Accepting Change , livre ebook

Xlibris US - Walter Cooks Jr.

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

57 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Accepting change is a book with a positive meaning. It is about two young people who reunited later after graduating from high school. Tasha discovered that Raheem have given his life to God and later became a minister. There are situations in the book that accured to where Tasha did see changes in Raheem.
And because of that she made a conscious decision to change her life.

Sujets

Fiction

Informations

Publié par	Xlibris US
Date de parution	24 novembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781669849964
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Accepting Change

WALTER COOKS JR.

Copyright © 2022 by Walter Cooks Jr.

ISBN:
Softcover
978-1-6698-4997-1

eBook
978-1-6698-4996-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/06/2023

Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
847301

One cold December morning, twenty-five-year-old Raheem Jones was staring out of his bedroom window. He watched as the snow fell to the ground. He was listening to Kirk Franklin while dwelling on his big plans to make a difference in his life. Single with no children, Raheem was ready to venture out into the streets of New York. He had to spend this last Christmas with his parents. While leaving the window, he changed the CD to another song.
Raheem was a bright, well-respected brother who many people admired. He was slim and loved to play his favorite sport, which was basketball. As he made his way to the bed, he smelled a good aroma coming through the bedroom door. His mom, Natalie, was cooking Christmas dinner in the kitchen.
“Mmmm, that sure smells good!” Raheem said to himself while listening to his music. He couldn’t help himself; he had to go downstairs and see what his Mom was cooking.
As Raheem entered the kitchen, his mother gazed his way and said, “There goes my baby. Come here and give your mother a kiss.”
So Raheem, without any hesitation, gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. Walking over to a bowl, Raheem said, “Mother, what is this?” while licking the food off of his fingers.
“This is your grandmother’s favorite sweet potato bread.”
“Man, that sure tastes good. By the way, where is dad?”
“Oh he’s stepped out for a moment. He went to pick me up some groceries, but until he comes back, you can stay down here and keep your mother company.”
“OK,” said Raheem while making his way to the cookie jar.
“You and those cookies!” his mother said.
“Well, Mom, you know there are some things people don’t grow out of.”
“Baby, it’s hot here,” his mother said as she pulled back her gray and black dreadlocks. While wiping the sweat from her forehead, she looked at me.
“Mother, you should sit down and take a break,” Raheem said, pulling out a chair for her.
“Well, son, you’re right. I’ll take a break, but I must continue to prepare Christmas dinner. Hand me those collard greens and my wooden bowl.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Raheem and his mother had a deeply close bond because he was an only child. He knew his mother was getting on in years and struggling with high blood pressure.
The phone began to ring. “Who could that be?” asked Raheem while looking at his mother.
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” she replied.
So Raheem walked over to the phone, picked it up, and said, “Hello?”
The person on the other end of the line had a sweet and soft voice.
“Yes. May I speak with Raheem?” she said.
“Well, this is him,” Raheem replied in a deep voice.
“Hello, sweetheart. This is Tasha.”
He paused for a minute, thinking to himself, “Who is Tasha?”
His mother looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Is everything alright, son?”
“Yes, Mother,” he replied while walking into the living room.
“Oh Tasha,” Raheem responded in a surprised voice.
“Yes, this is your old sweetheart you had in high school,” she said.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from you,” Raheem said.
“Yes, it has. I moved here from South Carolina last week, and I was wondering if you and I could get together tomorrow sometime?”
“Sure, that would be nice. I’m having Christmas dinner today with my family, but tomorrow sounds good.”
“Well, I guess I’ll talk to you later,” Tasha replied.
While getting off of the couch, Raheem’s father walked into the house. “Who was that?” he asked while shaking the snow off of his coat.
“Oh it was just Tasha, a girl I used to know from high school.”
“It sure smells good in here!” Raheem’s father said while sniffing.
“Oh, that’s Mommy in the kitchen, cooking her tail off!” Raheem replied, grabbing some bags from his father’s hands as they made their way toward the kitchen.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Raheem’s father said while giving his wife a kiss.
