Fiction
Zoe keeps telling me to mind my own damn business, but I can’t. I am actually concerned about our big sister Zeldah. It’s not like Zeldah grew up with lots of trauma or in a broken family home. Our mom is a scientist, and our dad is a very well-defined retired federal judge. All he does is buys up property and gets on my mom’s nerve. We have always had the best times together. I’d even say the best childhood. We are an upper middleclass family. I’ve always looked up to Zeldah. Zoe looks up to Zeldah too! We are only 8 years apart. Zoe and I are twins. We are 31. Zeldah is almost 40 and our brother is 45. Zaire is the oldest. He is a corporate lawyer. We all reside in Chicago except Zeldah. She moved to Washington D.C. for law school and remained there. She has a lucrative career. She is a civil litigator. Zeldah is so good that other firms request her to help out with their cases. She specializes in intellectual property, also civil and human rights. Zoe and I are married. Zaire is finally engaged. Zeldah is still single. This is where the problem is. I used to be the talk of the town when I dropped out of law school. I did go back, and I graduated. I'm a professor and corporate lawyer. Now our family only gossips about Zeldah. Zoe and I used to fly to Washington DC every month for the last 10 years faithfully to do a sisterly hang out with our big sister Zeldah. Sometimes Zeldah would fly to Chicago twice a month on the weekends to hang out with us. It didn’t matter how busy we all were. We made time to hang out together at least three times a month. I really miss that. Shoot!
Someone in our family who lives in DC told our immediate family how recklessly Zeldah was on the dating scene. It got back to Zeldah and she was like, super defensive about it. She is aware that we all know. The rumors were that she was dating and sleeping around with multiple men. My husband said it's her business and she is a grown woman but still, I want her to be safe and careful. She was always the modest good-girl type. Now her entire persona has changed. Zeldah looks different. Her body is solid. She is working out a lot. She talks different and has a lot of new friends that our family do not care for. We don't know these new people. Zeldah even walks differently. I don’t know what happened to her. I hope she is not on drugs. My husband said she is too sophisticated to ruin her career by doing drugs. He says she is just experiencing the freedom of being a woman who no longer suppresses her sexuality. I couldn't believe he said that. Zeldah recently stopped meeting us for our sisterly weekend hangouts. Zoe acts like it's no big deal. Does she even care? Zeldah stopped hanging out with all of her closes friends in Chicago because she felt they were trying to analyze her life. Our family did not speak to them about her, so I don’t know where that came from. At least I sure didn’t. If Zeldah shared anything with them, that’s on her. I am learning that you cannot share all things with all people, whether they are family or friends. I actually learned that from Zeldah. Learning how to be quiet and live in silence is pure gold. Hush. Don't say too much.
Against all odds and my husband’s better judgment, I called Zeldah. I asked her, “Hey girl, how are you? I haven’t heard from you in a while Zeldah. How are you doing, Zeldah?” Why, oh why did I say that to her. I promise I wasn’t trying to pry. I was genuinely only concerned about her. Zeldah replied, Why the f*ck do you want to know how I’m doing. It is none of your f*cking business how I am doing.” I was so not ready for how she responded. I was gobsmacked. Yes, my feelings were hurt. Zeldah has always had such a huge vocabulary in expressing herself without using profanity. I even teared up. I have never heard Zeldah use such perverse words. I quickly went to the word of God because that is how we were raised. I read out loud Proverbs 15:1 to her. Then she said, “F*ck you, Zena. You are exclusively excused from knowing my feelings or any of my business.” Then, Zeldah said goodbye and hung up the phone on me.
I should have listened to my husband. I only made it worse. She called our mom and dad and told them she won’t be able to come this year for Christmas. We all love celebrating together. It’s a family tradition that we take much love and pride in. I feel very bad. Zeldah was always so funny and motivational. Her advice as a big sister was always on point. Holidays won't be the same without Zeldah. You know Christmas is next week, and she might not be at our table. Maybe Zeldah will change her mind. Zoe said, “I told you to leave it alone. You already know how Zeldah is. We grew up with Zeldah. If Zeldah wants to be wild and get her freak on, that’s her business. Just pray for her. Give her some space." Zoe is so right. This is such an uncomfortable situation for me and our entire family. There is really nothing else I can do. Please God turn it all away around. I am not excited about Christmas this year.
