A Piece of My Heart

By Marlene Clare Grant

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• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Dec 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467007856

Book preview

Contents

Acknowledgment

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Author’s Notes

For Salvation

Acknowledgment

• First and foremost I must give thanks and praise to God Almighty for his guidance.

• Secondly, I couldn’t have compiled ‘A Piece of My Heart’ without the assistance of my family and friends allowing me to use some of their experiences in life. I am truly grateful to you all.

• Also special thanks go to all my critics, Philip Thompson; Sabrina Benjamin and Gilbert Gbagdow for their unique input in helping me achieve completion of this book.

• And finally thanks to Audie Warrington for his contribution of romantic ideas for Lurlene’s journal.

Foreword

I was first motivated to start writing after attending the International Gathering of Champions (IGOC) 2010, hosted by Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, entitled ‘Excellent Spirit’. I was truly blessed, and I promised myself that I was not just going to be a hearer of the word only but I was also going to take action.

I was inspired by the various speakers who challenged us in many ways. If I were to summarise what had been said it would be as follows:

o I am gifted.

o I’ve got it and I must use it.

o We are all creative geniuses.

o It was an insult to God for believers to only have one source of income.

o I’m too gifted to be broke.

o I was put on this earth to be a blessing and to make a difference.

o I should be myself.

o When I walk in my gifting, it glorifies God, and it also provides for me, my children, and their children.

o Most challenging of all, I should have my name written on something.

I left the conference charged up and determined to do something which would have my name written on it.

I began searching and asking myself several questions, some of which were, ‘Where were my gifts?’ ‘What could I do to accomplish what I had heard?’ ‘What was I passionate about’ etc. After much deliberation and prayer I decided to put pen to paper and I wrote my first book entitled My Queen.

Chapter 1

It was 6.30am a beautiful sunny day in Jamaica, St Ann. Villagers were already preparing for their busy day ahead. Children, smartly dressed in their uniforms, were on their way to school, along with students from different colleges. Traders were weighed down with their various goods balanced on their heads. Sweat poured down their faces which was mingled with dust blown upon them from passing cars as they hurried along the busy road, hoping for a good spot at the marketplace.

Lurlene Francis lived alone with her father. Her mother died of a heart attack five years ago. Her elder brother, Joseph is an accountant who lives and works in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica which is about 60 km from St Ann.

Joseph the workaholic has no time for women, but is always looking to make himself successful and because of this has had many broken relationships. Now aged 32 and still single, his father often says to him "When are you going to give me grandchildren? I want to hold my grandchildren before I die. All your mates are married and settled down with children. When is it going to be your turn?" Joseph always dismisses Mr Francis’ comments, makes various excuses and reassures his father that he’ll live to see his grandchildren.

After combing her hair Lurlene stood to her feet and looked over her shoulder in the mirror and admired herself from behind. She then straightened the sheets on her bed; threw her satchel over her shoulder and held her extra books between her left arm and chest. She took a last glance in the mirror blew herself a kiss and said "Girl you are hot. H-O-T! Hot." She then closed her bedroom door behind her and made her way to the lounge.

As she passed behind her father she peered over his shoulders. He was busy reading the Gleaner and tucking into his breakfast. She took a sip of his drinking chocolate and grabbed a piece of toasted hard dough bread, plastered with butter and guava jelly. Mr Francis had a very sweet tooth and ignored his doctor’s warnings of diabetes and high cholesterol. Lurlene gripped the toast with her teeth hoping to avoid smudging her lipstick and with her index finger gently slipped it into her mouth. She gave her dad a peck on the cheek and said. Bye papa. I’m off to college!

‘What about your breakfast?’ He asked.

‘No time. I’m already late! I don’t want to get the cane!’ Mr Francis laughed to himself and watched as his daughter faded into the distance. He wondered where the years had gone. A baby girl he had held so tightly in his arms, protected, loved and still did, now so grown up and independent.

