by Phenomenon
Chapter 27: Three Years Later
“Momma, I don’t want any onions. How are you just gonna make me eat them?” Kenisha questioned Ginger as she placed a handful of scallions on her plate. “You may not like onions but they’re good for my grandbabies.” Ginger retorted. “You didn’t deprive the first one of onions and he turned out beautiful. Now you wanna keep the good onions away from the baby girls. They’re gonna remember that after they’re born.” Ginger laughed at a round bellied 6 month pregnant Kenisha. She was swollen in the waist with a full face that glowed like Egyptian royalty. She was the most beautiful pregnant woman that the world had ever seen.
Taurus stood by the front door of the house with Fillmore having a glass of wine. Fillmore asked. “Why is it every time we come to visit you’ve done something else to this house. Why not just buy a bigger house? Now you done went and bought the townhouse next door just to knock down the inside walls and combine the two houses.”
Taurus grabbed her 2 year old son Judah and placed him on her hip. “I’m not leaving my house. I love my neighbors. I know them. They know me and they’re good people. That’s priceless. I don’t care how much money I make, this block is my village and it takes a village to raise some kids and I’m not trusting my kids to any other village.” Taurus firmly stated.
“How’s business going?” Fillmore asked. Soon after the second annual festival Taurus left her factory job and started her own small machine production facility. After grabbing a few contracts from the city, they were doing great. The house had been expanded twice to make room for the new babies. Kenisha was pregnant with twin girls and with only three bedrooms in the house, Taurus refused to give up her office. She’d called it her sanctuary. Afterwards, Kenisha demanded to have her own space as well, which led to the third renovation with the purchasing of the townhouse next door.
“Business is good.”Taurus responded with a smile. “Life is good man. I can’t even lie. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not stressed about anything.” Fillmore interjected. “Other than this fool right here.” He pointed to Corey pulling up in the driveway with his music blaring the Iota Phi Theta theme song called “Centaur Walk” from the speakers. He wore a pair of Ray-Ban Aviator tinted glasses and a brown and white Fedora hat. After nodding his head to his music in a show off type of way, he turned the music down while smiling at his dad and sister. Instead of opening the door, he hopped out of the seat and over the door of his convertible Porsche. In his white linen two piece outfit, he Centaur walked up the rest of the driveway.
“Hey clown, I hope you don’t behave that way in front of your congregation. You know the flock is always watching.” Fillmore warned his son who’d become the head pastor at his own church in Chicago. It held the same name as his father’s church in Niagara Falls and was the sister church to the first.
Corey hugged his father and sister and then grabbed his nephew out of Taurus’s arms. “I behave all the time Pops. I’m not fake with them because I want them to know that I’m human too but I set a great example. You can tell. You know folks can’t wait to run back and tell you something that I did, that’s why I don’t do anything.” He laughed at the sharp truth. “All I do is study the Word, hang out with the family, go on dates with women every now and then and kick it with my frat brothers while listening to loud music.”
Taurus mentioned. “Do you guys know that reverend that used to condemn all the gay people to hell on TV every Sunday and Wednesday called Kenisha to ask about the opportunity to speak at the festival this year? I heard that these hate spreading ministers have changed their entire philosophy just in anticipation of POSSIBLY being asked to speak at the festival. I mean who would’ve thought that it would get this big.”
Corey smiled at Fillmore. “Yea Pops, how does it feel to have your own legacy now! Look at what you’ve started. Three years in a row, $11million dollars in profits to reinvest in the communities in two different cities. The festival just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
Fillmore stood in silence. He’d almost got choked up at the thought of just a few years prior asking God for a lasting legacy that was similar to his dad’s and what seemed like in a flash he’d achieved it in the most unconventional way possible, by reaching out to the forgotten folks. “It feels good son. It feels real good.”
On cue, Kenisha waddled out of the backyard with three plates in her hands. “You guys can get ready to eat. I’m gonna drop these plates off at the neighbor’s houses and then we can say grace and get it on because I am starving!”
Taurus said under her breath. “How is she starving and she’s been eating since I took the first piece of meat off of the grill?”
Fillmore laughed and cautioned. “Oh, you better not say that too loud. Those pregnancy hormones will tear you to pieces!” “Hey Pops, after dinner you wanna go out back and have a stogie? I know that you don’t partake in absolutely anything but I just felt like I’d offer.” Corey asked as he showed his father his brand new silver cigar case holding two pre-embargo Camacho Cuban cigars.
“I can partake boy! What are you talking about?” Fillmore had a confused look on his face. “The reason that I stay on you so much is so that you can understand that it’s not about deprivation. God wants us to enjoy the blessings but it’s about moderation. God wants to be first over everything and when you start abusing things then that becomes a problem. So God never said don’t drink wine. He never said don’t puff a cigar. He did say that the body was a temple and it should be treated as such so that means don’t abuse it. Live your life in moderation boy. That’s what I’ve been trying to teach you. Now put my cigar back up for later, cause I’ve never had a Cuban before and I don’t want the cops to come and get you before I can taste it.” Fillmore laughed as he began walking to the back yard where the picnic table was set up for the barbecue. Corey followed with little Judah.
Taurus stood on the front until she saw Kenisha waddling back toward the house. She went into the street and met her half way. They grabbed hands and walked into the back yard hand in hand. After they’d washed their hands and placed the food on the table and set the places, they bowed their heads for Corey to lead them in prayer.
“Father we thank you for this moment that you’re allowing us to have to give thanks and honor to you. We thank you for the people that you’ve brought from near and far Father to somehow become this amazing family unit. We thank you for the love that we share and the lessons that we’ve learned that have made us an unstoppable force in this world. We thank you for Taurus and Kenisha. We thank you for our parents Reginald and Ginger. God I thank you for saving me and bringing my life into fruition as Reginald Corey Fillmore III and we thank you for Reginald Judah Fillmore IV along with the two queens that our sister is currently brewing in the oven. We humble ourselves in gratitude. May you bless this food the way you have blessed every other aspect of our lives. In Jesus name we graciously pray. Amen!”
