Chapter 3
A Short Time Earlier . . .
The Phone Call
“I want to leave, but I don’t know what to do,” I quietly said into the receiver. I was nervous about her response. This was the first time that I ever called her.
There was shuffling on the other end of the line. “Lovina, hun, are you alright? What do you mean you want to leave.”
“Yes, I’m alright.” I cleared my throat. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I feel like there is so much more for me out there in the world. If I stay here, I will never be able to experience it like a caged bird. I know that I don’t have much education, but I’m really smart. I just need help.”
She was quiet for a moment after my little rant. “Okay, I understand that. When do you want to leave?” she asked.
I never thought about when I wanted to. “Um, I guess as soon as possible. If I leave it has to be in the middle of the early morning when my family is asleep. I couldn’t bear to see their reaction to me leaving. You know I’m shunned right now.”
“Girl, I really hate that. Okay, you want to leave in the middle of the early morning. Well, it will be that soon. Can you pack up everything that you need and meet me somewhere?” she asked.
Just then I realized where I was. “Beyuna, I live almost two hours away from you. There’s no way that I could get to you. If you were closer, I could walk to this town that’s right outside of Bird-In-Hand. They use cars there so it wouldn’t be weird to see a car. It’s only like a six-mile walk.”
“Girl, you’re going to walk six miles? Yeah, you really want to get away.
Okay, I don’t care about the two-hour drive.
I’m going to get on the road to get to you around two in the morning.
I remember you saying that your family gets up at four,” she pointed out.
“You remember how I told you to turn on your GPS and share your location?”
Once I told her that I remembered, she told me to turn it on and share it with her.
When we got off the phone I started to pack.
I packed up my clothes, which wasn’t a whole lot since I pretty much wore the same thing all the time.
Over time I managed to save close to four thousand dollars.
It took forever to save it. After I had packed everything including my important papers, I sat down to write my parents a letter. I owed them that at least.
‘Mother and Father,
I know my leaving will shock you, but I had to do what is best for me.
You know like I do that I don’t belong here.
I don’t think that I ever did. There are seasons in life, and my season here has passed.
I love and appreciate you for all that you’ve done for me.
I don’t want you to be worried about me because although I am leaving, my faith is intact.
You may not believe that, but I believe God has covered me with this decision.
Although I will be out there, I will still stay close to God and never lose my faith in him. I promise. I know you’re probably disappointed and hurt even, but please don’t be. This decision is for my peace. Please take care of yourself. I love you. Lovina.’
I placed the letter on the kitchen table on my way out of the house that I was raised in. I was on to a new chapter in my life. I had no idea what it held, but what I did know was that I was the author and God was the editor.
Back To The Present . . .
That night Beyuna met me, and we drove to her house. I stayed with her for a week before we drove to Charleston, South Carolina. It was so beautiful here, especially where the bakery was. Their accent was different and was taking me some time to get used to.
Beyuna’s aunt, Beauvia, owned a bakery in the downtown area. After Beyuna asked if she could give me a job, her aunt told her to bring me in, and I could make some things for her. If she liked them, then I could work there.
The bakery that I worked in was nice, but Ms. Beauvia’s was amazing. All the appliances in the kitchen were state of the art. Tasks that would have taken me an hour to do in our bakery back home took less than thirty minutes.
I made her what I made the best, an assortment of cinnamon rolls. I made her my regular rolls, apple, pecan, strawberry, Biscoff, and cheesecake stuffed. She absolutely loved them and added them to her menu.
The best part about it was that she paid me fifteen dollars an hour.
I only made ten at my family’s bakery and almost 50 percent went back into my household.
I was used to hard work, so I told her that I didn’t mind working open to close.
She told me that the most hours I could work was forty-five hours a week unless she gave me approval to work more.
Another amazing thing that Ms. Beauvia blessed me with was a place to stay.
Over the garage of her house, there was a two-bedroom, one bath apartment.
It was a gorgeous apartment, and I couldn’t believe that I lived there.
Originally, she told me that I didn’t have to pay rent, but I didn’t like that.
