CHAPTER 1
When Naomi King was born there was nothing special about her. She was just your plan old "run of the mill" baby. She didn't have the chubby cheeks like most new born babies had and the cute little button nose was also missing. She didn't smile, she just stared at you with a perplexed look. Her parents knew when they first saw their baby that she would have a hard life ahead of her, and if her looks had anything to do with it she would only grow up to be a house keeper like her mom.
Byron and JA'Kira King didn't have much, Byron worked in the local factory on the assembly line only walking distance from their home on Brown Street. Byron only made minim wage and JA'Kira was a house keeper at a cheap motel on the North West side of town. JA'Kira took two buses to work and two buses to get back home every day. Naomi was obviously a mistake they made but once JA'Kira found out she was pregnant it was too late to do anything about it. What should we call it Byron asked? I don't know JA'Kira said I guess we should wait until we know if it's a boy or a girl. If it's a boy I think he should be named after you. That's fine and we can call him BJ for short Byron giggled. But if it's a girl I would like to name it after my granny JA'Kira said. It's going to be hard his wife moaned. I know, we are struggling now and it's not going to get any easier after the baby comes. Maybe I can ask for more time at the factory Byron said. I can ask for more time too JA'Kira offered. No I think you should take it easy for the next nine months Mrs. King her husband said.
Nine months later when JA'Kira went into labor they called for an ambulance to take them to the hospital. On the ride to the hospital Byron listened to his wife screaming in pain and wished there was something he could do. When they arrived at the hospital the doctors barely had time to prep JA'Kira before Naomi was born. The pain was unbearable and JA'Kira made a mental note to herself that she would never go through that kind of pain again. After only thirty minutes the doctor came out and asked Byron if he wanted to see his daughter. Byron stayed at the hospital with JA'Kira and his daughter and never went home. After three days they hated to leave the comforts of the hospital and go back to their tiny studio with their baby. When one of the nurses found out they had to take their new born baby home on the bus she offered to drive them home. Byron and JA'Kira's life was changed after Naomi was born.
The King's lived in a 31 FT X 16 FT studio apartment on the South East side of South New Port Pennsylvania in one large room. In one conor was their bed, which they shared now with their infant daughter. In another corner was a small stove and refrigerator and in another corner was an old beat up couch and a small TV sitting on a crate on the brown lanolin floor. The building was only half full with tenets and very old. They lived on the seventh floor shared by two other tenets. Byron had one friend in the building, Mr. Anderson who lived on the third floor. The neighborhood was mostly hard working low class people but everyone got alone and everyone looked out for one another.
South New Port Pennsylvania didn't offer much to people like JA'Kira' and Byron, they were just ordinary people, they didn't know people in high places. Once when Byron went to cash his check he saw Don King getting into a limo. Once JA'Kira swore she saw the twins Nicky and Alex on the TV program Full House at a local swimming pool she took Naomi to but other than that nothing exciting ever happened to them.
The motel where JA'Kira worked didn't mind her bringing the baby to work with her as long as it didn't interfere with her work. JA'Kira would clean her first room then leave Naomi sleeping on the freshly made bed to clean her other rooms. She would leave the TV on low and check on her every thirty minutes. The other housekeepers would also check on Naomi and thought that was a nice thing the owner was doing for JA'Kira.
When Naomi started school she didn't have many friends. Most of the little girls in South New Port Pennsylvania Public schools on their first day of kindergarten would wear the cutest little dresses with matching socks and their hair brushed with pretty bows and they would all carry new book bags with their favorite cartoon character on the front. Inside their book bags they would have new pencils with sharpeners and extra erasers, new crayons and a snack. On the first day of school Naomi wore a dress JA'Kira had just finished the night before. Cutting up one of her own dresses to make Naomi a smaller version of the dress with enough material left to also make her a skirt, blouse and a cute little head band. Her book bag was one of JA'Kira's old purses and inside she had a pencil which Byron found under the refrigerator and a biscuit from breakfast. JA'Kira was glad her mom taught her how to sew when she was a little girl. Naomi was a straight "A" student in school. She was always happy to bring her "A" papers home for JA'Kira to tape to the front of the refrigerator.
When Naomi was only eight years old she didn't know anything about death or didn't know anyone who had died. One day when the yellow school bus dropped the kids off on her block she saw the parametric coming out of her building and wanted to know who was hurt. When she got closer to the building they were bringing a stretcher out with a white sheet covering a body. Naomi knew it had to be old Mr. Anderson who lived on the third floor. She didn't know how old he was but she thought somewhere close to a hundred.
