Prologue. The Bonding
Eric’s POV:
It is complicated. There is nothing typical about our relationship. I can’t remember when it all started, this "special" friendship, I mean. I remember that at age five, she was right by my side. I remember that day as if it was yesterday. How do I remember you ask? I remember her tiny face cradled beneath a headful of bouncy brown curls and eyes like stars shone brightly up at me. I turned five that day, so she had to be just a baby. The birthday gift she carried was twice as big as her, but she insisted on carrying it and giving it to me.
I remember the soccer ball she gave me for my birthday…a gift I cherished to this day. I love playing soccer. On our small Caribbean island, what else was there for a young boy to do but play ball, be it soccer or Cricket?
This was before the infamous war began…the war between the Willbrooks and Johnsons. Yes she was there for my fifth birthday, and after that she was always there…at least until my mother decided that she no longer wanted to live near the Johnsons.
Yes my special friend Tanya was a Johnson and my family...the Willbrooks decided that they hated all Johnson. I still don’t know why. But I do know that the Willbrooks and Johnsons were pretty much on opposite end of the spectrum on what was important in life...one valued Money the other Character.
Yes...If I recall correctly, it was her eyes that drew me to her. Her eyes were different from any I had ever seen.They seem to change color depending on her mood...like a kaleidoscope. Yes I believe it was her eyes. But I can’t deny this profound pull she has on me from as far back as I can remember. This is not your typical love story, but it is our story. Yes very complicated.
Tanya’s POV:
I can’t remember when it all started. All I know, he was always there for all my “firsts”…this person, small in size, but big in heart…always there protecting me, catching me when I stumble and before I fall, sharing everything he owned with me. He was my hero always showing up when I needed him.
Now I can laugh about it, but at five years old there was nothing funny about it. For the longest time I thought he was just like me…a girl. I guess it was because we both wore shorts and tee shirts and his hair was as curly and bouncy as mine. He was gorgeous. He had the most beautiful head of hair...jet black and silky. I just wanted to touch it.
He didn’t look like my brother Kenny or any of the other boys in the neighborhood. He was a pretty boy or he was pretty for a boy, but tough. He never cried, not once when he got hurt…which was often trying to save me from harm.
But he sure set me straight that day when I tried to braid his hair and put ribbon in it. “Boys don’t wear their hair like that.” He said in an unrecognizable tone. I was shocked speechless, but even if my tongue could move, I knew better than to tell him that I thought all along that he was a girl…My bad, Major blunder.
I was about six when things changed. My parents didn’t want him around anymore. I believe that was when the war between our families started.But he was my friend and nothing was going to stop me from being his friend…nothing.
There was this special bond from the beginning. It was as if our minds were locked and linked in some supernatural way...as if we were fated to be together. He knew when I needed him and he always showed up until...he didn’t. Yes, it is complicated.
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SUMMER 1976:
Tanya had news when she met Eric at their secret meeting place by the river. “My Mom is having a new baby; I hope it’s a girl.” Tanya was all excited. Eric didn’t care.
“Are we still going to have lots of babies with us on the moon?” Tanya asked innocently.
Eric had promised that they would move to the moon to get away from their parents, whom they thought were mean for not wanting them to play together anymore. It was not fair Eric thought that they had to hide to play together. Going to the moon fascinated Tanya and that was all she wanted to talk about.
Eric looked at Tanya. He knew at this point that going to the moon was just a fantasy. He thought they were definitely not on the same level anymore, yet he could not stay away from her. At now eleven he already knew how babies were made and where they came from, but Tanya would never hear it from him. All that pain just to have a stinking kid, no he did not want that for her.
He was old enough to understand that soon their age difference would be a problem for them. He was maturing at a much faster pace than she was, but he had hope that as they grew older it would not matter much. His Uncle explained that to him. He heard very little of what Tanya was saying as his mind wondered back to what his uncle said.
Eric was so happy that his favorite uncle was finally home from college so he could talk to him. But when Eric articulated this new feeling he was having for this little girl, his Uncle Linden laughed.
Eric did not like that. Linden quickly wiped the grin from his face when he saw how serious Eric was. Linden explained to Eric that by the time he turned eighteen, this girl would be fifteen or sixteen and would understand these feelings too and maybe even feel the same about him too.
"The three years difference will not matter in six years Eric and all the frustration you feel now will dissipate. But in six years, you might lose interest in this girl. She might not be so cute anymore, or you might be interested in other girls. There are tons of pretty girls out there little man."
"I don't care care about other girls. I only care about her."
Linden looked at his nephew in awe. "You sure you are eleven? And who might this girl be anyway?"
"Just a girl from my school." Eric said as he ran off.
That made Eric feel so much better. He could already imagine how pretty Tanya would be at fifteen.
