Destiny

After Destiny changed her clothes, she headed down to the kitchen to restart dinner. For as long as she could remember, she had been in the kitchen helping her mother. Destiny actually enjoyed cooking. She knew many girls her age who didn’t even know how to boil water, let alone prepare a whole meal.

Her mother had repeatedly told her, “Cooking a good meal for your family and friends was an expression of Love.” Destiny could feel just how much her mother loved her and her father.

Even when they went out to dinner, they would always come home to share a homemade dessert. Her father Tony was an excellent cook too. He and her mother took turns during the week preparing dinner. They even let Destiny have one night a week to cook her favorite dishes for the family’s dinner. Some of their best times as a family had been spent in the kitchen, preparing dinner and talking about life.

Angie had made it a point to tell Destiny all about her real mother and grandmothers. She had even told her Destiny the story about Angie’s parents being civil rights workers and how they had been killed. Destiny often wished she had had a chance to meet all of the family that had gone on before she was born.

Angie took great pleasure in telling her about her and Tony’s first date. How they had gone shopping at the neighborhood farmer’s market and come home to prepare one of the best meals that either of them had ever eaten. Their family still enjoyed spending Saturday mornings visiting that same market.

Angie spent as much time telling Destiny how her own grandmother had taught her how to cook as she did teaching her the elaborate dishes the prepared together. One of their favorite dishes they enjoyed making together was cornbread dressing. They always used all fresh ingredients.

However, Sunday’s dinner belonged to her mother alone. Although recently, she had noticed that her mother really appreciated Destiny’s help after church. Even though their family consisted of just the three of them, they cooked for an army. People tended to just drop by around dinner time.

It wasn’t unusual to see several of Tony’s kids sitting around the dinner table. Tony had been working as a counselor for incarcerated youths for a long time. The really special ones had an open invitation to Sunday dinner. Everyone loved her mother’s cooking. Especially her homemade breads.

They never used a bread machine and they kneaded all the bread by hand. Sometimes Destiny would be awaked by the smell of fresh cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. Growing up, her mother had even allowed her to have her own cup of coffee on those special mornings.

Those mornings were always special memories for Destiny. Her mother and father and she would gather around the old stove in the kitchen, on those cold winter mornings. Each with a copy of the latest book they were reading. They didn’t talk much during those times, but it always felt so magical. When she was much younger, her father would gather her in his lap and read her a story.

Destiny loved her father very much. He would always be her knight in shining armor. He had always been there for her. Not that her mother hadn’t, she and Destiny didn’t always see eye to eye on things.

Her mother was there to teach her about being a woman but her father took great pains to try to teach her about life. Destiny could talk to him about anything; anything that is except Sandra. He didn’t like Sandra either. Destiny wished that both of her parents would just give her new friend a chance. She was sure that once they got to know her, they would like her.

Destiny secretly prayed that her parents would try to get to know Sandra better. Maybe if they did, they would stop being so strict with her. After all, she was almost sixteen and would be a junior in high school next year.

Destiny would always treasure those memories. But now, she just wished her parents would stop treating her like a little girl. She was growing up and just wanted her parents to let her grow. She realized that there was so much about life she needed to learn.
She had always felt like a social outcast. She wasn’t even allowed to wear make-up yet. Her mother had told her, not until her sixteenth birthday. What her mother didn’t know was that she kept a make-up bag in her locker at school. She always made sure that she arrived at school early.

Sandra had taught her how to apply her make-up. She even made sure that Destiny knew the right color combinations. She always made sure that she remembered to take her make-up off before she got home each day. Destiny was sure that if her parents caught her with make-up on, they would find a way to blame her new friend.

Destiny had even managed to sneak and buy some A-1 outfits! She loved Baby-Phat. Her favorite outfit was a pink denim skirt and matching jacket. The very first time that she wore that particular outfit to school, even the seniors looked her way. Her make-up was tight that day and she was rocking a fresh pair of air ones. She was definitely a bad babe that day.

Yep, pink was definitely her color. She had even scoped out a cute pair of NWT applebottom Capri jeans stitched in pink with a cute little matching pink midriff top to wear to Sandra’s sweet sixteen party. Sandra had even told her about a place where she could get a temporary tattoo on her lower back. A pink butterfly to be exact. Destiny got excited just thinking about it. She wanted to make sure that Lonnie noticed her that night.

“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.”

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.”

