Diya and Ice

"Encourage her , love her , see her ,"

Ice
Ice pulled up to his grandma's house a little after two and he spotted her on the porch. She was shelling black eyed peas. She stared at him with sad eyes, Ice turned off the ignition and slowly stepped out the car. He walked to the back door behind the passenger seat to let Ivory out. She ran up the porch to hug her grandma, then ran inside the house.

There was an old man who pulled up next to him on a bike, full of crushed cans that he would later recycle for money.

"Ice, boy is that you? Damn I just got deja vu, you look just like your old man. How you been?" Ice dapped the old man up. He had rotten teeth and he smelled of beer and onions. He appeared to not have taken a bath in years, his skin was black from dirt, his fingernails and eyeballs were yellow.

"I'm maintaining Pepper...just coming by to see Gam." Pepper waved at her and she nodded.

"Well, I won't hold you...if you give me a dolla?"Pepper begged.

Ice pulled out a twenty. "Here, I'll do you one better." Pepper eyes lit up.

"Ay thank ya boy! You good to folks...just like yah old man."
Ice cringed at the thought of that statement. Ice the son of a snitch! What big shoes to feel. He shook off the insult that was meant as a compliment.

"Yeah. Try not to going straight to Mr. Bo's liquor store." Pepper jumped on his bike and left.

Ice made his way up his grandma porch. He kissed her cheek. "Hey ma, I'm sorry I'm just now getting here I had a long night. There was an image of Diya that appeared in his head. He shook it off.

"Your father only have three years left and now this could at least add on three more, if they don't kill em first." She fiercely shelled the black eyed peas now.

Ice gently took her hand in his. "Ma, I'm sure it's nothing he can't handle, probably just some young boys trying to get a name for themselves."Ice made an attempt to calm her down.

"Well they should of picked someone else, I miss my boy and I'm ready for him to come home. He needs to be with his family where he belongs, not caged in like some animal, 23 hours a day being fed junk." She spit taking a break to wipe her forehead.

Ice kneeled down beside her , his nose catching a whiff of her famous peach cobbler crumble. His mouth instantly began to water.

"Look ma, even though I don't care much for the man, he is my father and I have decided to finally pay him a visit." Her eyes lit up, he knew this would cheer her up.

Although he was only going for answers, because whatever his karma was, he brought it upon himself.

"Boy you aren't just pulling my leg are you?" She wiped her eyes trying to fight back her tears of joy.

"Lady would I lie to you?" He gave her a smirk.

"Oh shush child and help your grandma shell these peas." Ice stood up and took a seat in one of the chairs beside her .

They sat around a huge silver pot, it reminded him of when he was younger. He'd be outside playing, while his mom would sit on the porch with his grandma, cleaning greens or shelling black eye peas for Sunday dinner. He remembered his mother's contagious laugh, it would make anyone smile. Her laugh was infectious.

His mom was undoubtedly beautiful! Quakes greatest trophy. She was smart too, she graduated top of her class in high school and in college for awhile before getting pregnant with Ice. She said some would gossip saying she went all the way just to drop the ball in college. She said walking across that stage with him on her hip was one of the proudest moments of her life, that and marrying Quakes.

Once they did have a happy home, it would always smell of apple pie and lavender fabaloso. His mom was a great baker and a clean freak. Quakes used to be an engineer for this fairly wealthy company and Ice's mom was a pediatrician. She loved children and she wanted five! But she had major complications when she was pregnant with him and the doctors advised against it. She was sad for a moment but then she decided to possibly adopt one day. Well that was before she did become pregnant again, for the last time.

He can hear her now warning him." Son please always treat women with respect, lord knows there are enough fatherless homes. So many broken women, willing to accept any kind of man because their father was absent." Her eyes would water as she paused from reading him a book.

"Just be kind to women. But don't pity a woman, always remember she is strong also. Just encourage her, lover her, see her." She would smile down at him .

"Okay mommy." He would respond having no idea what she was talking about, just wanting to prevent her from being sad.

Quakes would worship the ground she walked on. Ice didn't believe he ever heard Quakes tell her no, how could he? She was angelic, fragile, yet strong and tough. She loved going to the river sticking her toes in the sand, while Quakes grilled and Ice fished beside Gam. He would watch them looking at each other with nothing but love, his mom was everything to him and he loved her the same if not more every day. Then she got sick, she got really sick and Ice remembered that too.

He stored that memory to the farthest part of his brain in hopes of forgetting because everything took a turn for the worst. One day she was laughing in Quakes arms and the next she was coughing up blood in his arms.

"Let's just stop pretending it's not a big deal, Hazel you have to go to the hospital. You promised if your condition worsened you would go." Hazel wiped her mouth with the washcloth he brought her.

" I know Emire, I'm so scared." His mom admitted. His dad cried out this was a state he never witnessed his dad in. "They might suggest I get rid of the baby and so don't want to."

"Hazel I will choose you...I could never love something that takes you away from us." His dad was like a child again crying into her chest, she reached for Ice and he stood frozen, his feet feeling like cement. He was afraid of her, after seeing the blood. He ran pass her into his room under the bed. How could he have been so stupid? Here his beautiful mom was afraid of dying and he was frighten of her, how much that must have hurt her.

He wished he had a little bit more courage in her last days, but seeing her sick and helpless. It was a lot for him. She was losing weight and her appearance was changing daily as her situation worsened. He wished he would have just told her he loved her one last time. Time was not something we should feel entitled to, time had know friends, no warning.

Poor Ice 🧊
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