Ms. Anna the Promise Keeper

By Helen Collier and Meow at the Helm

Ms. Anna, guided by supernatural forces, prepares to keep her promise to her alien friends to help them destroy the Mocoba beings that have taken over their world. There are, however, challenges on her own planet that she must first face. The alien and its thirteen eyes that have been guiding her life, unknown to her, are helping her meet those challenges so that she can hurry and leave with them. Having no understanding of the norms and morals of her world, they make a roller coaster of dangerous twists and turns that may very well end her life before she is able to become the promise keeper.

“The author’s book, The Promise Keeper, found me open to receive and learn from the many lessons of life she brings to the reader”
—(Bishop M. Gallaher).

“Helen Collier weaves science fiction and social reality into one hell of a story. Her heroine, Ms. Anna, takes us to worlds beyond our planet, moving readers toward an understanding of how race hatred and violence can destroy that which we love if we cannot find a way to live in solidarity”

—(Guerry Hoddersen, author of One Hemisphere, Indivisible Permanent Revolution, and Neoliberalism in the Americas).

Helen Collier resides in Auburn Washington. She writes science fiction, mystery, and fantasy. She’s a member of the Northwest Writers Association, African American Writers Alliance, and the Renton Writers Critic Group. She believes that a ride on her roller coaster of life is a lot more fun than living it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532036972

Helen Collier

Helen Collier is married and the mother of four children. Growing up black in the Midwest, she experienced the beauty and the horrors of life. Witnessing the brutal murder of her sister and her sister’s infant son she writes of life as it was lived in her environment. The passion she brings to the written word takes the reader on a journey that carries them into other worlds in order to gain a better understanding of their own. The author’s thoughts: Those who seeks revenge must realize it is a thought in every man’s mind, yet few realize it has a stem with no end.” Helen Collier/Meow rides the helm

Book preview

Prologue

W HAT IF CASUAL OBSERVERS COULD see and hear one thousand light-years beyond planet Earth? What a wonder if they could view billions of red stars shooting beams of light over seven giant green moons? They would hear those beams form mystic vibrations of stringed instruments. The observer would then gasp at the chilling sounds that vibrate as they move beyond galaxies, in and out of the perils of whirling radioactive crystals, past blistering stars and asteroids of hidden worlds to ride comets toward the galaxy that host the planet Earth.

In the blink of an eye, they would glimpse fluorescent colors float across the light of the earth’s full moon. To further shock their senses, the molecular structure would change to form a colorful leaf. Vibrations of soft stringed music would mystify them as it floats into the earth’s atmosphere to settle above a magnetic field of blue light surrounding a pulsating alien on planet Earth.

The shock of seeing thirteen blue-green mystic eyes whirling around it would baffle them as the leaf changes to form a hairless female who illuminates the black sky in rainbow colors. Her head turned upward, forming eyes of reflective light so formidable that the rays from them pierce a comet moving twelve light-years away, disintegrating it on contact. Imagine her as she rises high above a netted web that houses a dark creature known on planet Earth as the Black Widow Spider. A bright orange light glows from the spider’s web and lights up the night sky. The female form begins to communicate with the alien inside the magnetic field of blue light using sound waves bouncing against each other. THERE IS MUCH TO BE DONE TO PREPARE THE EARTH MOTHER TO LEAVE THIS PLANET. SHE MUST MAKE HER JOURNEY THROUGH THE WORLD OF DARKNESS. THE TREE OF ETERNAL LIFE AWAITS HER ARRIVAL. PREPARE HER BIRTH CYCLE FOR REJUVENATION. YOU MUST LET NO ONE ABORT THIS MISSION. NOT EVEN THE EARTH MOTHER SHALL ELUDE HER DESTINY.

Movement increases. Thirteen blue-green eyes grow grotesque as they circle the pulsating alien inside its blue magnetic field of light.

Go quickly, my eyes. Allow the Old Widow to lead the way. Touch the hearts of the Earth Mother’s loved ones with your light of urgency so that our daughter begins to prepare for her journey to become the Promise Keeper. Have the light of the Old Widow flood her dreams with visions that will bring her to us at the appointed time. There is much to be done to prepare her for her final journey.

Chapter One

T HE SLAP FROM THE BACK of her husband’s hand stunned Anna. It was, however, the sudden appearance of the gun her son pointed at his father as he rose from the dinner table, that shocked her senses.

I told myself I would kill your ass if you ever hit my mother again, you bastard! Anna listened to her son say as she and her daughter Sheri’ rose staring at him in shock.

Give me that gun, boy!, her husband, Jake, told his son as he reached for it.

Before Anna could take another breath, the sound of gunfire exploded. In the next instance, her ten-year-old son stood over his father who lay in a pool of blood, ready to fire again. Her quick action lifted the gun. The second bullet entered the wall behind him. She took the gun from her son. Go upstairs, both of you, and don’t come out! She shouted. You were up in your rooms if anyone questions you. She watched them hurry up the stairs and realized her life had changed forever.

Anna had gone to the hospital to see Jake when released from jail once he regained consciousness and assured the police it was an accident. Tossing her wedding rings on the bed beside him, she told her abusive, unfaithful husband their marriage was over forever.

On her way out of town, Anna looked into her rearview mirror and discovered her husband’s henchman Jay Man following her. Anna panics until she sees her father coming out of the bank. She nearly runs him down as she speeds up into the bank’s parking lot. The car following her kept going. Forced to share with her father, who the man was stalking her, she told him how her life had been for the last six months. Anna then called the Madame in the Middle East and soon found herself aboard a flight out of the country.