Tanya pushed at Eric. “What is the matter? You are not answering me.” She pouted.
Eric didn't even realize that his mind had wondered off again.
“Sorry. What did you say?"
"The babies...I want to have babies with us on the moon."
"Why do you want them? All they do is cry, eat and shit."
"Don't say shit. Say pooh. And I love babies. Please Eric."
"Okay, you can have one when you get bigger. You are too little to have babies now.”
“How big?” Tanya asked.
Eric was getting bored listening to her childish garb.
“I don’t know, when you are big like my cousin Jessica, I guess.”
Tanya smiled. “That’s really big.”
“Yea, but you will be much prettier.” He grabbed a candy from the bag Tanya had.
Tanya could not wait to get big so she could go live with Eric on the moon.
******
The end of that summer, however, was a turning point for Eric and Tanya and for their special friendship. Just before Tanya’s ninth birthday that summer, Eric rode his brand new shiny red bike over to the local playground where Tanya was playing softball with a group of girls. She saw him and immediately ran to him. She smiled and gently touched his bike.
“Don’t touch it; you will get it all dirty.”
Tanya quickly pulled her hand away. “It’s very pretty and shiny; I love it. Can I ride it?”
“No!” Eric snapped. On seeing the hurt look in her eyes, he tried to soften the blow.
“It’s a boy's bike and way too big for you; you will fall off and hurt yourself.”
“I am not little anymore. I am going to be nine soon.” Tanya boasted.
“I know; here this is for you.” He gave her a carving made from coconut shell.
Tanya looked at the carving and smiled. It had a carving of a boy towering over a little girl with a heart separating them. Eric asked her if she knew what the carving meant. Tanya knew what that carving represent.
“It means that you love me and I love you,” she smiled innocently.
“Yes. I love you and I always will. Always remember that.” Eric said sounding more like a man than an eleven year old boy.
Tanya examined the carving closely. "Did you make it?"
Eric nodded his head yes.
"Is it for my birthday?" And again he nodded his head yes.
Tanya clutched the carving in her tiny hands. "Thank you,"
"Do you like it?" Eric asked.
Tanya smiled at him as she clutched it to her heart. "I love it and I will keep it for ever and ever." That made Eric happy.
Eric asked if she was having a birthday party. Tanya nodded her head yes. It saddened Eric knowing that again he would not be invited to Tanya’s party that year, since their parents were still not on speaking terms.
“Why do you look so sad? Is it because you are not coming to my party?”
Eric scowled. “I am not sad and that’s a stupid party anyway.”
Tanya looked away sad that he thought her party was stupid.
“What’s wrong?” Eric asked.
“You are being mean again. My party is not stupid. Most of my friends will be there and my Gammie is coming too. You are just mad because you are…not coming.”
She saw the look on his face and she felt sorry for saying that. “I am sorry Eric…I just wish…”
“It's ok, happy birthday.” He cut her off. He did not want her to feel bad because he was not invited to her party.
Tanya smiled at him and he smiled back.
“I am not a baby anymore, I am turning nine and soon I will be as big as you are.” Tanya told Eric.
Eric was not impressed. He looked at her and shook his head. He did not see the possibility of her ever being as big as he was.
“You are a girl; you will never be as big as I am.”
"That is okay as long as we will always be friends."
Eric looked away, but not before Tanya saw the tears glistening in his eyes.
"Whats wrong?"
Then Eric dropped the bombshell that would turn their lives up side down for a long time.
“I can’t see you anymore,” Eric told her.
"You mean today?"
He looked away not being able to face her. "No forever."
“Why would you say that?! You are being mean again!” She was apparently very upset that she would never see her best friend again.
“No, I am not being mean,” he snapped at her.
Then seeing the sadness in her eyes, Eric explained that he was going away to boarding school. She asked if he would be home so they could go mango picking. Mango picking at Mango Walk was something they looked forward to during the summer months. Mango walk was a place with miles and miles of mango trees with all different kinds of mangoes.
He told her that he would not be back, because he was moving far away.
“I am never going to see you again?” She asked in an almost whisper, her lips trembling.
Eric looked at his best friend and saw the profound sadness in her eyes. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. He felt the tears welled up in his own eyes and his heart felt broken. He wondered if he would ever see her again.
“I don’t know. My Mom doesn’t like it here anymore; she wants us to move to a new house nearer to my new school,” Eric tried to explain to her. He hated that boarding school already. He did not want to go.
“Don’t be sad; and I don’t want you to cry either, I will come back; I will come back for you. I promise.” Eric tried to console her.
Eric reached over and quickly gave Tanya a peck on her cheek. Tanya gently touched her cheek as she stood there and watched as Eric rode out of her life.
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