The Mystery of Chad Harris: Fate Delivers Us, Chapter Ten
 
 

" A death?", Chad asks.

" Yes, death. When the truth about your parentage is revealed, death will result.", Piccola says calmly.

" I don’t know why I agreed to this mess. They’re only friggin’ cards!", Chad says, as he shoves the cards off the table, and leaves the room, going into the kitchen and continuing on. Whitney gets up to follow him. Simone wants to go, but Piccola grabs her arm and points to the cards. Simone gathers them up.

" He’s upset, Chile. Let him be."

" Whitney’s not letting him be."

" But, he WANTS Whitney to be there."

" HE DOES NOT! He can’t stand Whitney.", Simone pouts.

" Of course he can. And, you know it."

" No. I saw Chad first!"

" What does that have to do with anything. Mr. Harris doesn’t think of you in those terms."

" But, Whitney treats him like garbage!"

" Some gentlemen like that."

" I treat him with respect."

" Some gentlemen don’t like that."

" So, if I treat Chad like crap, he’ll like me?"

" No. I didn’t say that. He doesn’t think of you in that way, and won’t. And, if you change, the only person you’ll be hurting is yourself."

" But, I like Chad…..a lot!"

" There are plenty of young men in your future. Mr. Harris isn’t one of them."

" But, if I could get him to notice me.."

Piccola slams her hand down on the table. " No! Now, you listen to me. He’s not interested in you that way. No need for you to continue on in some fantasy land."

" It’s not fair. Whitney gets everything. But then, why shouldn’t she get everything. She’s beautiful."

" So are you."

" No, I’m not. People look at Whitney, and they see beautiful. I’m ‘the other one’. "

" It is not debatable, Simone. You are beautiful. You have a face that will break a thousand hearts. You are just too young and too foolish to see what you have that Whitney will never have."

Simone laughs. " What? ‘Loser’ tattooed on my forehead?"

" No. A grasp on your soul. Simone," Piccola took her hand, " Few young women have the kind of heart that you have. Your capacity for love is tremendous, and you are in tune with your fellow man."

" I still don’t have a boyfriend."

" Nor should you. You lookin’ to Mr. Harris to give you something that you gotta get on your own. Not worth having unless you get it on your own."

" What?"

" A sense of self. A sense that ‘it’s ok, whatever I want to do, because I decide it for myself. You lookin’ to him to tell YOU that YOU are ok. And, that will never happen."

" Why doesn’t anyone love me for me?"

" Because, it’s not time yet. You’re young. Let it be. "

" It’s not fair.", Simone said with tears coming down her face.

" Never said anything was fair. "

" He doesn’t like me, that way, does he?", Simone asks.

" No Chile, he don’t. So don’t spend another minute thinkin’ about how you can change, when nothin’s wrong with you. Not a blessed thing."

" But, it hurts, Miz Piccola."

" I know, but, you’ve got people who love you."

Piccola opens her arms and Simone enters into them for a big hug.

<hr>

Chad comes out of the kitchen and stops to look around. He sees that he’s in the middle of a beautiful garden. Whitney comes behind him.

" Chad.."

" Why she gotta say that!", Chad says angrily, walking around in a circle. " Why, Whitney?"

" Because she’s a foolish old woman who believes in cards, and spells and other what-not."

Chad brings up his hand to emphasize his point. " No, Whitney. I don’t think she’s foolish. "

" Chad, she reads cards."

" Yeah, and Charity has visions. "

" You believe Charity?", Whitney asks.

" I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. All I know is that ever since I began this search, I keep on running into people who tell me that bad things will happen if I continue on my search. Maybe they’re trying to tell me something."

" What?"

" That maybe I’m better off not knowing the truth?", Chad asks as he sits down on an ornate iron bench.

" I don’t believe that, Chad.", Whitney says, sitting next to  him. " You came to Harmony to find the truth about yourself. How can you give up? Even consider it? Until you find out the truth, you can’t go forward. Everyone deserves to know the fundamentals of their life, Chad. That includes you."

Chad looks at Whitney and thinks about what she said, and gives her a little smile. He takes her hand. " Thanks, Whitney. I needed to hear it."

Whitney smiles back. " I’m glad I could help. And, to be honest with you, I don’t believe Miz Piccola wants you to stop. She’s a very strong believer in the truth. She only reads the cards to help people accept what could happen. "

" I thought you said you didn’t believe in the cards."

" I don’t. But, if you believe, it’s your business. And, gathering as much information as possible is always good. My parents always tell me to ‘be prepared’. Whatever the situation, because you never know when a curve could be thrown."

" Your parents are very smart people."

" I know."

" So," Chad begins, " What IS this place?"

" THIS, is one of the most special things about the restaurant. This is a private garden that my great-grandmother created over 70 years ago. Back in the times of segregation, Blacks weren’t allowed to sit and enjoy the more beautiful parks of New Orleans. If they wanted a park, they had to go back to the Black section of town. But, a lot of people, after spending a day downtown, wanted a place that they could enjoy in peace. So, my great-grandmother created this spot. It became a really draw."

" I can see why. It’s public, yet, there are private spots all around. "

" She used to charge a pretty penny for Blacks who wanted the intimate setting for a private party. "

" Visionary and smart."

" Yep. That’s my great-grandmother. In fact…"

" What?", Chad asks.

" We’re sitting in the exact spot where my grandfather proposed to my grandmother."

" Right here?"

" Yep."

