In A Square Triangle: Second Edition

By S. Aminah Nialiah AKA Saundra Foster

Mariea's dreams are no longer deferred. Mariea has come a long way away from the physical, verbal, and mental abuses that she had gone through. She had gotten to a place where she can now tell others since no one had to consider caring about her situation.

From a meager beginning to a personal awareness of her own self-worth and worthiness, she is at a place where she wants to be. She can tell some of the stories that brought her there. So she takes you there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662487088

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In A Square Triangle

Second Edition

S. Aminah Nialiah AKA Saundra Foster

Copyright © 2022 S. Aminah Nialiah AKA Saundra Foster

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-8707-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-8708-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

About the Author

Foreword

Mariea is presently working as an accountant technician, with no stress, at the United States Postal Service. She is a proud, phenomenal, strong in her constitution, motherly, grandmotherly woman of color who is determined to achieve a level of greatness befitting a woman of her stature.

Now that her two eldest children are settling, into their prospective colleges, for their first semesters, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. Her youngest child is now in junior high school. She thinks her life should now flow a little easier.

She does not consider herself a deep thinker. She is more of a multitasker. She thinks often of how her cultural/artistic endeavors have influenced her everyday thoughts. While they are intertwined, with her everyday life functions. So many of her thought processes propel her to press forward.

For she knows not what her tomorrow will be, but she does know how she has gotten where she is now and where she has come from to get here.

Mariea's African/Cherokee Indian heritage. Her mingling and interfacing with her ancestors has in-breaded into her things and strengths, which amaze even her at times.

Therefore, she tries to take you into some of that past, present, and unknown future.

Chapter 1

Mariea now resides on Grafton St., in Hartford, Connecticut.

My new apartment is on the first floor. I have two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a backyard, with a cookout breezeway, a basement storage space, and a parking lot out front.

I am now working days, at the US Postal Service in downtown Hartford. I work on the world rack, where I throw out-of-state mail bundles into the appropriate sacks. I fill the sacks and remove and replace them. The full ones are loaded onto a skid to be taken away. They are taken to the mail platform outback. When I disperse all the bundles, I can then go sit at the cases and sort mail. That doesn't happen often.

My days go by fairly smoothly.

Tell has now been informed of her new bus route. Therefore, we can ride by and call attention to it often until school starts.

The two of us are settling into a whole new routine.

We are starting to get accustomed to our new neighborhood and our neighbors, in our little gated community. Our kitchen and living room windows face our community. I can look out of the living room window and see the cars in the parking lots. These cars belong to my next-door neighbors from either side of my apartment, across the lot, and down the hill. There are extensions to our neighborhood. They are around the corners and in the back of our apartment. This complex is fairly large. It houses a lot of families and individuals. There are young, middle-aged, and older individuals residing here. They even have a playground.

I have the pleasure of knowing some of the occupants, like the family of Tony Bowens. He was the leader of his own group of artists, known as Tony Bowens and the All-Stars. This happened to be one of the groups my older kid's father sang with. There are a few of my former classmates living here as well. One of them is now a caterer/chef, whom I recently found out makes very flavorful dishes.

We have a neighboring grocery store. It is right up the hill on the corner. It is very well stocked and very affordable. This is where my Tell will be catching her school bus daily.

This weekend Tell and I cooked out on our new breezeway, which is right outside our kitchen door. That makes it very easy to maneuver the food from the kitchen to the grill and back.

Tell played with her new friends while I cooked. We even had fireworks that evening.

Usually once a year around the Fourth of July. I rent a van and drive to Georgia. I take my mom and dad with us to Macon, Georgia. My mom has a brother, among other relatives living there. We also have many cousins to celebrate the Fourth with. A few times, we went to Athens, Georgia. We visited where my mom was born. We met some of my grandmother's older friends as well. They told stories about my mom as a young child. They said she never walked up or down the street. She always skipped or danced.

I again get to sit at my elder's feet, as I take in my heritage. The South always amazed me.

My mother's brother, Elmo, has a full-blown pecan tree. It's right there in his backyard. One of his sons lives in a trailer home, which has five rooms. This is really fascinating because it has running water and a bathroom. This is different from most homes here. Who has wells for their water systems? They also have outhouses for their bathroom necessities. This is nothing like this up North.

I always sat out back, under the pecan tree. I would eat pecans until I was ready to bag some to bring home. This reminded me of all the fruit trees up North, the ones that I had climbed and eaten fruit out of. We always took Georgia pecans home with us.

On the Fourth of July, the family would meet at a designated family member's house. We would have food, libations, fireworks, and fun. It was really a fun-filled holiday. We got to know each other a little better each year. So we stayed in contact with one another. We were first cousins.

Now after a five-day visit, we were ready for the long drive from the deep South back up North home. During this drive home, I will stop at a truck stop. I will sleep for a few hours. Doors were locked and windows cracked just enough for the night air to circulate. We slept…

During that trip to Georgia, I found out where the home cookout fireworks had come from. Ms. Tell and her cousins were very resourceful, in that area.

Chapter 2

We arrived home in time enough for us to rest up. We would then be going to the Monday night jazz concert, in Bushnell Park. I would then be picking my parents back up. After I loaded up the car with our food supply. We would have to find a parking space once we arrived. One within a short walking distance from the car. This was not always easy. It depended on the time we arrived and who the performers were. As to whether, the parking lot was already loaded. Once we found a parking spot, we unloaded the car. We then found a good spot, close to the stage. We laid out our blankets and settled in. We then started to unload our food bags.

Tell would now know where to find us. So once she located some of her friends, who were always in the near vicinity, off to the carousel they would go. They wouldn't return until they were ready to eat something. She took a smack with her, of course. These evenings always went well. I was often able to brush elbows with my male and female friends. We ate and drank, while we played cards, as we listened to the good music.

This was for the last concert of the season. We talked smack to each other. The children would slowly return. They were played out. They were ready to eat something. They then relaxed with the music blaring, most of the children slept, always a pleasant experience. The evening slowly came to a climax.

Tell was now awakened for our ride. We picked up the area, now relaxed, for our next few miles of this evening. We said our goodbyes and got and gave hugs while folding up our blankets. We packed up the food remains. We then walked back to our cars. We loaded up the car to bring my parents home. Once we arrived at my parents' home, we said our goodbyes. Tell gave kisses. We waited and saw to it that they had entered their apartment. We headed home.

We arrived, parked the car, and unloaded it. We went in with our arms full. We did only the necessaries. We hit our pillows hard.

The morning would come too fast.

Tell and I arose early this morning. We dressed, ate, and left the house. She had to be dropped off at a sitter today. I have to get to work on time.

I arrive at my job and enter the gate to the parking lot, after presenting my badge. I park keeping my badge out, to show as I enter the building. Once inside, I realize that they have new job postings on the walls. After observing them. I decided to apply for one of the positions upstairs. It would surely take me off the workroom floor. It would stop me from sorting mail. It would put me into an office atmosphere. I feel as though I am qualified for it. So I take one of the applications. I will fill it out during my lunch/break period. I will drop it off, at the personnel office upstairs, soon before the deadline date arrives, if not today.

I completed my workday. I picked Tell up. We stopped at the grocery store. On our uneventful drive home, we arrive. I start to cook our dinner. I am thinking of the amount to cook for two for two days. Oh, like I did for the four of us. Duh…

The phone rings. Hi, Wonie, how are things going with you these days? She informs me that she is supplementing her income, by fishing regularly. She used to love for us