BONNIE
Chapter One — A Child of Promise
On a cold and wintry day on November 8th, 1948, Lula Mae Knight and Barney Knight of Baconton, Georgia, welcomed, announced, and celebrated the arrival of their new little bundle of joy. Bonnie Ruth Knight was born, weighing in at 9 lbs. 6 oz. Baconton was a small town located in the southwestern portion of the state—a town wherein everyone knew everyone. With a general population under 15,000 residents according to the Georgia Census Bureau, it may have been small in geographical size, but the people thereof had very big-sized, kind, and generous hearts.
In the 1940s and 1950s, racial division was a most common practice amongst Southerners. Businesses, school districts, work environments, and even homes were segregated during these times. The only time these people mixed and mingled was during and in between the times Black laborers worked in southern cotton and tobacco fields. The owners of these acres of land understood and witnessed the unremarkable and miraculous work ethic of the Black population of these times. So, in exchange for hard physical and manual labor, the people who tirelessly worked for the cotton and tobacco industries earned an almost decent amount of money weekly for their labor contributions—in fact, a minuscule salary that forced these workers to not miss a day of work. They were given just enough to live on. A no-show would result in not having enough money to put towards a bill.
White business owners were reluctant to purchase expensive machinery like cotton plows, tractors, and other tools and much-needed equipment. These owners lived by the old saying: "If it ain't broke, then why bother fixing it?!" In their minds, they felt: Why buy all those overpriced machines when we have the mechanical ability to perform these duties twice as efficiently, effectively, and expediently as these new and modern technological advancements? In the war of man versus machinery, man claimed the victory in this particular era. Providing jobs for the less prominent and prestigious members of society was a deed in which white business owners were quite proud of due to the surge in the skyrocketing economy.
Nevertheless, with little to no formal education and schooling, Barney Knight had very few options as to choosing or deciding his specialty of work. His decision was to be a field hand, or else enlist in the United States Army. Barney loved his wife and his daughter so much and just could not quite come to terms with being away from them on assignments and long, wearisome deployments. A field hand was his means to produce a source of steady income for his family. His wife, Lula, had gained a job working for a well-distinguished, married white couple of high society as a housekeeping maid. Barney and Lula were forced to pool their incomes together in an effort to live and survive.
Their daughter, Bonnie, was their pride and joy. They thought it would be best to invest what little extra money they had into Bonnie's education so she would not have to execute menial labor in return for a fraction of a paycheck. Bonnie quickly excelled through pre-K schooling and kindergarten with an innate academic ability. The teachers marveled over Bonnie's ability to learn and catch on to whatever homework, task, or assignment she was given so effortlessly.
At just the tender age of six, Bonnie proved to be quite an inquisitive and spontaneous child. She was super smart and keenly receptive to her surroundings. Back in those days and times, she would have been hailed as 'Most Popular' student categorically. Bonnie's classmates had become attached and drawn to her charismatic, likeable, free-spirited personality. She had truly become a people person by far, who always seemed to display genuine acts of concern and kindness, even when she was too young to fully realize or acknowledge the impact the warmth and compassion of her words or actions brought to her peers. A beautiful aura radiated from Bonnie; her heart, thoughts, actions, and deeds were divine.
Being popular brought about a level of attention from little boys that was innocent in its nature, but also strikingly noticeable as well. Bonnie became the center of attention way too soon and way too often. This, in turn, manufactured an element of jealousy and enviousness from most of her girlfriends, but especially at this particular time from Diane, one of her best and closest friends.
"Bonnie and David playing in a tree!! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!! First comes love!! Then comes marriage!! Here comes Bonnie with the baby carriage!!" little Josephine shouted during a fifteen-minute recess break.
Bonnie rushed over to little Josephine to try to put her hands over her mouth to prevent the little girl from ranting and chanting the elementary nursery school rhyme.
"Who told you to say that, Josephine?! You better tell me too, or I'm gonna tell your mama about your little boyfriend!" Bonnie fiercely questioned and threatened.
"Please, Bonnie, don't tell my momma! She'll whip me if she finds out about me and him!" Josephine pleaded, and continued: "Diane paid me two windmill cookies and a lollipop to say it, Bonnie!"