" Wow." Chad gets up and walks to the fountain nearby and sits on the edge. " See, Whitney. That’s why I can’t stop looking. You just rattle off facts, here and there, about this relative or that relative. I can hear the pride in your voice when you say it. And, you do it as easily as breathing. I want some stories of my own. "

" You’ll get them, Chad. You’ll get them.", Whitney says, coming to sit by Chad at the fountain.
 
 

" Pralines and Cream, or Butter Pecan?", TC says as he stands in front of his mother with the ice cream cones in his hand.

" Pralines, of course.", Madelaine says as she takes the cone from him.

TC watched his mother. As with everything else, she ate the ice cream with elegance, as if eating ice cream could ever be described as much. He enjoyed these times with his mother. Just being in her presence had always been comforting to him. The silence between them was never stifling, but, comforting in a way that could only be possible between two people who loved one another tremendously.  After she had gotten a third of the way through her ice cream, Madelaine spoke up:

" I’m glad that we had this time to talk, Theodore."

" Me too, Mama."

" I’m a direct woman, so, I have to ask. What could possibly be on your mind with you bringing that boy down here to my home?"

" Chad.", TC said with a sigh.

" Yes, Chad. I spoke with Eve. She seems to understand how inappropriate this all is."

" My wife and I see things with Chad differently."

" Yes, Eve wants to keep a family vacation with ‘family’, and you want to turn my house into a hotel for transients."

" Hotel?", TC says, getting up off the bench and walking back and forth. " Hotel? Mama, I’m just helping the boy out."

" Yes, I know. Why?"

" Why? Why? What is with you and my wife and all these questions about Why? Why the hell do I have to explain anything to any of you?"

" Theodore, I would mind you to remember who you’re talking to. Calm down and explain it to me."

TC looked at his mother and sat back down on the bench. " I’m sorry, Mama. I just don’t get why I’m getting hassled about helping a young man down on his luck."

" Theodore, you’ve been doing service to those less fortunate from the time you could read. I raised you to do so. But, let’s not lie to ourselves, your attachment goes far beyond some charity help."

TC sighs and looks at his mother. " Mama, I look at him, and I see myself. He has all these hopes and dreams. He wants to be a big shot in the music industry. And, I think he can do it. He has  it in his eyes- that something ‘special’ that will propel him to the top. He thinks that everything is possible, and I want to see him achieve it."

" Why, Theodore? Why?"

" Because someone should achieve their dreams, Dammit!", TC said as he got up and threw away the rest of his ice cream.

" This is about that ‘tennis thing’, isn’t it?"

"  ‘ Tennis thing? TENNIS THING?’ That’s how you describe it, Mama? It was MY LIFE!", TC says in anger.

" Yes, I know it was. And, I told your father how I felt about it."

" You NEVER understood my tennis. You NEVER tried to!"

" Oh, but, I did, understand. More than you know, Theodore. I watched you and your father get consumed by that racket and ball. The two of your, co-conspirators, day after day. Year after year. Putting so much into riches and fame."

" You never supported me."

" Oh no, my son. You will never be able to accuse me of that. I am a wife who had to watch as her husband spent years in a job with people that deliberately tried to rip his soul to shred’s. I had to watch the indignities placed upon my husband, because he loved you more than life itself, and took a job as a caddy, because it was the one that enabled YOU to be able to practice on the best courts, and exposed you to the best where tennis was concerned.

Your father could have had any number of jobs, as well his own business where he could have been his own boss. But, instead, he was a Caddy, at that Country Club, with a bunch of bigots who saw and treated him as sub-human. What do you think that does to man’s SOUL, Theodore? But, there he was, because he was invested in that tennis with you.

That tennis. It was like a muse to the two of you, and I simply couldn’t compete. All I could do is stand by, support, and pray. Pray that the muse would never turn on you. That it would never desert you, because I knew that the fallout wouldn’t be pretty.

And, I was right. You had your accident, and I lost my husband, all within the span of a month.

I never wanted wealth and fame for you, Theodore. It was never my concern. I knew, because of my parents, and, because of my own talents, that you and your sister would never want for anything, and you didn’t. I knew you would never starve, because you had a good education, and a good head on your shoulders.

What is fame, but, outsiders intruding upon your life?

What is fortune? Some would say enormous wealth, but, I’ve never been convinced of it.

What I wanted for you most, Theodore, what ‘I’ prayed for every night since the day you were born, I received. You are healthy. You are happy. You know how to give and receive love. You’re involved in a committed relationship with someone who is totally devoted to you and your happiness. And, you know the joy of parenthood with two healthy children. I never wanted anything more for you. I am sorry that you don’t see what you have, and are still consumed by what you believe you ‘lost’ in that accident.

What does it gain a man to win the world, and lose his own soul? Growing up in, and subsequently running that restaurant, I have seen too many people with fame and fortune, who would pour their souls out to a stranger, because they don’t believe that they could ‘trust’ anyone in their ‘entourage’ to care.

I am sorry if I seem insensitive, but, I cannot sympathize with something that I never wanted for you in the first place. "

TC looks into his mother’s eyes, picks up her hands, and kisses both of them. " I’m sorry, Mama. You are right. Maybe sometimes I do forget all that I have. I try not to. I try to appreciate my life, because I know that you’re right. I know how lucky I was to find Eve. I remember my life before Eve."

" Do you? I would hope so. If you had achieved that tennis ‘dream’, Theodore, I doubt that your soul would have been open when you met Eve. Where would you be, then? Rich and famous, but, happy? I don’t know. I know that many men are married, but, don’t have what you have. Many men are single, and hope to find what you did. I’m proudest of you for your life, Theodore. Living it with love, honesty, decency and devotion to all things positive. That simply can’t be bought. "

TC hugs his mother. " I know, Mama. I know."