Prelude to a Gift.

Special dedication to my book club sista, Shunda - You HATER! Stop sippin' on the haterade! Don't you know it's bad for the skin!? GEEZ.

Shunda is always talking a load of trash.

The scene: The book club sistas sitting down at the table, fellowshipping over dinner, laughing and having a real nice time... until Shunda starts hatin.

"Come to the sip and si.gn book event, Lee," Shunda says.
"No".
"Why? What are you doing instead?"
"None of your dang bizness."
"Bet if Tay.ari was there, you'd show up." Shunda squints, staring at LadyLee hard from across the table.
*Lee jumps up from table, like Celie did in the Easter Sunday dinner table scene and stabs table in front of Mister (Shunda) with a knife*
"Shut up, Shunda! You always hatin'! Stop it, I say."
(And uh, by the way... what time will Ta.yari be at the event, Shunda?)

Who am I?

The Original Oldgirl LadyLee.

What am I?

I am a Doctor.

(Yeah, I earned the title. I don't use it enough. Gotta throw it around from time to time. Gotta make a note to make sure management is reminded of that. Really though.)

I am a Chemist by profession... The baddest chemist on the planet, man!

But, I have been labeled a fan...

A groupie.

A stalker.

Humph.

I think I need to go look up a few definitions.

*LadyLee slamming unabridged dictionary on dining room table, grabbing a flashlight, and flipping frantically through the thin pages*

Fan: an enthusiastic devotee, follower, admirer, of a sport, past time or a celebrity.

That sounds… sane. Yeah, that’s me. I can be that. I can be a fan.

Groupie: A fan, especially a young woman who follows a rock group on tour.

Nah, I ain’t a groupie. I’m not a young woman. And I don’t follow the rock groups around.

No, I think Tayar.i is holding that label down real tight like, with all this chasing of the Brand New Heavies band all over the planet...

Yeah, we will leave that to her. You do the darn thang, T !!!

Ya frickin' GROUPIE!

Stalker: One who follows or observes (a person) persistently, especially out of obsession or derangement.

“One who follows or observes persistently”- that MAY apply to me, but in a nonthreatening way.

For I am the Speedracer.

and Tayar.i is Racer X…



She is Teacher, and I am Grasshopper…




I silently stand by, pondering,watching, and taking notes on how she does things and put it into practice. I don’t know if that is stalking activity, but hell, it sure thrusts me to another level in my writing.

And Ta.yari's that type, when you say you stranded on the side of the road and need for her to bring a gallon of gas...

Here she comes showing up with a hijacked gas tanker truck.


(Goodness gracious alive).

I'm never obsessed. I have too much on my mind and too much going on.

Shoot, Tay.ari better let an Oldgirl know she in town, because I have the attention span of a flea and don’t pay much attention to what’s going on.

Nope. Not obsessed.

That “derangment” tag… You can keep that… It don’t apply here.

Nope, I’m not a stalker… or a groupie.

But I like that FAN title.

“An enthusiastic devotee, follower, admirer, of a sport, past time or a celebrity…”

I am a true blue fan of Tay.ari Jones, some four years running.

And a true blue fan gives the ultimate gift…

Something unique… something one of a kind.

Hmm… what on earth could THAT be?

Stay tuned.