitie encourages her.

“Stella, huh? You ain’t too old for an ass whoopin, Ms. Fe-li-ci-Tie”. Both women laugh. Felicitie moves up to the porch and hugs her momma.

“Yo sisters in there. Gon’ and help Frankie please. You know she don’t know how to cook. The girl determined to burn another house down.” They share another laugh. Stella turns to her great-granddaugh-ter. “Look at my twin.” It was true. Timber always forgot she carried another person’s face. She shared every attribute of Stella’s except the fowl cigarette odor and her grandmother’s grey-green eyes. Stella crosses the porch and takes a seat on her rocker.

“Come.” Stella motions towards Timber. She walks to her grandmother. Stella’s hand lands on her head. She searches her great grand daughter’s eyes. “What color are your eyes baby?” Stella shifts her head from side to side examining the shifting brown. After receiving no real answer, she shrugs off the mystery and sits back.

“Them boys going to have a tough” Timber turns towards the street taking a seat on the edge of the porch watching the town.

Mid afternoon and everyone wore their best dresses and good pants. She loved to observe the slow commotion. Most of the people in the town where relatives. But they talked to each other as if they hadn’t bumped into one another in the grocery store three days prior. She watched the merriment before her. She never understood why her family in the country always made such a fuss about the city. It was the same; except that there were more cars and the buildings reached for the sky instead of a row of discarded homes moving towards the grave.

A small black pickup truck pulls up, blocking the street. It wears the dust of the countryside and highway’s bugs. A pair of thick jeans steps out of the truck. Boots make a thump against Stella’s rock bed. The other side of a the truck door opens. Timber jolts up and runs towards Tulip, her mother. Her mother smiles ear to ear.

Tulip, a petite frame, except for her backside. The backside that her classical dance instructors emphasized was a problem although she looks up to see her granny and great-grandmother on the porch. They both eye the man. Felicite holds a short curt smile. Stella, in contrast, is open and curious towards the young man. The man has a medium stature. His shoulder straight with one hand in his pocket and the other hand jiggling keys. His back to Timber.

“Come on Timber.” her mom takes her hand walking her towards the house. The man hears her name and turns to look at her. Timber stands, looking into the darkest brown eyes that shifted when he fully turns towards her. Black without light. Standing in front of her, his eyes shift to a lighter brown with flecks of hazel. The man has the prettiest eyes, she thinks. Eyes like hers”.