When Mariah questioned Rosemary as to where the money came from, Rosemary smiled and said she had a little something set aside. Two years later, Mariah received an associate's degree in child development, preschool education. Mariah especially enjoyed a few of the electives she had taken: child, family, and community relations, along with consumer economics, and a class on the national government.
She later took a grant writing course and after receiving government funding, Mariah opened an office in Altgeld Garden and became a community activist as well as an advocate for abused young women and children in the housing project. Mariah had found her calling in life and truly enjoyed what she considered her life's mission. She learned early on that she couldn't always make a difference in all of her clients' lives, but when she did, a sense of accomplishment filled her soul.
As time elapsed and Mariah began to make progress with community issues, her achievements had been written up in several local newspapers. The teen pregnancy rate had dropped and more girls were participating in child parenting classes. Mariah was never more proud than when the elite
Chicago Tribune
newspaper wrote a piece profiling her work. Rosemary cut the articles out of the paper and pasted them in a scrapbook.
Rosemary worked at a local elementary school in the cafeteria. She had a strong sense of self, along with a strong work ethic, and she willed that trait to her granddaughter. Rosemary was determined her granddaughter would not share the same fate as her daughter.
Rosemary and Mariah were long-time members of Christian Friendship Church. Until Mariah received her driver's license, she and Rosemary took public transportation to the church. Mariah followed Rosemary's lead and worked in the Sunday School department. It was there that Mariah discovered her love for children and found her niche: teaching.
As Mariah drove home, she wondered if God had another plan for her. Maybe He was leading her to Hammond. Perhaps there was work to be done farther up Interstate 94. Her future, which had always seemed so clear, had suddenly become a little cloudy.
Thirty minutes later, Mariah had parked her car in the housing parking lot and walked inside her home. After she opened the door, popping sounds of grease frying and the aroma of catfish greeted her at the door.
Mariah's eyes scanned the gray-colored cinderblock walls, and the run-down furniture that hadn't been replaced in years. The house was always clean, warm, and cozy. Still it had an old-timey feel to it.
As she sniffed the air, Mariah knew that her granny had prepared her favorite Friday night meal: fried catfish, spaghetti, and there was probably a bowl of creamy coleslaw chilling in the refrigerator. Rosemary stood at the stove, holding a long-handled meat turner in her hand. She quickly turned over the fish. She glanced at Mariah, smiled, and said, “How was your day, dear?”
“I don't even know how to explain all the emotions I felt today, Granny,” Mariah answered her grandmother after she hung her jacket on the coat rack.
“Well, that's to be expected.” Rosemary nodded her head. Her black hair, threaded with strands of gray, was pulled into a bun. She wore a shapeless blue dress that covered her bulky shape. Rosemary's complexion was dark like her daughter's and granddaughter's. Her figure had expanded over the years, but the twinkling in her eyes and the will to see her granddaughter succeed hadn't ever diminished. Rosemary's husband, Joseph, was a soldier in the Vietnam War and had been declared MIA. His body had never been recovered.
The couple had moved to the housing project when it was newly built, before it became a haven for criminal activity. They lived there for five years before Uncle Sam sent Joseph his induction papers.
Rosemary remained in Altgeld Garden. She swore she wouldn't let some knuckleheaded boys run her away from the home she shared with her late husband. The gangbangers pretty much left Rosemary alone since she'd fed most of them in the school cafeteria and had been a mother figure to more than a few of them.
Rosemary was able to make ends meet from the wages from her job and the monthly stipend she received from the Veterans Administration. Other than her daughter's drug addiction, Rosemary was content with her life.
A coworker at the school mentioned to Rosemary how she enjoyed the wonderful minister and choir of Christian Friendship Church. She absolutely glowed when she told Rosemary how she was moved by the preaching and teaching of Reverend Lawrence Dudley. She invited Rosemary to visit the church. Several weeks later, Rosemary, with Mariah in tow, paid a visit to the church. Before long, she and Mariah joined the church membership. The two had been members of the church for over twenty years.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Mariah asked her grandmother. She sat at the kitchen table with her hands folded.
“You can set the table,” Rosemary directed her granddaughter. “The fish will be done in a few minutes. There's nothing that tastes better in the world than eating freshly fried catfish hot out of the skillet.”
“Sure.” Mariah walked to the cabinet and had removed two plates and set them on the table when the doorbell rang. “Are you expecting anyone?” she asked Rosemary.
“No, but that don't mean anything.” Rosemary turned the jet off under the pot of spaghetti.
Mariah walked to the front door, she peeped out the hole, and a smile curved along her lips. She opened it and Raquel and Sonyell walked inside the house.
“Now, you didn't think we were going to miss out on the latest happenings with our best friend and Granny's cooking did you?” Raquel smiled. She was a plus-sized redbone-colored woman with slightly slanted eyes on a cute face. She changed her hairstyles regularly. This week, she sported an auburn weave that fell midway down her back. Raquel was the comedian of the group. She was loud and bubbly, and obnoxious at times. She spoke sometimes without a care of another person's feelings. She was a party girl. Still, Mariah and Sonyell knew that Raquel had their backs. Raquel was the oldest of the trio of friends, by four months.
“I assumed Granny would fix your favorite Friday dinner to celebrate your good fortune. And you know, I love me some Granny catfish,” Sonyell chimed in. She was petite sized and her figure was pencil thin. She had a café au lait complexion with dark brown eyes, and reddish brown hair she wore styled in a bob. Sonyell possessed a bright, dazzling smile.
The young women followed Mariah into the kitchen. They walked over to Rosemary and greeted her with a warm hug.
“You got enough food for these two interlopers?” Mariah asked her grandmother mockingly.