I wanted to pay for my keep, so she charged me an all-inclusive rent of four hundred dollars a month.
I rode to work every morning with her on the days that I worked.
If my shift was over before she had to leave, one of my co-workers brought me home.
I told her that I could learn how to take one of those rideshare things, but she and Beyuna told me absolutely not.
They feared that I would be taken advantage of.
“Daddy, Lovina is Amish. Her house in Philadelphia ain’t had no lights and stuff. She used lanterns and she ride horses with buggies on dem,” Ayriss said with excitement. “Right, Lovina?”
I set his cinnamon roll down in front of him. “That’s right, Ayriss.” I hesitantly gave my attention to Erygon. “It’s nice to meet you, Erygon. Your mother has told me so much about you.”
I met Ayriss the second day that I worked in the bakery. She was such a pretty little black girl. I loved it when she came around because she loved my cinnamon rolls and she had a million questions to ask me about being Amish.
“What’s up, Lovina? It’s nice to meet you as well. Thank you for the cinnamon roll. This shit is good as hell,” he complimented.
I smiled before I dropped my head. I didn’t want him to think that I was trying to flirt or something. Not that he would, but I just didn’t want him to think that I was.
He took a bite of the cinnamon roll. He wiped his mouth once he was finished. “So, you’re Amish? I didn’t think that black people were Amish. That’s different.”
“Um, yes, I am. We are not many, but a few of us do exist. Generally, if you’re black and Amish you were adopted into the faith,” I clarified.
Ms. Beauvia put her hands on her hips. “That makes sense. I didn’t know you were adopted, baby.”
My head moved up and down. “Yes, ma’am, I am. I was adopted when I was a few weeks old,” I told her.
“That’s what’s up,” Erygon said. “I guess I’ll see you more often since you work here, beautiful. It’s nice meeting you.”
Ms. Beauvia slapped his shoulder. “Yeah, you’ll see her more. She’s renting the apartment at the house.”
His brow hitched. “Oh, really? That’s interesting to say the least. I think you’re the first person that she’s let rent it out. Usually, it’s for family that visits. She must really like and trust you.”
My head turned to her with a cheesy grin.
I didn’t know that. I assumed she normally rented it out.
It made me feel welcomed and accepted that she was allowing me to stay there.
“Your mother is a true blessing for letting me work here and providing me with a place to stay. If there is nothing else, I’m going to get to it. I have some rolls in the oven.”
My nervousness had me rushing back to the kitchen.
My spirit felt guilty for admiring Erygon.
He had a low haircut and a connecting beard.
In the books that I read on my tablet, that was big turn on for women.
His toffee-colored skin tone was smooth, and he had tattoos everywhere. He was like a book bae.
Oh, Beyuna bought me a brand-new tablet.
This one was way better than the one before.
When I looked it up online, my eyes almost popped out of my head.
It almost cost two thousand dollars. I offered to pay her back, but she said that it was a welcome to Charleston gift.
God had truly blessed me since I’ve been here.
That further let me know that it was God’s will for me to be here.
Let’s Have A Birthday Party . . .
Today was Ayriss’s fifth birthday and it was a big deal!
The way normal black people celebrated birthdays was so different from the way my family did.
On our birthdays, we might get some cookies or a pie.
We would never in life have a party that would make us the center of attention.
It was more like we would have a family game night.
Ironically, I loved the game Dutch Blitz.
It could be fun with how fast-paced it was.
I also liked chess and dominoes. I loved games that were strategic in nature.
I wasn’t allowed to play dominoes anymore because one time when I won, I slammed the dominoes down and jumped up like I’d seen black people on videos do on my tablet.
That had the room silent and drew way too much attention to me, so that was the end of that.
Ms. Beauvia invited the whole family to the party and Ayriss’s class was here too.
Beyuna was even here. I’d missed her. There was music and games.
People were drinking and smoking weed. I noticed that Erygon wasn’t smoking, but he was drinking.
That probably was a good thing that he didn’t smoke since he was a doctor.