The Madame stood five feet, four inches shorter than Anna. Long brown hair hung alongside her tan face and down her back. Her light brown eyes searched Anna’s as the two women gazed at each other. The Madame is a Mid-Eastern Muslim Anna has journeyed to see at her spa ‘Repair Your Body. She lay on the flat cushioned table that had been made ready for her. Her tears indicated the perils of her journey as it had thus far unfolded. Removing the sheet from around her, the Madame’s hands traveled over Anna’s bruised and battered body,

He branded his name across your breasts. It was not a husband but a beast you lived with. Anna lay sobbing as the Madame examined her. What kind of mind would think to do this to another human being and say there is love in it? You must never go back to him—he is an infidel. The sound of Anna’s sobs filled the room.

I tried to be a good wife for him, but his jealous rages were too much. Look at me, Madame, I was once a beautiful woman. I am now a battered female no other man will want. My life is worth nothing now.

Don’t worry, Ms. Anna. The Madame knows what is needed to make you that beautiful woman again. First, you must put in your heart that no evil lasts forever. The Creator shall determine the lessons of life that will one day fall upon the head of that beast you have escaped. And I assure you, along with all evils, those lessons will come and strangle him at his heartstrings. Why did he do this to you?

He wanted me to find Monsieur Raymond Forlorn so he could have a little talk with him, but I knew that talk wouldn’t last long. Jake would have been in hell the minute Ray took one look at me in this condition. He has no idea what Ray is capable of when his anger turns to rage. He doesn’t care who has to die or how many. I love too many people in the city of Session to allow his vengeful nature to take control of his ability to reason.

Anna felt the Madame’s hands continue to travel slowly over her body. This husband of yours seems to be a man who hungers after that which shall destroy him.

Yes, but I want no one else destroyed along with him.

You Western women—to live your lives, the price is too high.

Anna’s heart sank.

In the middle of the night, Anna woke up in bed drenched with sweat. Another nightmare had invaded her sleep. She lived in terror that Jake would find her. In the dream, she saw herself running, trying to escape from him. He always caught her, holding her down as he choked the life out of her.

Beat the bitch’s ass! Jay Man, his henchman who followed and watched her all the time would yell after his call to Jake had revealed some new lie about her. I heard the bitch on the phone with that nigger she stayed with so long when she left you that first time. They plan to come and take your kids, man. No matter how she told Jake that Jay Man was lying, the fight was on while Jay Man stood and licked his lips, a wild, insane gaze in his eyes reflected his pleasure.

After a month at the spa, Anna’s body healed and, her nightmares subsided. She called her father to let him know where she was and informed him of her plans to return to the United States and then journey to Louisiana. The time had come to bid the Madame a tearful goodbye. She longed to rekindle her relationship with her baby toddler that she had left screaming for her.

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Anna reached for Raspy when she walked into her grandmother’s home. Raspy backed away from her. She placed her head on her great-grandmother’s lap, refusing to come to her.

Raspy, please, let me hold you.

Raspy crawled up onto Granny’s lap. Tears fell from Anna’s eyes as she realized she had lost the close relationship she and her daughter had developed.

Raspy, yer Momma done come back. Go give hur a hug and let it be known ya still love hur. Raspy shook her head no, refusing to look at Anna. No amount of probing caused her daughter to respond to her.

After a week of persuasion, Raspy finally came up to Anna and rested her head on her lap. At that moment, Anna promised God and herself she would never again deny her child to anyone, no matter what happened. The tiny black spot on Raspy’s left palm let her know the Old Widow’s young still lay concealed inside her daughter’s hand. Anna pressed her left palm against her daughter’s accepting, the spider back. She never planned to leave her again.

Later that week, Anna woke in the middle of the night aware of the aliens’ presence. The Old Widow stood on the windowsill, her orange back pulsating. Anna blinked and she knew she was no longer in bed with her daughter but in the rainforest. The thirteen eyes circling the blue magnetic field of the pulsating brain stared down at her.

Daughter, you have hidden away far too long. Now that you have the Old Widow’s young once again embedded in your palm, you must continue your journey towards your destination.

Old Head, I have endured endless suffering. I need my rest. I can’t bear any more pain in my life! I just can’t, Anna cried.

Daughter, you must face your fears if you are to become the Promise Keeper.

How, Old Head, can I face them? What do you suggest? Where can I take this child you have given me? My mother must never know that I have given birth to a child whose father is white? Anna choked on her tears. I know this journey is leading to more suffering. Suffering is not what I need or want. I must remain hidden.

"Daughter, suffering has no hiding place. It dwells wherever there is life. You must go now and find the bittersweet love that awaits you.

Suffering has been with me since I was fourteen. That bittersweet love you speak of has died Old Head. It no longer lives in my heart.

Suffering is a part of all life on your earth world. You will soon learn that suffering and love abide as one. The love in your heart for the Young Chemist still lives in you, Daughter. My eyes and I will prepare the way for your escape before the earth mate you fear discovers your hiding place and your dark dream becomes a reality.

Anna watched the rainforest become a mist as the alien and its thirteen eyes disappeared. Soon after Anna discovered she was back in bed, she heard a loud banging on her grandmother’s front door. The clock read midnight. She jumped up and hurried into the front room as Granny rushes from her bedroom.

Who’s thare?, her grandmother asks. Anna hears her cousin Frankie Lee’s voice. Granny quickly opens the door. With a frightened look on her face, Anna stands behind her grandmother looking out into the night. Frankie Lee’s gold eye-tooth flashes as he rushes inside stating that Anna and Raspy must leave at once. Anna sees a large white canopy truck with someone seated behind the wheel.

Cous, pack Raspy’s thangs! We gotta git hur out of hare quick! Jake’s in town askin all kinds ’f questions. I thank he’s on to somethin. Thare is dis dude with him who looks like somethin out of a Frankenstein movie. He cain’t do nothin to Granny, but with Raspy’s last name still Bradley, she belongs to Jake. The thought of Jake and Jay Man so close started Anna’s heart pumping like crazy.

