Chapter 4

Time passed, as time does, and before I realized it, I was in my last year of college. Soon I would be graduating and moving from school into the real world. While I was happy to be graduating, I was sad that it meant my stay with the Williams would soon be coming to a close. I was NOT looking forward to leaving Brian and Denise (especially Brian!) but I did miss my mother. I had gotten a lot of very good work experience and had been told by my manager and the head of the company that if I needed a job reference or even wanted a full-time job, I could have them.

I was sitting at the breakfast table one morning feeling sad. Denise noticed my mood and was concerned. “What’s wrong sweetie, you look as blue as the sky!” she said.

“Oh, it’s just graduation. I’m going to be graduating in a little over a month and I really wish my mom could be here for it. I saw how thrilled she was when I graduated high school and I know she would be even more excited to see me graduate college. But she barely has enough money to make the monthly bills – taking time off work and the cost of the trip here are just not possible,” I explained.

“I’m sorry sweetheart. Yes, I know what your mother is going through. I can’t go see Mark graduate either – not because of money, but because of my back. I would never be able to sit that long and God forbid there be any turbulence – it would kill my back!” she said. “I was lucky that Brian graduated from here so I got to see him up on stage.”

“Yeah. Oh well, at least I will be graduating. Maybe once I get home I can find a good job and take care of her for a change. Get her out of that dirty apartment and into someplace nicer. Maybe she could even stop working altogether – that would really be nice!” I said.

“You are a good daughter and a good girl honey,” Denise said.

“Thanks,” I said with a small smile.

It wouldn’t be until the following night at dinner that the subject of my graduation would be brought up.

“Tawnisha, sweetheart, we wanted to talk to you about your graduation next month,” she said.

“What about it?” I asked.

“I’ve been thinking about it and talking with Brian about it. If it’s all right with you, We’d like to bring your mother down so she can see you graduate,” she said.

“WHAT?” I said, not believing what I was hearing.

“Well, like I told you, I’m not able to go see Mark graduate because of my medical condition. We had set aside money so I could see both my boys graduate. And if you don’t mind me saying so, since you got here you’ve become kind of like the daughter I never had. So please let me give my ‘daughter’ a graduation present and let me bring your mother here to see you graduate. It would mean as much to me as it would to her. I know what it’s like to see your child take this big step. I’m sure she would like to see it too,” she said.

“That’s right, Sis. Mom talked with me about it last night and I think it’s a great idea. We would pay for her trip and a hotel room for you and her to stay in. We would all go to the graduation together, and if she needed to go anyplace else, I’d be happy to take her. We really want to do this for you Sis,” Brian said.

I looked at Denise then Brian then back at Denise. From the smiles on their faces, I knew that they were serious.

“I-I don’t know what to say...” was all that I could get to come out of my mouth. To say I was stunned is an understatement!

“Then say yes, silly!” he grinned.

“YES! OH, YES!” I said, running up to them both. “Oh Denise, Brian, I am so happy! You two are the most wonderful people in the whole world! Oh, I can’t believe it! I can’t wait to call Mom up and tell her!” I said, in tears over this incredible news.

“Well, then you’d better do it then!” Denise said, handing me the phone. My hands were shaking so hard that I was in serious doubt that I even got the number straight!

“Mom, Guess what? The Williams here have offered to fly you here to Dayton for my graduation! Isn’t that wonderful – you’re going to get to see me graduate!

“They what?” Mom said, as blown away at the news as I was.

“That’s right, Mom. Mrs. Willams told me the news just a minute ago and I couldn’t wait to tell you! Just think Mom you are going to see your little girl up on that stage after all!” I said.

“I can’t believe it. That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Let me talk to her,” Mom said. I handed the phone to Denise.

(I didn’t hear the following exchange between my Mom and Denise and only learned about it later, but this is about how it went.)

“Hello Mrs. Williams, is what Tawnisha saying true? You want to fly me down to see my girl graduate?” Mom asked.

“That’s right, Mrs. Johnson. You see, I have two boys so I never had a daughter. And since she came here, she has been ‘my little girl’ and it has been wonderful. She has been such a delight and so good around here that I wanted to do something very special for her. My son and I want to bring you down here and put you up in a hotel so that you can see her graduate. She told me how much it would mean to you and her and so this is our graduation gift to her,” she said.

“Oh, Mrs. Williams, that is such an incredible offer. But there’s no way I could pay you back – you see I recently had my hours cut at the supermarket and it has been tough to even make the bills. I haven’t told Tawnisha because she has enough to worry about, but if things don’t get better pretty soon, I might get evicted from here. I’m behind in my rent and I’ve had to cut out cable TV and pare down on food and other things,” Mom said.

