The Keeper of Caged Hearts

By Andre Fontaine

The Keeper of Caged Hearts is the story of two young African American people, Sondra Mercer and Marcus Williams. Set in a small inner city of Upstate New York, Sondra and Marcus find themselves leaning on each other as they endure neglect and hatred from the very people that were supposed to love and protect them. Sondra, raised solely by her grandmother, knows nothing of her father or her incarcerated mother. With the arrival of her grandmother's new boyfriend James, Sondra is uncertain if she will remain a priority. Sondra grows suspicious of James' motives. The suspicion of James, the neglect of her mother, and the deterioration of her grandmother's health affect Sondra deeply.
On the other hand life on the outside for Marcus appears to be that of an average middle class family, but on the inside a thin veil of pain exists within the Williams household. Forced to confront the tragedy of his older brothers death, Marcus slips into a depression that is overlooked by his parents who are also trying to cope with the loss. When Marcus learns of secrets within his family he finds himself caught in the middle.
Depressed and confused from dealing with issues that no young man or woman should have to deal with Marcus and Sondra confide in each other about their dysfunctional families Marcus and Sondra come to find out that demons from the past can sometimes come back to haunt the present.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andre Fontaine
• Release date: Dec 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301011629

Book preview

The Keeper of Caged Hearts

By Andre L. Fontaine

Copyright 2012 Andre L. Fontaine

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – Innocence

Chapter 2 – Friendly Faces

Chapter 3 – A Place at the Table

Chapter 4 – Through the Blinds

Chapter 5 – You’ve Changed

Chapter 6 – Happy Birthday to You

Chapter 7 –A Woman’s Pain

Chapter 8 –Tears of an Angel

Chapter 9 – The Secret Game

Chapter 10 – My Dearest Sondra

Chapter 11 – In the Rain

Chapter 12 – A Knock at the Door

Chapter 13 – All Grown Up Now

Chapter 14 – Why Didn’t You Believe Me?

Chapter 15 – The Forgotten Son

Chapter 16 – I’ve Always Loved You

Chapter 1: Innocence

Girl sit still and stop kicking the back of that pew. I swear you act like you ain’t got no home training sometimes. This is the house of the lord and you should learn to respect it, Miss Mercer says to her granddaughter, Sondra.

Yes grandma, Sondra replies with a look of disappointment.

Sondra is a twelve-year-old girl with a smooth round face and a smile that could disarm and thaw the coldest of hearts. Miss Mercer, a fifty-year-old woman, sits straight up in her pew with the grace of a queen. Sondra stares intently at her grandmother, examining the gentle contours of her face. Her dark skin is as flawless and as clear as that of an infants and her dress is draped immaculately over her slender body. Her hat is sitting on her head as if it was made especially for her. In her right hand is a fan, she occasionally waves back and forth generating small gusts of wind, in turn causing her thin black and gray shoulder length hair to flap back and forth.

What exactly are you looking at? Girl sit up straight and pay attention, Miss Mercer whispers, trying not to disturb the reverends sermon.

I can’t. This dress itches. Why can’t I wear jeans and a shirt? At least I’ll feel comfortable and I won’t itch, Sondra replies.

Women and girls are not supposed to wear jeans or pants to church. When you come to church you are to look like a lady, not some street trash.

"That’s not being like street trash, Mr. Jackson told me that black folks don’t even know why they wear their best clothes to church. He says that back in the slavery days

people use to come to church in their field clothes on Sunday. He says that black folks started wearing nice clothes to church when slavery was over and black folks could finally have nice clothes to wear. He says that they started wearing their new clothes to show off what they had. He called it the Peacock Syndrome, Sondra explains.

"You hush your mouth and stop talking that nonsense. James Jackson is an old fool who doesn’t even go to church. Now you hush your mouth and respect the lord’s house, you hear? Miss Mercer whispers, her voice shaking with anger.

There are snakes among us everyday waiting…to strike! You see some of you harbor snakes. You just provide safe havens. If you have dark corners and dark holes in your life; no, no better yet in your soul, you are allowing the snakes to hide out in the dark holes of your soul. And they’ll just sit there waiting to strike you at your weakest moment, Reverend Stokes preaches to his congregation.

Amen, hallelujah, umm hmm, and I know that’s right, preach it! people yell out.

"You see, ha! Some of us have a little bit of the snake in us, ha! Some of us seem as sweet as can be, ha! But in reality our hearts burn with deceit, ha! You see the devil preys on you when you’re at your weakest moments, ha! He tempts you with the finer things, the exotic things, and the sweet nectar of forbidden fruit! He injects venom into your soul, which in turn seeps into your heart, ha! This venom then escapes into your blood, ha! Until it touches every corner, every nook, and every organ in your body! It stays there, lying dormant until it finds someone else to strike! Well, I’m here today to

tell you my brothers and sisters, that the Lord, ha, that’s right! The Lord is your only anti-venom! The Lord is the only one that can purge your heart and soul of what the devil has done to it! So, I want those of you with the devils venom in your soul to give yourself completely to the Lord! I want you to walk in the light and rid yourselves of the devils presence!