Oh, my God! Jake is down here—and with Jay Man. What will I do, Granny?

My granddaughter needs to take wings and fly—be the Momma, my great grandbaby needs. I will ask God to keep ya safe. Go on with Frankie Lee, chile. Granny is proud dat ya come back to hur as hur momma. Protect hur by taking hur whare, she won’t be harmed. Granny prays dat God in His mercy will allow hur papa to become a part of hur life someday. Her grandmother’s tears fell.

Granny, maybe you shouldn’t pray for something that probably will never happen. Some prayers are not even worth praying for. I doubt her father will ever become a part of her life. Anna looked in Frankie Lee’s arms at her sleeping toddler, doubting Raymond Forlorn would ever know of her, least of all, love her. She hurried and packed their clothes.

Anna cuddled close to her toddler, hopeful Raspy wouldn’t wake up. They lay together, both their heads on a soft pillow. Anna covered them under a blanket on a mattress in the back of the truck. Frankie Lee and his friend Ned drove them away from her grandmother’s farm. Her husband, Jake Bradley, and his henchman still searched for her. He told her she must tell Ray he wanted to see him. Jake beat her after she said she didn’t know where to find him.

Anna knew if Jake found her and her child, he would kill them. His demands that she bring Ray to see him fell on deaf ears. He said he had business with Ray, business he believed Ray wouldn’t be able to handle. She thought to herself, The last person he wanted to meet was the man apart of one of the most lethal brotherhoods in the world. He just didn’t know it.

Anna lay, her thoughts on the nightmare that haunted her dreams. An orange glow lit up the inside of the truck. She knew it was the Old Widow, the alien she had coined the Old Head, had sent to guide the way for her. Did it send the spider with a message? If so, what could the message be? Anna gazed at the orange light so hard her eyes closed. She began to dream.

A man dressed in a long beige trench coat, his collar laying close to his white face, stood beside a black limousine in the dream. His thick, gray hair lay cropped against his head. He stared up at an old ancient-looking stone building. Anna remembered it was the building that held summer school for her and other students attending Camelot Academy when she was fourteen. Anna listened to hollow footsteps echo behind him as he walked through the empty building. He started down a familiar steep stairway as he gripped an iron railing and didn’t let go until his last step. The door at the end of the stairway received a hard knock.

Anna’s eyes grew alert when the door opened, and the Old Widow crawled inside the room. She stood in her web high above them. Her orange light was barely visible. A younger blond bearded man with hair hanging down the sides of his face and back stood inside. The two men shook hands. Anna gazed hard at the man who’d entered the room. She recognized him. He headed the brotherhood where her former lover was a member. When she and Raymond flew to Morocco to bring him diamonds he exchanged for money, Raymond introduced the two. The Italian claimed Mix Miller as his business name and no other that she knew of.

The dream became even more surreal when Mix shook his head and said, Ray Mon, you have turned into a hermit living down here in this dungeon. Soon you will be dying in misery. I see you have allowed yourself to go to the dogs. Your hair will be down below your knees before long. And that foot-long beard you are sporting does nothing for your looks,

"What has become of you, Ray?’ He didn’t look at all like himself, Anna thought.

Mix loved Raymond as if he were his son and always called him Ray Mon. He shook his head. The room Mix had entered turned out to be the summer school chemistry lab where Raymond had taught her and her classmates math and chemistry. She gasped as she recognized her former lover, shocked by his disheveled appearance.

"I hope I never have to make this trip again. Those steps are way too steep.

Without the railing, I would have tumbled headlong down them," Mix said, taking a seat.

Anna trembled, seeing a makeshift bed in a small dark room where she and Raymond’s lives had changed forever. "Oh my god," she thought smiling as she listened to Aretha singing in the background.

Raymond took a seat on a stool in front of large test tubes hanging over an unlit fire. This, Mix, is where it all began for Ms. Anna and me

He explained to Mix that he had come there one summer when he was seventeen to teach tenth-grade students, math and, chemistry. Raymond pointed to a smaller room where unknown, to him, they had encountered aliens Anna would later learn were the Trilood Beings from the Outer World, an encounter that had changed both their lives.

"Something happened to us in that room. Anna begged me to open the door to it, insisting someone inside was calling to her. He determined that once inside, he must have hit his head on something and passed out. When he came to, she was leaning over him, crying. Since that day, she became an unexplained part of his life that is always with him, even though they are now apart.

Anna watched him slide his hand down one of the test tubes. I feel as though I died that day and returned as another person. A frown appeared on Mix’s face.

The mystery is not remembering how and why it all occurred, something that has me disturbed to this day.

Anna knew it was a mystery he would never uncover.

Mix shook his head as he held his chin, looking dumbfounded at Raymond. Ms. Anna has always been a mysterious part of your life—and mine as well, it seems. What happened to that ex-wife of yours? Anna listened as Mix quickly changed the subject.

My wife, Raymond informed Mix, decided to hide out somewhere after we disposed of her three co-conspirators who took part in the deceitful scheme she plotted against me. Anna and I would have been married had not my wife and her son lied to me.

Does she realize those doctor friends of hers have vanished?

Yes, unfortunately for her.

And to such a horrible end, my son. The Chemist’s vengeance knows no mercy.

As many souls as I have laid to rest, Satan probably has a suite already awaiting my arrival.

"I had no idea why you wanted the men to wrap cheese around those ropes until they brought the three naked doctors into that snake pit and tied them to those boards. I can hear you asking them why they dishonored the oath they took by lying about the boy’s illness.

‘It was the money she promised you bastards, wasn’t it?’ you screamed at them Ray Mon. There’s a certain look you always get when your victim’s death is at hand.

Raymond’s eyes narrowed as his lips twitched.

It was the look Anna had learned to fear.

