Destiny

As Angie opened the front door to her house, she found herself suddenly caught up in a distant memory. She could hear her grandmother Nana, singing “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” one of her favorite spirituals. She could hear the sounds of Sunday dinner being prepared in the kitchen. She could smell fried corn, yams and greens. The pork roast glazed with honey was causing her mouth to water.

As Angie pushed open the kitchen door, she fully expected to see her grandmother standing there. Instead it was her daughter Destiny, busy preparing the last of their dinner.

Angie found herself fighting back tears. Tears for her grandmother whom she still missed even after all these years and tears of pride as she began to see her own daughter in the same light her grandmother had begun to see her at that age. However, there was one big difference. Angie had been a loner. She didn’t have any friends as a teenager.

Destiny had several, namely her best friends, Treasure and Daniel. Up until recently, the three had been inseparable. Even though Daniel was a couple of years younger than Destiny, it had never stopped them from being together. That is until Destiny started being friends with that fast-tailed girl across the street.

Angie had tried to explain to Destiny that, that particular little girl was headed for trouble. She didn’t know how to put into words the strange feeling that she had whenever Sandra was around.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like the little girl. She barely knew her. But, it was as if something in her very soul was sending out a warning. Angie had been around enough girls like Sandra, when she had practiced law to know the signs. She had defended them in the courtrooms and then sentenced them when she was on the bench. Girls like Sandra didn’t even have to open their mouths for you to know what to expect.

Girls like Sandra had grown up with very little supervision if any. Their eyes had seen too much and their little bodies forced to do things long before their time. Yes, girls just like her had lived several lifetimes in the short span of time that the have spent on earth. Angie already knew Sandra’s story and that was the real reason she didn’t want her daughter Destiny to get involved with her.

Angie stood in the kitchen doorway a little while longer. When Angie moved into her grandmother’s old house several years back, she totally remodeled it but took great pains not to change its ambiance.

All of the appliances were new, but rather than cover up the once beautiful wood floors, she had them totally stripped and refinished. Once they started on the walls, they discovered that the previous owners had painted and then paneled over beautiful red bricks. Angie and Tony had taken great pains to restore the bricks to their once illustrious finery.

The final touch was a replica of a wood burning stove they installed in the corner of the kitchen. It didn’t burn wood but had been adapted to electric heat. Angie and her family had spent many a cold winters’ day, just lounging around that old stove catching up on the latest releases in the literary world. Destiny had inherited both of her parents’ love of reading.

Over the years, Angie had continued to collect Annie Lee pieces and they were strategically placed around the room. The kitchen had become the centerpiece of her home. Even when their friends came to visit, everyone always ended up in the kitchen drinking coffee and enjoying one of the many delectable desserts that Angie loved to prepare.

Angie watched as Destiny moved around the kitchen like a pro. Yes, her beautiful and talented daughter was doing what daughters have been known to do for centuries; helping to prepare the family meal. Yes, Angie had been blessed all those years ago when Destiny had first come into her life.

It had been almost eleven years to the day that Mrs. Carter had walked into her courtroom looking for someone to care for her granddaughter. Mrs. Carter’s daughter, Trisha was dying from aids and she had recently found out that she too was dying. She was on a mission to find a loving home for her only grandchild.

Destiny’s birth father had already died from the disease and Madea, as they would soon begin to call her, nor her daughter had very much time left. Angie had decided that she would take all three of them into her home. Trisha died just a couple of weeks later.

Madea would teach Angie and her friends a lifetime of lessons in the months leading up to her death. Lessons that would remain a part of who they all were for the remainder of their lives.

Angie sometimes missed Madea as much as she did her own grandmother, Nana. She found comfort in knowing that Nana, Madea, her other grandmother Alma, and both of her parents were together in heaven.

She often felt that they were always watching out for them all, her husband Tony, their daughter; Destiny, as well as her best friends; Theresa, Darlene and Rhonda. The four of them had known each other since college and even though Darlene and Rhonda no longer lived in Chicago, they still remained the best of friends.

Darlene had returned to Kansas after the death of her father to care for her step-mother, Maxine. Although, is she was really honest with herself, she would have to admit that it was Maxine who was really taking care of her. Darlene was still the most talented litigator of them all. Even in her early fifties, she was still driven and a formidable opponent in the courtroom.

Rhonda had gotten married a few years ago and retired from the bench. She married a widower named Mike. Mike had four adult children who gave Rhonda plenty of grandbabies to fret over.

Rhonda and her new husband had actually moved to Phoenix Arizona to be closer to them all. They bought a ranch and it was a child’s dream come true. Between the horses, swimming pool and other amenities that the ranch had to offer, Rhonda’s home was always filled with the sound of laughing children. Angie couldn’t have been happier for her friend.
However, it was Theresa that Angie had grown closest to over the years. In addition to being Destiny’s godmother, both Theresa and her husband Isaac were their pastors as well as she and Tony’s best friends.
Yes, life had really been good to Angie, her family and her friends. It was at times like this, that she truly felt blessed.

“I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.”