"I believe you, Josephine. Do not let her bribe you ever again, okay?" Josephine shook her head up and down. Bonnie proceeded: "And where is Diane, little girl?"
"She's over there playing double-dutch and hop-scotch, Bonnie!" Josephine shouted, pointing to the asphalt area where Diane and her friends had drawn and sketched out white-chalked lines that served as boundaries and no-crossing zones as they happily participated in their recreational activities.
Bonnie walked in that direction to confront her best friend Diane about using a preschooler to do her dirty work. Bonnie could not help but laugh about the threat she had issued out to little Josephine. Preschoolers are so dumb, Bonnie thought intuitively to herself as she mentally examined the not-so-much evidence she had threatened Josephine with. The only infraction she had witnessed pertaining to little Josephine was her innocently pecking a little boy named Robert on the cheek after she spilled her chocolate milk in the cafeteria and Robert replaced it by giving her the one he had just bought for a nickel.
"One-thousand! Two-thousand! Three-thousand! Four! Five-thousand! Six-thousand! Seven-thousand! Eight-thousand more!" the crowd of first-grade girls shouted out in unison as Bonnie approached them carefully.
She stood at a safe distance away from the two swinging ropes that were moving and hitting the concrete at tip-top speed. As Bonnie's eyes zoomed in, she noticed Diane jumping and hopping all over the place to dodge the ropes from hitting or touching her during the quite challenging melee. Bonnie was fascinated by Diane's profound athleticism. It took great skill along with physical athletic prowess to dominate or domineer the much-friendly girlish childhood game of double-dutch.
"Diane!" Bonnie screamed out to get Diane's attention.
Diane just continued to duck and weave the fast-turning, motioning ropes.
"Diane! I know you hear me! I need to talk to you now!" Bonnie demanded.
"Ooh!! Diane is in trouble!!" the spectators made of young girls yelled out.
As a result, Diane lost concentration and focus on the double-dutch ropes almost immediately after realizing the severity of the request to talk to her and who this request or command was coming directly from.
"Diane, you better keep your eyes on the ropes!" Jackie warned.
Diane was not trying to be told what to do by either side. Then suddenly, Diane's feet got trapped and caught between the two ropes, which caused her to violently fall to the ground, bruising her knee.
"Ahh! Ahh! My knee is bleeding, Bonnie! Look what you made me do! I hate you!" Diane painfully shouted.
Bonnie extended her hand to Diane to assist her with getting up. Diane rejected Bonnie's offer while jerking her knee up in mid-air, covering and applying pressure to the minor injury.
"Get away from me!" Diane continued shouting in her own defense.
Bonnie instantly began feeling like the victimizer in the matter. Bonnie then decided to reveal the real culprit to the playground assembly of young girls who loved to play with teddy bears and co-bake chocolate chip cookies with their mothers and grandmothers.
"Diane is a bully! She made a preschooler say some very bad and ugly things about me!" Bonnie stated loudly as the group of girls pretended to cover their wide-open mouths as if they were truly in shock. Some of the girls plugged their ears with their small fingers—an act that was more than likely taught to them by their parents in the event of someone speaking parentally advised words they should not be speaking without proper adult consent.
Bonnie continued: "Josephine the preschooler said Diane had paid her two windmill cookies and a lollipop to sing that stupid song she was singing over there by the swing set not too long ago!"
"I'm not a bully! Josephine is lying on me! I did not pay her anything!" Diane protested. "Bonnie's just mad because Josephine is not dumb! Everybody knows that David has a crush on her!" Diane screamed as she gained her footing and stood straight and tall.
"David does not have a crush on me!" Bonnie shouted angrily.
"Does too!" Diane responded, getting in Bonnie's face.
"He does not, you idiot!" Bonnie ferociously replied.
"Does too, like I said!" Diane adamantly insisted, placing her finger in Bonnie's face.
"Maybe he does! You're just jealous because David doesn't like you!" Bonnie fired off, swatting Diane's hand away from her face.
"All the boys like me, and you know it too, Bonnie!" exclaimed Diane as she forcefully shoved Bonnie to the ground.