"Yes, my son. It was the promise of millions of dollars your wife promised them that took precedence over their good senses. As soon as we had their naked bodies tied to those boards and lowered the ropes down into that snake pit, you turned the rodents loose. I can still see them running along their naked backs, eating the cheese that covered the board. Some of those rats fell into the snake pit as they ran up the ropes eating the sour-smelling cheese. My God, those doctors’ backs were a bloody mess.

Anna envisioned Mix’s eyes and the eyes of his men, bugging out when Raymond asked his victims how they’d like to die. She looked in horror, thinking that the rats would soon be eating the men.

"‘Not this way!’ they screamed as the rats continued to run over their bloody backs to get to the cheese. The men looked down at the snakes slithering over each other. Their stomachs bulged with the rodents that had fallen into the pit. Mix and his men stood hypnotized.

That hissing sound—the weirdest she’d ever heard!

‘I am John Vanderlin’s grandson,’ Anna listened to her former lover say. ‘It was his money you thought you would steal by lying to me. You must die as he would’ve wanted you to die if he were standing in my place, you sons of bitches.’ The rodents ate voraciously through the ropes. Screaming for forgiveness, the doctors lay soaked in sweat and blood. When the first one cried for forgiveness before falling to his death, Anna thought of hell as she listened to Raymond tell him to ask Satan to forgive his ass. By the time the last one fell in, Anna lay shaking. She could see nothing but snakes as she heard the sound of hissing blend with their screams that mingled with the loud squeals before the rats and the men all died. When the scene ended, Anna watched Mix turn from Raymond as he whispered, Such a horrifying death. Only the Chemist would think of. I wouldn’t want to be your enemy! Those sons of bitches left this world in a fit. By the way, how did your divorce go?"

Mix was so good at changing the subject, Anna remembered.

Raymond folding his arms, admitted he thought about throwing his wife in for her part in the scheme, but there was her ten-year-old son to think of, and without her thugs to do her dirty work, she was lost. Once their divorce was final—it became public knowledge that her son was not a Vanderlin. Left with no Vanderlin connection, that closed circle shut her out.

I would have thought she’d try taking you for every penny you were worth, especially after learning of your relationship with Ms. Anna, my son.

An unexpected twist occurred, Raymond said to him. After her confrontation with Anna at Looper’s, she refused to take one cent of my money. And, after the plot, she had devised to get the fortune she desired. She acquired our holdings in London and the yacht she loved, but that was it. Mix shook his head.

I had decided to give her what she tried to screw me out of, which was at least two billion dollars coming from my grandfather’s estate alone. She refused to take one penny, and to my surprise, she never mentioned Ms. Anna in court.

You never know about women, Anna listened to Mix say. It seems impossible that she would reject that sum simply because your mistress was a black woman, and after tricking you into thinking a son who was not yours was ill. Who knows about women? Their minds are something for the gods to figure out.

Raymond shook his head. Mix, never allow anyone to tell you, life for a rich man is perfect. This life of mine is in shambles. The one thing in the world I want, I can’t have. If it weren’t such a weak man’s excuse, I’d end it right down here where it all started.

"How well I know but, Ray, you mustn’t.

Mix Miller looked around the untidy room, saying. I can see from the looks of things nothing has gone well for you, my son. Leave here with me. Since Ms. Anna is no longer in your life, I can now introduce you to women of all races. You may choose from the pick of the blackest rose to the whitest lily still waiting to blossom into a flower.

Anna sucked in her breath.

Mix, women are my undoing. I have amassed enough wealth to feed a hundred impoverished third-world countries, yet I can’t find one measly soul to love me. It has gotten that bad for me.

Tears slipped from Anna’s eyes.

When Ms. Anna never returned, I seriously thought of having myself castrated, but decided I wouldn’t like to end up as did the Red Devil, dying without all of my body intact.

Thank God, Anna thought, it would have been such a waste.

My son, how can you think that let alone say it? Even when I lost my child and my wife Angelica in childbirth, I never considered castration as an option. He then stated that after Lucy came along, he thought he had found another woman to love him, but the time was not right for them. She could not figure out whether she wanted him to be her Italian lover or white john. It caused them to split but remain loyal friends."

Mix reached into his pocket. I received this message for you. The caller stated you gave him my number as a contact person if he ever needed to reach you, said he needed to contact you as soon as possible. I decided it would be best to bring it to you myself. He handed Raymond the slip of paper.

The Old Widow’s orange light began to filter throughout the room. Anna trembled, realizing that this dream must mean something more. The glow surrounded Raymond as he rose from his seat.

Are you sure this is the name the man gave you?

My son, I may be getting old, but I can still hear quite well. He wants you to call him right away—said it was a matter of great importance. Do you know this man?

This man is Anna’s father? The last time he and I talked, he said he didn’t understand my relationship with his daughter.

Anna listened in shock, "A call from my father? What on earth does my father want with Ray?"

She listened to him say that he told her father they loved each other and planned to divorce their mates and marry. He’d suggested that he was willing to care for her children as though they were his own. He could even review his financial assets to assure he was financially able to care for them and her." Mix shook his head.

Her father felt he had enabled their relationship by enrolling her in that damn white school her mother hated. Anna listened to him go on to tell Mix he had assured him that their relationship had changed his life as well, and no matter what happens between them, he would be there for her if she ever needed him. It was then he said he had given him his number.

I never dreamed I would hear from him again. I wonder what could have possibly happened to Ms. Anna? He asked, staring at the card in his hand.

Nothing has happened to me that I want you to know?

I don’t know, son, Mix said, looking him over as he had done when he first entered. Rising, he headed toward the door and then stopped and turned back. But if I were a father and you showed up looking like you are looking now, I would never share whatever it was I had called to tell you. By the way, what’s the name of that song playing?

It’s entitled ‘Save Me’ by Aretha Franklin, Ms. Anna’s favorite female singer.

