Color Me Blind (A Divine Love Story Book 1) (2 page)

…One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of them all?”

…Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel!  The Lord
our God is one Lord;

…And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

…The second is this,
‘
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

~Mark 12:28-31 (NASB)

∞∞∞

Love is patient, love is kind
and
is not jealous; love does not brag
and
is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong
suffered
, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…

~1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 (NASB)

Part One:

(Jacksonville, Florida
~ 1994)

Chapter
1:  A Bond like No Other

Blake and Jasmine sat on his bed playing video games after school on Friday afternoon.  Normally Jasmine would never be staying the night because her mother didn’t think it was proper
since Blake was a boy.  Jasmine’s parents had to go see about her grandmother who fell ill. 

H
er three older brothers were caught up with practice for their various sports and all manner of things.  Her mother didn’t want to leave her nine year-old-baby at their irresponsible teenage mercy. 

Blake on the other hand was an only child.  He and Jasmine had been playing together since they were two.  Growing up across the street from one another was like fate’s way of positioning them for a lifelong friendship that only got stronger with every passing year.

Blake sat on his twin bed.  His dark blue eyes gleamed with anticipation as he played the game.  He pushed his wavy dark brown hair away from his face as the levels got more intense.  They were lanky nine-year-olds in the fourth grade.  His white skin had a slight tan, hers the color of creamy peanut butter. 

They had already finished their homework and were waiting for Blake’s mother to come home from the store while his father was somewhere in the house working on his second or third whiskey. 

Jasmine wasn’t her usual self.  Her mind wasn’t really on the game.  Her big brown eyes were not focused on what she was doing as she ran her hand through the mass of big, untamed black kinky curls.

Blake noticed her lack of interest and said, “Come on Jaz, what’s wrong?” 

She blew a curl out of her face, “Nothing.” 

Blake paused the game because she sounded really down. 

He turned to face her, “What happened?” 

She knew she could tell Blake anything. 

“I just get so tired of people picking at me.” 

“Who was picking at you?” 

She pouted. 

“These
dumb girls were saying all this stuff about my hair.  They were calling me mop head and dust bunny.” 

“Don’t worry about them
.  They’re just stupid girls.  Who cares what they think?” 

“Well even if you don’t care what they think it still doesn’t feel good to always be the one people are talking about.  And that little brat Marsha that likes
you always picks at my nose, saying it’s so big it covers my whole face.” 

“Ewe, I don’t like her.  She annoys me.” 

Jasmine laughed, “Good because I don’t like her either.  I think she’s just jealous because you’re my friend.” 

Blake studied her sad face for a few moments
.  He had always been fascinated with her hair.  Her hair was like her, free and uncommon.  He wished he could be that free.  It was so wild, but on her face it always looked somehow that every unruly curl was in the exact place it should be. 

He
asked, “Wanna hear a secret?” 

Jasmine’s mood perked up. 

“Sure.” 

He smiled that crooked smile she loved
and whispered, “I think your wild crazy curly hair is awesome.  I always just want to play with it. It looks so cool.” 

She laughed, “Blake that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” 

He blushed a little but asked, “Well since I’ve always wanted to, can I touch it?” 

“My mom told me not to let anyone touch my hair.” 

He looked disappointed, “Oh, okay.” 

“But maybe just this once, it will be
alright.”

He smiled
, put down his controller and ran a hand through her heap of curls. 

He said, “Their soft and my hand didn’t get stuck like I thought it would.” 

She laughed, “White people are so funny.” 

He poked her, “I don’t know anybody with hair like yours so I was curious.” 

She started to feel better about her wild hair. 

Blake leaned in and sniffed the curls, “They smell like
coconuts.” 

She laughed agai
n, “You’re silly, but thanks.  Can I touch your hair?”

“I don’t care.” 

She ran both her hands through his thick mane of dark brown waves. 

“It don’t feel nothing like mine.” 

She sniffed at it, “And it don’t smell as nice.” 

She grinned.  He stuck his tongue out.  They laughed.

He said, “I’m sure those stupid girls are just jealous ‘cause their hair looks just like everyone else’s and yours don’t.” 

She never really thought about
it like that. 

He continued, “
And as far as your nose, I mean it’s just a nose.  Yeah, it’s a little bigger than mine, but it fits your face.  It’s not too big.  Mine is straight and yours is round at the bottom.” 

