This Thing Called Life

By Xlibris US

This book is not just a book with words written to merely entertain the readers but more to awaken them. This book tells not just one story but several because although the main character is the center of the story it is the things she encounter while living life that helps the readers to gain a better appreciation for their life and the struggles it may bring. It will leave the reader with a better sense of how to live life even when it seems that life isn't worth living. Drugs, sex, burning desire to achieve success, Mr. Right, Mrs. Wrong, love and relationship, betrayal, death, survival, its all in this book. The one thing that makes this book a good is read is simply because it is something in this book that everyone can relate to, whether on a personal level or they know someone that has been or going through it. Life for the main character in this book brought about a lot of things, but at the end she learned that "Life is a beautiful thing once you learn how to live it."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499033991

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Ms. Andrea.

ISBN:                  Softcover                              978-1-4990-3400-4

                            eBook                                   978-1-4990-3399-1

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.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 07/15/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1   Hidden Desire

Chapter 2   The Plot Thickens

Chapter 3   Jamarco Come Visits

Chapter 4   You see but you don’t recognize

Chapter 5   Learning how to function

CONCLUSION

I would like to dedicate this book to my Mother, Marilyn Stroud-Odoi. She has amazed me with her wealth of wisdom and faith. Growing up it was you that showed me life as a single mother is possible as well as rewarding. Thank you for sharing your gifts with not only me but the world. You would always encourage me with your words and when you couldn’t find the right words to say you could always minister to me with your anointed singing. You were there to pray for me when I was young and even now that I am older. When I have those moments and feel that life situations is just a little too much it is your words and your song that I hear that encourages me and get me through.

I would also like to dedicate this book to my brother, Gary Stroud. He is strong and courageous and it was his strength and his relentlessness that inspired me to write this book. We can’t always predict what will happen in this life, but it is up to us how we respond to those situations and circumstances that help make life easy or harder. So thank you for showing me that we can live if we choose to. Stay strong and be encouraged.

It is also my inner circle of supporters like my Aunt Bishop Cece Colquitt, Mr. Bill Hawkins, Minister Eli Smith and my children that have encouraged me to not give up on my dreams and have pushed me to pursue my dreams and complete this book at all cost. Never unwavering in friendship, love and support, may you all be richly blessed.

That Christian Life

People think that it’s easy once you become a Christian and give your life to GOD,

The reality about life is that some temptations are stronger than others and yes the struggle gets real and living life becomes hard.

Growing up in certain places may keep you segregated from other races, but best believe all around the world you will find others plagued by drugs, sex and lying faces.

I must admit that it helps if you believe in some type of higher power or as some would like to believe in GOD, if you haven’t yet just keep living cause in the streets is where you meet the Devil, but it was my grandma that introduced me to GOD.

It was her that taught me how to pray, and it was her that taught me not beat myself up if I didn’t always walk straight. When I fall down just get back up again and when I think I am ready to die just tell myself that I can live.

She told me always be careful of the people that I run with and never associate myself with a crime I didn’t commit. Don’t think that attendance in church every Sunday will automatically get you into heaven it’s the good deeds in life that you do that gets heaven attention.

So yes, you may get high, you may dance in a club, you may have sex before marriage, and a whole lot more, but just like any game or tournament it’s who has the most points when the game is over. So let your good outweigh your bad and remember, life isn’t always easy, but it isn’t that bad.

Chapter 1

Hidden Desire

Wake up. Baby wake up! You are going to be late! Not sure of where she was, tired and head throbbing she just wanted the noise to stop. This time touching her, not sure if she was even breathing or not he says "Tanji you are going to be late for work, get up! Finally Tanji responds,

I’m getting up, damn! She struggles to get up as she picks her panties up off the floor by the bed, grabs her bra off the chair and gets the rest of her clothes out of the doorway and struggles in the bathroom. Danny steady watching the clock like it was his job on the line. It might as well been cause he knew that if Tanji stop living and eating good he would too. While Danny in the bedroom panicking and straighten up the room Tanji in the bathroom trying to figure out how she ended up sleeping with her best friend.

Tanji and Danny grew up together and in the neighborhood she was just like one of the guys. She was right there in the middle of all the street talk, she knew who had hooked up with who and if it was good sex or bad sex, who had reputation for having an odor, etc. I guess that has been something we women have been trying to figure out for the longest, how you can have sex with someone and you know they stank? What does that say about you?

Tanji finally comes out the bathroom and is ready for work. She trying to avoid the questions that may come next or the awkward feeling in the room, she tells Danny to hurry up and she will call her boss on the way in once she has gotten closer to the job. Tanji thinks to herself, I am one of the best executive assistants in that office, young and making good money, this is the life. She is very pretty and very smart, surely this was not just a job you get on beauty alone. She works for one of the top management firms in Atlanta.

Tanji sitting in her blue and silver Chrysler 300 putting on her lip gloss as Danny appeared in the passenger side window as if he had something to say. Hesitant but compelled to peek his curiosity she rolls down the window and Danny immediately starts to ask that question that she feared would come up, you know that question after you know you made a mistake sleeping with someone and now they want to be more. He says So you want me to come over when you get off work today? Eeeew, in her mind she thought, now this nigga want a relationship. Don’t get me wrong Danny is a nice guy with a good heart, but he lives pay check to pay check, no type of insurance, savings, he lives with his grandma and know all the latest games before they come out. He is average when it comes to looks, his teeth just jacked up. Look like his gum was having a recall on some of his teeth and stopped in the process. I know what you are thinking everybody has some type of defect or imperfection and this is true. Tanji is very pretty, smooth skin, nice shape but she doesn’t have the prettiest feet in the world. She has always believed that a person should never enter a relationship without having something to bring to the table, not just financially but emotionally as well. How can anyone compliment the other if they busted up themselves, that’s just her philosophy.

Tanji was well put together for the most part. She had a very spiritual mother and honest and GOD fearing grandmother as well as an educated, straight no chaser, successful and accomplished aunt. They use to say you could tell a lot about a person based on the family in which they are raised. If that’s the case Tanji must have turned out pretty good, but how would that explains her uncle who at 50 years old decided to come out as a flaming homosexual. Tanji uncle was a top producer in the city and there was no way she would have thought that this handsome, bald headed, 250 pound guy would be into men like she was into shoes. So I guess the saying is not true, because if it was I guess all preachers’ kid would be good since society say all preacher kids are bad.

Ok, so back to Danny, here he is waiting on an answer, but because Tanji went blank for a minute he responded You know what, I was thinking, you need time and right now you need to get to work so I will… , without saying anything she slowly rolled the window up and drove off.

Aaw, I know your probably feeling sorry for Danny right now and you should, not because he was given the cold shoulder by his best friend Tanji, but because he has a girlfriend. See, this morning could have turned out so much differently if Danny had not called Tanji pressing her about going to this new club oxygen to celebrate her 4 year anniversary on her job. Tanji was popping bottles like she was part of the Money Team and as always Danny was right there enjoying the perks of being her friend.

He saved Tanji several times from being picked up by some random dudes in the club however the real problem began when he drove her home. She was the aggressor once he put his arms around her to carry her in the house. She owned a townhouse where the bedrooms are upstairs.

Danny dropped her a time or two but I don’t think either cared or was too drunk to notice. Once upstairs she began to do a strip tease as she made her way to the bedroom. Tanji was drunk and had no idea that after 3 years of celibacy she was getting ready to give something so precious to a guy