As they changed out of their choir robes after service, Destiny noticed that Treasure and Daniel were laughing over in the corner of the choir room. As she got closer, they suddenly stopped, with guilty looks written all over their faces.

“What are you two over here whispering about?” Destiny asked as soon as she got within talking distance of the two.

“Nothing”, Daniel was the first to respond, quickly bursting out with uncontrollable laughter.

“What to you mean nothing Daniel? You two are over here all hugged up together like flies on poop, I know you talking about something and I think y’all over here whispering about me! Angrily exclaimed Destiny to her two friends.

“Destiny! Yelled Treasure, her face turning red which was quite funning considering that she was just a couple of shades lighter than blue. You know that your mother would beat you if she heard you talking like that. Specially in the Lord’s house”.

“Come off it Treasure”, said Destiny. “Mama’s out in the kitchen where she always is every Sunday after service. You know that she gotta make her famous macaroni and cheese for all these hungry folks. Mama thinks that if she don’t make macaroni and cheese, then the church don’t make no money. And you know my mama ain’t havin none of that”.

“Destiny, I swear. You talk more and more ghetto since you have been hanging around that new girl Tina. You never used to talk like that”. Said Daniel, joining the conversation for the first time.

“No Daniel, I didn’t. And it ain’t ghetto. It’s just a different way of talking. It’s all about being sixteen and talking the way I want to talk instead of trying to talk all proper all the time. It aint’ got nothing to do with Tina. You guys only want to think the worse of her.
Hell, she ain’t all that bad. I just like to hear her talking cause her mama don’t make her try to talk all white like my mama do. I just get so tired all the time of sayin “yes sir, yes ma’am. I just want to say it like I feel it, like Tina’s does”.

“Daniel’s right Destiny. Tina has a mouth like a sewer. Nice young ladies don’t say the things that she does”. Treasure cut in.

“How do you know Treasure. You ain’t no nice young lady”. With that, Destiny turned and walked away, leaving Treasure in tears and Daniel staring angrily after her.

What does she know? Destiny thought angrily to herself. She’s just jealous cause Tina and I hang out together sometimes. I just want to be like normal kids and have some fun. Why does everyone make it so hard? Even Treasure and she’s supposed to be my best friend.

As Destiny turned off Michigan Avenue and onto her street, her face suddenly brightened as she could see Lonnie and some of his friends playing basketball in the distance. “Damn” Destiny said under her breath. I wish I didn’t have on this long ugly dress. How is Lonnie supposed to notice me if he can’t see me? Maybe I can sneak into the house and change before he sees me.

As Destiny ran up onto her porch and was about to turn the doorknob, she heard a deep velvety voice call out, “What’s up Destiny?” At that moment, Destiny felt her heart drop down to her feet. She knew that the basketball game across the street had stopped and that they were all looking at her.

“Damn Tony”, Destiny thought to herself. He of all people would notice her and draw everyone’s attention in her direction. Tony was Lonnie’s best friend. He was everything Lonnie wasn’t.

Tony was “light-skinned” with gray eyes that looked right through you. Lonnie was tall and muscular compared to his friend who was just as tall, but more on the skinny-side. Most of Destiny’s friends thought that Tony was tight, but Destiny just thought that Tony was lame.

For as long as Destiny could remember, Tony had been trying to push up on her. Every time she got the chance to talk to Lonnie, here comes Tony, all up in her grill. She couldn’t stand him.

“What’s up Tony”, yelled Tina as she tried once again to open the door to her house.

“Hey gurl, when a brotha tryin to holla, you supposed to act like you is interested.” Destiny, couldn’t believe it. All she wanted to do was get into the house and change her clothes, and here was Tony, clowning her again.

“Boy, aint’ nobody got time for you.” Destiny responded.

“Why you playin games with me? Tony said with more than a little sarcasm in his voice.

“We ain’t cool like that. Like I said, I ain’t trying to hear nothin you spittin.”

Destiny heard the others rollin with laughter as she slammed the door behind her. “Well I guess I won’t be making a glorious appearance before Lonnie today. Might as well go up to my room and chill”.

As Destiny walked up the stair to her room, she started daydreaming about Lonnie again. She imagined herself as his wife. She saw the two of them coming home from church. She headed into the kitchen to finish cooking the big dinner she had started before leaving for church.

Hold up, wait a minute. Why was she cooking? This was her dream and since she was married to a baller, why couldn’t they just sleep in until noon and then go out to a fancy restaurant to eat. Yeah, that sounded a lot better.

