“If I ever catch you with one of them, I’ll kill ya.”

He was a sailor, he was a patriot, a Catholic, a husband

and a good man. He was a bigot, he was

short tempered and self righteous. He was my father. I knew

for the first time

that he was wrong. My godfather, his brother and his beautiful wife

had been talking. A black boy. A white girl. A neighborhood that was

not color blind.

I was seven years old. He threatened some future me

because he didn’t favor that particular darkness.

At my godfather’s house, the only time I can remember, I threw

the yo yo because it slipped. I was a klutz

with no common sense, and little fear. I plunged my hand

into the prickly bush and discovered too late

the beehive. I could not run fast enough. They stung me

seven times. Once for each year that I had lived

asleep.

© Tina Zabielski 2011-2019