DROPPINGS

chapter one

     It was Thanksgiving in Atlanta, Georgia. The fall air was crisp, the weather fine. The last of the colored autumn leaves blew from trees and to the ground which scattered about. Last minute shoppers hurried through grocery stores to pick up essential cooking items that were forgotten and or needed. One family in particular was the Multea family. Family member Aireus Multea rushed out of the supermarket with a shopping bag. He got into his car and sped towards the plantation his family was donated once a year for their Thanksgiving family reunion. The plantation was a sprawling couple of acres of magnificence. The grounds had a manicured lush green lawn which was divided in half by a half mile long paved driveway which led to the columned mansion whose surrounding sculptured shrubbary made it a showplace.
     Aireus sped down the driveway, which was lined with tall trees where spanish moss hung from each and every one of them. He finally reached the mansion and parked, giving his keys to the waiting valet who drove his car around back and into the makeshift parking garage. It was simply two huge tents staked into the ground. There were three valets in all who had parked forty cars. The valet got out of the car as one of the other two valets walked back around front to wait for the next car.
     "I can't wait until it's time to give these stuck up folks back their cars. They make me sick. I hate them."
     "If you hate them so much why are you back? I thought last year was suppose to be your last year of being the Multea and LeJune families valet."
     "It was suppose to be, but they fired Teddy at the last minute and needed someone to fill in for her. They gave me her pay plus my own so I couldn't say no."

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     "I heard about Teddy sleeping with one of their precious grandsons."
     "It was rumored that she did, but she said she didn't. A couple of his stuck up jealous girl cousins lied on her. They saw that the boy liked Teddy but they wanted him for themselves. You know how they are, they're all cousins and it stays within the family."
     "I heard that rumor. You think it's really true?"
     "Just take a real good look at them. Decide for yourself." the valet said as twenty-one year old Raeden Multea drove up to the front door of the mansion. He got out along with DaSasha Johnson. The two walked hand in hand through the crystal glass doors and into the massive lobby. Raeden walked through the mansion saying hello to his family members while DaSasha noticed the family staring at her, or was she staring at them?
     She couldn't help but to notice that the people were all the same skin color. Usually black people came in a variety of browns, from light to dark. ALL of these people had lightly caramelized honey cream  skin. They were uniquely beautiful she thought as she remembered Raeden's unusual coloring was what caught her eye in the first place. His skin seemed to have a naturally pearlized smoothness and creaminess to it. His jet black hair was a mass of huge waves while his eyes, which were a golden hazel with flecks of blue, green, black, gray and violet, were surrounded by long black lashes and thick eyebrows.
     As she looked at them they all seemed to have the same eyes, give or take a few where some of their eyes were lighter or darker then the other, but all of their skin color resembled Raeden's. While Raeden's hair color was jet black, others hair ranged from golden blonde, golden brown, golden red, brown black, to jet black. Gray hairs were mixed into the older family members hair. Old and young sported short and long styles with naturally silky waves and curls, with a few exceptions of silky sleek straight hair. They all were slender and ranged from average height to tall. DaSasha stuck out like a sore thumb. She was on the short side, had an hour glass figure, her naturally coarse hair had just been relaxed with a few weave extensions added, and her skin was bordering on dark brown, but she did match them in the looks department.

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She was beautiful too. Her fixation on these people was realized when Raeden pulled her hand to stop her. He had stopped walking while she was still going.
     "DaSasha, what's the hurry baby?" he asked as she sighed with embarrassment.
     "I'm sorry, my mind was somewhere else."
     "It sure was. You're amazed at my family right?" he asked smiling as she nodded. "Non-family members always are when they see a lot of us at one time. So are you ready to meet my mom? She's right over there." he pointed to a very tall, and very slender woman who wore pearls and who had her short, wavy, graying black hair simply brushed back. She seemed to have on a ton of make-up, but was still extremely beautiful and elegant. DaSasha followed Raeden over to the three women and cleared his throat. They all looked at him and smiled as each kissed his cheek. All of their hazel speckled eyes looked at Raeden and DaSasha's hands, since the two were still holding hands, then looked at DaSasha.
     "Mom, ladies, this is DaSasha Johnson. She's a senior with me at the university. She's a social science major. DaSasha, this is my mom Deena Multea and these are my twin aunts, Blaine and Elaine." he smiled as DaSasha extended her hand to shake theirs. Each shook her hand.
     "It's so nice to meet you all, especially you Ms. Multea. I've heard nice things about you."
     "The Salsa is it?" Deena asked.
     "No, my name is pronounced Da-Sasha." she corrected.
     "Oh, well anyway dear I haven't heard a thing about you. So you're one of Raeden's little friends from school?" Deena asked.
     "No she isn't some little friend from school." Raeden snapped back. "She's my fiance. We plan to get married when we graduate college in the late spring." he finished. The twin aunts gasped in horror as Deena laughed loudly making some of the others look over at them.

