Month / March 2022

by BiSKITs & Gravy

Lost

by S.L. Jordan

Prompt: While spring cleaning you come across something you had forgotten all about.

Baseboards, who cleaned baseboards? Evidently, not I by the looks of it. I foolishly decided that I wanted to do a FULL spring cleaning this year. Not my usual removal of 2 sweaters and dusting, but a “deep down make your grandma proud cleaning”, a “I can eat off ALL your floors cleaning … even in the bathroom.”

Now, two hours into it I was swimming in regret, old letters, and worn out sorority t-shirts, having grown tired of clearing out old journals I decided to clean the walls and baseboards. Did anyone even notice them? And if so, why? It’s the damn baseboards, all this expensive ass black ass art I have on the walls and people want to look at baseboards??? 

Throwing my towel down in exasperation, I went back to the journals. There are boxes and boxes of them. Neatly categorized and organized by age. One split spine stood out from a colorful array of leather bound mini-memoirs. I reached down into the box before settling in the nook of my couch, whose journal was this? I had a penchant for pastel leather bound journals in my childhood, and this cracked crocodile covered one was out of place. I eased open the cover, carefully to protect the binding and any loose papers within. Almost immediately, my heart began to ache. 

This is my story

The handwriting……

It was as familiar as my own scent. 

I spent the last nine months of my grandmother’s life in the home she and my grandfather bought when they migrated from the Geechee Islands.. 

She must have snuck this in with my collection during that time, before she passed, before we knew she was dying.

TO BE CONTINUED …

Authors Note: I love finding out snippets of pieces I started. I’m not sure when I started this piece, but rereading it made me think of my grandmother. So, I’m sure I started this around 2013 because that is when my grandmother passed.

by BiSKITs & Gravy

The Truth Hurts

Tony W.

Have I been telling the story wrong?

mis-remembering 

unanswered calls

promised visits

waiting

still waiting

promised gifts, left here and there, stolen(?)

lost in the mail

always coming

never arriving

graduations – recitals – plays – talent shows – church skits – announcements

Easter/Christmas/Black History speeches and plays

always coming

never arriving

promises of love

empty words

always coming

never arriving

I remember

I

remember

every 

single

time

by BiSKITs & Gravy

Growing Gills

By: IO

The waves rolled in slow and gentle, foaming bubbles lapping at her toes before retreating like a shy child. With her eyes, she followed the retreat over sand and shells, to the beginning of a new ascending peak rolling in. Beyond the crests, the blue of the sky faded into the gray-green of the ocean. The storm was getting closer and when it arrived, her time would be up.

“Are you sure you want to do this Esther?” her aunt had asked, leaning on her forearms on the small round patio table they used as a dining table. Auntie Van hadn’t reached for her hands, but her fingers twitched like she wanted to, like all she wanted was to hold her in place. “You’ll never see me again, nor your cousins, your friends up here. Nothing will be the same.” Auntie Van took a deep breath. “If you choose this, you’ll never be able to come back.”

Esther reached out and grabbed Auntie Van’s hands. “When I dream, I dream of the ocean. Not lounging on the beach like folks used to, before seafolk reclaimed their waters. I dream of being a part of the tides, wavy, more movement than physical form. When I shower now, I am left wanting from the lack of salt. On warm days, when the rains won’t come, I gasp for the moisture lacking in the air. I’m changing. I belong with my mother’s people. As much as I’ll miss you, the family, the land, I’ll never survive up here.”  Esther pulled her hands back first, rubbed her face to halt the stream of tears that threatened to fall. When Esther looked back up at her aunt, the matriarch had just nodded. 

She walked further into the sea, letting it consume her feet, ankles, to her calves and knees. The skin on the sides of her neck fluttered, rippling like a pebble-touched pond. She gasped, and the ripples turned into waves. Again she gasped, air surrounding her but the thickness of it held back the oxygen her body craved. Like a damp washcloth was thrown across her mouth and nose. Toes curled into the sand. She struggled to breath past an intangible barrier. The waves along the side of her neck turned into currents. Big motions that tightened every muscle from her jaw to her chest. Her blood vessels pulsed beneath her skin.

