FAY

FAY

by Princess Carroll Ayo Durodola

Fay and her dad pulled into the church parking lot. The sun was shining down on them through the open roof of their Jeep and birds were singing, like they can only sing in the open country of the south. The birds’ songs were different from the bird songs in New York, where Fay was born. She had lived there with her mom until her mom disappeared.

It was sad when her mom left, but now she didn’t feel so bad. Or maybe she had gotten so used to the pain that it didn’t feel like pain anymore. Her parents divorced when she was a baby.

When she was nine years old Mom left and she didn’t know why. She had to move to her dad’s in Georgia.

They were having a blast. Dad was a whole lot of fun. She didn’t know why her mom didn’t let her visit dad all this time? She had missed a lot. Dad had lots of friends and he spent a whole lot of time in his church. It had now become her church and it was like a whole neighborhood. She didn’t know churches could have so many people in them. With all these people there were loads of things to do. She had friends in school and she had friends at church.

The church had a coffee shop that sold chocolate mousse slushies! There was a library, a bookstore, a toy & gift shop and a “Children’s Land” that was Sunday School. Church over, Fay sat with

her dad outside the coffee house.

“Thanks for the slushie, dad” said Fay gazing at the decorative frills made by the whip cream on top of her chocolate mousse slushie.

“You’re welcome, sweet girl. Is it good?”

“Mmm yummy” was her mumbled reply with the straw in her mouth.

One of the 30 pastors of the church, Reverend White, stopped to talk to her dad about some repairs they were going to do in the building. Reverend White’s daughter, Sue, was one of Fay’s best friends ever. Fay, lost in the delight of her chocolate mousse slushie, didn’t pay much attention to what they were saying.

“O.K. Fay” Rev. White interrupted Fay’s delight, “see you Friday. Sue won’t want the sleep-over to start without you. And you know her mother needs her ace ‘cake mixer’.”

Fay broke herself away from her desert, “O.K. Rev White”. She smiled about the many times she had been over at their house mixing cakes with Mrs. White.

Fay, licked up the last of her drink and with a satisfied fullness leaned back waiting for her dad to finish his café Americano. She could see around a pillar nearby, and marching towards them, as if she had just realized where they sat, was Ms. Brown. She was Fay’s Sunday School teacher.

“Hi, Ms. Brown” Fay waved cheerily.

“Hi sweet pea. There you are Ronald.”

She said to Fay’s dad as she rounded the pillar.

“Hey Speedy Gonzalez.” Fay’s dad always called Ms. Brown that because

she walked faster than anyone they knew and when given a project she was right on it lickety split.

“Listen, the Bishop wants us to get started on straightening up the other side of the church this week. How ‘bout a Monday meeting to gather as many volunteers as possible.”

“Yuck. Monday? That’s too early for me to start something new. Give it to at least Tuesday” he said, knowing that she would never agree to Wednesday or Thursday which he would have preferred.

“O.K. Tuesday” she said breathlessly, as if this was upsetting all her other hurried plans.

Off she went, as Fay and her dad got up, smiling knowingly at each other.

How to slow Ms. Brown down? There seemed no earthly way.

The next week was the Sunday School barbeque. There was a flurry of activity and excitement as the day got closer. Fay arrived with her dad in tow.

“Hey Rachel” Fay said to the first friend she saw on the grounds.

“Fay! You’re here.”

“Of course I’m here. You know I love hot dogs with sauerkraut and mustard and Ms. Brown promised they were her responsibility.”

“That’s what she must have been doing” said Rachel, “I saw her rushing in, as usual, with boxes and bags of stuff. I tried to help but you know how she is. She introduced me to her visitor. Ms. Sally is her name and she’s real pretty and had this gorgeous outfit on like the hippies used to wear.”

“Someone’s started a Frisbee game!”

Fay said, distracted, “Let’s go.” So the two girls skipped off. Just then, from across the field, someone could be seen whispering something to Fay’s dad that made him swing around madly like he was looking for someone.