Bonnie then began to slowly get up from the hard, cold ground by assuming the famous crab position, which consisted of both arms being awkwardly extended to the sides in a reverse position as the legs were slightly placed out front with an upright bend of the knees while the feet were planted flatly. Diane carefully looked on as Bonnie struggled to get up. Once on her feet, Bonnie reached to grab a complete handful of Diane's hair, especially her ponytails, which were decorated with cute, pretty, big red ribbons that matched her new little red dress. Bonnie twisted Diane's ponytails so tightly that small blisters began to formulate in her scalp as she struggled to get free from Bonnie's grip. The two girls spun around in a complete circle for almost an entire minute flat.
Commotion from the other first-grade students had gained the attention of their first-grade teacher, Mrs. Albright. Mrs. Albright gazed out the plexiglass-styled window while springing to her feet to get a better look. Mrs. Albright galloped outside to the playground area to break up the fight that had ensued between the two honorary students.
"Bonnie, let go of Diane's hair now! And Diane, quit taking swings at Bonnie!" Mrs. Albright demanded, wedging herself between the two disgruntled girls. "Stop it! Stop it now! Bonnie, go stand over there, and Diane, you go stand way over there until I get to the bottom of this!" Mrs. Albright shouted frantically while successfully separating the once best friends. "Everyone else, inside the classroom now! Let's go! Move it! Move it!"
Commanded Mrs. Albright as she instructed the bystanders to get back inside her first-grade classroom.
"Recess is over!" Several upset and disappointed children just helplessly stood around as if they had not been given a direct order to evacuate the playground premises. Recess, for most of them, was their most important and favorite thing about attending elementary school. These students knew by the gigantic clock mounted on the wall of the classroom facing the playground's direction that they still had a remaining five minutes of recreational time to enjoy. There indeed was one particular thing all the children were skilled at, and that was telling time.
"Troopers, thanks to Diane and Bonnie, everyone loses their playtime privileges!! What are the playground rules at this school?!" Mrs. Albright questioned the adrenaline-filled kids.
"If we fight each other, then we have to go back inside the classroom, and we'll be given extra homework to turn in the next day!!" the first graders sounded off uniformly, impressing Mrs. Albright with their synchronicity.
"That's right, children! Go in and get ready for nap time while I talk to Diane and Bonnie about them misbehaving and being mean to each other today." Mrs. Albright walked over to Bonnie first. "How about us walking over here to Diane so we can apologize for what you've done to her?" she pleaded.
"Okay, Mrs. Albright. I'm sorry for what I did. Please don't tell my parents that I got into a fight." Bonnie begged.
"I want you to apologize to your friend Diane for pulling and twisting her hair. I forgive you. Diane needs to forgive you so you two can forgive each other. Do I make myself clear, young lady?!" Mrs. Albright asked a forgiving Bonnie.
"Yes, ma'am." Bonnie responded.
"Good. Let's go tell Diane how we feel." Bonnie nodded her head in agreement.
As Mrs. Albright and little Bonnie approached Diane, Diane had her arms folded across her breastplate, and her foot was tapping almost uncontrollably. Diane's lips bulged out as she pouted about her rightful stance involving the fighting incident.
"It was Bonnie's fault, Mrs. Albright! I'm telling the truth! You gotta believe me because I'm telling you the truth about what really happened between me and Bonnie!" little Diane shouted out repeatedly.
"I know, Diane. I believe you. Bonnie has something to say to you." Mrs. Albright replied. She continued: "Bonnie, what do you have to say to Diane?"
"Diane, I want to apologize to you for calling you an idiot on the playground." Bonnie said to Diane with deep, honest, sincere, and genuine conviction.
Diane stared into Bonnie's eyes to see if she could hold steady eye contact without breaking the stare by turning her head into the opposite direction—a redundant gesture Bonnie would perform whenever she would tell anything other than the truth. Diane and Bonnie were best friends, and they knew each other's habits, hobbies, pet peeves, likes, dislikes, boy-crushes, and so forth. Like Diane, whenever she was fibbing she would be all fidgety and begin to stutter horribly. Neither one of these girls was showing any signs of these symptoms as they went about being diplomatic in ironing out their shortcomings and misunderstandings.
"Bonnie, what else do you have to apologize to Diane for?" Mrs. Albright sarcastically implied, changing her voice tone into a much lower, authoritative baritone to inform little Bonnie she meant business.