Raheem knew the time would come when he would have to tell his parents about his ministry trip to Texas. He knew, being their only child, that this decision would hurt his parents a great deal, but his father always told him to pursue his dreams no matter what it took. Raheem had never been out of the Bronx after he graduated from high school in South Carolina. He loved living in the Bronx. He would often go down to Fordham Road to shop. However, the phone call from Tasha brought back some fond memories of high school in South Carolina.
Raheem always thought Tasha was a very attractive black sister. She had long, curly hair and a light brown complexion. She stood at 5’6”, and back then, she only weighed 130 pounds. Raheem tried to figure out what Tasha was up to, and he didn’t have the slightest idea.
“Why are you looking so puzzled?” Raheem’s mother asked.
“Oh, nothing, Mother. I’m just thinking about Tasha.”
“That Tasha sure was a nice girl. I remember when you took her to the prom.”
“Excuse me for a minute, Mother. There’s something I need to take care of.”
“OK, son, I’ll call you when the food is done,” she replied.
As Raheem got up from the kitchen table, he knew what he was going to do. When he made his way to his bedroom upstairs, he locked the door behind him. He fell across the bed and picked up the phone to call his Christian brother, Mark.
“What’s up, Raheem?’ Mark said, answering the phone.
Raheem answered, “I’m just relaxing, waiting for Mom Dukes to finish cooking Christmas dinner.”
“So what are your future plans?”
“I plan to attend the ministry school in Texas to advance my calling,” Raheem replied.
“So what does your family think about it?”
“Well, I haven’t brought it to their attention yet, but I have another problem. It’s Tasha,” Raheem replied.
“Brother, don’t tell me she’s in New York after all this time!” Mark said.
“Yes, Mark, she called me a few minutes ago.”
“Well, is she a Christian?” Mark asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t asked her yet, but I do plan to.”
Mark asked, “Raheem, what are you going to do?”
Raheem answered, “I don’t know, my brother. Tasha thinks I’m like those thugs that used to sell dope and drive those fancy cars. I’m a changed man now. I’m a minister working for God.”
Mark replied, “I feel you, my brother, but she must be told as soon as possible.”
“Well, thanks for the conversation, brother,” Raheem said.
“Anytime,” Mark said with a caring voice as he hung up.
After hanging up the phone, Raheem reached for his leather Scoldfield Bible and started reading. Thoughts ran through his mind while pondering the best way to tell her.
Tasha is such a sweet girl, and I know she loves me very much. I wonder if she can accept the fact that I’m a man of God, or will she go her separate way? As he was pondering these thoughts, Raheem’s mother called him to dinner. He went to the restroom to wash his face and hands. He said a quick prayer and made his way downstairs to the kitchen.
To Raheem’s surprise, he couldn’t believe who was sitting at the kitchen table. Even though he couldn’t catch her voice over the phone, he could never forget what she looked like in real life. She had on a silk white and blue sleeveless dress, and her hair was done up in a French roll, which was very attractive. To top it all off, she was wearing White Diamond perfume.
“How did you know where I lived?” Raheem asked.
Tasha replied, “Oh I just asked around in town.”
“Well, I’m glad that you’re here. This is the best Christmas gift ever,” he said, looking at Tasha with a big smile on his face.
At the kitchen table, Raheem’s mother saved him a seat right next to Tasha. The table was covered with all types of soul food like chitlins, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, smoked neck bones, rice, ham, candied yams, collard greens, red velvet cake, and all sorts of drinks. Now it was time to eat, so Mrs. Natalie asked her son to bless the food. The family joined hands as Raheem led the family in prayer.
“Raheem never prayed over his food for as long as I’ve known him,” said Tasha to herself, “I guess it’s a family tradition.” After the prayer was over, Tasha softly whispered in Raheem’s ear, “What’s up with all this praying?”
It caught Raheem so off guard that he stared at Tasha for a few seconds and said, “We’ll talk about this after dinner.”
“OK,” Tasha said with a smile on her face.
“Dear God, please give me the answers to every question that she may ask me,” Raheem mumbled to himself.
“Well, let’s eat,” said Mrs. Natalie while passing food down the table.
There was laughter and good conversation at the table between everyone until Tasha said, “Raheem, do you sell dope for