After two minutes of Ronald Satchel’s searching for his daughter, someone told him she was tied up in a game of Frisbee.

“Is something wrong Ron?”

Then Fay’s dad realized that his face must be showing that he was not happy. “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all” as he tried to compose himself. Perhaps nothing would happen. Perhaps all was well. But why now? What did she want? Did the person really recognize her? For indeed one of the church members had come to him and said she thought she saw Fay’s mom in the crowd at the barbeque and recognized her from a picture Fay used to carry.

Why? How would it affect Fay? “Hey Ron, where’s my girl for her hot dog, sauerkraut and mustard” Ms. Brown interrupted his wondering.

“Oh she’ll be here soon, I’m sure. She won’t want to miss that” as he turned around to find Ms. Brown grilling the hot dogs, another woman caught his eye. She looked at him too.

“Ron this is my new friend Sally. We met at the library downtown.”

Coldly, he answered, “We’ve met.”

“Ron?” the pretty woman stared at Fay’s dad.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Oh my God! I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t have come. Excuse me.” as the woman took off her apron and gathered up her things.

“What is going on?” Ms. Brown asked.

Her friend Sally took off with more apologies. “Tell me what’s going on,

somebody.”

Ronald just stood there watching ‘Sally’ leave. Ms. Brown saw the sadness and another odd look in his eyes. “Who is she Ron?” Fay’s dad looked at Ms. Brown and over at Fay who was approaching shouting his name and laughing with her friends. Suddenly, Ms. Brown realized that Sally must be Fay’s mom.

The mother who had abandoned her all of a sudden without explanation, a year ago.

“Dad, our side won the Frisbee match!

It was so great. By the time I got there they were so far behind, but I used that mean hand you taught me and wow!

We won! We won!” as Fay was joined by all the other girls that must have been on her team.

“And they were all boys on the other team,” some of the other girls chimed in.

“Are the hot dogs ready, Ms. Brown?”

“Yes dear” she said looking sideways at Fay’s dad.

“What’s wrong dad, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Fay laughed, “come on” she tugged at this shirt, “Its hot dog time; happy time.”

“You’re right” he got himself together, “it is happy time. Hot dogs for everyone, on me.”

They all dissolved in gales of laughter.

“Oh, now you choose to be generous, now that it’s free”, Ms. Brown said, still looking worried at Fay’s dad.

The barbeque over, Ron thought he’d better talk to Fay about ‘Sally’.

His ex-wife had obviously changed her name, because he knew her as Marietta Gomez. She must have really wanted to hide and never thought that she would ever meet them again. But what was she thinking? Why did she abandon Fay a year ago? It’s was time to have a talk with his daughter.

Ronald Satchel turned the steering

wheel of the jeep into the tree lined subdivision where he and his daughter, Fay, had lived peacefully for a year, until now.

“Fay” “Yes, Dad?” Fay’s attention taken from her day dreams of a wonderful day at the barbeque.

“Something happened today that may not be so happy for you.”

“O.K.?” Fay said in a questioning voice.

“Yeah, I got a shock at the barbeque just now.”

“Well?”

“Your mother was there.”

“What? Mom! Where? When? Why didn’t you let me see her? I wanted to talk to her!” Fay began to wail, surprising herself and her dad. She didn’t know she missed her mom so much, or was so ready to forgive. “Well, where is she? What did you say to her? Did she ask for me! Why couldn’t I talk to her myself? It’s not fair.”

“Honey, honey. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I didn’t get a chance to say anything to her. She apologized for being there and ran off. She was a guest of Ms. Brown.”

“Ms. Brown’s visitor, Sally? That was mom? Rachel got to see her and I didn’t! I didn’t even get a chance. She was there where the hot dogs were!”

“She was, but she ran off just before you came over.”

“I just missed her. Ooooooh!”

Screeched Fay. “Honey. Honey. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you’d react like this. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to do or say.”

Fay knew she should just go ahead and cry. She knew she wasn’t making any sense at all. It wasn’t dad’s fault, all this. It was as if the whole world had caved in on her ten year old shoulders. And what made it worse, she missed her mom! Her own mother had been right there and she missed her.

