Dark, angry clouds slowly swallowed the tottering plane. The airplane began to rock, and dip against the turbulent winds. Heavy rain drops violently slammed against the windows. Adrianna’s moist cold hand quivered, and slowly slid down gripping the sides of her seat. Her eyes clasped tight, and her mouth became dry and stuck together.
She attempted to pray, but was unable to articulate a coherent prayer. Adrianna noticed the flight attendants quickly fastening their seat belts, and nervously darting their eyes.Adrianna clinched her fist and desperately searched for words to pray. She could only whisper. “Jesus…Jesus.” The searing emotions of fear and uncertainty gripped Adrianna Williamson’s mind and soul. Her thoughts immediately flooded with the terror of never reuniting with her father.
She often heard stories from her grandmother of how her father once held and sang to her as an infant. However, her memory was vacant of his touch, his expressions, and his voice. Adrianna immediately felt anger and resentment. “What kind of man are you? How could you go this long without seeing me? I’ll be sixteen soon! And…I’m a good student…I even got accepted into Langford!”
The plane immediately dropped in the air, jolting Adrianna in her seat. She was beyond frightened. Adrianna’s anger toward her father suddenly transformed into an undying and unconditional love for a man that she longed to meet.
The turbulent landing into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport set the tenor for Adrianna’s first summer in Atlanta. It was the summer of complete change. The summer Adrianna had hoped to meet her estranged father. The man who abandoned her when she was eighteen months; the man she yearned to meet throughout her entire life. The man whom she still failed to meet despite her summer vacation with her father’s parents on Cascade Road.
Once again, Samuel Williamson shattered his daughter’s heart and hopes when he failed to show up at his parent’s home to reunite with the baby he left so long ago.
Cascade Road was in complete contrast to the chaotic street life of Nazareth Heights. Her grandparents’ neighborhood was serene and pleasant. Sprawling oak trees hung over the sidewalks and front porches, shading the residents from the relentless Atlanta sun.
Bundles of colorful flowers spilled over large clay pots, and sat in the front of each porch. The elderly residents of the neighborhood would spend their lazy, hazy afternoons sitting on their porches; talking and laughing, while observing the passing cars and pedestrians.
The neighbors were always polite and took the time to make eye contact; always saying hello, while giving wide toothy grins. The families that knew the Williamson family never failed to stop Adrianna and shout, “Adrianna is that you girl? I remember you when you were just a little bitty thing. Girl… if you don’t look just like your daddy! he must of spit you right out. Your mama didn’t have nothin to do with that!”
Adrianna thought it was comforting to be surrounded by people who knew her father; but during the course of the summer the comments about her appearance, became irritating and annoying, like a virus that would not go away. Adrianna learned to smile politely, but her thoughts contradicted the pleasant expression on her face: “Don’t they have anything better to say? Don’t they realize that I’ve never even met the man? What about asking me about my grades? or where I‘m from? I’m a straight A student! I’m more than my so called father!”
Upon Adrianna’s arrival in Atlanta she never failed to e-mail Lacey and Bree, eagerly detailing every aspect of her trip. After contacting her Faithful Four Sisters, Adrianna could not wait to send an email to Terrance Francis. Terrance failed to return any of her emails. To avoid feeling hurt by Terrance’s rejection she would tell herself that all of her e-mails were delivered to his spam file.
Throughout the month of August, Bree and Lacey stopped receiving emails from Adrianna. Adrianna Williamson had become completely silent. And no one knew why.
TO BE CONTINUED............Copyright © November (2009) Camille Kleidysz
