Friday fiction: Mama continues

Previous parts to this story HERE

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Now, this is Mama talking here again. I left off telling y’all bout my mama dying, and leaving behind some cash. Like I said, I was shocked. How many times had I asked her for a loan and got turned down? Too many. She tended to carry on about me getting a job, and I considered it more than once, mind you. But I tend to be delicate, I get sick a lot and my back is pretty weak, so it just never worked out for me. Leastwise, in this town.

When she took sick and went into the nursing home, we knew it wouldn’t be long. Folks don’t tend to live real long in the nursing home here in town. So when the call came, course I was just shattered, but I couldn’t say I hadn’t seen it coming.

Well, the night after my mama died, I went through her room, just reminiscing, you know. I read her journals, went through her mail, looked through her jewelry- I think I was just trying to feel close to her again. Me and Mama was close. Just about to killed me when she passed. I knew I had to carry on, for the children. Well, I call them children. They were nearly grown, Jimmy about 18 and Jenny, oh, 14 or so. Imagine my surprise as I was going through Mama’s underwear drawer and I found a big envelope full of cash. I just sat down on the floor and cried, then I started thinking.

The fact was, my kids had never had any money. They were born poor, and they were pretty happy poor. I on the other hand, was miserable. It was almost like I could hear my mama speaking from the funeral home, “I just want you to be happy, Daisy. Just go on and be happy.” So that was that. I started making a plan to go on out there and find happiness, just like Mama woulda wanted.