Lady Blues - The Series

There was something about Ray Quinn's 'New York New York' that got Serwaa up on her feet and dancing. She was normally a Hiphop person but the tune was reminiscent of old love stories that never grew stale. It reminded her of New York and even though she had never been, it made her miss the busy streets, the side walks, the food stands and everything that came with New York.

She danced around her apartment as if in preparation for the finale of a big show. She would have moments like these were she enjoyed life. It made up for the those days were she would hug her sheets all day and eat once a day. In those moments, she felt she could do this. She felt like she could really be great like her mother had dreamt of or she would really find love like she deserved.

She powdered her face ever so slightly so her looks were subtle. She didn't want to appear like she was trying too hard so she powdered it, threw a touch of lip gloss and for a moment she could feel she was beautiful. For moment, she saw a cute chubby face in the mirror smiling back to making her light up.

Her phone buzz interrupts her pep up talk. She takes glance. It's her alarm because God forbid that anyone would call her. It's 7:30 p.m. "Shit!" she says and dashes out the door, walking and running to the Ubahn station angry at herself for being late once again. She was able to make it right before the train closed it's everlasting doors. Phew! Thank God! Her roommate, Kelsey would have been so upset. She'd promised her she'd try a bit harder at being more conscious like the burden of blackness didn't weigh her down enough that she had to promise to be weighed down by the distraction of the earth as well but this was her trying. This was her trying to live outside of her head for once and maybe it meant doing white people shit but at least she was trying.

The seminar was titled 'Closer to earth'. It was supposed to give the closure one needed as mother nature falls apart. It was an absurd combination of privilege and too much knowledge. One that just felt uncomfortable to Serwaa as she took in the irrelevant information of the speaker on stage. She couldn't. She walked out thirty minutes after she had gotten there thirty minutes late. Normally, she was one to sit through this kind of thing and be polite but something just got off her seat that night.

The hallways were practically empty except for the stand endorsed with pamphlets set next to the door. She flirted with the idea of picking up one graciously just so the lady sitting behind the desk didn't feel bad but she just couldn't. She grabbed her coat and headed on outside and that's when she met her - bent up on the staircase, smoking a rolled up cigarette looking into space.

'A load of bullshit, huh?' she said.