As Destiny changed her clothes, she continued dreaming about her life as Lonnie’s wife. To hell with Treasure and Daniel. They just don’t understand.

CHAPTER ONE

Destiny and Treasure sat together in the choir stand whispering and giggling with each other. Daniel, who was sitting behind them, would kick the seat under them every now and then, to get their attention. He would put his finger up to his mouth signaling for them to be quiet.
They would just look at him and roll their eyes in unison. “Well, did you ask her yet? ‘No I haven’t. You know how my mother is. She doesn’t like Sandra and doesn’t’ even like me talking to her let alone hanging out with her.” Just then, everyone around them stood up, signaling the beginning of a song. The organist started the chords to one of Destiny’s solo songs. Destiny rose from her seat and stepped down to take her place at the microphone.
As Destiny began singing, a hush fell over the entire church. “Precious Lord, take my hand. Lead me on, let me stand. I am tired. I am weak, I am worn.” As Destiny sang each note of her song, her face took on an almost angelic appearance and she felt as if she was standing alone before God, singing only to Him.
She didn’t see the faces of everyone else around her. It was as if the song took them to their own private place. A place that only they knew of. Destiny’s melodic voice touched the hearts and souls of everyone who was there. “Precious Lord, take my hand and lead me home.” As Destiny finished her solo, she opened her eyes as a faint smile crossed her face. She made her way back to her seat in the choir stand.
As Destiny sat down, her friend Treasure leaned over and whispered into her ear, “Girl, you know you can blow.” Destiny just smiled at her friend and said to herself, “How could she know that’s not me singing. “ How could she explain to her friend that she didn’t know where that voice came from. It was as though an angel took over the moment she opened her mouth.
Destiny and Treasure had been best friends since the day they met back in kindergarten. When they went to recess, both little girls found themselves sitting next to each other on the swings. Treasure had been the first one to speak up. “Hi, my name is Treasure, and I already know what your name is Destiny. Destiny, I like that name. I guess that means I like you too. Do you want to be my best friend?” And from that day forward, they were.
“Well, are you going to ask your mother if you can go to Sandra’s sweet sixteen birthday party or not?” At that moment, the choir director gave them the look. They both knew that conversation would have to wait until the service was over.
Daniel’s father got up to begin his sermon. Destiny was only half listening. She was trying to figure out how she was going to convince her mother to let her go to the party. Destiny thought to herself, “Mama is so old fashioned. She will never let me go the party. She doesn’t understand how important this is to me. All of the other kids already think I’m weird because mama won’t let me do nothin’. How am I ever gonna get Sandra’s brother Lonnie to notice me if I don’t go?”
Lonnie was all that Destiny could think of right now. He was two years older than Destiny. He stood six-feet – four, was dark skinned and had the prettiest eyes of any boy Destiny had ever seen. He lived across the street from Destiny and her family and she often watched him and his friends playing basketball in the backyard.
Destiny had always been attracted to Lonnie. She had developed a crush on him from the moment she first saw him, five years ago when he and his family moved in. Although, lately Destiny found herself dreaming of him both day and night. A slight frown crossed her face as she remembered what her mother had said about him and his family just yesterday.
“Destiny, it’s not my place to judge other people. That’s the Lord’s job. But I don’t want you hanging around with Sandra. I know it’s not her fault and she doesn’t have any say in how she is being raised, but her family isn’t saved. They are heathens as far as I am concerned. All they are good for is drinking, playing the devils music and partying all the time. In all the years that they’ve lived over there, not once have they ever gone to God’s house to worship and praise him. They are just a bunch of goodtime people who don’t know the Lord.”
What Destiny’s mother didn’t understand was that Sandra’s family were really nice people. Even if they didn’t go to church the way her family did. Sometimes Destiny wished she didn’t have to go to church so much. She was at church almost every day of the week. Between the choir, young ushers, youth club, and bible study classes, she was there six out of seven days every week. She even went to bible camp for two weeks every summer.
It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy all of her activities. Destiny felt like she was missing out on how it felt like to be a normal teenager… like some of her other friends. Even her best friends Treasure and Daniel weren’t at church as much as she was. And both of Daniel’s parents were pastors.
How could she explain to her mother that she just wanted to be like other girls her age? Her friend Treasure nudged her as everyone around her started standing up. She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed that Reverend had opened the doors of the church, which was their cue to sing another song.
As The choir began to sing, “Come to Jesus”, Destiny’s voice blended in with the others and she forgot all about Sandra and her family.