Naleighna Kai's Literary Cafe Magazine BH Magazine Final | Page 28

This History That Comes From My Feminine Tree My Auntie is the youngest of ten children, six of them happen to be daughters. The sisters were always extremely close and other than the one who moved to New Jersey, the sisters spoke at some point most days if they did not see one another. Auntie was considered the good sister because she did not drink, or party and the other sisters were known to partake and cut a rug and men loved them … all. Auntie never got married but had two children, thirteen years apart for her love, the only man we ever saw her with. They started dating in 1953 and dated until he died in 2007… yes, 54 years. He took her on dates, trips, and spent time with her and the family. But for whatever reason, they never jumped the broom. She has a nice rock on her ring finger and periodically I see her staring at a small smile on her face and her gold incisor twinkling… she has secrets … secrets I respect. Auntie was known as having ailments though no one quite articulated what they were, and she was the picture of health, with a full-body and legs that made men swoon. She was the aunt that was always home, the one who allowed us to read sexy magazines and who we could be “young” around without worrying about chastisement. I knew there was more to her than we saw or heard… 28 | NKLC Magazine those eyes were filled with quiet secrets. In 1988, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and in the past thirty-one years she has battled uterine cancer, bone cancer and systemic cancer, but at almost eighty-six, she is still with us. She is frail but sturdy and the only sibling still standing. In the past several years, we have grown extremely close confidantes and she reads all my books, even the sexy ones. I marvel at her and how resilient she is, how many times she has been counted out, yet here she is. Marvel at how often when I drive up, she is working in her yard that looks like it is cared for by a professional gardener. Twice monthly, I make the two-hour drive to take her to appointments and we talk and laugh like girls. We always stop for Popeyes chicken after the appointment and I sit with her a few hours before returning the two-hour drive home. We discuss books, the world around us and faith. She always tells me of her gratitude for me and I tell her there is no comparison. She is the last limb of the sturdy tree from whence I grew… that’s what she is to me… that sturdy tree… from whence I grew. Angelia Vernon Menchan, Author of Womanish