Bonnie clutched Diane's hand. "I'm sorry for pulling and twisting your hair, Diane. Sorry for interrupting your double-dutch game. It's my fault that you bruised your knee." Bonnie continued: "Please forgive me. We're best friends forever, Diane! Let's keep it this way!" she gleefully shouted.
"Bonnie, I apologize for pushing Josephine into telling everybody your boyfriend's name." Diane playfully and humorously mentioned.
Bonnie smiled sheepishly at her one true best friend. Diane continued while Mrs. Albright shook her head side to side, laughing at the genuineness that emanated from both reconciled girls. "I'm sorry for swinging punches at you. I never mean to hurt you." Diane grabbed Bonnie's free hand so she could hold onto it ever so tightly. "I forgive you, Bonnie." Diane heartfully stated.
"I forgive you also, Diane." Bonnie responded.
"Now you two hug each other. Tell one another that this will never happen again." Mrs. Albright commanded.
The schoolgirls took a vow to never repeat the actions they participated in today.
"Let's get inside the classroom to join the rest of these little happy campers! It's almost nap time, girls. Aren't you two excited?" Bonnie and Diane giggled at Mrs. Albright's outbursts. "After you wake up, you will have hot-baked gingerbread cookies and a tall glass of milk! No nap, no coo---kiesss, girls!!" Mrs. Albright yelled out ecstatically. Refreshment time was the only time Mrs. Albright would deviate from her high-protein, high-fiber, low-carb diet, which she always credited for keeping her slim physique intact.
Inside the classroom were three large chalkboards with simple math equations plastered all over them. The four-inch metal-finished trays protruded from the bottom base of the chalkboards. These trays held rubber erasers and loose pieces of fresh chalk, along with extra unopened boxes of chalk to accommodate the students. The floor had dark grayish linoleum-styled carpet that stretched completely across the entire floor and fitted perfectly into all of the hard-to-reach four corners of the classroom. Glittery, star-cut shaped objects made during the first graders' origami period dangled and spun from homemade long wool strings in circles like a trained ballerina pivots and spins on the tips of her toes from the classroom's ceiling. This heightened the sense of excitability amongst the eager-to-learn students.
Sleeping mats of all colors were neatly stacked in one corner, with each child's name attached to help identify each individual child who had been assigned to one. Above this area was a huge, colorful poster the kids made themselves with water-based paint that read boastfully: 'Sleepy Corner'. All of Mrs. Albright's class had inked their right hands in the water-based washable paint solution to imprint their works of art with their hand and finger signatures for future generations of children to see, study, and witness them, thus immortalizing their creative geniuses.
The classroom itself consisted of thirty standard-sized desks originally donated by the Georgia Public School System. Thirty was the exact number of students who attended and filled Mrs. Albright's cozy classroom. The teacher's desk was made from a classic oak wood finish. On it stood a medium-sized vase filled with lively roses. A can of dust-free furniture cleaner and polisher stood at an acute angle on Mrs. Albright's desk. An old black-and-white timer sat by itself just as the villain it appeared to be to the children. They knew when the timer went off, they had no more time left to answer questions or solve problems during crucial and critical school board testing. Mrs. Albright says, "Time is up! Pencils down!" whenever the timer shook and rang out loudly with its annoying sound-filled noise. The timer actually stood between and determined whether or not the girls received baby dolls and the boys toy trucks, because if a student did not finish answering questions or solving problems proficiently and correctly in time, they would not be generously rewarded for their effort; instead, they would be scolded and grounded for goofing off during tests and study times.
And then there was all the children's favorite besides the baby chicks incubator—they loved to watch these eggs crack and the baby chicks hatch and peek their little small beaks out, along with their wrinkly bald heads. This was their second favorite. The first that graced the top of everyone's list was the colossal, bright-red, artificial wooden apple in which holes had been precisely drilled to store the twelve number-two writing pencils. The students engaged in "pencil-break" to purposely break their pencils just to go ask Mrs. Albright to remove one of the newly sharpened pencils occupying the tight spaces of one of the holes. They understood classroom chemistry and the tolerated behavior expected of them. In Mrs. Albright's classroom setting, the students put forth a little effort to gain and receive an awful lot from Mrs. Albright's rewards department. To have Mrs. Albright as your teacher literally signified that one would, in fact, partake in the ultimate and quite phenomenal learning and educational experience.
That is the opening. The sample continues free — take it with you.