Shades of Brown

By S. J. Shanklin

Jaylene Johnson’s profound observation is about to change her young life in many unexpected ways. She is about to embark on a personal journey that will touch thousands of lives, not in the least, her own life.
Jay’s view of people and race, inspire her to create a special project which will allow people to see for themselves that we as human beings are more alike than different. Jay, her best friend Micky, as well as Jay’s bully, Jacob form a team to change people’s views.
Coupled with a most interesting mid-term assignment involving research for a pictorial family tree, the friends explore family history. They learn stories about their ancestors which include a runaway slave, a World War II airman, a bootlegging grandma and circus performers.
“Shades of Brown” is about a young girl’s determination to help make a better world by trying to change age old perceptions and the personal growth she achieves in the process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. J. Shanklin
• Release date: Nov 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9780991240005

S. J. Shanklin

S J Shanklin lives in Atlanta Georgia and currently works in retail.Writing is her passion and release. When not writing, she helps raise her granddaughter who is the inspiration for much of the character Jaylene Johnson.Ms. Shanklin is currently working on her second novel.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The annoying little tune from the princess alarm clock yanked Jaylene from a really good dream. The cutesy doo la la, doo la la was supposed to rouse her gently for the day. Instead she started her day ticked off. Now she'll never know if she became the new lead singer for The Fountain Nymphs the hottest girl band in America. She moaned, rolled over, pulled the quilt under her chin and snuggled in with her dog, Jojo. Before slapping the pillow over her head, she surrendered to the horrible sound just long enough to reach over and hit the snooze button. Ten minutes later, it seemed like only seconds, the doo la la started again. She also heard Mimi calling from her bedroom across the hall,

  Get up Jaylene; you’re going to be late for the bus!

  Darn it! I don’t care if I do miss the bus. I almost got my dream back! she grumbled to Jojo. Geez, I hate losing a good dream.

Jay knew there was no point trying to snooze any longer. She could turn off the alarm, but she could not turn Mimi off. Jojo tried to resettle closer to Jay's back only to be disturbed again by Jay's morning stretch.

Jaylene stretched out until her feet hit the footboard of her bunk bed and her arms stretched over her head to land on the pile of stuffed animals above her pillow.

  This bed seems to get smaller every day, she said to herself.

Jay never got up the first time she was called. Sometimes, not even the second or third time she was called. She just wasn’t a morning person. In all her thirteen years she had hated going to bed and really hated waking up, especially for school!

It was just a few minutes before Mimi came into the room and flipped on the lights. The sudden brightness attacked her eyes and she squeezed them shut to block the intrusion. She felt Mimi reach under the covers to try tickling her feet. Jay couldn’t sleep once Mimi started messing with her feet. Mimi had been tickling Jay awake since she was a baby. Jay knew she was getting a little too old to be tickled but she had to admit tickling was effective, especially tickling her feet.

"Mom, leave me alone! I'm awake!

  C’mon, Jaybird, wake up! I’ve got your feet! The chill she felt on her feet, when Mimi removed the covers, was as annoying as the tickles. At last she had no choice but to get out of bed.

Mom, I asked you not to tickle my feet, I'm not a baby anymore! Jay snapped angrily.

Fine, I won't tickle anymore, as long as you get up with the alarm. Mimi stood up and left Jay's room.

Jay rolled out of bed, took two steps and felt the morning chill. She immediately grabbed the throw from her chaise and wrapped it around her shoulders, then stepped to the window to peer out through the blinds.

  Mom, it’s still dark outside, it can’t be time to wake up! Jay yelled.

  You say that every morning and I tell you every morning that it is autumn, now. The daylight hours are changing, Mimi yelled back. Now, get a move on. You want enough time to eat, don’t you?

Chapter 2

Jay turned and looked at her cluttered desk. What a mess! She spied an assortment of notebook paper, some crumpled with failed attempts at an essay, some clean and fresh waiting for new ideas. Paper plates with colorful suggestions of the food that had once occupied, the not yet disposed disposable plates. The corners of two paperback books peeked out from beneath the clutter. Jay reached over and picked off a scarf from a shiny gold picture frame, which she picked up and wiped off with the corner of her scarf. The framed photograph held a picture of her mother. Not Mimi, her real mom. She lovingly studied the beautiful young woman who had been taken away from her many years ago. She gently kissed her mother’s face as she had done every morning since she was 4 years old.

Jay's mother died before she had a real chance to get to know her. Her mom was so young, only twenty years old when she died.

Jay no longer remembered the feel of her mother's hugs. The memory of how her mom woke her up in the morning had faded over time. In fact, she didn't remember much at all of the time she was a little girl with her mommy. The one thing she did remember was that her mom called her Princess, but she did not remember the voice that spoke the word.

Jay's heart was filled with sadness. She missed her mother more than she could ever explain to anyone. She felt angry and frustrated. Why would God take a little girl's mommy away forever? Sometimes she felt she would explode, sometimes she did explode. She felt cheated and hurt, especially when she would see other kids having fun with their moms and receiving hugs and kisses from their moms. Something she would never have again.