Why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

“That must mean she’s looking for me dad. She does want to see me. Maybe she has a good reason for leaving.

She’s somewhere around. Do you know where she lives now? Ms. Brown must know. Can we go over there now?”

Ronald Satchel parked the car wearily in the driveway and looked over at his beloved daughter, who had already been through so much and was obvi-

ously delirious, “We’ll have to call Ms. Brown when we get in the house and see what she knows. But Fay, I don’t want you to get your hopes up too much and then be disappointed again.

“Fine Dad. Come on let’s go in and call Ms. Brown.” as she hurriedly unbuckled her seat belt “I’ve been through so much already and I’m sure I’m strong enough to handle whatever is next.”

Ronald got out of the car watching his daughter anxiously. How should he handle it? He didn’t really know how her mother would react to her daughter if they found her. By the time he got in the house and locked the front door, Fay was pushing the phone in his hand.

“O.K. Let’s call” her eyes wide open in anticipation and perhaps desperation.

“Now sweetie, I want you to calm down a little before I call Ms. Brown.

Do you mind if we sit for a minute and pray.”

“O.K.” said Fay sitting down quickly, perched on the edge of her seat, ready for him to begin dialing as soon as the prayer was over.

The prayer said, Ron went on “Now, hon, do you remember the last thing your mom said to you?”

“Mmm let’s see” she said with her forefinger on her chin and her mouth twisted to the side, “that would be in the morning before I went to school. She was getting ready for work. I was packing my lunch. She asked what I was taking for lunch…”

“What exactly did she say?” Fay’s dad stalled her hoping she would calm down. She went on reliving those last moments with her mother.

“She said, ‘What are you taking for lunch?’ and I said ‘I’m doing the bologna sandwich pack, because it includes the chocolate nut cookies’ and she said, ‘Great idea. Those are my favorites too.’”

“How did you say good bye?”

“As we usually said good bye, ‘Good bye, love you.’ Except, she did hug me that time and said ‘I love you, Fay’ again.”

“O.K. and that was it?”

“Yeah, except that time she came out of the house and she usually just waved from the door. Do you think she knew she was going Daddy?”

“Perhaps, sweetie. Well, this may be as

good a time as any to find out what we can.” He took the phone from Fay and dialed Ms. Brown’s number. The phone rang and rang. He left a voice message that she should call them back when she got in and then he started dialing another number.

“You have Ms. Brown’s cell phone number?”

“Yeah.”

“Great, Dad.” “Well, let’s see if she thinks she should pick up if she is with your mom. She’s probably trying to get information out of her.”

“Oh yeah” Fay groaned as they waited for the cell phone to be answered.

“Hello” answered Ms. Brown. Ron had put it on speaker.

“Hi Speedy Gonzalez. Looks like we’ve gotta problem.” Ronald Satchel said trying to lighten the mood for everyone.

“Well, not so much. Or let me say, it depends on you.”

“What do you mean?” Ron said cautiously.

“As you can imagine I’m over here with Fay’s mom…Ron, why don’t you and Fay meet us over at my house?

I have a great lemon meringue pie ready.”

“That’s sounds good, Ms. Brown, thanks” was all Ron could say, as they hung up.

They got to Ms. Brown’s adorable cottage on the edge of town in about 20 minutes and her car and another car were already parked outside.

“Hi you two” Ms. Brown swung open the door. “Ready for an adventure?” she smiled at Fay and then winked at Mr. Satchel, “It’s going to be O.K. Ron.” Inside, the two headed for armchairs and as they sat down, Fay’s mom emerged from the kitchen, “Mommy!”

Fay flew into her open arms. Fay’s head was kissed by her mother’s tearfilled face. “My darling” she said in a choked up voice. Reluctantly she looked at Fay’s dad, with guilty eyes.

Fay’s dad stared at her still in shock and Ms. Brown handed out tissues, and shoved one into Ron’s hand even though he acted like he didn’t need it.

