So Gone - By Jennifer Luckett Page 0,6
a real old sense of humor, and a chuckle that would start anyone to laughing with her.
I remembered the first trip back to Memphis to visit relatives after moving to Atlanta. Blunt accompanied me on that trip and paid for everything, including the first class plane tickets and the shopping spree that he took me and my aunt on. I hadn’t seen Aunt Sara smile that wide in a long time. She absolutely fell in love with Blunt. One night they stayed up talking for hours while I lay in the guest room asleep.
Every so often Auntie woke me up with that loud laugh of hers. I didn't mind because I loved to see her enjoy herself. Blunt really worked his charm that night.
“That boy is a real rascal,” she said affectionately when we were alone the next day.
I was so happy that Auntie approved of him because my choice of men before him had not won her approval. Every time I spoke with her, she would ask about Blunt. He was still trying to impress me back then so my reports were favorable.
Everything seemed so wonderful. Then one night, almost two years ago, I received a phone call from Leesha saying that Aunt Sara had been found unconscious in her home. She had been rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital.
The doctors thought she had suffered a stroke at first and things weren’t looking good. I began packing my bags to rush to her side.
The next day, I received another call from my cousin informing me that Auntie had regained consciousness and was able to talk. She told me not to get my hopes up because unfortunately it wasn’t a stroke, but a burst bowel. There was nothing that could be done except give her strong pain medicine to keep her at ease until she took her last breath. I was inconsolable.
Blunt held me in his arms and rocked me until my tears soaked his shirt. "I'm driving you there, baby," he offered.
On our way to Memphis two hours later, I was devastated to learn that Auntie had passed. Leesha was sobbing on the other end of the phone. I hung up my cell and dropped it in my lap. Tears dripped down my face while Blunt drove. “What’s wrong, baby?” he glimpsed over and asked me.
“Auntie passed away,” I said between the loud cries that I released.
Blunt got off the highway at the next exit. He pulled into the parking lot of a gas station and parked. Then he took me into his arms. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried.
“I’m sorry,” Blunt consoled me. He rubbed his hand up and down my lower back and murmured in my ear, “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m here for you.” He used his finger to wipe away my tears, and he kissed my forehead.
I cried for at least ten minutes. I knew Aunt Sara was out of pain and no longer suffering, but I didn’t want it to be true. "It's so unfair," I wept.
"I know, honey." Blunt tried to understand.
The circumstances of Auntie's death were very upsetting. I often wondered how long she had been laying there before she was found in her home and if she suffered a long time and kept it to herself. It was awful thinking all of those things and knowing there would be no more cheerful calls from her. She was gone, and that was it.
Blunt was everything that I needed him to be during that time. He comforted me whenever I felt weak. I can recall him rocking me to sleep one night. At her funeral, he was one of her pallbearers. That’s why I loved him so much because he had been my rock at a time in my life when I thought the walls were tumbling down on me. Since then he had change dramatically.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the school’s bell ring for the students to change classes. My eyes landed on Devin. He had taken the shoestrings out of his shoes and was twirling them in the air. As much as I disliked doing it, I would be nice to him and juice him for information.
I mustered up a phony smile, hoping that I could make him feel at ease. “So, Devin, does your dad have any more girlfriends other than Luscious?” I pried.
“Yep. His other girlfriend’s name is Mika. That’s my baby brother’s mama. He just learned how to walk. Mika gives me chocolate chip cookies