Timberwood Short Stories Edition: Vol. 8
One HOT Saturday morning in August, Taschika said, "It's a hot day. The children keep whining about being bored up in this house." Tharen replied, "So what? Let 'em keep whining. They'll get over it!"
Taschika, Cassandra, Jessica & Landon chuckled, shook their heads, & loaded the kids up in the vehicles. The kids were excited to go to the park.
Taschika planned to have a creative spin on old childhood games that everyone used to play back then, when playing outside was popular. She asked, "Y'all wan' play 'Ice'?" Everyone said, "Ice? What's that? She said, "It's like playing both a mixture of 'It' & dodgeball, but you touch your target with ice, & try to put the ice inside their shirt. It's a good day for it, since it's 97 degrees outside." Everyone was like, "We're all for it"!
So, they went to the ice stand to buy 100 lbs. of ice. They also went to Rouses to buy some ice chests & food for a picnic. Everyone went to Audubon Park in Uptown New Orleans, across the street from the Audubon Zoo. They didn't care about the Heat Advisory warning. They hoped that playing "Ice" would help cure everyone's heat exhaustion.
3-year old Angelique took it upon herself to go into the ice chest & grab ice to throw at her older 1/2 brother, Barry. She knew what to do & say. She said, "You ice!" Then Barry had a shocked look on his face. He said, "This lil' girl!" Then, she started running, like as if she was playing baseball or softball. She thought she was playing softball. She was hollering, "I got home run!" Then, it was Barry's turn. He went into the ice chest, grabbed a handful, & ran after Perry, but he couldn't catch Perry, despite being MUCH older, bigger & taller than him. Too much ice melted before he could catch Perry, so he was disqualified & was forced to sit out for the rest of the game.
After that, everyone got in a circle & played Duck, Duck Goose, WITH the ice. Whoever was GOOSE became "IT" or "Ice". So, Perry got a grocery bag & walked around, putting a piece of ice on everyone's head, saying 'Duck, duck, duck, duck, etc.", but when he got to Cherlonne's 7-year old grandson, Dontavion, he screamed "GOOSE", & put a whole handful of ice down Dontavion's back, so Dontavion, a VERY fast runner, caught Perry effortlessly & said, "You're Ice"! So, then Perry was "Ice". So the game kept going like that. Everyone had so much fun.
When everyone got back home, Tauriana's cousin Deonte' had to use the bathroom really bad. I (Nola Bordelon) had to do #2. With the Directed Energy Weapons & Electronic Harassment torture, I was forced to diarrhea. Deonte' is a perp who doesn't care. He was wearing a red Aaliyah T-shirt, on purpose, JUST to make me mad, & then on top of that, cussed me from A to Z for stinking up the bathroom & taking too long. There was only 1 bathroom in Jessica's apartment. I couldn't help it. Sorry!
After I got out of the bathroom, & Deonte' got done using it, I apologized about taking so long, & also confronted him about his red Aaliyah T-shirt. I got cussed out again! Then, I KNEW he was a perp! & he said, "Why you ain't say nuttin' when I wore that gray Nipsey Hussle T-shirt the other day, huh?" After that, I said, "Because I ain't stupid! I KNOW what you're trying to do to me today! You obviously KNOW that I used to be a die-hard Aaliyah fan, but I became a Christian & found out the truth."
After that, everyone started to crowd & mob around me & taunt me. For the ENTIRE rest of the month, Deonte' would wash & wear that SAME red Aaliyah T-shirt, white jeans & my favorite Nike Air sneakers every day, making me feel like I "deserve" to be punished. & he's 5 years younger than me. His sneakers were mainly black, with some white & a little silver in them.
He started perping Kristina (another Targeted Individual & former Timberwood cult member) for defending me, & then her husband, Tharen, got on his case. He toned it down & left us alone. Tharen is a peace maker. He tries to calm down all the arguments & encourage people to make a truce. He wants to help keep people getting along. During the Timberwood cult days, he never used to be a peace maker. Now, that many people got out of the cult, he has a change of heart.
Tharen said, "Since GROWN adults are fighting like children, we not gon' have any more of these get-togethers, picnics, beach trips, outings, etc. & embarrass ourselves! Now, what are we supposed to represent? It does NO good to act like we got out of a cult, with all of this fighting? We are NOT leading by example, people!"
The End