Yes Jesus, yes Lord, Amen, people of the congregation yell out in praise.

Before we go and I know some of ya’ll can’t wait to go so you can eat some of that fine food sister Johnson and others have prepared for us downstairs, I just want to say the doors of the church are always open.

The choir begins to hum as the reverend wipes his brow with a white handkerchief embroidered with his initials. Give your life to the lord, be reborn in his angelic grace. Come on up, don’t be afraid, because God’s gentle hands are waiting to embrace you.

For a matter of seconds, no one approaches. Then suddenly a young boy stands and makes his way towards the pulpit, his hands shaking as he makes his way traveling up the center isle.

I see young Mr. Williams wants to give his life to the Lord. Come on up son. The reverend says. People scream out praise God, and go on. The reverend Stokes greets him with a warm embrace when he reaches the front. The reverend Stokes yells out: Are you ready to be baptized in the Lord’s grace, to be reborn through his eyes?

Yes, reverend I am, the boy loudly replies as he weeps.

The smell of fried chicken, collard greens, and freshly baked pies fill the air as people make their way downstairs to enjoy the once a month, Sunday feast. People jostle

for a spot in the food line, which within seconds stretches across the room. Sondra waits patiently in line with a plate in each hand, while her grandmother makes her rounds to talk with people within the church. Suddenly a boy jumps in front of Sondra. Caught off guard by the audacity of this boy, Sondra steps back and gives the young man a look that would scare the bravest of souls.

Excuse you little boy, you just cut in front of me!

Yeah and what’s your point? the young man replies without ever turning around.

The point is you need to wait in the back of the line like everybody else!

No…I don’t want to, the young man replies, shrugging his shoulders as if he doesn’t care.

Move boy! Sondra yells hitting him in the head with one of her paper plates. The boy finally turns around, not angry but with a huge smile on his face.

Man, Sondra you need anger management or something.

Sondra smiles when she sees who the boy in front of her finally is. Marcus Williams I swear to God you play around too much.

You’re not supposed to swear to God in church, besides you should have heard yourself. Excuse me boy? Man that was funny. What, you didn’t recognize me?

No, you changed your clothes and sounded different. How was I supposed to know it was you? Why did you change out of your suit anyway?

Because my momma made me. She says I put more food on my clothes then I do in my mouth. So she made me put these jeans and T-shirt on.

You still got on your church shoes though. What your momma forgot to bring you some tennis shoes? Sondra replied with a smirk on her face.

No, I forgot them. She told me to grab them before we left and I still forgot.

Boy you forget everything. Sometimes I wonder how you function from day to day.

Man whatever, I’m trying to get me some grub, so you gonna let me cut you or what?

Yeah go ahead you might as well, you’re already here.

As Marcus takes his position in front of Sondra, she smiles uncontrollably. She wonders if Marcus knows about her secret crush on him. When Marcus turns his head around to look back at her, she quickly changes her expression to a blank emotionless stare.

The sun peers briefly through the powder like clouds. What was once a bright day had now become dark and gloomy. Sondra covers her head with a pillow to muffle the sounds coming through the walls from the next room. It’s been one hour since her

grandmothers’ boyfriend has arrived and there have been loud swells of anger coming from the living room ever since.

Suddenly the phone rings, silencing the yelling momentarily. Sondra, telephone! Her grandmother yells out. Sondra seeking any refuge from the surrounding madness quickly jumps up from her bed, tossing her pillow half-way across the room. She runs down the hall to the kitchen to answer the phone. Hello? Hello? she says, breathing heavily.

Sondra, it’s me Marcus, I was wondering if you wanted to go hang out at the park with me, I mean only if you want to.

Yeah, sure, who else is going?

Me, Tonya, Chris, James, Mikey, and a couple of other people.

Alright, I need to get out of this house anyway.

Good I’ll be there in a minute to come get you. What’s all that yelling in the background?

My grandma and her boyfriend, they’ve been yelling for at least an hour now. That’s why I need you to hurry up so I can get out of here.

Alright just give me a couple of minutes, bye.

Bye. Sondra replies as she slams the phone down, hoping it would give her a little reprieve from the constant arguing in the next room.

How many times have I told you to stop all that drinking in the day James? You ain’t nothing but an old drunk. Shit, I don’t even know why I’m with you sometimes? Miss Mercer yells.

Baby, I ain’t drunk I just had a couple of beers with Ed and them. Shit, you get drunk with me most of the time, so why you acting like that? Now stop all that yellin’ and fix me something to eat, James replies.

James, a tall light skinned man with a slender build, has been dating Miss Mercer for about six months. His clothes and fingernails are stained with traces of motor oil and his hair is conked back. A single cigarette is settled behind his right ear, never moving as if it was glued in place.

I’m not making you anything. You need to go and make your own damn sandwich, you lazy bastard. Look, you got me in here cussin’ at you like I’m a man or something.

As she says that she glances up at her crucifix on the wall above her couch in the living room.

Lord Jesus, please forgive me.

