"I guess that marathon isn't happening," I say to myself.
AUNT CHAROLETTE'S HOUSE 4133 VINTON AVE, CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 9:34 PM
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My hands smoothen across the image of my mother. Amazing. It has always been hard for me to believe that any other woman in the world is anywhere near as beautiful as my mother is. Her rose flushed cheekbones, caramel skin, heart-shaped face, naturally arched eyebrows. She is a beauty. In fact, she may quite possibly be the epitome of beauty. To see her so young, happy, and full of life brings great joy to my heart.
"You two look so much alike. Oh my God, CJ." Aunt Charolette sits down on the couch beside me with her e-cigarette filled with strawberry-banana flavoring and her wine glass filled with Jordan Cabernet as we sit beside the fireplace. "You have your father's eyes. It isn't too common you would've seen a black girl walking around with those hazel, grey, green, blue— whatever color them thangs in your head is. Well, you would... but she would've paid $3.99 at the gas station or $5.99 at Walgreens to get them." Aunt Charolette and I laugh as she inhales her electronic cigarette, committing long-term suicide before my very eyes.
She did not want much when she called me over here. My cousin's are all moved out and my Uncle William, her husband, is a 9-11 dispatcher who occasionally works the nightshift. She is simply bored. So, she pulled out the photo albums. She told me she found all kinds of stuff from back in the days where she and my mom used to live to see the sun rise. I would have made my way over with no hesitation even if I knew she did not really want anything. My aunt has been like my second mother since my mother died. Their mother (my grandmother) and grandmother (my great-grandmother) both passed on the exact same way. Aunt Charolette is not the only person to understand the way it feels in the Hawthorne family but, she is the only person to understand the pattern and the way I feel about it.
"Is that her and her boyfriend?"
Aunt Charolette nods. "Girl, yes! I used to tell your dad all the time that I was shook that she even agreed to go out with him. Your mother loved tall, dark, and handsome. Your daddy was cute, he was tall, but he wasn't that chocolate she loved. I thought she was going to turn that little mixed boy down." I snicker at the idea of my dad being curved by my mom. The embarrassment would have been out of this world, I know it! My dad was a player so, the experience would have been beyond humbling. "I still, to this day, do not know why she said yes." She takes another sip of her wine following a drag of her cigarette.
My fingers point to the vision of my mother dressed up in a princess costume. "What's this, a Halloween party?"
"Nope! That's from a friend's birthday party." I nod in understanding. "Damn, he sure did know how to throw a slamming ass party. God rest the baby's beautiful soul."