Jasmine frowned, “Well that didn’t sound like a compliment Blake.” 

He rolled his eyes and then an idea came to him to put her at ease. 

He kissed her nose and said, “Your nose is perfect, just like you.” 

She blushed, but before she could say anything his father’s shadow entered the room.  They were unaware he had been standing at the door watching their little show and tell.

In a larger than life booming, drunken voice he said, “What the hell are
you two doing in here?”

Blake jumped up, “Nothing dad
.  We were just talking.” 

His speech was slurred and his dark blue eyes were unfocused
. His dark brown hair was disheveled.  Blake knew that look.  He was scared for Jasmine more than he was scared for himself because he knew his dad didn’t like her.  He was suddenly wishing badly for his mom. 

“It didn’t look like you were
just talking to me.  Don’t you think for one second that you and this little nigger will ever be more than just friends.  That is if I let you stay friends.” 

Jasmine
rose slowly to her feet.  She was scared. He was yelling. He smelled like alcohol.  She knew he didn’t like her.  She wished now she had told her mother that he didn’t like her.  If she had maybe they wouldn’t be there alone with him now.

Blake inst
inctively stood in front of her.  The loyalty he showed her set his father off.  His hand came from behind him holding a belt.  He grabbed Blake by his shirt and shoved him aside.  Blake hit his head on his dresser and was momentarily dazed. 

Jasmine screamed and turned to run
, but he grabbed her by her hair and threw her to the ground.  When she hit the floor the belt hit her across the back.  She screamed and tried to crawl away.  He swung the belt again and it got her arm and her face.  Now she just whimpered. 

Her screams bro
ught Blake back into the moment.  He jumped at his dad, swinging his tiny fists and hitting him in the back.  His father simply shoved him back as he continued to yell at Jasmine screaming all manner of racist rants and expletives. 

This time when Blake got up he didn’t try to stop his dad
.  His first thought was to protect Jasmine.  He got in between them and covered Jasmine with his body.  They were in a corner of his room up against the wall.  Jasmine was crying.  Blake was screaming and crying for his dad to stop taking the brunt of all the licks the belt lashed.

Out of nowhere he heard his mom’s voice.  It was cold and calm. 

“If you strike either one of those babies again I will blow your head clean off your shoulders.” 

His father froze as he stared at his wife.  Blake looked up at the anger on his mom’s face and the fear on his father’s.  To his mind she looked like an avenging angel.  Her golden blonde hair framing her face and her gray eyes
were filled with rage.  His mom held a 12-gauge shotgun aimed point blank at his father’s head. 

She said, “Blake, you get Jasmine
. Go to my room and lock the door.” 

Blake begged,
“Mom no, please no. I don’t want to leave you.” 

Her voice was matter of fact. 

“Blake do not argue with me. Take Jasmine and go. Lock yourselves in my room and don’t come out until I come to get you. Do you understand?” 

“Yes ma’am.  Come on Jaz, we gotta go.” 

They got to their feet and moved as fast as their beaten bodies could take them up the stairs to his parent’s room.

Frank Jessup raised both his hands and said, “Lisa, what are you doing?” 

Incredulously she asked, “What am I doing?  No, what are you doing to those babies?” 

“I’m sorry.
I was drinking.  I saw them kiss and I just got so upset.  I don’t want my son with
her
.  Just please put the gun down.” 

“Yo
u need to get out of this house.  If you don’t leave right now on your own two feet, you’re going to leave in body bag.” 

She backed up to let him pass.  She
held the gun on him until he gathered his keys and the door was shut behind him.  She lowered her weapon and rushed to the door to lock it.  She was breathing so hard she thought her chest would explode.  She ran to the phone and shakily dialed 411 for a locksmith.  She got the number.  When she was satisfied that they were on their way, she grabbed the shotgun and hurried upstairs to see about the kids.

When she knocked on the door to get them to unlock it her adrenaline was starting to ebb as fear was starting to seep in.  She had no idea what had gotten into her husband. To strike his own child in such a manner, but to strike someone else’s was insane. 

She knew her husband was not a fan of black people
, but she didn’t know he could take that out on a poor innocent little girl.  Then her mind started to catch up with her actions.  She wondered if this was an isolated incident or had he done this before and she was none the wiser. 