Huh, you surely need saving my son. He said shaking his head as he walked out the door. When the spider followed him out, Anna’s eyes popped open. She knew she would be calling her father that next morning. She didn’t care if it was only a dream.

After Frankie Lee and his friend drove her and Raspy to Las Vegas, Anna’s arrival there had her scrambling to find housing for herself and her daughter. Her dream fell somewhere into the recesses of her mind. After finding accommodations at the YWCA, another dream flooded her sleep.

In this dream, she saw Raymond in a hotel room. He looked as handsome as she always remembered him. He was clean-shaven, except for, his mustache. His thick blond hair cut just at his shoulders, as she liked it. Standing six feet two in the gray designer suit he wore, he looked so neat with his pale blue shirt and gray tie. The TV was reporting the morning weather. She missed him. He was so meticulous about business matters, never allowed for surprises in his life as he was always about taking care of his business. She had long ago learned of his deadly intolerance for deceit. His restless nature had her traveling with him all over the world. Some of the exotic countries she had visited would never have otherwise occurred for her had it not been for him. She noticed his biceps were not as thick as they once were and wondered was the joy of lying in his bed under his hard body as thrilling now? After they had their first real sexual encounter, he told her sucking and kissing was alright, but he wanted what he called real sex.

When his penis entered her body, he said something inside her sucked and tantalized the head of it, causing thrills to coast through him like crazy. The music he heard brought on orgasms that took his mind to heaven if there were such a place. They would start around day-break after partying all night long. The orgasms he caused to erupt inside of her spread like wildfire as she screamed his name while clinging to him, hoping the thrills would last forever. Around mid-day on into the night, he rocked her world. She wondered how their bodies were able to sky-rocket those explosives bed scenes without them dying from exhaustion.

Anna heard a knock at the door. When Raymond opened it she lay startled to see the Old Widow crawl inside and stationed itself above a light fixture as he shook hands with an older black man who had to duck and hold his dark gray Stetson hat as he entered the room. Slender but not thin, the man wore a brown tailored suit and a tan shirt that sported a white tie. He smoothed out the tie while scanning the room with large dark brown, engaging eyes a tint lighter than his ebony skin.

Have a seat, Mr. Drake.

It has been almost nine years since we first met in Tora if I recall correctly, the man said, taking the seat Raymond offered.

Oh, God, Daddy! What on earth is Ray doing in Tora?

Raymond assured him that it had been that long. He believed it had rained the entire time he was last there and that he was glad today the sun was out.

Raymond then smiled, pointing to the coffeemaker brewing on the table next to him, I can have something ordered if coffee is not what you prefer. After mixing the coffee to his taste, to Anna’s further dismay, her father leaned back and took a sip, never taking the Stetson from his head. Her eyes grew alert when he set the coffee cup down and reached for the briefcase he carried, placing it on his lap. She saw that he took a large brown envelope from it, which he handed Raymond, nodding that he should open it.

Anna watched Raymond stare at the envelope a moment. A frown covered his face. When he took what looked to be a picture from it, his mouth fell open. Rising from his seat in much the same manner as he had done in her dream when Mix had given him the message that her father had contacted him, he sucked in his breath.

This can’t be true, he said, staring at the picture in his hand.

Anna felt faint as she sucked in her breath. If only she had called her father as she had planned. Raymond gazed down at the picture of her with Raspy seated on her lap. His hand touched the chain around the toddler’s neck in the picture. A black horse hung at the end of it. One of her small fists held onto it as her gray eyes stared back at him. Anna covered her lips as he shook his head from side to side.

Oh my God, he said, echoing her thoughts as he dropped the picture on the table. He looked at her father, shaking his head then fell back in his chair. Oh, my God. It can’t be true, he whispered.

She never wanted him to learn of his child this way. She prayed it was only a dream.

Staring at him, her father said, I thought a man who was willing to take responsibility for another man’s children surely would want to do the same for his own.

The sun shining through the window prevented either man from noticing what Anna noticed. An orange glow filtered in around them from the Old Widow concealed behind the light fixture. Anna knew this dream meant her life was taking another turn.

Raymond rose, gazing down at the blown-up picture her father must have had enlarged. My God, we have a child, she never told me. Turning the picture over, he looked at the words written on the back of it. Anna repeated the words written to her father: To Daddy from Anna and your granddaughter Raspy.

She had sent her father a smaller picture several months ago.

She named her after my mother after not mentioning one damn word to me about her. Sir, you must think the worst of me, Raymond said, gesturing with outstretched hands. His head again began to move from side to side.

Anna told me she had never informed you of the child. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want you to know unless, of course, she thought it might be something you didn’t want to know. Anna saw her father’s eyes lock with Raymond’s as he returned to his seat.

Raymond studied the picture again. Finally, he looked over at her father.

I knew she was pregnant, but she assured me she would abort it even though I begged her not to.

Anna listened to words she knew were true.

It must come as a shock to discover she didn’t? Her father continued to stare at him.

Raymond looked again at the picture, Sir, it’s as though God has for some strange reason, decided to grace me with my life again. That he delivered it to me by your hands is even stranger. I have no doubt she is my daughter. He continued to gaze at the picture. "My God, she is beautiful! You must think the worst of me, but I am an honorable man and would never have left your daughter alone to fend for herself with my child had I known.

Apparently, Anna didn’t think I could handle the news. I have been going through a crisis in my life. I divorced out of my marriage a year ago; he paused, still, Anna should have shared the news of my daughter with me when we were last together. I must find them right away!

Oh, my God! No, you must not find me. I can’t allow it.

