“I agree,” Jayden replied, hating himself a little for it. He loved his mother, and it hurt to know she wasn’t capable of taking care of his sweet little sister.
“I know this is a lot for you to handle, Jayden. You got college, football, Kimmie, and now this. Why not just let me take her to court and you can focus on school?”
“Because it doesn’t seem right to take Izzy. Mama won’t negotiate with you. She will…might with me,” Jayden said firmly. “Daddy, she’s got no one to take care of her except those relatives of hers – of mine! – who are making her crazy.”
“If your mama wanted to change, she would. They don’t make her do anything. She’s as messed up as they are.”
A small piece of Jayden knew as much, but she was his mother! How did he walk away from her, after all he’d done to try to help?
“It’s not a problem, Daddy,” he said. “If my way fails, we can try yours. Besides, I don’t have Kimmie to complicate life, so I’ve got an opening for some drama.” He laughed.
“What happened with Kimmie?”
“She’s just too much work.”
His father regarded him for a moment. “Kimmie’s parents are wealthy and well-connected here in town. You’d make a great pair.”
“I’m seventeen. I just want to be a normal teenager. Date other girls without caring how rich their parents are or if they can help your company,” Jayden said, frustrated.
“I don’t want you to make the mistake I did,” his father replied. He considered Jayden for a long moment. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Just don’t lose focus. You’re meant for great things, Jay.”
“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”
His father was quiet, pensive to the point of troubled.
“What’s wrong?” Jayden asked curiously. His dad wasn’t one to dwell on the troubles of life.
“You’re right, Jayden. We do put a lot of responsibility on your shoulders,” his dad answered. “You can handle it all well, but it makes me not want to add to your burden.”
“How so? Are we broke?”
“No.” His dad smiled. “You’re probably not going to want to hear this. It’s one of the reasons I pressure you so much to excel.”
Jayden leaned forward, intrigued by the enigmatic response from the laid-back, technological genius known for wearing jeans and sandals to business meetings.
His father rose and went to his desk, retrieving something from the top drawer. It was small enough for his fist to hide it from view, and Jayden sat on the edge of his seat in anticipation.
“This has been passed down for four hundred years.” His father held out his closed fist.
Jayden glanced at him, unsettled by the grim tone. He held out his hand.
His father dropped an old skeleton key into his palm. At one time, the iron might’ve been smooth, but it was rough now, chipped and rusted, with a dark patina covering what remained of the smooth surfaces.
“I hope this opens a treasure chest,” Jayden said, studying it.
“Not exactly.” His father took it. “This is the family legacy, Jayden, a very dark, horrible, disturbing one. This key went to the set of chains belonging to the first slave our ancestor sold to the Americas.”
Jayden was silent, surprised.
“Once upon a time” his dad flashed a quick smile “about twenty generations ago, an impoverished man in Africa began selling men and women to the Europeans who needed slave labor in the New World. He started with his cousins then the other members of his village and soon expanded his operation to incorporate every village he could reach. He sold tens of thousands of Africans into slavery and killed those who refused to go. He became a very, very wealthy man virtually overnight, sought out by nobility and rich Europeans for his ability to supply human laborers and servants fast, no questions asked. There wasn’t an order too big or unique for him to fill. His sons and their sons – a total of ten generations – followed in his footsteps, selling our people into slavery until the Civil War.”
“You’re serious?” Jayden managed, not expecting to hear such news about his father’s highly respected family.
“Very. He became corrupt with power, influence and riches. His deeds are why no one in our family is named Charles. Somewhere along the line, he crossed paths with one of those backwards types who believed in magic, a woman named Brianne. An alleged curse was placed upon the family, so that every firstborn would die, until ninety-nine had been killed. They say he claims the lives himself. Then, after ninety nine, his penance would be fulfilled.”
After his bizarre dealings with his grandmother, Jayden couldn’t help but laugh. He understood the mystery and myths about voodoo – the tourists they brought in were what helped save New Orleans after the hurricanes hit. But that didn’t mean he believed any of it.
“I know,” his father said, relaxing. “That part of the tale, I don’t believe either. Though I will admit I’m glad you’re number one hundred. My older brother was number ninety-nine and died in a car accident. Got hit by a drunk driver that was certainly not a four hundred year old African.”
“That’s insane, Daddy,” Jayden said.
“Agreed. Your Grandmama Toussaint told me about the curse when I married your mother. Said her spirits told her, and our families were linked. I put as much credence into that as I do any of that superstitious nonsense. How she knew about the unfortunate family business, I don’t know.” He gave the key back to Jayden. “The rest is true, though. This key, the history of our family, all of it.”
Regarding it uneasily, Jayden didn’t let him self imagine who the first slave might’ve been or how many lives this key had condemned. Holding it made his skin crawl.
“I keep waiting for someone to figure it out,” his father continued. “Before me, my family never had national attention. All it takes is one person interested in tracing our roots back to Africa for the family legacy to explode. We’d be expelled from the African American community as a whole and publicly disgraced.”
“I can’t imagine what people would say,” Jayden said, grappling to understand how large and dark the family legacy was. Tens of thousands of lives four hundred years ago could have left millions of descendants today.
“All the more reason for you to pave a new path, the way I have, one that contributes more than our ancestors took away. I started, and you’ll continue.”
“Is it even possible to wipe away such a horrific past?”
“We are not our ancestors. That’s what will save us, if the truth ever comes out.”
“You don’t know that it will.”
“Some secrets are too bad to be kept forever. Your grandmama knows. Others might know, too, and are just waiting to blackmail me or humiliate the family. I don’t know. We have a lot of people watching us, Jayden, a good reason not to draw attention by giving them a reason to dig. Be conservative in everything you do. Don’t give anyone a reason to pry.”
“So I shouldn’t tell anyone,” Jayden guessed.
“It’s up to you. I did tell your stepmother. I think I’ll tell Tara and the twins eventually, so they aren’t blindsided when the truth comes out.”
Jayden said nothing, disgusted by the weight of the key in his hand. School hadn’t even started, and he was overwhelmed.
“You aren’t a technological genius, but you can still pave a pathway few black men have. Graduate first in your class at the academy. Get a scholarship to some big football school with a decent academic program and graduate first there. If you go to the NFL, you’ll be the first in this family and among the greatest black quarterbacks, because you aren’t just athletic – you can think strategically inside the game and in real life. If you take another route, you’ll find a way to be the best. You’ve got my ambition and your mama’s looks. If you remember why you’re doing this, you’ll always find a way to excel and contribute to our community.”