There you go talking all religious and shit. You think you’re better then me don’t you? Well let me tell you something woman, you ain’t no different then me. You wallow in the same filth I wallow in and you think just because you go to church on Sunday that it’s gonna cleanse you. Ha! You can do all the praying in the world and your shit is still gonna stink, James says with a sharp sarcastic tone in his voice.

That might be true but you don’t even try to change. You don’t even try to better yourself. Look at you. You don’t have a pot to piss in or a place to toss it. You don’t even have a job.

I got a job woman!

What pretending like you’re a real mechanic? Half the time you don’t even get paid.

I do too.

I’m not talking about getting paid with cigarettes or a case of beer. I’m talking about money James. You ain’t nothing, you ain’t got nothing; shit, at least you used to be good in bed, now I’m lucky if your little thing gets hard at all.

What did you just say?

You heard me nigga, you ain’t even good in bed.

Bitch I’ll kill you! James pulls back and punches Miss Mercer in the face, knocking her to the floor.

James stands over her with his right fist clenched tightly. His nostrils flaring in and out, in his eyes she can see an intense anger, but suddenly it was as if his intensity was drenched with an instant deluge of sanity. His facial muscles relax and his fist spreads out to an open palm.

You see what you made me do? I love you woman, I didn’t want to do that.

After hearing the impact of the blow and the sound of her grandmother making a pained noise, Sondra comes running to see what happened. As she turns the corner in the

hallway and enters the living room she sees her grandmother on the floor with her hands covering her face. Small streams of blood roll down Miss Mercer’s chin and down her arms, as she clutches her nose with her right hand.

Grandma are you okay? Sondra asks with a tear running down her cheek. While looking up at her little granddaughter, Miss Mercer tries to mask her pain. It hurt her more to have her grandchild see her like this, doubled over on the floor at the feet of a man. She had always raised Sondra to be strong and always told her that one day she too, would become a strong black woman with pride. Now here she is lying vulnerable in front of the one person who looks up to her.

She’s alright, get out of here and mind your own damn business. Children shouldn’t get involved in grown folks business, James says while cutting an evil glare at Sondra.

I’m not talking to you! Grandma, are you alright? Sondra asks again.

What! Girl, are you sassing me?

Miss Mercer knowing that James is about to turn his rage on Sondra quickly responds. I’m alright baby. Grandma’s alright.

You got too much mouth. Just like your grandma, James says.

Suddenly there is a knock at the door. Miss Mercer trying to avoid a bad situation quickly yells out, Sondra, grandma’s alright now go see who’s at the door baby.

But grandma…

Do as I say Sondra! she yells.

Reluctantly Sondra turns and makes her way to the front door.

"Who is it? Sondra asks with a shaken tone in her voice.

Sondra it’s me, Marcus.

Sondra wipes her eyes and slowly opens the door. Marcus, who is smiling asks; Are you ready?

Yeah, just let me grab my shoes, Sondra replies.

As she walks toward the living room to get her shoes, she sees James knelt down beside her grandmother, wiping her face and apologizing. Sondra quickly slips on her shoes and heads toward the door. She looks back one more time. She does not want to leave her grandmother by herself with James. Sondra turns and quietly makes her exit from the house.

Hey, are you alright? Marcus asks.

Yeah I’m fine let’s go.

As Sondra turns and slowly shuts the door she can hear James saying, You know that I love you. I didn’t mean it baby, I didn’t mean it. She pauses for a second

then slams the door shut. If that’s love then I’d rather do without it; Sondra thinks as Marcus gently takes her hand.

Chapter 2: Friendly Faces

Sondra’s mind throbbed with terrible thoughts. The fear of not knowing the status of her grandmother has her heart beating to an un-rhythmic song. She had seen enough abuse in the few short months since James entered into her and her grandmother’s lives. The thought of losing her grandmother brings a slight pulse of pain to Sondra’s heart. Miss Mercer is not only her grandmother but to Sondra she is her mother as well. Sondra’s mother was only fifteen years old when she gave birth to her, while growing up her grandmother tried to isolate her from the story of her other half, the other half being her father. Sondra still remembers being four years old asking her grandmother where her daddy was. Her grandmother would get real silent and simply reply; You don’t need to know that, I’m your mommy and your daddy, you don’t need anybody else, baby.

It wasn’t until Sondra was about nine years old that she discovered a letter that her father had written to her mother. The letter contained all the answers that Sondra could never get answered by her mother or her grandmother. In the letter her mother made references to her father’s age, which was thirty at that time. Upon further reading, Sondra also learned that her father was married and had two children prior to her from his wife. It was at that moment that Sondra felt the strange feeling of joy and at the same time a great wave of sadness. The words she read next would make her wish she wasn’t able to read or even born at all.

The words on the page read: "Jonessa, I told you I didn’t want this thing we had to get too serious. Whatever you feel for me is just a foolish crush. You know that I don’t love you and that I could never be in love with you. You were just something to

do. You were just a means to an end. You were nothing more than a hoe. As far as the baby that you are carrying,