Frozen

“Welcome brother, welcome ma’am,” you said to the white lady whilst shaking her hand. Your brother was marveled by your beauty and kept staring at you. He was speechless.

“I missed you brother,” you said.

“I…..I   missed you too sister.”

But before he could say a word more you moved onto greet the white lady who punctuated every word with a throaty laugh.

“Welcome once again ma’am.”

“Oh, thank you. My love is she your sister, the one you have been telling me about?” she gave another throaty laugh and took the hand you offered.

“Yes, isn’t she beautiful?” your brother answered with a big grin that could break a girl’s heart.

Goosebumps began appearing on your arms and face because you never thought that your brother would ever call you beautiful. It brought the memories of the olden days when he used to deny that he was your older brother, simply because you didn’t look alike. You brushed it off and remembered that the white lady was still holding your hand.

“You can call me Judith,” she broke the silence; you didn’t offer to tell her your name.

Your mother began asking her about the plane ride which helped you make a clean escape back into the house. Then you saw your brother talking with your father, but all that while you could feel his eyes burning through your skin. You went to the kitchen to prepare some orange punch you for them. Judith had freckles all over her face, a beak-like nose, the softest hands and the bluest-piercing eyes ever. She reminded you of the lady who showed you which train to take to Pentagon City. That same lady showed you how to pay your ticket at the Metro. And you were fascinated with the speed of the blue train which had Franconia Springfield written on it. It made you look at it with wonder till you nearly missed entering it.

Pentagon City was the biggest mall you have ever seen, you saw so much food, different fashion shops ranging from Victoria’s Secret to Nine West and electronic shops like Radio Shack. You bought a medium –sized milkshake from McDonald’s and a box of chicken pieces from Popeye’s all in all costing 10 Dollars. That was the moment you heard an African American boy, perhaps in his late twenties say “All these restaurants make niggas think they ain’t seen food in they entire lives”. He dragged ‘live’ like his entire life depended on it. Perhaps he knew you were African, dressed in an African attire and all. You gave a cold shoulder settled into a nearby chair and took a mouthful of the chicken and a big swig of the milkshake.

“I came to take you back with me.” Your brother said bringing you out of your thoughts.

You turned around, locked eyes with him and for the first time in many years you noticed his cute dimples as he waited patiently for an answer.

He let his gaze down and you noticed that your brother was no longer daring as before when he would pull your hair and let you wail and report him to your father. He would do it again knowing that he would never be punished for that.

“I came to take you with me sister, I can’t live without you anymore. I have been singing your name ever since to Judith and she advised me to come and take you with us,” Your brother rambled on non-stop breaking the deafening silence.

You blinked to make sure it wasn’t a dream because it all seemed unbelievable. After a long deafening silence you shouted yes because you always wanted to be near your brother, because he went away very early when you were just 8 and because you loved to be near him so much it wanted to burst your heart.