Her father was another hurtful subject. He had disappeared from her life when she was about two years old. She knew he lived somewhere around Atlanta, but didn't know where and she didn't really care where he lived. He never tried contacting her, he had abandoned her. She was angry about that too.

Jay started kindergarten less than a year after her mother had passed away. When she saw the other moms bring their kids to class and kiss and hug them good bye or come to school to have lunch with their kid, she would feel very sad. She felt different, too. She didn't have a mom and everyone else did. When the other kids would ask about her mother, it hurt to tell them she was in Heaven. Their questions exposed her pain. Jay didn't want to hurt.

Jay started first grade in a new school with new kids, who didn't know about her mother. Jay had stopped talking about her mother to strangers and had started calling Mimi, Mom.

Making Mimi her mom stopped the questions about her mother's death, which stopped the pain of answering those questions, but raised new questions from the kids. Now they wanted to know why her mom was white and she was black? Jay wasn't black, she was brown and so was Mimi. They were just different shades of brown. Sometimes, in the summer they were almost the same shade of brown, depending on how often Mimi would lay out in the sun.

Jay replaced the photo, sighed heavily and resigned herself to start another day.

Chapter 3

Jaylene stretched on her toes, her arms over her head, and reached for the ceiling. She felt every muscle, and every tendon from her ankles to her neck loosen up. She heard and felt her spine pop. Then she rolled her head around her shoulders several times. The sound of crackling resonated from her neck.

  That feels so good, she said to herself. She really needed a new bed. Her thin mattress felt good while she was on it, but she sure felt stiff when she got out of bed. She gave her pits a quick whiff and winced.

Carefully, she made her way through her room stepping over dirty clothes and tripping over her CD player, which she had left on the floor. Jay deliberately ignored the dirty glasses and dishes on her bedside table and desk, left there from the frequent snack breaks she had taken, while working on her homework, the night before.

Jay was almost out the door and headed for the bathroom when she noticed her African giraffe mask was hanging crooked on the wall. She paused to straighten it. The mask was her favorite piece in her giraffe collection, because it was her first piece. She had an entire wall in her room dedicated to giraffe pictures and drawings.

The walls of her room were painted a beautiful shade of Kelly Green. Green was Jay's favorite color. As a surprise, Uncle Sean decided to paint a giraffe on one wall and created a masterpiece of a mural. The giraffe's head was as high as the ceiling and painted to look as though it was dining on the leaves of a tree. He had painted dry grass in shades of gold and browns, waving in an invisible breeze, at the giraffe's feet. She had giraffe spotted curtains and Aunt Joni had made her a quilt and pillow shams to match. She loved her room. It was her haven. As she looked around her room, she thought it might be a good idea to clean it up…soon.

Chapter 4

Jay walked to the bathroom and flipped on the light, as she entered to wash up. She peered into the mirror.

Once again, she saw the tell-tale white tracks left by tears. The streaks painted her face from the corners of her eyes, trailed to her ears and down her neck.

She almost always cried in her sleep. Sometimes she even remembered bits and pieces of the nightmares that had haunted her for years. She wasn’t quite sure if she really saw her mother in her dreams or if it was just the memories of her mother’s face from the many pictures of her around the house. She was sure that the dreams were sad and sometimes scary and as she washed her face she wished the dreams would just go away.

As she raised her head from the sink bowl, she looked in the mirror while she patted her face dry. She stared into familiar eyes, big brown eyes that Mimi called cow eyes. Her gaze dropped to her nose, definitely her mother's nose. Her mouth had the same full lips. Her whole face was her mother's face, a brown face. She realized that she didn't need photographs to see her mother's face, only a mirror. Jay smiled at the thought. She flipped off the light as she left the bathroom to dress for school.

Chapter 5

Jaylene had just finished zipping up her jeans when she heard Mimi calling from downstairs,

  Jay, you know I’m getting low on gas. Please hurry so you don’t miss the bus. I'd really rather not drive, today.

Jay tolerated her morning routine, once she was awake, but she didn’t enjoy rushing to catch the bus. Riding the bus meant she couldn’t finish watching her favorite morning show and Mimi could not be as gentle brushing her hair and Jojo couldn’t ride with them. Most of all riding the bus meant a bad start to any day she had to climb aboard that yellow vehicle of trouble.

School days started off better when Mimi drove her to school. When Mimi drove, they both had an extra twenty minutes before school. Most days Mimi did not mind driving, as she also liked the extra time. But, lately Jay had to ride the bus. Gasoline prices were very, very high and Mimi was always trying to save money.

Mimi still fixed breakfast for her, even though they both knew Jay could do it herself. As usual her breakfast was on the table when she came downstairs, dressed for the day. Mimi had been watching the morning news, which Jay found incredibly boring. Thankfully, her mom was very understanding and allowed Jay to change the channel to her favorite show.

She finished her cereal with banana, put her bowl in the dishwasher, went upstairs