Blake opened the door.  H
is face was red as well as his eyes.  She saw the bruises showing up on his legs, arms and face.  Her heart broke.  When she looked at Jasmine sitting on the floor by her bed, the poor child looked like she was in trance as she sat curled up shaking. 

A terrified Blake asked, “Mommy are you okay?” 

“Yes, baby I’m fine and your daddy’s gone.  He won’t be coming back anytime soon okay.” 

She went to Jasmine and picked her
up. 

“Jasmine baby, look at me.
Are you okay?” 

Jasmine
just buried her face into her bosom and wept. 

Lisa stood and held out her hand for Blake. 

“Come on baby, let’s go in the bathroom.  Let me see what’s been done to you guys.” 

She saw
that Jasmine’s jaw line had a welt that was bleeding.  She sat Jasmine on the toilet and told Blake to sit on the edge of the tub.  She took a deep breath to steady herself to be strong for the kids.  She tended to Jasmine first pulling off her shirt to look at her back.  All that could be heard was their quiet sobs. 

She had to lift up the little undershirt she was wearing beneath.  She wasn’t bleeding
, but she had welts everywhere.  She wanted to scream. How was she going to tell this child’s mother what happened to her? 

She put some peroxide on her jaw and put a
Band-Aid on it. She looked at Blake and pulled off his shirt. His back was much worse and to her horror she’d seen old bruises that were healing. 

She grabbed his face and said, “Blake Jessup
, you tell me the truth.  Has your father ever hit you like this before when I wasn’t around?” 

His blue eyes swam with fresh tears as he nodded his head.  She looked over at Jasmine and she shook hers.  That was it
.  That was the last straw.  She put her head in her hands and cried.  The pain and tears ravaged her and made her body shake.  Blake hugged his mother and Jasmine reached for his hand.  He pulled her in and hugged her too.  He knew he had to take care of his girls.

When his mom stopped crying she said, “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry baby.  I didn’t know.  I would never ever knowingly stand by and let anybody hurt you, no matter who it was.  Do you understand?” 

He nodded. 

“Blake
, don’t you ever keep anything like this from me again. If anyone, I don’t care who it is, you tell me.  It is my job to protect you and even though I failed this time I promise you I will never fail again.” 

He nodded. 

She looked at Jasmine, “Awe baby, I am so sorry this happened to you.” 

Jasmine asked, “Are you going to tell my mommy what happened?” 

“Yes sweetie, of course I will.” 

“But what if she won’t let me see Blake anymore?  I really don’t want that, so maybe you don’t have to tell her.” 

Lisa’s heart broke for their little friendship. 

“Sweetie
, I have to tell your mother because if something like this happened to Blake and your mom didn’t tell me I would be very angry.  She is your mother and has a right to know.  I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure you and Blake can still be friends, okay.” 

She nodded.

Lisa needed a minute to figure out what to do, but she had to get the kids settled.  She was amazed at how they were handling this better than she was.  To have the presence of mind to protect their friendship after something like this had been done astounded her. 

She said, “I tell you guys what.  Jasmine
, why don’t you get cleaned up and get in your pajamas and then Blake you get cleaned up and put on yours.  You guys use this bathroom and then you can get in my bed and watch TV all night.  I’ll go order a pizza.  Jasmine, we will tell your parents about this tomorrow when they get back and we’ll deal with whatever we have to deal with.” 

She kissed both of them on the cheek
, glad that their tears were beginning to dry up.  She went downstairs to get Jasmine’s overnight bag and Blake some night clothes when she heard the doorbell.  She dropped everything and went back to the hallway to get the shotgun where she left it.  Through the peephole she saw it was the locksmith.  She hid the shotgun behind the door and opened it.

She let in the locksmith and told him to change all the locks in the house.  He said it would take about an hour.  She just hoped he would be done before Frank decided to try and come back to the house.  She prayed he would stay away long enough for her to at least get Jasmine out of harm’s way.  She was so afraid of what
her parents were going to do but she couldn’t deal with that now. 

She ordered the pizza then
took the kid’s clothes upstairs along with a few VHS tapes for them to watch.  She remembered what Frank had said, that he saw them kiss.  All she needed on top of this was the two of them experimenting with each other. 

When she walked into the room she said, “Hey guys, I need to ask y
ou two a question.  I want you guys to tell me the absolute truth okay.” 

They nodded. 