Someone in our family who lives in DC told our immediate family how recklessly Zeldah was on the dating scene. It got back to Zeldah and she was like, super defensive about it. She is aware that we all know. The rumors were that she was dating and sleeping around with multiple men. My husband said it's her business and she is a grown woman but still, I want her to be safe and careful. She was always the modest good-girl type. Now her entire persona has changed. Zeldah looks different. Her body is solid. She is working out a lot. She talks different and has a lot of new friends that our family do not care for. We don't know these new people. Zeldah even walks differently. I don’t know what happened to her. I hope she is not on drugs. My husband said she is too sophisticated to ruin her career by doing drugs. He says she is just experiencing the freedom of being a woman who no longer suppresses her sexuality. I couldn't believe he said that. Zeldah recently stopped meeting us for our sisterly weekend hangouts. Zoe acts like it's no big deal. Does she even care? Zeldah stopped hanging out with all of her closes friends in Chicago because she felt they were trying to analyze her life. Our family did not speak to them about her, so I don’t know where that came from. At least I sure didn’t. If Zeldah shared anything with them, that’s on her. I am learning that you cannot share all things with all people, whether they are family or friends. I actually learned that from Zeldah. Learning how to be quiet and live in silence is pure gold. Hush. Don't say too much.
Against all odds and my husband’s better judgment, I called Zeldah. I asked her, “Hey girl, how are you? I haven’t heard from you in a while Zeldah. How are you doing, Zeldah?” Why, oh why did I say that to her. I promise I wasn’t trying to pry. I was genuinely only concerned about her. Zeldah replied, Why the f*ck do you want to know how I’m doing. It is none of your f*cking business how I am doing.” I was so not ready for how she responded. I was gobsmacked. Yes, my feelings were hurt. Zeldah has always had such a huge vocabulary in expressing herself without using profanity. I even teared up. I have never heard Zeldah use such perverse words. I quickly went to the word of God because that is how we were raised. I read out loud Proverbs 15:1 to her. Then she said, “F*ck you, Zena. You are exclusively excused from knowing my feelings or any of my business.” Then, Zeldah said goodbye and hung up the phone on me.
I should have listened to my husband. I only made it worse. She called our mom and dad and told them she won’t be able to come this year for Christmas. We all love celebrating together. It’s a family tradition that we take much love and pride in. I feel very bad. Zeldah was always so funny and motivational. Her advice as a big sister was always on point. Holidays won't be the same without Zeldah. You know Christmas is next week, and she might not be at our table. Maybe Zeldah will change her mind. Zoe said, “I told you to leave it alone. You already know how Zeldah is. We grew up with Zeldah. If Zeldah wants to be wild and get her freak on, that’s her business. Just pray for her. Give her some space." Zoe is so right. This is such an uncomfortable situation for me and our entire family. There is really nothing else I can do. Please God turn it all away around. I am not excited about Christmas this year.
Zeldah Has Definitely Changed
Wow! What if people weren't so politically correct when you asked them a simple question like, "How are you. How are you doing." What would you do if they did not respond the way people in society often does? Regardless of what is going on in a person's life, they play along. Even if they are not fine, or okay, they don't tell you that. They say, "I'm fine. I'm good. I'm great." Some folks even say, "I'm so blessed." The truth is that most people really do not want to know how you are really doing. It's just a phrase most of us are accustomed to saying. What could you do, if they kept it real and told you? Nothing right. You probably would just pray for them. Well, just pray for them. Could those phrases be overrated? I'm just asking.
What if you asked someone those questions and they said, "None of your damn business how I am doing. F*ck you want to know, for?" A lot of folks would totally be in shock and not like that response. Just like the character Zena (sister) was in this fiction story. I would not ask them that question anymore if it was me.
What if you asked someone those questions and they said, "None of your damn business how I am doing. F*ck you want to know, for?" A lot of folks would totally be in shock and not like that response. Just like the character Zena (sister) was in this fiction story. I would not ask them that question anymore if it was me.
