Tears on a Sunday Afternoon - Michael Presley [50]
Grandma had given me a small album with pictures of my grandfather and my mother. She had told me the stories behind the pictures. I had shown Emerald the pictures of his family and explained each one of them to him the way my grandmother had done to me.
“Emerald and you are all I have,” I said to my grandmother.
“For now, my son; only for now. Soon you and Julie will give Emerald a sister to play with and maybe another brother. I hope to be around to see that.”
“Grandma, Julie’s seeing someone else.”
“Then what made you believe that she’s interested in you?”
“It’s a feeling. I’m not really concerned about whether Julie’s interested in me or not. The man she’s seeing is a friend of mine; I introduced them.”
“Boy, you are confused.” Grandma shook her head. “For all the years you’ve known Julie, you weren’t interested in her. Now that she’s with someone else, you suddenly want her. Are you jealous?” Grandma asked.
I had thought about that. I had met a few of Julie’s previous boyfriends and I was never jealous. In reality, I was hoping she would meet someone and get married and have kids. She was my friend and I wished only the best for her. The feelings and the sensations I was having around Julie were new to me. I had never thought about going there with Julie. “No, Grandma, my soul might be troubled, but I’m not jealous.”
“Son, let me tell you a story.” Grandma put down her empty cup. “When I was growing up, there were these two sisters. Their mother had an old dress and decided to give it to whichever one wanted it. It was an old and ugly dress so the older sister refused the dress and the younger sister did the same. Now when the mother was about to throw the dress away, the younger sister decided she wanted it, so the mother gave it to her. The younger sister took the dress and made some adjustments.”
I sat back in my chair. This was going to be a long one.
My grandmother continued, rolling her eyes at me. “Once the older sister saw the dress, she wanted it. The younger sister refused to give the dress to the older sister because, after all, it was her dress. The younger sister was waiting to wear the dress to her high school prom. But the sisters were a year apart and the older sister’s prom came first. Of course, she wore it to the prom. Everyone at the prom saw the dress and the younger sister found out what the older sister had done. When the big sister came home, the younger sister was waiting with a knife. The younger sister took the knife and stabbed the older sister to death. Now the dress that no one wanted went from being a prom dress to a funeral dress. You want to know the moral of the story?”
“Yes, Grandma, I’m waiting,” I said.
“The moral of the story is: don’t take what you don’t want because someone else wants it. You might end up destroying yourself for something you never really wanted in the first place. Leave Julie alone with that man if she is happy with him. You had your chance and you didn’t take it.”
“Grandma…” I started to say something to her.
“Don’t say anything. Your actions will prove your words.” She paused. “I’m tired now, so I’m going to sleep.”
“Goodnight, Grandma,” I said as she kissed me on the forehead.
Grandma was right and I should have listened to her and left Brian and Julie alone, but I couldn’t. Julie had ignited a fire within me; somehow it needed to be extinguished. Only Julie had the capability to put out that fire. We were all trying to obtain the same thing: happiness. Happiness for some of us would be a smooth, downhill road. For others, like myself, there would be many bumps and bruises. I had endured my share of bumps and bruises; now I was ready for my reward. Julie was going to be mine.
Chapter 13
8TH DAY
I woke up at 5:00 a.m. with a brilliant plan to get out of my hell. At first, I thought by having millions of dollars, I would