Now, that’s what I have been waiting to hear you say, young man, her father said, a smile growing on his face. "We’ll have to hurry and leave for Oinston, Louisiana, where Raspy was born. I am hoping her husband doesn’t find Anna and my granddaughter before we get to them. It would be tragic for Anna as well as your daughter. Anna noticed that her father missed the rise in Raymond’s brows at hearing something she already knew. I must first take care of a few matters before leaving," he said as he rose, reaching for the picture.

Please, sir, may I keep it—at least until I see them both? Raymond asked, lifting the picture to gaze at it again.

Sure, you may. I’ll be damned if you didn’t spit her out, son. Raymond looked up at Anna’s father and smiled.

I’ll have to see what flights are going in that direction. I believe we will have to fly into an airport in an adjacent city. Oinston is a rather small town.

I will handle that part for us if you don’t mind, sir. When can I expect your return? Raymond asked, following him to the door.

Around two this afternoon, Anna’s father replied as the two men shook hands.

The spider high above followed her father out of the door,

Anna’s eyes popped open. I must call my Daddy at once!

Of course, Anna believed she would wake up and make the call she had neglected to make before, but she never left her bed and soon found herself in another dream.

Anna was already seated in the back seat of a black Lincoln Continental when Raymond’s private jet landed in Shreveport, Louisiana wondering how she got there. She listened to Raymond tell her father it would be best if he drove since he knew where they were going. Still holding the picture in his hand, Raymond entered on the passenger side. He continued to look at it smiling over at her father as they drove out of the airport. It caused her to smile.

I’ll be damned, sir, if she isn’t the spitting image of my mother when she was a toddler in all the pictures I’ve seen at my grandparent’s home. I must apologize for not being a civil company—it seems I’m still in shock.

I can see that, son. It appears you are happy, I might add.

Happy, you’ll never know how thrilled I am and how much this means to me. I have a daughter! I have a beautiful daughter, just as you have, sir. What a twist—and just when I thought my life was at an end. It’s a miracle you have given to me. A gift, no amount of money could have made possible. Anna watched him kiss the picture. Everything happens so mysteriously with Ms. Anna. And as always, as a miracle.

Anna smiled, loving the beautiful dream.

Imagine my shock, son. My daughter is the mother of your daughter. We have a mutual interest since Raspy is my granddaughter.

Raymond shared with Anna’s father that he had contacted his law firm. They had called back to say Anna gave birth to the child in Oinston, Louisiana, but not in a hospital. She was born, it seems, in someone’s home, and currently carries the last name of Anna’s husband. My attorneys are drawing up papers to have that corrected. As soon as Anna signs the document certifying me as her father, I want those birth records corrected, stating he still couldn’t understand why Anna hadn’t informed him.

Like you don’t know why Raymond Forlorn. Anna thought as the dream continued.

Those were my same sentiments when she and I talked, son; her husband mustn’t find Anna or the child before we find them. Her father continued to say as they traveled down the highway toward Oinston. Women tell you what they want you to know and nothing more.

Why wouldn’t she think I needed to know something that important? She knew my life was falling apart.

It came from her body. As far as a woman is concerned, the baby is all hers once you deliver the sperm. She decides if she wants to let you in on the actual raising of the child, depending on how the two of you are faring in the relationship, her father said, glancing over at Raymond.

Anna hunched her shoulders, thinking to herself, it’s a woman’s right.

Why she felt she couldn’t tell me, I don’t understand. She knows I love her, damn it. Anna listened to his heavy sigh.

I love you too, but you left me no choices.

There have been but a few times that I’ve seen my daughter glowing with happiness. When she was fourteen years old, and I enrolled her in Camelot Academy, and she discovered what her mother told her about how the white students there would treat her just wasn’t so.

Though he had to admit at first, he, too, had been afraid she would find the teachers and students to be similar to the whites in the South.

Her mother put fear in Anna that all whites behave the same. He enrolled their daughter in a school where he believed she would receive the best education. Because of our history in this country, her mother didn’t want our daughter in a school she believed to be a den of iniquity where demons and devils dwelled.

Sadness filled Anna’s heart, hearing her father speak about her mother’s feelings of all white people.

He shook his head, sharing it was nothing like her mother or even he thought it would be. Anna, he said, is a smart young lady academically. She is my lucky strike, Anna watched her father place his fingers to his lips as if inhaling.

Also, he said, looking over at Raymond. when I came to New York City and saw you two together, there was a glow in her eyes I rarely have a chance to see.

She blew her father a kiss.

Raymond assured him his daughter had the brain of a genius, telling him that she shocked him with her uncanny knowledge, something her classmates already knew. The students in the class exclaimed to him how proud they were to have her as their classmate. Of course, she kept him in shock as to how she always had the answers to any problems he posed to the class. He had taken a back seat to her even in his field of chemistry at fourteen, lamenting that she should be working with a team of nuclear scientists, not seated in some office doing accounting. The thought of that waste broke his heart.

She noticed her father began to relax as he drove the Lincoln down the highway.

Son, I’m not saying this because I have a daughter, but having a daughter is like being in love with a female you know will always love you no matter what goes down. All you have to do is be in the picture, making sure she knows that while her mother is important, you also play an important role in her life.

Raymond continued to view the picture on his lap.

Anna put her feet up on the back seat, enjoying every minute of their conversation.

For me, there has been nothing that has blessed my life like having my daughter to love. And those tears! Man, my wife would say, ‘Jeff, all dat gal gotta do is cough up some tears and ya just give in to anythang she wants.’ She was right, of course, he said, laughing while telling him of the day that Anna came to him—wanting to go to Suffolk Downs while attending summer school. Said her friends at school wanted her to go. Now, he knew her mother would have his ass if she found out. But as soon as Anna came up with those tears, he’d signed that permission slip, praying her mother would never find out. Their laughter filled the car, as did Anna’s.

You’ll find out soon enough, son. There is nothing you won’t do for that love. The year I spent in prison could have turned into a hundred years if it meant protecting her from harm. I hope you find that same kind of love when you become a part of your own daughter’s life.

