Kiki Lyles

Tru Love

Mom and I lived with Grandma Grace for eight months after she became sick and that brought us closer. I was a shy fifteen-year-old, and like most girls my age, boy crazy. My skin was dark chocolate, with deep brown eyes and short kinky hair. Although I had crushes throughout junior high and high school, my shy nature never seemed to attract their attention. One day I went to knock on Grandma Grace’s door to have one of our long conversations. She often told me about life growing up in a small town in Alabama. While sitting in her room, she proceeded to tell me a beautiful story of how she and my grandfather met. At the end of the story, I asked, “Grandma Grace, what's the secret to finding your true love?” My grandma laughed and asked, “Dashia, girl, what do you know about love?” She coughed a few times and said to me, “Well, hunny, a woman should always smell pleasant, be nicely dressed, hair neatly done but let me teach you about the “true love” my mama taught me before she died. I was only eight years old when my mama spoke her last words to me.” “I even wrote it down.” “Child, open the top drawer to the right on my dresser and pass me that little black book sitting at the top there,” Grandma Grace said. I did as my Grandma Grace asked and she opened the little black book. My grandma then began to cough uncontrollably and dropped the book. I stood up from beside her and began to pat her back. My mother, who heard the coughing from the kitchen, came in and asked me to go to the kitchen and watch the food she was cooking on the stove while she attends to Grandma Grace. Two days later, Grandma Grace died but I never forgot what she told me, “A woman should always smell pleasant, be nicely dressed and hair neatly done.” Although, I was a bit curious about what my great-grandma told my grandmother, written down in that little black book. At that time, it wasn’t important enough for me to look through Grandma Grace’s things to find the old book.