Here is the long promised story of Edie and Kenny. Those of you who have followed my other story, Love Knows No Color, will be familiar with these two, as they are an integral part of that story. In this story, you will see references to events in the original story as seen through Kenny's eyes. Bear in mind, Kenny has spent all his life in rural Appalachia, and unlike Jason in LKNC, he has little contact with people of another race. I will try to reflect that unfamiliarity in the writing, using terms that he would have grown up using. Some of them might be unintentionally offensive, but keep in mind that Kenny does not wish to offend anybody. But he is trying to find his way on unfamiliar territory, and learning how to get along with customs he's never known. It can be a minefield at times, and i'm sure he'll blunder a little bit along the way.
Kenny reflects how I was when I first explored interracial love, Jason is more of who I am now.
I hope y'all enjoy...
*****
It all started back in 2012. My cousin Jason had found a new girlfriend, and had brought her down to meet the family for Grandma Waite's birthday party. He lived in Pittsburgh, a world away from the mountainous area along the Virginia-West Virginia border where the rest of our family lived. Jason had always been the black sheep of the family, and it should have come as no surprise that his new girl was black. I mean, Jason had always marched to the beat of his own drummer.
He'd tipped off Aunt Julia a couple weeks before when he told her the lady's name, Shavonda. Definitely an unusual name. When his ex wife Rose called a few days later, and cussed my aunt out about the new girlfriend, including a few derogatory terms, we were a bit apprehensive about meeting her. We needn't have worried.
The day of the party, I was seated in the living room of Uncle Ed's farmhouse, hanging out with my older brother Calvin, and Jason's sister Sally, when they arrived. Shavonda was absolutely beautiful in an exotic way. For lack of a better way to put it, her features were very African. Leave it to Jason to pick the darkest girl he could find. She wore her hair in its natural curls, accented by a red rose hair clip. She had beautiful almond shaped dark brown eyes that glowed with happiness, a wide nose and full lips. Her curvy figure was contained in a red dress with matching sandals.
Her demeanor was elegant. If you'd talked to her on the phone, you'd be able to tell she was black from the way she drew out the vowels on certain words. But she did it in a way that sounded refined. This woman was obviously totally comfortable with who she was.
Several things quickly became apparent to me. From the way they looked at each other, and the ease with which they touched, it was obvious they were doing each other. It was also obvious that Jason was totally in love with her, and she felt the same way about him. I got the feeling Jason was very protective of her, and he treated her like royalty, even calling her his queen.
Shavonda and Calvin immediately hit it off, talking about music. The rest of us gathered in the back yard where Jason attempted to put us at ease. This was a new situation for all of us, and we weren't sure how to react. "All I ask is that you get to know her," Jason said. "You'll see why I love her."
Later on in the day, after we'd all had a chance to get to know each other, I saw what he meant. She was entertaining. Music was one of her passions, which suited us because Calvin and I had our own folk-bluegrass band on the side. When the time came to cut Grandma's cake, her voice rose loud and clear during the Happy Birthday. The family insisted on lighting the candles again so Shavonda could solo the song. Later, we broke out the instruments, and she sang along with us. Even Jason found an old upright bass and played along with us.
They behaved themselves that first visit. Aunt Julia insisted they stay over instead of going to a motel, as long as they kept the door to the bedroom open. And from what I understand they respected her wishes and kept things platonic.
I mention all of this as a sort of a prelude to what happened to me. It is profound the influence Jason and Von had on our family. In a nutshell, she singlehandedly changed the way we thought about race. And because of her, I met the love of my life. But Grandma was still not convinced. There was still more to the prelude.
We next saw the happy couple in late March for Easter. By this time, they'd gotten engaged, and it was about six weeks before the wedding. Julia had become good friends with Von, and even told Jason that since they were almost married they could sleep with the door shut. By this time, it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. The lady had Jason totally whipped. He'd spontaneously rub her back or massage her feet when she sat.
Calvin's family and I had arrived at the farmhouse the Saturday before Easter, Jason and his fiancé the night before. We were sitting around the kitchen table with Von when Jason dragged Grandma into the room, calling "Family meeting." Evidently, Grandma had said something to Jason about marrying a colored girl, and it set him off. He reamed her a new one in front of the entire family while we all sat there in shock. When he asked, we all agreed that Shavonda was a wonderful woman, and that she'd make a good wife. Even Grandma was forced to admit that if Von were white, he'd be a fool to let her get away. But she insisted race mixing was wrong.
"Grandma," he screamed at her in frustration, "You're a quarter Seneca. If race mixing is wrong, then your whole life is wrong. All of us are mixed. And if Von's not welcome here I don't want to be here. I will leave this god forsaken hell hole and never come back." He grabbed Shavonda by the hand, saying, "Let's go pack our things." We all stared at each other in disbelief. Jason loved these mountains. This was his home. And he was willing to sacrifice it all for her, just so she'd feel comfortable. I had been right. He was protective of her.
We all gathered on the back porch. Sally and her husband, and my parents had walked in just after Jason had stormed off. He was up in his old bedroom, with Shavonda trying to calm him down. We could hear everything through the open window right above where we sat. Pretty soon, they stopped talking and we heard the unmistakable moans of them being intimate. Grandma got up and left in disgust. The bed was banging off the wall like it was going to fall apart. When they were done, Von said, "You owe me big time. Tonight, you're going to lick my chocolate tootsie pop." I couldn't help it and bust out laughing.
A short time later, they wandered out onto the porch, Von saying, "I got him calmed down. We're staying."
Uncle Ed gave her a funny look and said, "So we heard."
I couldn't resist, and laughingly told Jason, "Remember you still gotta lick the chocolate tootsie pop." He turned beet red. Sally and I laughed at his discomfort.
"So he got his chocolate bunny a day early," Von said.