A nurse would come by three times a week to care for Mr. Anderson and the other days his granddaughter and great grandson Charles Edward would come by to Check on him. The Anderson's were from New Orleans and Mr. Anderson always told his great grandson Charles Edward and Naomi stories about his family's history. Naomi and Charles Edward loved his stories, they would sit at his feet and listen for hours while Mr. Anderson would tell them stories of when he was growing up in the south and how much more fun it was back then when he was growing up. While Mr. Anderson told those stories his granddaughter would do his laundry, cook his dinner and put fresh sheets on his bed. There was no killings he told them and no one got seriously hurt. If you get a scratched knee or elbow you could go to anyone's house and they would fix you right up and send you on your way. If you caught a little cold an office visit to the doctor would only cost you five dollars no matter what was wrong. We grew everything we ate Mr. Anderson explained, we even had chickens and pigs. If my daddy wanted ham one day he would go out and kill one of our pigs and if he wanted chicken the next day he would go out and kill a chicken. Mr. Anderson laughed and proclaimed he never let himself get friendly with any of the animals because he knew his dad would eventually kill them to put meat on their table. He told them how his mother would make soap for them to bath in, "no way" Charles Edward said "no one makes their own soap" well we did his great granddad told them, we hardly ever went into town to the store, we had everything we needed right at home. Charles Edward decided he wanted to go back and live there one day among his ancestors.
When Naomi got to the apartment building she saw her mom crying in the entry way. She ran to her already knowing it was Mr. Anderson under the white sheet, who else could it be. As her mom cried over Mr. Anderson Naomi put her small arms around her mom's neck and cried with her. The parametric came to them and asked JA'Kira if she wanted to ride to the hospital. Naomi looked up at her mom and asked why she was going to the hospital with Mr. Anderson's body? Why wasn't his granddaughter and great grandson Charles Edward there? Her mom told her Mr. Anderson was their neighbor and her father's only friend. They promised Charles Edward when there was no one here to see after Mr. Anderson that she and Byron would keep an eye on him. When she came home from work she decided to stop in to check on him and found him on the floor not breathing. I tried to give him CPR JA'Kira told her but his body was cold and stiff and then I knew he had passed over to the other side.
Both Naomi and JA'Kira rode in the ambulance with Mr. Anderson's corps to the hospital, Naomi had many questions for her mom on the ride. Why did Mr. Anderson have to die? Why wasn't the nurse there? Can't they save him? Will we ever see him again? Why did they cover his face? Did he have an accident and hurt himself? Four hours later a police officer drove them back home alone in the back seat of the police car.
At eight years old Naomi had no idea how to act after someone dies. She was too young to know the hurt her dad would feel when he found out his only friend has passed away. Naomi also knew her mom would want to go to Mr. Anderson's funeral and she also knew her mom didn't own a decent dress to wear to a funeral. Naomi thought like any other eight year old would think. Maybe I'll eat less to help save money and mom could afford to buy her a new dress and maybe I won't ask mom to buy me anything ever again. When Byron came home and was told the news he broke down and cried. He too liked talking to Mr. Anderson and listening to the stories of when he was coming up in New Orleans.
JA'Kira washed and ironed their clothes the morning of the funeral while Byron sat on the couch trying to put a shine on his much worn shoes. JA'Kira called into the bathroom telling Naomi to get out the tub and don't forget to let the water out. Ok mommy Naomi called back. The three of them took the bus to the funeral home to say their farewells to their neighbor and friend.
At the funeral Naomi spotted Andrew sitting next to his mom wiping his eyes. His mom was also crying as was the two couples next to them. When they walked around to view the body Naomi gave Andrew a hug and told him she was sorry. That was the last she got to talk to him because he never left his mom's side.
When Naomi returned to school after Mr. Anderson's funeral one of the teachers gave her a bag of used cloths. Naomi excitingly took the bag home. JA'Kira did her magic taking them all apart and made new cloths for the both of them, the same way her mom had taught her.
Mr. and Mrs. King raised Naomi to be strong and to be a good leader. They didn't have much but Naomi never went a day without a hot meal. She would always tell her mom and dad when they get old she was going to take care of them and she was going to live in a big house, make lots of money and she would marry and have lots of kids and they would all live happily ever after. Mr. and Mrs. King loved hearing their daughter fanaticizes and hoped it would all come true for her one day. One day the unthinkable happened Mr. King lost his job and things started to go bad for them. They still had hot meals every day but most days it was just beans and cornbread, cabbage or just rice and gravy. No more second helpings, no more deserts after supper and the late night snacks were gone also. Byron went out every day looking for work but always came home shaking his head. Maybe tomorrow JA'Kira would hug him and say. Naomi offered to get a job delivering papers or at the Wal-Mart bagging groceries but her mom told her she wasn't old enough to work.