Lurlene ran most of the way, weighed down by her overloaded satchel of books. As she continued she recognised the all too familiar house on the corner. Getting closer, she remembered the same old lady, tall hunched back, big breasted and several teeth missing, always wearing a scarf on her head. Armed with a potty in her hand, she would throw the contents at the students as they passed by. Lurlene hoped she was still asleep, or that she had already thrown out the contents of the potty. ‘Phew’ she thought to herself as there was no sign of the old lady.

As she arrived in her class Mr Thompson was going through the register. He peered over his glasses at the squeaking door to see who was entering. He looked at Lurlene and shook his head. She avoided eye contact and quickly made her way to her usual seat.

For most of the lesson the class worked on a drama production. At the end of the lesson Mr Thompson stood from his seat and handed out some papers.

‘Here is your homework. It’s a scenario—you’re on your way home from college one day and witness an incident.’ He paused and looked at two students who were whispering. His look alone made them realised they had to be quiet. He continued.

Two men are fighting over a woman, who is also at the scene. When she sees her jealous boyfriend on the ground being strangled by the other man, she grabbed a log and whacked the man on the head.

One student, who wasn’t paying attention, put his hand up. ‘Yes Martin?’ Asked Mr Thompson.

‘Please sir, why were they fighting?’ Mr Thompson ignored the question and continued I want you to write an essay of not less than a thousand words, to be on my desk by Friday. Oh and Martin had you been listening you would know the answer to your question—so you tell me why they were fighting! The rest of the class giggled.

Mr Thompson returned to his desk shuffled the remainder of the loose sheets. ‘Class dismissed!’ he said whilst tapping the remainder of the papers on his desk.

There was a lot of noise as the students shuffled their chairs and got their belongings before they left the room for their next lesson.

After a hectic day at college Lurlene rushed to her usual hide out spot where she secretly meets her boyfriend, Malcolm Smith.

Malcolm is a mechanic whose father died two years ago, he was shot in the head, leaving him and his mother penniless as he was an addictive gambler. Malcolm, an only child, was forced to drop out of college to become the breadwinner.

Because of the feud between the two families, neither Lurlene’s nor Malcolm’s family approved of their relationship but they were very much in love and took a risk every time they met.

As Lurlene approached the spot she saw Malcolm waiting. Her heart skipped a beat. He gave her a peck on the lips and embraced her.

They chattered for a short while exchanging their experiences of the day. After which Lurlene said that she had to get home before her father or she’d be in trouble. Malcolm pushed his hands into his pockets; kicked at the dry leaves on the ground and put his back against an oak tree. A slow sigh eased between his lips. He held both Lurlene’s hands in his swinging them from side to side and said ‘I love you Lurlene Francis.’ Lurlene looked into his eyes and said. ‘Me too!’

‘I hope one day we’ll be able to spend some quality time together. I hate you having to run off like this and all this hiding—as if we’re criminals.’ He gritted his teeth and shrieked ‘I really hate it—but I love you my darling!’

He promised to meet her again the following day. She took few steps backwards and both their arms slowly fell to their sides. Malcolm blew her a kiss and waved her goodbye as she slowly turned and walked away.

The freshly fallen dried leaves crunched beneath her feet as she quickly walked along the quiet road hoping to reach home before her father. Unbeknown to her, he didn’t go to his allotment that day because of a severe back pain, a complaint he has had for many years.

As she approached her house she saw the front door ajar. Her heart started beating faster, because she knew her father had made it home before her. She took a deep breath and dried her sweaty palms on her skirt.

Why is he home so early? She thought to herself. The door squeaked as she slowly pushed it wider open.

‘Evening, papa. How are you?’

Mr Francis reached for the remote control and lowered the volume on the TV. He repositioned himself on the sofa so he was facing Lurlene. ‘Where are you coming from young lady?’

‘College papa and on my way I stopped at Marcia’s house to get a book.’ She replied.

‘Marcia’s house