Above her, the sky was grey and heavy. The clouds hung low enough for her to almost touch them, if she unearthed her feet and stood on her toes, stretched her arms high above her head, fingers extended. Almost. The swells pressed harder against her but she did not lose her balance, swaying with the motion as the water lifted her from the ground. She lowered her arms, touched her soles back down to the earth.

Esther drifted further, to stand chest deep. Stronger surges threw saltwater into her mouth and eyes, but it did not sting. She was changing, faster than her body wanted. It was accustomed to a slower development, but this wet day would be her last as the girl she was, one way or another.

Again she gasped, tides persisting as water submerged her. The fluttering turned into a torrent and the skin on the sides of her neck opened, three lines on each side, flaring open and falling gently closed. She breathed.

by BiSKITs & Gravy

Terra Spirit – Part 4

by K. Osorio-Teamer

This is a WIP. Here’s Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 3.5 so you can catch up!

“Ok so then what?” Eli’s mouth hung open, ready to ingest more chisme and cheetos. 

“We were there for 7 more minutes when the Lyft driver called.” A prickly warmth enveloped Olivia’s face at the memory. 

“Oooh seven minutes in heaven. Cochina!” Elisa cackled in joy. “Aja and then?”

“That’s it. I snuck into the house last night and left before my mom got out of the shower. I didn’t feel like the lecture.” 

“Oh, don’t worry. She’ll give that lecture to you the next time she sees you. She probably added three or four more points to cover while you avoided her.” Olivia checked her phone for any possible calls from her mom, but none yet. She must be really mad. Olivia had sent the usual text after getting off work and her mom had replied with an “ok.” That’s it. No 500 heart emojis, as was customary. Now an hour after getting off, still no calls from her mom. This was also unusual. Normally by 5pm, Olivia’s mom would call to ask if she’d be home to eat dinner. Food would need to wait a little longer anyway. She had some uncomfortable amends to make. 

“I’d better get going. I want to stop by and see Mr. Dario.”

“I hope you’re not doing another tierra spirits thing.”

“Terra Spirit. It’s called Terra Spirit and no. I’m just going to apologize as many times as it takes. I don’t want to go, but I need him to know how much I respect and love Ms. Dario.” Eli pulled Olivia close and held her as they sat on the bed.

“I hope you’re not getting cheeto dust on me,” Olivia laughed. As she drove downtown to Mr. and Mrs. Dario apartment complex, she replayed the past few days in her head. She wished she could talk to one person about everything, and Olvia knew two things: 1. That person would know exactly what Olivia should do, and 2. That person was Ms. Dario. 

*************************

Olivia followed Mr. Dario on foot to the south side of town. She didn’t come here often, so it looked even more mysterious at night. Despite her fears, she felt this uncontrollable curiosity. Mr. Dario’s strange outburst during Olivia’s visit had stuck with her. Now here she was, watching him walk towards the only lighted doorway in the dark alley.  

After apologizing for the scene she and Arturo had made at the wake, Mr. Dario welcomed Olivia in for coffee. They had met many times at the clinic. He wasn’t as social as his wife, so he would sit in the lobby or in the patient room with a book and only pull his eyes away when Ms. Dario would ask him a question. Book or no book, he always laughed at her jokes. In all the time Olivia knew the couple, he had never missed an appointment with her. The reality was hitting her again. This lovely man’s pain had to be worse than what Olivia was feeling.  

They spoke about Ms. Dario, swapping memories and sipping their coffee until falling silent. Olivia took this as her queue to leave. Grabbing her purse, she said, “I should get going.”  

“Oh, so soon?” Mr. Dario replied politely as he got up to lead Olivia to the door.  

On her way out, Olivia noticed a Terran mask on a table. It was stunningly bright, with feathers in jet black, yellow, and lime green. The beak was just as eye catching with more shades of green than she could possibly name. She tried to walk towards the door, but her feet were taking her closer to the table. To the mask. The mask.  

“It’s beautiful,” she heard herself say before Mr. Dario’s scream got her attention.  