Daddy, I hate that my behavior had to take your love that far.

Mr. Drake, your daughter is a hard person not to love. I guess I have loved her so long that I can’t remember not loving her. As for my daughter, I can only hope she loves me as much as Anna loves you. She was forever telling me what her daddy taught her,

Anna listened to Raymond’s Southern drawl so familiar to the environment they had entered. She didn’t want to wake up.

They were both married when they mysteriously met up again on that highway after her car ran over that ravine. Their love rekindled even though she hardly remembered any of her past. He shared with her father.

Anna listened to a conversation in a dream that sounded too real.

Yes, I must say I was stunned when I saw my daughter kissing a white man in public—and a Southern white man at that.

Yes, I am a Southern-born white man who loves your daughter, and I can’t wait to see her and embrace her and my daughter. You can’t imagine how much your doing this means to me. I’m afraid I’m still in shock. He said looking down at the picture as if for the first time.

Mr. Forlorn, you may call me Jeff. After all, you are the father of my granddaughter.

I, sir, would feel more comfortable if you called me Raymond—or Ray, as Anna has chosen to call me. You are, after all, the grandfather of my daughter.

A smile eased across Anna’s lips as she listened to the warm relationship developing between the two men she loved thinking, if only it were not just a dream.

Her father stuck a piece of gum into his mouth as he shared his shock at learning Anna’s arrested for shooting her husband, stating it was like someone had stuck a knife into his heart.

Anna’s heart rate increased. She didn’t want her father to share that information with Raymond thinking she was glad it was only a dream.

Anna listened to her father tell Raymond, when he went to the precinct to pick her up, the look of pain on her face pierced his heart. It reminded him of too many years ago and his time in prison He didn’t wish him dead for the way he treated his family, but he wanted his daughter and their children as far away from her husband as possible." Anna watched him turn the car off the highway onto a two-lane stretch.

She then listened to her father’s take on her marriage to Jake.

He stated that if he thought before that Jake and his daughter could make their marriage work, he knew now their marriage would never work. He admitted that he was helping him because he didn’t ever want his daughter to return to Jake or have him get his hands on his granddaughter. If that meant helping him and Anna rekindle their relationship, He was about that business."

Hearing her father’s change of heart about Raymond, Anna wanted her dream to go on forever.

If Anna had told me she had my baby hidden away somewhere, the shooting might have been prevented. She couldn’t have kept me out of her life. Her husband would’ve had to deal with me.

There was a time when Jake was a good husband. I still believe he loves Anna, but it is a possessive, unkind, jealous love. Even recently, he’s telling me he wants her back.

Never! Anna screamed out glad it was just a dream.

She looked out to see the scenery change as they drove the two-way lanes she knew would take them to her Uncle Jessie’s home. Fields of smoothly cut grass lay on either side of the highway. Large pine trees towered overhead with the evening sun peeping out between them. Long white fences with white-and-brown cows peering out between the slats set the tone for the Southern way of life, but nothing made it more apparent that they were in the South than the laid-back drivers who took the speed limit to heart. As they neared the city limits, her father slowed the Lincoln down to a snail’s pace behind a pick-up truck that was going the posted speed limit of twenty-five miles per hour.

Finally, turning off, they turned down a familiar dusty dirt road, and moments later, her father turned onto a shorter road that brought them to a small white wooden-framed house with a small fenced-in porch in front. They got out. Her father knocked on the front door. A young black man in a tee shirt and jeans wearing a close-cut natural opened the door. It was Frankie’s wide grin showing a gold tooth to them. Jeff quickly shook hands with him introducing Raymond to him as Frankie Lee, Anna’s first cousin.

I know who he is, Uncle Jeff. Frankie Lee said, shaking Raymond’s hand as if he knew him.

Anna saw the startled look on Raymond’s face and woke up smiling.

Chapter Two

W HEN THE CAB STOPPED, THE driver looked in the back seat at Anna, running his hand through his thick wavy hair. Sucking on his cigarette, he said to her, You need a man in your life with your fine self-baby. I could be that man because I know I got just what you need.

Anna hurried to get out of the cab. Walking up to the front door of his cab, she threw him the fare through the lowered window. The derringer in her hand pointed inches from his nose, she said, And I know I got just what you need.

Whoa, baby! I’m scared of you.

You better be! Anna said as she turned and walked away. He was always so rude. She hated getting into his cab. Maybe he thought because of where she worked she was easy prey. She planned to get a car soon. Anna thought of putting Maxine’s name on the car title. That way, Jake can’t trace her location. She could then drive to work without worrying about sickos like him.

After her last disturbing dream, she had called home to talk with her father. It turned out he was not at his restaurant. Her mother answered the phone. Before she could ask to speak to her father, her mother said she was glad she called because she planned to call her and tell her how the white devils were taking over Session.

She talked nonstop about how Session’s black women were losing their men to the white devil tramps coming into the city. She felt they should be with their white devil men and was so thankful she had a daughter who wouldn’t look at a white devil. By the time she got off the phone, Anna had developed a headache.

She hadn’t had another dream. Her watch read eleven o’clock. She needed to hurry and pick up Raspy from Maxine and get her to bed.

She and the older white woman met at the YWCA, where Frankie Lee and his friend Ned had dropped them off. She learned that Maxine’s employer had moved back to Sweden. Maxine, a Sweden herself had no desire to return to Sweden having no living family there. Anna learn the sixty-year-old woman who held different odd jobs had lived at the YWCA for quite some time.

Maxine often joined Anna and Raspy when they went to a nearby park for playtime before her nap. Anna began to feel comfortable with her as she noticed Raspy had taken a liking to the white woman and always asked her to join them.