“Well, you don’t worry one bit about paying us back or any such nonsense. This is our way of thanking her for giving us such joy while she was here. I’m going to be sorry to see her go!” Denise said.

“Thank you, Mrs. Williams, for taking such good care of Tawnisha and for this opportunity to see her graduate. I don’t know how much she told you about us, but she hasn’t lived the easiest of lives. Her father has been in prison since right before she was born. She hasn’t ever even seen him except when she was very little – she doesn’t remember anything about him. And she and I have had a difficult time since then. When she graduated high school I was so proud of her. Now she’s is going to graduate college. Thank you for helping her,” Mom said.

“It has been our pleasure, believe me,” Denise said.

Graduation day got closer and a few days before the big event, I was at the airport with Denise and Brian waiting for Mom’s plane.

“Mom!” I screamed out as I saw her come into the terminal building. I ran to her happy as could be that I finally could be with her. We held each other and cried “I missed you so much, Mom!” I said looking up at her through tear-filled eyes.

“I missed you too baby! You’ve grown since I saw you last! You’re so big now!” Mom said.

“Yes I’ve grown and grown-up,” I said. “Come on and meet the Williams,” I took her hand and brought my two “families” face to face for the first time. “Mom this is Mrs. Williams – Denise. Denise, this is my mother, Desiree.”

“I’m pleased to meet you,” Mom said.

“I’m very pleased to meet you too,” Denise said.

“And this is Brian Mom,” I said introducing him to my mother.

“Very nice to meet you, Mrs. Johnson. I can see where Tawnisha gets her looks from!” he said. Always the charmer!

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Brian. My Tawnisha hasn’t told me too much about you and I think I know why!” Mom said, looking at me with playful scorn. She had already figured out there was more to Brian and me than roomies!

“I was thinking we could drive you over to your hotel so you could put your bags in your room then the four of us could go get some dinner. There’s a very nice family-type restaurant not far from your hotel It would give us all a chance to talk and get to know each other a little,” Denise said.

“That would be nice,” Mom said. “This was my first time on an airplane and it’s got me a bit unnerved!”

“Your first time, huh?” Denise said.

“Yeah, I have never been out of Detroit except once to Grand Rapids to visit Tawnisha’s father’s parents. We were still dating at the time but we had talked about getting married. But then he got into trouble and is now in prison. Tawnisha was actually born not too long after that trip,” Mom explained.

“I see. Well, putting something in your stomach will help with the flip flops!” Denise said. And so with Brian and I in the back seat and Denise and Mom in the front seats, we headed to the hotel they had arranged for Mom and me to stay in.

The hotel was a nice place – not the Hilton, but it was clean and it was close to the William’s house and the college. We got Mom and I checked in and dropped off Mom’s bags, then went to dinner.

At dinner, we talked and had a good time. We discussed what we thought graduation would be like with Denise giving us more idea of how things would go. Since Brian had graduated from the same school only a few years ahead of me, she knew more about what a college graduation entailed than Mom and I.

After dinner, they drove Mom and me back to our hotel room. I must admit I had mixed feelings about staying in the hotel – on one hand, I was with Mom again, but on the other, it reminded me that soon I would be leaving Columbus and going back to Detroit and leaving Brian. Graduation would be a bittersweet thing indeed!

It was when we were in our hotel room and the Willams’ had left to go home that I learned what had really been going on back home.

“Sit down, honey, I had some things to tell you to catch you up with what’s been going on lately,” Mom said.

Our hotel room had two double beds so I sat on the other one across from her. “What is it, Mom?” I knew that starting the conversation like that was not a good sign and there must be something wrong.

“Sweetheart, things have not been so good back home the last year or so. The supermarket has fallen on tough times and they have had to cut people’s hours in an attempt to save money. My hours have been cut so much it’s hardly worth going to work and I’ve contemplated just going on Welfare. The only reason I don’t is that I’d still have to work someplace and there isn’t much your old Mom can do anymore.

“I’m afraid I haven’t been able to keep up on the bills too well and we are behind a couple of months in our rent. The landlord has been pretty nice about it so far but I’m afraid if we get any further behind he won’t be able to be so lenient. Also, I’ve had to cut the cable and pare back on other utilities ... and food,” she said sadly, looking down out of embarrassment.

“Mom! You haven’t been eating?” I said stunned at this news.