The Name Is Charlene Not Claudine!

By Charlene Diane Mitchell

"The name is Charlene not Claudine!" is an intriguing novel about how the author's personal life ironically shadows the throw back 1970's movie "Claudine", which Dianah Carrol was nominated for the Academy. This book includes balancing single parenting and dating problems and solutions along with something just having to be left the way they are. Overall, the book is fun to read and will let the readers know they are not alone in the problems they may be experiencing.

It can be shared from pre-teens to adults.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 17, 2009
• ISBN: 9781469112305

Charlene Diane Mitchell

Charlene Diane Mitchell is a native of Southern California and has earned her Baccalaureate Degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Northridge, and she has earned her Masters Degree from National University in Counseling Psychology. She has recently released three books: "Blu' Tonic Relationships", "White For One Night", and "The Willis Mitchell Story". These books are striking the publics interests and are great resources for Black History.

Book preview

Copyright © 2009 by Charlene Diane Mitchell.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

47119

image%201.jpgimage%202.jpg

A tornado has recently spun off in my life.

I had to learn to live with the remains of a crushed heart and other unforeseen penalties, but the truth was there is nothing like losing a parent. As parents, we must act as appropriate role models and demonstrate appropriate behavior for our children. This is especially true when it comes to accepting death as a natural part of life even the death of one of our own parents.

How can I camouflage the never-ending pain that I have been subjected to? How do I disguise the hurt I sense in their eyes when they doze off, and I know they missed the most prevalent father figure in their life, their grandpa, my father?

It’s been two years, and I thought we had all dealt with our emotions appropriately. Until, that is, my six year old—Lovely—came in to my room in the middle of the night and jumped on my bed. She was crying uncontrollably, and the river of tears quickly soaked her pink pullover pajamas. I asked her what was bothering her. She told me she missed her grandpa, and that she wanted him back. She asked why she couldn’t see him any more.

I had not allowed two of my six children to attend the funeral of my father. I thought that—for the youngest children, six-year-old Camron and four-year-old Lovely—attending would do more harm than good.

I had explained to the younger children that their grandfather has passed on to a better place. Continuing, I told them that, if they lived a good life, they would be able to see him again in the future. Camron, Lovely, and I shared this opportunity to talk about God and what would be expected come Judgment Day.

Camron said, If we be good, we can go to heaven.

Lovely interrupted, If we good now, we should be able to go and see Grandpa now.

I smiled and looked at them and explained that only God can tell us when the right time is, when we have been good enough.

Camron looked at me with remarkable sincerity in his eyes. Mom, I love you. He leaned over to kiss me. As I began to respond that I feel the same way, Lovely interceded.

Mom, I love you.

I put my arms around both of them, and I kissed them each and gave them a squeeze before mimicking the words, I love you too.

We called my older children to a family meeting to explain the death of my father, my older children were all called to a family meeting. I explained to them that their grandpa had been in a fatal car accident. My eldest child, Devontae, looked at me with disbelief and quickly retreated to his bedroom to try to relieve himself from the pain.

Chris, my second eldest son, looked down and smirked. He always smiles at everything, especially when he doesn’t know what else to do. After the brief smirk, tears filled his eyes. Slowly he lifted himself from the family room sofa and marched up the stairs, making his way to his room. My eldest child, Cynthia, just got angry and kept questioning what had happened—even after I had explained the situation many times over. She, too, tearfully slipped away into her room.

My middle daughter, Joshay, didn’t say a word to anyone. She just cried and, eventually, made her way into Devontae’s room. Later, Chris would join Joshay and Devontae, and they would console each other in their time of grief. Shortly after that, they decided to play their video games. My two youngest children decided that this would be something of interest to them as well. Throughout the day and between video games, the children would pull at me with questions that I didn’t yet have the answers to.

How did it happen?

When is the funeral?

Who’s going to get the body?

They went on in a seemingly endless tirade.

I remember thinking, Oh, for Pete’s sake! I’m a teacher, and I’m supposed to seize the opportunity to teach at the drop of a hat!

I pray that I demonstrate a good lesson, that I am enough of a positive role model, because I know unforgettable events such as this can have long-term negative effects on the learning skills of a developing child.

A while ago, we had moved to the Victorville area in order to get away from the congested city atmosphere that comes along with overpopulation problems, that elevated the negative social adjustments I observed. Furthermore, in Victorville, I found that we got more bang for my buck as far as living arrangements are concerned. Such things are of utmost importance when children are developing in their formative years—and, as a parent, you want them to have a healthy concept of life and social structure.

When the day of the funeral arrived, I have already arranged for a limo to pick up the older members of my family while my two babies will be taken cared of by my realtor’s wife. Since there would have been no real way to start the day off on a positive note, it was ominous from the start. Already the limo driver is over an hour late. The weather outside is extremely cold and stormy. It was bound to be a lonely time in my life, but it was even worse than I could imagine.

When the limo driver finally made the time