Lewis leased Anna both apartments where she and Raymond had lived. Maxine agreed to take the lower one and care for Raspy after Anna found a job that required no identification.

An immediate firing would result if a hostess failed to report to work without calling in two hours before her shift started. With Maxine taking care of Raspy, Anna planned not to miss any. By the time she arrived home and picked up Raspy, she was too tired to think. With the Old Widow’s young implanted in her palm again, Anna no longer feared Jake hurting her. However, she could ill afford to have him discover her whereabouts and get his hands on Raspy.

She didn’t have to provide a social security number for this job, so it was unlikely he could trace her whereabouts. She also knew Raymond would never think to look for her in Las Vegas. Only Frankie Lee knew she was there, and they didn’t know each other, Anna’s thoughts, reflected on her dreams. She hated having to leave her son and daughter behind but planned to accrue enough vacation time to take Raspy to visit Granny and then have her mother send her children out to see her in Las Vegas.

It would be nice if they could get to know Raspy, but she learned from her recent call home, her mother hated white people as much as ever. She would never allow her other children to accept her child by a white man as their sister. Her mother she knew had more influence over her children than she did.

When Anna entered her apartment building, the orange glow in her palm grew brighter. She kissed it and wondered what dream would interrupt her sleep that night. Walking inside Maxine’s apartment, she smiled as her daughter ran to her.

Maxine hurried to tell Anna that Raspy had had her bath, and though willing to put on her pajamas, she couldn’t persuade the child to go to sleep."

I better get her up to bed. She tries to stay up until I come for her, They talked for a few minutes. By the time Anna headed out the door with Raspy, her toddler had fallen asleep in her arms.

Darn it, Maxine! Would you please take her a minute? I forgot to take my apartment key out of my purse.

I’ll take her. Anna turned as Raymond lifted Raspy from her arms. Her purse dropped to the floor as she stepped further from the door, looking at the three men who surrounded her.

Daddy . . . Frankie Lee . . . Ray . . . what in the world? As her eyes stretched, she thought of her dreams. Her father picked up her purse, handing it to her, saying,

We came because we love you, Baby Girl. You are my daughter. Frankie Lee is your cousin. Ray is your baby’s father. We are all concerned about you. We had to make sure you were all right. Kissing Anna on the cheek, her father looked at her and then pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. Thank God you and my granddaughter are still safe. His voice sounded so worried Anna squeezed him back, understanding why.

Thank God they have come, Anna! Now I won’t have to worry so much about you. They all turned to see Maxine step back inside and gently close her door.

The men pressed in, taking a closer look at the sleeping toddler Raymond held.

She’s asleep, Uncle Jeff. We’ll have to wait till she wakes up to git a reilly good look at hur. The group moved up the stairs toward Anna’s apartment.

I’ll take her now, Anna said after opening the door to her apartment.

No, not yet—I’d like to hold her a while longer, Raymond smiled, staring down at the sleeping toddler in his arms.

Well, Ice Man, how do it feel holdin yer own flesh and blood in yer arms? Knowin one day she will be callin ya daddy? Frankie Lee asked after they all settled into Anna’s apartment and her father asked for something to drink. Raymond held the toddler close to him, rubbing her back. Her cheek lay next to his.

I had that same feeling I had when I thought death had taken me, and I opened my eyes, and there lay Anna nursing me back to health. Anna dropped the glass of juice she was about to hand her father. He caught it just as it reached his lap.

What Ray means is . . . Anna hurried to clarify.

We know what he meant, Anna. Ya think we’re stupid enough to believe ya were breast feedin him? They all laughed.

Of course not. I know you knew better than that.

Gazing at the Stetson hat on her father’s head, Anna asked, Daddy, what have you done—forcing Ray to come back into my life because of this child?

Baby Girl, I didn’t force him to do anything.

You must have contacted him. Lewis never would have, and Ray had no idea how to locate me, especially out here. It is the last place he’d think I’d return to.

After you told me about the child, what else could I do but contact her father?

Daddy, Ray was told by his wife after she discovered our relationship, any baby he had could be born deformed? Why would I want to tell him about Raspy when he said he wasn’t giving no other child his last name. He knew she said it in anger? And as you can see, he is not black.

Anna, do you think I would have made that statement if I had known I had a daughter…

Anna felt overwhelmed as her father interjected his thoughts into the conversation. I can see as well as you can, Baby Girl. However, I also remember when I came to New York. Back then, it didn’t seem to matter that he was white, did it? It doesn’t matter what he said. He’s here now wanting to do right by his child; he just learned of. You have a child who needs rearing, it’s my duty as your father to see that my granddaughter’s father takes part of that responsibility. He shook his head. I don’t know what it is with you women thinking it is up to you to decide if a man should be a father to his child.

Daddy . . .

No, Anna. I don’t want to hear that foolishness about your love child. You should have told him about her. We’re not back in the forties and fifties when white men squatted like dogs to drop their sperm not caring who took care of them once our women felt the shame of pregnancy. This man wants to have a relationship with you and take responsibility for his daughter. Too many women think that giving money is all that’s necessary for a father to take responsibility for his child. It’s simply a lie to believe that’s all we are good for once we deliver the sperm.

Well, he didn’t take responsibility for her while I carried her. Raymond opened his mouth to speak. Her father’s hand went up in the air again, as his eyes locked with his daughter’s.

What responsibility could he take, thinking you had aborted his baby?

Anna, I don’t see how ya can say dat,

It seemed the men were ganging up on her; Anna thought as she listened not only to her father but her cousin also side with Raymond.

"The Ice Man hare gave ya a suitcase full’f money. Money ya used for Raspy every day of hur life. If dat ain’t a man takin responsibility, I don’t know what is. At least dat’s all the state asks fer, like Uncle is sayin. Ya thank ya had hard times, but if it wasn’t fer dat suitcase,