“Don’t touch it!” Olivia jumped at his shout. She had never seen him so angry. He closed his eyes and took a breath. “I’m sorry, it was hers.” 

“No, I’m so sorry. I’ll just let you get some rest.” She scurried out the door like a mouse, trying to disappear as quickly as possible. She stood outside of the building trying to catch her breath and make sense of what had just happened. When she had finally felt normal again and was heading to her car, she noticed Mr. Dario leaving with a bundle under his coat. When Olvia saw the flash of green, she knew she had to follow. Her feet were doing the thinking again.  

She approached the door and did her best impression of a spy as she slid as close as possible to the walls. She heard voices nearby. She crouched and poked her head slightly into the doorway.  

“Ya, Olivia! Stop playing around and get in here.” A familiar voice chastised her.  

“Ms. Dario?!” 

She was alive.  

“I’ve been waiting for you to get with the program, niña! I couldn’t believe it took you this long to find your way to me.” 

Olivia looked Ms. Dario up and down, but she was too shocked to move in for a closer inspection. Arabela “Alive and Living” Dario was in a long black dress embroidered with matching feathers. She donned her favorite scarf. How she and the scarf made their way from the funeral home to this room was still a mystery. The tropical bird mask sat perfectly on her face, recreating her sharp cheekbones. The lime green of the beak leading to her deep brown eyes. It was her.  

“Hello? Me oíste? Are you listening?”  

“Yes,” Olivia managed to utter the syllable. Ms. Dario was unchanged. No glossy eyes, decaying skin, or stink of rot. She wasn’t a zombie, but there was some woo woo shit happening here. Olivia wanted to run. She didn’t know if it would be to Ms. Dario or away from her. Either way her feet had merged to the floor. She would stay frozen forever to the spot staring at her not so dead mentor.  

“Viejo, close the door.” Olivia’s heart rampaged in her body, desperately screaming for her to move.  

“Please don’t. I have to-,” Her attempted protest was interrupted by Mr. Dario’s slam of the door.  

“You have to stay. You shouldn’t have come alone, though. You know our rules: Travel in community. Always work together.” 

“Ms. Dario,” Olivia was slowly waking up from her shock, “why are you quoting Terra Spirit to me? And why are you even LIVING?” Ms. Dario put her hands to her chest, completely caught off guard by Olivia’s nerve. 

“You were sweeter when I was alive.”  

“So you ARE dead?”  

“He’s here, Ari. Should I let him in?” Mr. Dario said sweetly. Olivia wasn’t sure how much longer she’d make it through whatever the hell was happening. Adding more people to this circus could only make things worse. Was she dead already? Or maybe it was coma.  

With a nod from his love, Mr. Dario slowly turned the handle and jerked it open swiftly. Arturo hit the floor. The only thing worse than the heavy thud of his body slamming on the cement ground, was the look of horror on Arturo’s face.  

“Olivia!” he whispered shakily as he dashed next to the ice statue previously known as Olivia. The door closed again, and Ms. Dario set her eyes on the frightened pair. Olivia felt the glare passing through her skin.  

“What do you want from us?” Olivia feigned confidence. Ms. Dario met her eyes and Olivia felt the fear melt away.  

“I want you to feel and remember.” The mesmerizing mask and the voice behind it faded as Olivia found herself at the nursing station at work, looking up at Ms. Dario, who was hanging over the counter chatting. Then she was in the hallway while Ms. Dario hooked her thinning arm around Olivia’s, walking as if they were grandmother and granddaughter on a stroll. It got harder to see as tears crashed against Olivia’s eye lids. Someone placed their hands on her arms, and she allowed herself to be held.  

“Oh shit, you’re hugging?” Arturo whispered. “What are you doing to her?” He demanded the darkness surrounding them.  

“She’s feeling her love for me. Her grief. The wave will subside, it always does.” Ms. Dario’s voice calmed Olivia. Her sobs softened into silent tears.  

“How did you do it? How did you MAKE me feel?” Olivia walked closer to her alleged mentor. “Who are you?”  

“I am Arabela Dario, your terra spirit.” 

Arturo screeched an unnatural laugh.