“Now, let’s all sit down. Sally…Marietta has some explainin’ to do” said

Ms. Brown.

“Yes, please let me” Fay’s mom said as they all settled back in their chairs.

Fay and her mom sat on a loveseat, since Fay could not be unstuck from her mother. “I’m so sorry Fay, I know it was so confusing and scary for you.

And I’m sorry Ron, I know you won’t understand this.”

Ms. Brown interrupted Ron with her finger, as only a teacher can do, as he tried to answer his ex-wife. He kept his mouth closed but his frown remained.

Marietta Gomez looked into Fay’s eyes, “Remember the day the police came to the house with my friend Detective Mason and they were so nice to you and showed you their badges” “Yes”

“Well, when you went to your room to play, they questioned me about someone who was murdered.”

“They thought you killed someone?!”

“Yes. But of course I didn’t” she said this more to Ron than Fay. “I looked just like the woman they suspected and we had the exact same name. They believed I had time to get from my office to where the man was, kill him and get back to my office in order to be with my alibi.”

“Wow, just like on T.V.” “Yes, except it didn’t feel anything like that. It was scary.”

Ms. Brown couldn’t stop Mr. Satchel this time. “Why didn’t you call me?! I would have come.”

“Let her finish Ron.” “The day before I left you Fay, they called me again and said they wanted me to come down to the station and answer some more questions. I knew then that they didn’t believe me. I had no motive, but the other Marietta Gomez had no motive either. So after you left for school that day, I called our neighbor, Mrs. Frances, knowing that she wouldn’t get off her nurse shift until 2pm and left her a message to call your dad to come and get you, because I was going to go missing for a long time. So I drove to the Canadian border, went into Canada, changed my name and lived there all this time.”

“Are they going to arrest you now Mommy?”

“No, because they found the real Marietta Gomez six months ago and she’s in jail for the crime. I went back to where we lived, cleared my name and my record, everything was in shape and I started to think about the rest of my life.

I knew you were safe with your dad and I could see how I should have done things differently, but I didn’t know how to fix it or what to do. I thought you both would be so mad at me that you wouldn’t want to see me.”

“Never, mommy.” Fay hugged her mother, “I love you no matter what.”

“Thank you dear” “So how did you get here?” Ron spoke up.

“I got a job here two weeks ago and the last address I had for you was 600 miles from here on the other side of the state.”

“Oh, that’s true” said Ron, not sounding so angry now.

“I think we need some pie & ginger ale” said Ms. Brown.

The three reunited ones kept on talking, as if she hadn’t said anything. Emotions, accusations, apologies

and stories tumbling out, one after the other, filling up the time and space.

The evening past. They agreed to have breakfast together the next morning and parted ways. As Ron tucked his little ten year old into bed, he thought of how hard this must be for her. And yet, as her eyes got heavier with sleep she said, “How’d I do Dad? Did I handle it well for my age?”

“You handled it so good Fay. Very good. I am proud of you.”

The next day and many days after Ron, Fay and her mom, Marietta, got to know each other again. Fay’s mom and dad became very good friends. Very, very good friends. Fay was happy as could be. Then, what she dared not ever hope for her whole life, happened.

Her dad asked her mom to marry him again. They were all happily planning the coming wedding, with a lot of help from “Speedy Gonzalez” Ms. Brown, who was of course the wedding planner. All was going to be well after all.

Story written by HRH Princess Carroll Ayo Durodola, Author, Storyteller & Education Consultant Author of TUNDE, THE LITTLE NIGERIAN PRINCE

‘Tunde is the son of a Nigerian King.

He is a very bright boy and catches the eye of an American missionary. The missionary wants ‘Tunde to attend Sunday school, but his father, the King, says “No”. The missionary is persistent and eventually ‘Tunde gets to go to sunday school and then real school. He grows up to become a doctor and my dad.

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Copyright © 2010 Carroll Ayo Durodola

http://childrenswriter100.wordpress. com http://princessayo.blogspot.com/ http://tundethelittlenigerianprince. blogspot.com