When Naomi's friend Andrew on the first floor got a new puppy for his birthday Naomi asked her dad for one. It broke her dad's heart to tell his daughter that they couldn't afford one. Its ok Naomi said I'll just play with Andrew's but when I grow up I'm going to have a dozen puppies. Six months later the factory called Byron to come back to work and everything was back to normal.
Five years later when Naomi graduated into high school she was big enough to fit her mom's only white dress. Her shoes were a little big but Naomi wore them anyway. Naomi graduated with all honors Byron and JA'Kira was so proud of her. In Naomi's second year of high school she got her first job at the corner store stocking shelves after school. Her mom was so proud of her. Naomi would come home ever Friday and give her mom her check. In her junior year all three of them were working and things was finally going good for them, that's until JA'Kira got sick and had to stay in the hospital for seven days. The hospital bills started pouring in. Naomi got a second job on the weekends at the five and ten cents store to help out. While working at the five and ten cents store Andrew and his mom would always come into the store to buy cleaning supplies and she would always buy Andrew ice-cream. Andrew would give his mom a kiss on the cheek and say "thank you mommy I love you." Naomi saw all the free time Andrew had on his hands while she worked two jobs. She wish one day her parents could have money so she wouldn't have to work and they would take her to the store with them and buy her ice-cream.
Mr. Anderson's great grandson Charles Edward and his mom had moved back to New Orleans to be around family. Charles Edward knew his great granddad didn't have much more time to live and wished they would have brought him to live out his last years happy and around friends and family instead of living alone in the apartment. Threw out the years he wrote and sent pictures as promised to Naomi and she could see how happy he was. Charles Edward sent pictures of New Orleans and told her again how sorry he was to leave South New Port Pennsylvania because he knew how much she depended on him being there to be her friend because she didn't have many. In one of Naomi's letters she wrote to Charles Edward she was working two jobs to help pay her mom's hospital bills while going to school. How are you and your dad making it with very little income Charles Edward asked in one of his letters? Why don't yawl move here to New Orleans with us? Naomi wrote back that they didn't know anyone in New Orleans and he had his family. Two weeks later she got another letter from Charles Edward saying you know me and I have lots of relatives, I can introduce yawl to the ones I know. Naomi wrote back no thanks my parents will never agree to that plus I have friends here, I don't want to leave my friends. Charles Edward wrote back who are you fooling you only have one friend, Andrew. Every time I came over to visit my great grandfather he was the only one that ever came up to see you but if you move here you will have all my cousins as friends. Talk to your mom and write me back and tell me what she said. Naomi never wrote Charles Edward back because she knew her mom wouldn't move.
When Naomi started the twelfth grade JA'Kira taught her how to sew the same way her mom had taught her when she was only eight years old. Naomi started making all their cloths and sometimes making beautiful gowns for JA'Kira's friends at work.
When Naomi graduated from high school the three of them was still living in the same studio apartment in the apartment building on Brown Street where they first brought her home seventeen years ago.
Naomi made her own graduation dress and got many compliments from the teachers and the girls at school. She knew JA'Kira and Byron couldn't afford to send her to college so she didn't bother to ask. Naomi saw an ad at the local cleaners and got a job doing alterations. Naomi gave her other jobs two weeks' notice and started working at the cleaners full time she knew this was something she would enjoy doing. At home she was using needle and thread but now she get to do her alterations on a real sewing machine. It didn't take long for her to learn how to use it, they showed her once how to use it and Naomi caught on right away.
Naomi's boss Pinto Featherstone and his mom Ada were Hindu Indian. Seventeen years ago when the first tornado went through the Pio Nono reservation in Kenya East Africa many lives were taken including Ada's husband. With all the hustle and bustle going on after the tornado Ada and seventeen year old Pinto was able to leave the reservation with no one noticing. After making their way to South New Port Pennsylvania Ada got a room and eventually landed a job at the cleaners. The owners offered Ada and Pinto the room behind the cleaners and Ada gladly accepted. Pinto missed his dad and Ada was sorry her husband was not there to help raise their son. When the owners told Ada they were retiring Ada offered to run the cleaners for them. After one year Ada and Pinto was able to buy the cleaners and get an apartment not too far away.
Pinto and Ada ran the cleaners down town until Pinto's mom became really sick. Naomi would watch her come to work every day and each day she looked worse than the day before. Ada's posture stated to drop and Naomi knew then she was getting worse. Ada never went to the American doctors instead she made her own remedies at home. To look at Ada Featherstone you would think she was in her late fifties but she was actually in her late nineties. No wrinkles in her smooth beautiful brown skin, no glasses, no walking stick and her memory was as sharp as a forty year old. Ada had long shinny gray hair to her butt which she always wore in a long pony tail.
