Egypt
"Lil behbe?"
I glanced up at Chance. We were holding hands walking around the fair. We both split up the two groups and met by the ferris wheel.
“Yes?” I answered.
“Leggo get on the wheel,” he replied, guiding me to the ferris wheel.
Ion know ‘bout y’all but I’m not too fond of ferris wheels. I feel like I’m gone fall when the seat rocks back and forth. Then the patience to be on one is something I don’t have. I can’t stand sitting for long periods of time. I looked at Chance. The look on my face told it all.
“Lil behbe is you scared of the wheel?” Chance chuckled.
I glared at him then stopped walking.
“I’m not scared. I just don’t like getting on them. They just don’t sit well with me,” I corrected him.
“So you scared? That’s okay lil behbe. I’ll protect you. Can you please just get on for me?” he pouted.
I thought for a minute, agreeing to get on. We continued our short walk to the line. I stared at the swinging seats of the ride. Chance lucky I like him cause I would be sitting down eating a funnel cake. He ‘bout to get me like two of them just for making me get on this ride. When we got to the front of the line, Chance had to carry me onto the ride. He sat next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer. I felt a little bit safer. Looking out at the beautiful skyline, I relaxed into Chance’s embrace. He smelled good.
“Baby you smell good,”I hummed laying my head on his shoulder.
“Thank you behbe,” he said.
His cologne distracted me from the swaying of the seat. We jolted back as the wheel began moving. I started to play with Chance’s thick fingers as I tried to distract myself from the ride. He noticed how I tensed up as we moved.
“How’s college been?” he asked.
“It’s challenging but I like challenging. I graduate next June,” I answered.
“Well you only got a couple more months,” he said.
I nodded as the ride came to a halt. I sighed and looked up from chance’s fingers and into the night sky. We had been up here all day for the kids. They wanted to wear them out before they got home.
“Have you talked to your family?” he asked.
“I talked to my mama like yesterday morning. And I talked to Jacob’s mama this morning. I don’t know too much of my family outside of that,” I said.
“What ‘bout your dad?” he asked.
I smiled at the thought of my dad.
“My daddy passed away when I was 15,” I sighed.
“Do you mind me asking what happened to him?”
“It’s fine. He didn’t get murdered or anything. He just passed away from old age. My daddy was in his 50’s when he met my mama. Mama was only 23 then but she was in love so it didn’t really matter. She had me when she was 30. I always loved being under my daddy. He was the greatest man I knew. I loved him so much that it hurt to see him dying in that hospital bed. He used to tell me that he can’t wait to see me walk across the stage and down the aisle. He wanted to do so much for us before he passed but he was just getting older and sicker. The day he died was so sad. My mama and I both broke down. It was so hard for us to function. If it wasn’t for Jacob and his mama I swear we would still be moping around that house,” I told him with tears streaming down my face.
