11/03/2007

Precious Devereax pushed a lock of her curly hair behind her ear. She realized that it looked better that way instead of in her face. Her hair had to be perfect. She was on a mission, and she was intent on completing that mission. Precious was 24 years old. She was a beautiful and successful woman. She had her stuff together, so she thought. She knew it and she wanted the whole world to know it.

She looked at her taupe skin and picked at one of the freckles on her face. She smiled at the thought of being one of the lightest members of her family. The skin tones in the Trudeau family average mocha brown. A couple of people were dark chocolate brown. Then there was Precious and her twin cousins, they were the color beige. Precious' mother had fallen in love with a light skinned drummer and together they produced Precious Shanice Devereax.

Precious wore her father's last name proudly, much to the dismay of the Trudeau clan. They did not like the idea of one of their descendants being linked to a devilish musician whose life's goal it was to produce music that caused people to sin. Precious' mother, Enid Trudeau has defied her father, Rev. Alex Trudeau and ran off to be the devil himself, Armand Bouche, a drummer in a local jazz band. Enid was a singer with a golden voice. Her father wanted her to sing Gospel music, but Enid had other ideas. She had been invited by the group's leader to join the band. Enid left home with a forewarning from her father that her life would end in ruin. Enid came back home a year later, 4 months pregnant. This did not sit well with her father. She was shunned and then sent to live with a family member in the country until she had the baby. After she had the baby, Enid nursed the baby for four months and then left the child with the family member she had been staying with. Enid went back out on the road with Armand and the band. In the end, Precious ended up staying with her grandfather's sister. Precious' mother visited her from time to time, but Precious was raised by her aunt Helen Trudeau.

Precious laughed. It was so ironic that the black sheep grandchild of the family would end up with the black sheep child of the family. Helen Trudeau was an outcast in the family. She had never been married. She never had any children. She was not exactly a sinner, but she did manage to dabble in the "bad" side of life from time to time. Sending Precious to live with Helen was supposed to be a punishment, but it was a blessing instead.

Precious grinned and thought, "Aunt Helen was the best person to raise me. My crazy granddaddy thought he was doing something wicked, but it turned out great." Precious had a great life. She went to the museum. She went to the opera. She was cultured, refined, and a lady; all because of her Aunt Helen. Helen always supported Precious, no matter what. Helen loved Precious as if she was her own daughter.

Precious became solemn; thinking about her Aunt Helen made her sad at that moment. Helen had died eight months ago. Precious still had moments when she got sad thinking about her aunt. If it hadn't been for her aunt, Alexia, Precious would not have made it through the first couple of months.

Precious shook herself. She had to quit daydreaming. She was planning on meeting her aunt at the mall in a little while. She had to get ready. Precious stood up from the chair that sat in front of her vanity mirror. She admired her thin waist in the mirror. She did look good. She knew that she had her mother's figure; slender, well-formed, and curved in all the right places. Precious' mother had given her a love of music, too. You would always her some kind of music playing in Precious' house.

Precious strolled over to her walk-in closet and looked at all of the clothes that she owned. Precious tried to pick something out to wear, but she could not figure out what to wear. She had too many clothes. Thanks to her Aunt Helen, she had been left a large sum of money that she invested wisely and lived on. That was another problem the Trudeau family had with Precious; they thought she was a loose woman because she had never worked a day in her life, but she always had money and new things that no one in the family could afford. They were under the impression that she had men taking care of her. Her family knew nothing about her life. They did not even seem to care.

Precious stepped backwards out of her closet. She had to stop thinking about her family. Lately, they had been invading her mind more than she wanted them to and the thoughts often left her feeling deflated and dejected. She could not figure out what was going on with her. She wanted to talk to someone about it, but she knew that if her family found out, they would probably declare her crazy and try to have her committed. She had decided to suffer in silence.

The long-legged woman stepped back into her closet. She had to find something to wear. Alexia would be over soon and she would have a fit if Precious was not ready.

"Precious, you take forever to do everything. One of these days you are going to miss your blessing being so slow," was Alexia's constant refrain.

Precious would answer back, "I am sure that one of you Trudeaus will be there to collect it in my place." That would start an argument. Precious had been trying to not argue with Alexia so much lately, but it never seemed to work.

Precious riffled through her name brand clothes. First she went through her slacks, looking for a suitable pair to wear, but could not find anything that she liked. She looked through her blouses; hoping one of them would inspire her, but no such luck. She looked at her shoes, hoping one of the 100 pairs she had would move her, but the shoes were not even doing anything for her. She bellowed, "What is wrong with me?" as she walked out of the closet.

Perhaps shopping would make her feel better. It usually did, although lately, she hadn't felt like going shopping much. Usually, after working at the Growler Foundation for a few hours, she would leave and go shopping and everything in the world would seem great. That hadn't been working for her lately. She was spending more and more time at the Growler Foundation, where she held etiquette classes, and less time shopping. Her life was taking her somewhere, but she was not sure where.

Precious forced herself to go back into her closet. She had to find something to wear. She looked around the closet, stood in front of her pants, closed her eyes, and then grabbed a pair of slacks. She opened her eyes. She had a pair of black slacks in her hand. She turned and looked at her blouses. She decided to wear a peach colored blouse that was low-cut in the front. She knew Alexia would have a fit, but Precious did not care. Precious walked over to her shoes and picked out her high-heeled peach shoes.

She walked out of the closet and set the outfit on her canopy bed. Looking at the bed made her think about her Aunt Helen. Aunt Helen owned the bed before she died. That was the only item that Precious had asked her family for after Helen had died. Precious wanted the bed because she and her Aunt Helen had shared lots of moments on the bed talking and laughing with one another. The family took everything and was trying to take the bed, but Alexia said that she wanted it, and being the blessed child of the family, Alexia always got what she wanted. After Alexia took the bed, she gave it to Precious. Precious was glad that she had Alexia on her side sometimes.

Precious sat down on her bed. She looked up towards Heaven.

"Aunt Helen, I know you are up there. I sure wish you were down here though. I cannot figure any of this out. I do not feel like myself. I am not acting like myself. I cannot figure any of this out. I sure could use your help right now."

Precious closed her eyes to fight back the tears, but they came out anyway. She did not need this right now. She had to get dressed. She was tempted to call Alexia and cancel the shopping trip, but Alexia would have had a fit and Precious did not want to hear Alexia's mouth. Going shopping with in a bad mood was better than hearing Alexia fuss at her.