Aurevoir 'Tit
Apr 19, 2016 16:33:55 GMT -5
Post by gambit on Apr 19, 2016 16:33:55 GMT -5
Could someone be both frail and strong at the same time? Chase pondered this as he watched his YaYa sing to herself in the kitchen of the little apartment she now called her home. It was still unfamiliar to him, despite the fact she’d been living Gonzales for almost ten years. Their little home in Belle Chasse had been destroyed to ruins in August of 2005 when Katrina ripped apart Southern Louisiana. She stood barely over five-feet tall and was the epitome of being the family’s rock, but her age was beginning to show, and Chase feared that her days were becoming fewer by every minute.
He’d been spending more time with Annie, and while he enjoyed every minute of it, he could not help but fear the worst for his grandmother. The rich smell of flour and oil browning on the stove for her perfect roux filled the air—a scent that had an odor that was both pleasing and revolting at the same time (as if someone had made something delicious—then burnt it to a crisp.) He sat at her small; round kitchen table which had been a drastic step down from the long oak table they’d had family meals at when he was younger.
“Oh t’it monde, travailler toute la semaine pour les hommes être payé ,” she sang sweetly as she stirred the roux. “Quand même j’ai pas d’argent, moi j’v’aller rejoin ma’tite fille. Moi je connai alle peu avoir un tas, c’est là bâs , L’Anse Aux Pailles.”
He smiled as she swayed along with her song.
“Yaya?” he asked as he watched her two-step in place. “Are you sure you’ll be OK with me gone so much?”
She turned her head to look from her roux to her grandson. Where a little long haired boy had once been had long since been replaced with a young man—facial hair and resembling his father more and more each day. “You go out allda time, ‘tit*,” she replied. His nose scrunched in a grin that still pierced her heart because behind that goatee she could see only the little skinned knee boy she had reared.
“Maw-Maw,” he groaned.
“Maw-Maw,” she repeated with a laugh. “Sha—ya not call me dat in so long. I tink ya mah need sumthin, ya?”
He frowned and stood from his chair to join her at the stove. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and he hugged her tightly.
“I gonna miss ya—I don’ like ya bein’a’lone out dere by yaself,” he replied as he hugged her closely. His grandmother patted his back then turned back to stirring her roux.
“Tawri will be here choon, ‘tit—juss you relax it and go finnish ya packin,” his grandmother commanded him. “Che mo’dan capable to halp me out. Pass a case, ‘tit. Allons-y!”
He didn’t argue with her about it as he knew his older sister would be perfectly capable of caring for his grandmother. However, with his father deployed so often—Chase had always assumed the role of the man of the house. He departed for his room and unzipped the ADIDAS duffle bag that lay atop his bed spread. It had been partially stuffed with clothes for training—clothes for every day and toiletries. A leather suitcase beside it contained his dress clothing and the gift he’d purchased Annie for her birthday. He smiled as he looked down at the slender, rectangular box from Jared’s he’d picked up in New Orleans. A beautiful Pandora charm bracelet with several charms that held sentimental meaning between the two of them. And soon--. Heh. He didn’t hear the sound of his sister laughing in the kitchen down the hall—so when she knocked on his door he jerked around quickly.
“Scare you?” Victoria Dupree asked him with a laugh. He grinned and blushed then nodded.
“I was lost’an my own head I tink—daydreams,” he admitted.
“You’re excited, I bet,” Tori replied as she casually walked into his room. She stood a few inches taller than him and had the same dark brown hair and olive skin they’d inherited from their father only hers was dotted with their mother’s freckles. “It’s a big step for you. To leave here. You’ve always been the one to stay with YaYa.”
His sister had lost her accent long ago when she’d moved to Chicago for college. Four years later she was an actress off-Broadway who had no trace of her Louisianian roots left in her.
“Mais, dieu—what ‘boutta? How che gon’ be when I leave? Che so fragile,” Chase said with a heavy heart. His older sister wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly from behind.
“ ’Tit,” she said with a warm smile as she squeezed him tighter. “You give her so little credit. She’s the strongest woman I know. It’s time for you to go live your life.”
*((Footnote: Pronounced tee.))
He’d been spending more time with Annie, and while he enjoyed every minute of it, he could not help but fear the worst for his grandmother. The rich smell of flour and oil browning on the stove for her perfect roux filled the air—a scent that had an odor that was both pleasing and revolting at the same time (as if someone had made something delicious—then burnt it to a crisp.) He sat at her small; round kitchen table which had been a drastic step down from the long oak table they’d had family meals at when he was younger.
“Oh t’it monde, travailler toute la semaine pour les hommes être payé ,” she sang sweetly as she stirred the roux. “Quand même j’ai pas d’argent, moi j’v’aller rejoin ma’tite fille. Moi je connai alle peu avoir un tas, c’est là bâs , L’Anse Aux Pailles.”
He smiled as she swayed along with her song.
“Yaya?” he asked as he watched her two-step in place. “Are you sure you’ll be OK with me gone so much?”
She turned her head to look from her roux to her grandson. Where a little long haired boy had once been had long since been replaced with a young man—facial hair and resembling his father more and more each day. “You go out allda time, ‘tit*,” she replied. His nose scrunched in a grin that still pierced her heart because behind that goatee she could see only the little skinned knee boy she had reared.
“Maw-Maw,” he groaned.
“Maw-Maw,” she repeated with a laugh. “Sha—ya not call me dat in so long. I tink ya mah need sumthin, ya?”
He frowned and stood from his chair to join her at the stove. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and he hugged her tightly.
“I gonna miss ya—I don’ like ya bein’a’lone out dere by yaself,” he replied as he hugged her closely. His grandmother patted his back then turned back to stirring her roux.
“Tawri will be here choon, ‘tit—juss you relax it and go finnish ya packin,” his grandmother commanded him. “Che mo’dan capable to halp me out. Pass a case, ‘tit. Allons-y!”
He didn’t argue with her about it as he knew his older sister would be perfectly capable of caring for his grandmother. However, with his father deployed so often—Chase had always assumed the role of the man of the house. He departed for his room and unzipped the ADIDAS duffle bag that lay atop his bed spread. It had been partially stuffed with clothes for training—clothes for every day and toiletries. A leather suitcase beside it contained his dress clothing and the gift he’d purchased Annie for her birthday. He smiled as he looked down at the slender, rectangular box from Jared’s he’d picked up in New Orleans. A beautiful Pandora charm bracelet with several charms that held sentimental meaning between the two of them. And soon--. Heh. He didn’t hear the sound of his sister laughing in the kitchen down the hall—so when she knocked on his door he jerked around quickly.
“Scare you?” Victoria Dupree asked him with a laugh. He grinned and blushed then nodded.
“I was lost’an my own head I tink—daydreams,” he admitted.
“You’re excited, I bet,” Tori replied as she casually walked into his room. She stood a few inches taller than him and had the same dark brown hair and olive skin they’d inherited from their father only hers was dotted with their mother’s freckles. “It’s a big step for you. To leave here. You’ve always been the one to stay with YaYa.”
His sister had lost her accent long ago when she’d moved to Chicago for college. Four years later she was an actress off-Broadway who had no trace of her Louisianian roots left in her.
“Mais, dieu—what ‘boutta? How che gon’ be when I leave? Che so fragile,” Chase said with a heavy heart. His older sister wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly from behind.
“ ’Tit,” she said with a warm smile as she squeezed him tighter. “You give her so little credit. She’s the strongest woman I know. It’s time for you to go live your life.”
*((Footnote: Pronounced tee.))