“Inter-what?” Rosemary squinted at Mariah. “If you're asking if I have enough for these two”âshe pointed a fork at Raquel and Sonyellâ“of course I do. What would our Friday fish fry be without my honorary granddaughters?”
“Thank you, Granny.” Raquel sniffed and rubbed her stomach. “I can hardly wait to chow down. It smells good up in here.” She placed a plastic bag on the table and opened it. “I bought a strawberry cheesecake for dessert.” She took the box out of the bag and placed it inside the refrigerator.
“And I bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate Mariah's good fortune,” Sonyell added. “It isn't every day that we have an heiress in our midst.”
“Oh, stop already,” Mariah added playfully, “I'm still the same Mariah that I was a month ago.”
“Yeah, right,” Sonni said after she placed a bottle of bubbly inside the freezer.
“The food is ready,” Rosemary announced after she took a loaf of browned Italian bread out of the oven. “Fix your plates.”
A few minutes later, the women sat at the table with bowed heads. Rosemary blessed the food. “Father, above, thank you for allowing us to wake this morning to see another day clothed in our right minds. Thank you for bringing us safely to and from work today. We thank you for providing food for the nourishment of our bodies. Amen.”
“Amen,” the young women echoed.
“Make sure you get as much as you want,” Rosemary told the women. “I made plenty of food. Sonni, there's enough for you to take a plate home with you for Sasha.” She took napkins from the holder sitting in the middle of the table and passed them around the table.
“We forgot the hot sauce.” Raquel popped up from her chair and removed the bottle from the cabinet.
Soon everyone had prepared their plates, and partook in the meal. The only sounds in the room were the clink of forks upon the plates, and the slurping of Pepsi-Cola.
Sonyell was the first one to finish eating. She pushed her chair away from the table and burped loudly. She covered her mouth and said, “I swear you put your foot in that, Granny. The food was great as always.”
“Yes, it was,” Raquel echoed as she got up, walked to the stove, and put another piece of fish on her plate. She ladled a few spoonfuls of spaghetti onto the dish and sat back down.
Sonyell passed her friend the hot sauce. She looked across the table at Mariah. “So, Mari, when do we get to see the house?”
“I suggested earlier we go to Hammond in the morning and check it out,” Raquel added after she ingested a forkful of pasta. “What do you have planned tomorrow, Sonni? We could do breakfast and then go to Indiana?”
“I don't have anything planned,” Sonyell answered. “So you can count me in. This is so exciting.” She rubbed her hands together.
“Great,” Mariah said. She glanced at her grandmother. “Granny, I'd love for you to join us tomorrow. I want you to see the place too.”
Rosemary nodded her head, looking pleased. “Sure, I'd love to.”
The women chatted. Later Rosemary excused herself. She said she had a few telephone calls to make. Rosemary departed from the room and walked upstairs to her bedroom.
Sonyell stood up and took the champagne from the freezer. Then she removed three wine goblets from the cabinet, opened the bottle, and poured champagne for each of the women.
When she sat down, she held up her glass and said, “I'd like to propose a toast to Mari's good fortune. We all grew up here in the ghetto, and it's not every day that someone leaves here with an inheritance.”
Raquel quipped, “Shoot, usually when someone dies in our world, we pass the hat to take up a collection to pay for a funeral.”
The friends burst out laughing gaily.
“I heard that,” Sonyell added, raising her glass.
Then Sonyell continued speaking. “Mari, I'm so happy for you. At least your daddy came through, even though it was at the end of his life. I know you will do wonderful things with the money your father has left you.”
“Here, here,” Raquel said. The friends touched their glasses together and sipped the ice-cold liquor.
“Thank you, ladies,” Mariah replied. “I appreciate you for being there for me and always having my back. He left me a little something, something, so I'm going to break off a little bit to you. Oh, he also left me a gas guzzler, a Lincoln Town Car, a Toyota SUV, and two other autos. I'll probably sell the Lincoln.”
“Thanks, Mari, you don't have to do that,” Sonyell murmured. She sipped from her glass.
“I know that,” Mariah replied emotionally. “It's what I want to do. You're like family to me, and I want to share my good fortune with you.”
“Speak for yourself,” Raquel admonished Sonyell, bucking her eyes. “You know I'm not turning down anything.”
“Well, you do have a point there.” Sonyell's eyes darted to Raquel.
“I also plan to buy more college bonds for Sasha,” Mariah said, looking at Sonyell. “You know I had planned on contributing to her college education anyway. When the time comes, my goddaughter will be ahead of the game.”
“That's really nice of you.” Sonyell swallowed hard. “She's only ten, but time is passing so fast, before I'm ready Sasha will be starting on a new phase of her life.” Sonyell had found herself pregnant with Sasha a few months after her nineteenth birthday. Sasha's father, Michael, was in currently serving a ten-year stint in jail, for accessory to grand robbery. Since his early teenage years, he'd been in jail more than he'd been out. Michael would be released from prison in December before Christmas.
Sonyell was devastated when she learned she was pregnant shortly after his conviction. Had it not been for Mariah and Raquel pitching in when needed, Sonyell would not have graduated from high school, much less attended college. Granny often took care of Sasha, so the girls could complete their homework and study for tests.
“When some people get a little something, they try to put on airs,” Raquel interjected, snapping her fingers in the air. “They forget where they come from and act like they don't know anybody. I'm sure you'll do the right thing.”
“So, are you thinking about opening a day care center?” Sonyell asked. “I know that's always been one of your dreams.”
“I don't know.” Mariah bit her lower lip indecisively. “I've been thinking about how the property could best be used. I would like to use the house to help others, especially women. I have been thinking along the lines of a day care, or a halfway home for women reentering society at the completion of their prison terms. I would also like to focus on teenage girls. So, I just need to brainstorm more.”