I Will Go With You

The author ZA! Rhena Richards remembered, quiet, and solemn times in her life, where her thoughts and focus became clear, as the global pandemic COVID–19 of 2020 ransacked and took hostage all rigorous lives, all lifestyles, and the comforts of "normalcy," but this time, something was very different. She realized she had a purpose and needed to respond.The quiet of her became peaceful, and she took comfort in seeking this in remembrance.––a sullen, tender–aged child sat alone on the veranda of her grandmother's house. As she pined for her mother daily, she gazed into the light blue sky. All of the occupants were inside. She heard a clear audible voice, "Where are you from? What is your name?" She does not answer, but she heard the questions.Returning to the veranda, the following morning, she hears the same clear voice again, ask, "Where are you from? What is your name?" She hears the questions, and again she does not answer, but this time she begins to immediately reflect on the questions, even throughout the night where the windows were open and the house fan span, circulating heat across her skin as the mosquitoes feasted on it.Stooping to sit on the veranda on the new, born, morning, the same voice repeated the questions. Finally responding. She said, "I don't know" (in her head).The soft wind–like voice said, "Go and ask her with the skirt on.""I'm scared," she said, "they don't like me."The clear voice said, "I will go with you. Pull, tug on her skirt." The sullen tender–aged child went inside and looked for her with the skirt and pulled it and asked, "Where am I from? What's my name?"A warm, smiling caramel–colored face embedded with alabaster eyes, shone down, and told her.The little girl walked back outside, poised herself on the steps, and said, "America, Rhena. I want to go to America. My Mommy is there. How do I get there?" In her head the little girl asked and finally smiled.The still, quiet voice said, "I will go with you."

-- ZA! Rhena Richards