Butterfly by Sylvester Stephens Read Free Book Online

in and helped me with a few details, but all in all, I did everything myself. He was grateful and thanked me for taking care of his parents and looking after them. I made it perfectly clear that it was them who needed to be thanked for taking care of me.
    Reb was a well-loved man because there was a huge turnout for his sendoff. There were so many ministers requesting to speak athis funeral, we had to turn some down. I thought that Sparkle would show up to offer her condolences to the family since she was so close to them, but she was a no-show.
    I was so devastated by the loss of Reb, I cried from the time I found out he died until we laid him in the ground. But throughout it all, I did not see or hear Ma cry one single time. Not until the night I woke up in the middle of the night and I walked past her bedroom to get to the bathroom. Her light slipped beneath the bottom of her bedroom door, which never happened, and so I knocked.
    â€œMa, you okay?” Ma did not answer so I knocked on the door again. “Ma, everything all right in there?”
    â€œYeah, baby, I’m fine.”
    â€œCan I come in, Ma?”
    â€œUh-huhn.”
    I walked in and Ma had a box of tissue on the bed with her. Judging by the number of used tissues, she had been crying a lot.
    â€œAw, what’s the matter, Ma? You thinking about Reb?”
    â€œYeah, I’m having a conversation with him now.”
    â€œOh-kaaaay,” I said as I looked around the room.
    â€œI don’t mean like that, crazy!” Ma chuckled. “I got to figure out how I’m going to take care of you.”
    â€œNo, Ma, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
    â€œNo, baby, I have to find somebody to help take care of you because I just can’t do it all by myself.”
    My heart was broken. My dream of finally having a family was coming to a screeching halt. I loved Ma, and I did not want to leave her.
    â€œPlease don’t make me leave, Ma!”
    â€œWhat are you talking about, child?”
    â€œI don’t want to leave you. I love you!”
    â€œBaby, I love you, too! I don’t want you to leave, but you are my responsibility and if I can’t take care of you properly, I have to find help.“
    â€œI can take care of myself, Ma. Just don’t make me leave!” I kneeled on the side of her bed and put my head in her lap.
    â€œGet up off of that floor right now and get in this bed!” I slid into the bed with Ma and cried. “Listen to me child, I love you like you’re my own flesh and blood, and I would never make you leave. Never! But I received two letters this week and I think they are God’s way of telling me what we should do.”
    â€œTwo letters? What letters?”
    â€œI received a letter from my son and he asked me to come out West, so that he could take care of me.”
    â€œOh, I understand.”
    â€œHush it up! I told him that I would only come if I could bring you with me.”
    â€œAnd what did he say?”
    â€œHe said, yes.”
    I was so excited that I jumped out of the bed without even realizing it. “He did? I can come with you?”
    â€œWait a minute now; that was only the first letter.”
    â€œOh, Lord,” I said, slumping back down in the bed.
    â€œThe second letter I received was from the Georgia Department of Human Resources, and they said they have located your father in prison through a Doctor Johnson Forrester. He’s a friend of your father. That’s what I was in here discussing with my husband. Should I, or should I not tell you about the letter? I guess I’m being selfish by wanting to keep you all to myself. But I can’t help it. I love you.”
    â€œMy dad? What did he say?”
    Ma took her time answering but finally she said, “The letter saidthat on behalf of your father’s request, and a promise that he made to your father, Dr. Forrester, uh, he wants to talk to you about