Losing It
Page 25
Semaj suddenly realized that he’d been staring at the e-mail for several minutes. He glanced at the clock and decided that it was still early enough for him to make the call. He quickly dialed the number and waited.
“Hello?”
“May I speak with Gwen Johnston?” he asked politely.
“Who’s calling,” the woman on the other end inquired.
“Semaj Brooks ... uhm ... you ... uhm ... she sent me an e-mail.” Nervousness caused him to stumble over his words.
“Mr. Brooks, I am so glad that you called. I’m Gwen and I think I have some information that you’d be interested in.”
“Is this for a news story?” he asked.
“No, this is personal.” Gwen cleared her throat. “The word on the street is that you don’t know who your natural father is, well I do.”
Semaj hesitated before responding. He’d heard those words before, and it never seemed to pan out. It was a decision that he’d come to regret, but Semaj had chosen not to hire a professional to help him look for his father. Instead he’d traveled to Chicago and started asking questions of people that he believed knew his mother. As a former reporter he felt that the real stories came directly from the streets. It was a tactic he used often as a journalist and it had never failed him, until he began looking for his father. He’d discovered that one of the problems with talking with people on the street was that for a price they’d make up the story they thought you wanted to hear. One individual had even approached him claiming to be his father and requesting money, but he quickly recanted his story when Semaj requested a DNA test. He took a deep breath as he waited to hear Gwen’s tale.
“You are correct, I have been searching for my natural father, what do you know about him?”
“I’d rather not discuss it over the phone. Can you meet me somewhere?”
Semaj rolled his eyes. “I could, but I won’t. Let me be frank with you, Gwen. I’ve heard a lot of different stories and outright lies since I began looking for my father. I’m not coming to a meeting that could turn out to be just another wild goose chase.”
Gwen chuckled. “You have his fire and passion that’s for sure.”
“A lot of people are passionate. Look, if you don’t have any real information to share then I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to end this call.”
“Okay, you were born in Townsend Memorial Hospital in Lawrenceville, North Carolina on May 28, 1980. You barely weighed four pounds because you were six weeks premature. You were born with a birth mark in the shape of a strawberry on your left hip. Coincidentally, you also are allergic to strawberries. Everyone in your father’s family has the same allergy.”
Semaj was stunned. He’d never told anyone that he was born in North Carolina as his grandmother had not shared the information with him until his sixteenth birthday. He begged for a copy of his birth certificate and told her it was so that he could obtain his driver’s license. Truthfully, he hoped it would contain his father’s name, but it did not.
“What’s my father’s name?” he asked, trying to hide the excitement in his voice.
“I don’t want to say over the phone. Your father is a very famous man.”
Semaj’s heart sank as he suddenly began to find Gwen’s story suspicious. There was no way that his father could be famous. It had to all be another bad joke. Out of nowhere he felt the Holy Spirit speak to him. “Go meet her, she’s telling the truth,” the Spirit said.
“Have you ever been to Vonnie’s Soul Food on Peachtree Street? I can meet you there for lunch tomorrow,” he said.
About the Author
Zaria Garrison is an award-winning author who is committed to writing and publishing literature that ministers as well as entertains. She is part owner and staff writer for EKG Literary magazine, an online magazine dedicated to being the pulse of the literary community.
Zaria also offers insight and encouragement to aspiring authors through workshops and writing classes that allow each participant to discover the craft of writing and how it can be used to effectively minister to youth, women, and all members of the community. Her first Christian fiction novel, Prodigal, was released in 2009.
You can find her online at:
www.zariagarrison.com
www.ekgliterarymag.com
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Losing It Copyright © 2010 Zaria Garrison
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-5998-3277-7
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living, or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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