“Your dad said he saw you two kissing.  Is that true?” 

Jasmine looked scared
.

Blake said, “No mom.  I was playing in Jasmine’s hair and then I kissed her on her nose.  Then dad came in and started yelling.” 

She didn’t know how to interpret that, “Okay baby, I need you to explain that.” 

He let out an exasperated sigh and Jasmine giggled. 

“Mom, okay look, some stupid girls were picking at Jasmine about her hair and her nose.  I told her that I thought her hair was really cool and her nose was perfect.  So to make her feel better I kissed her nose, no biggie. Geez.” 

He took the “
Lady and the Tramp” out of her hand and asked, “Hey Jaz, wanna watch this one first?”

Lisa stood there staring at her
son.  That had to be the sweetest thing she had ever known him to do.  She realized that maybe they really did care about each other more than any of them realized.  She really hoped they wouldn’t be forced to end their friendship.  She adored Jasmine. She was the daughter she never had.  She was such a sweet girl and she knew Blake loved her. 

“Hey guys, I need to go d
own and stay with the locksmith. The pizza should be here any minute now.” 

After his mom left Jasmine asked him, “Blake
, how come you never told me your daddy hit you?” 

He couldn’t look
her in the eyes. 

“So m
y dad spanked me a couple times. You get spankings too, I saw.” 

Yes
, that was true.  It made her think about the time her mom popped both of them on their bottoms when they were five because they broke her blinds.  Then there was the time his mom popped both of them on the hand when they were six because they broke her favorite cookie jar.

“Yeah
, I get spankings but not like that.  My mommy doesn’t yell and curse and she never hit me that many times.  Plus with a belt she usually hits me on my bottom, not in my face.” 

Blake turned away from her
, but not before she saw the tears run down his face.  She turned his face back to her and wiped his tears away. 

“I’m sorry that happened to you
, but you shoulda told me.  I’m supposed to be your best friend.” 

He sniffed, “I knew that you wouldn’t wanna come and play over here.  He isn’t like that all the time
, just when he drinks and when mom’s not here.” 

She c
ouldn’t stand to see him crying. A tear rolled down her cheek. 

“Jasmine, I’m sorry I never told anyone, maybe if I did you wouldn’t have gotten hurt too.  I’m so sorry my daddy hit you.” 

Jasmine still felt the stings from the beating, but there was something else of greater concern to her. 

“What are we gonna do if my mom says I can’t play with you anymore.  I don’t wanna stop being your friend
‘cause your dad is mean.” 

Blake didn’t want that either.
Jasmine had just found out his worst secret and she still wanted to be his friend.  She didn’t turn on him like he thought she might.  He didn’t want to lose her either because she was his very best friend in the whole wide world. 

Blake said,
“If they say we can’t be friends, then we can run away.” 

“Run away?  But where are we gonna go?” 

“I don’t know, but you don’t want them to keep us apart do you?” 

Jasmine said,
“Of course not, but if we’re gonna run away we have to be smart about it” 

“What do you mean Jaz
?” 

“Well
, we gotta find money and we gotta find a place to go that they can’t find us.” 

He nodded, “We need to make a plan tonight though because tomorrow they might separate us for good.” 

She hugged him.  He kissed her nose and they laughed.

Lisa sat on the sofa and all that could be heard were the sounds the locksmith was making as he turned her house against her husband.  She finally had a moment to herself to cry.  What was she going to do?  She loved her husband and she meant every vow she made to him.  Yes
, she had to protect her child, but her husband needed help too. 

She knew his drinking was getting heavier
, but she didn’t know he had turned violent.  Their marriage had been solid up until the last couple of years.  Now that they had hit a bump she didn’t want to give up on him without giving him a chance to get better.  What she didn’t know was if she could ever trust him around her son again? 

She had no idea what to do.  The locksmith called out that there was a pizza guy at the door.  She wiped her tears and went to get the pizz
a.  She paid and tipped the guy.  The locksmith told her he was finished.  After she got the keys and paid him she went through and double checked all the doors.  She headed upstairs with the pizza. 

When she walked in the room the TV was playing “
Lady and the Tramp” and Jasmine and Blake were in her bed facing each other, holding hands, asleep.  Too tired to go back downstairs, she placed the pizza on the dresser and climbed in the bed wrapping her arm around both of them and wished for sleep to come.