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     "Married? You've got to be joking Raeden." Deena laughed.
     "No mom. I wouldn't joke about this. DaSasha and I are in love." he said seriously as he squeezed DaSasha's hand.
     "Well the joke is on you Raeden because you're not marrying this girl. You know that you can't marry this girl."
     "My name is DaSasha and why can't he marry me Ms. Multea?"
     "Because from the looks of you, you are a complete negro and we do not marry people like you."
     "We're black too mom or have you forgotten?"
     "You know the rules Raeden. Of course I know we all are part African, but we're other nationalities as well. Our family is multi-racial. This girl is only one nationality. You can only marry girls that are like yourself, multi-racial." she reminded him as DaSasha cleared her throat.
     "Why don't you just say mulatto girls Ms. Multea? I'm not going to go off on you since you're Raeden's mama, but what you are saying is prejudiced and crazy and I shouldn't humor your strange train of thought but historically I have more than negro blood running through my veins. My ancestors bloodline became unpure when they were brought here from Africa. Being raped by slave masters and being with different nationalities over hundreds of years makes me more than just, negro. I'm black and proud of it."
     "That's all well and good dear, but I'm not talking about slaves and hundreds of years. I'm not talking about ancestors who were forced to change their bloodline and then managed to somehow purify that bloodline back to basically one nationality. You mother and father are just black right?"
     "Right." DaSasha answered miffed.
     "So that means that your parents immediate family, which are your grandparents, aren't mixed with European, Greek, Asian, Irish, Swedish, Italian, Persian, Russian, Hispanic, Egyptian, Native American, Indian or anything else." Deena said as DaSasha stopped her.
     "Excuse me, but hold on here. Are you hinting around that Raeden has to marry a white girl?" DaSasha asked.
 
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     "No dear. If you were complete European he still couldn't marry you. You must be multi-racial. You must have more than one nationalities blood running through your veins. Just one lineage just won't do. Mixing all of these races can give you beautiful coloring. You're just not ethnic enough to join this family and Raeden knows that dear. He knows that anyone he marries, or gets with, has to have at least four, although six is preferred, nationalities in their immediate family."
     "Which means DaSasha that your mother must at least have two drops of two nationalities of blood running through her veins and your father two drops of two different nationalities. That way you will be born with four drops of different nationalities in your blood making you a true multi-racial human being according to my family's standards. You'll  marry someone with two different mixed nationalities in their blood, then you two will have a kid and boom! That kid will have six different races running through his or her veins and the craziness can go on and on until a kid finally winds up with eight, ten or hell even twenty different bloodlines in their veins!" Raeden explained sarcastically as DaSasha shook her head.
     "And that kid will probalby wind up in an insane asylum with eight, ten or twenty different personalities. You're right Raeden, this is craziness." DaSasha said.
     "It's not craziness, it's a way of life for us and we try to keep our bloodlines within our own family lineage when we reproduce." Deena said as DaSasha looked on sickened.
     "What? But I heard that all of this race mixing and interbreeding can lead to defects in a person, mentally and physically."
     "That's an old wives tale dear. Just look around. Do any of us seem to have mental or physical defects?" Deena asked as DaSasha looked around.
     "Physically you all kind of look alike in a weird, but beautiful way. Mentally there is a defect if you all believe that you have to race mix like this. You're bordering on prejudice." DaSasha said when a loud voice responded.
     "Prejudice? Let me tell you about prejudice little girl." an aged, but still handsome beige colored bald man in a wheelchair shouted as he rolled into the room.

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     "That's my great grandfather Alvin Multea. He's one-hundred and five years old and heads this family. He's the only living progenitor from both sides of the family. He's seen it all." Raeden whispered in DaSasha's ear. Most of the family had gathered into the large room after the word had spread that Raeden wanted to pollute their family's bloodline.
     "I have one hell of a story to tell you girl. So get ready because here it comes." Alvin said and began the story about his own life.

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chapter two

     Alvin Multea was the father of the Multea clan. Although the multea family members heard the story time and time again, it always fascinated them to hear it one more time. DaSasha, with Raeden holding her hand, stood and listened as Alvin began his tale.
     Alvin Multea Jr. was born to a beautiful black mother, Marla Multea, and a handsome white father, Alvin Multea Sr., in Atlanta, Georgia. They married when they found out she was pregnant. Alvin came out with curly blonde hair, light hazel eyes, and golden beige brown skin. While his family was shunned back then because they were an interracial couple, Alvin Jr. was picked on because he was bi-racial. Living with two different races of people was confusing enough, but trying to understand and live with the fact that you were despised just because you were bi-racial was traumatic. Most whites considered him to be only black because he had a drop of black blood running through his veins while most blacks didn't think he was black enough.
     Other races didn't think much of him and just looked at him as a mixed up mulatto. Unfortunately this was too much for him to bear at eight years old. Because of his emotional problems the family packed up and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to live with his mother Marla's creole cousins. The cousins were a couple who had a daughter named Samantha who was Alvin Jr.'s age and a son Samuel who was two years younger.
     The cousins had a counselor friend named Alfreada who ran a psychological disorder clinic who they thought could help Alvin Jr. get through his idenity crisis since she was bi-racial too. Over the next nine years during his therapy Alvin Jr. went through changes that shaped his life. The counselor introduced the family to a small support group for multi-racial people since New orleans had quite a few mixed race people with various nationalities.
     He soon met a boy his age in the group name Simon LeJune who was multi-racial and whose father was a patient at the clinic.

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The father thought one of the local hoodoo witch doctors cursed him by causing him to turn into a zombie once the sun went down every night. Simon loved his father, but was embarrassed by him and cried when people called him a crazy creole nigger. Simon became Alvin Jr.'s best friend and he became a regular at the cousins house as he hung out with the children. This was when Marla's cousin's wife admitted that Simon's father was her cousin and she never told anyone because she was embarrassed of him because of his mental state. So this made Simon Alvin's second cousin by marriage.
     One summer night, while waiting for the support group meeting to begin, Samuel, Alvin Jr., Simon, and Samantha played outside with a few other children while their parents mingled inside. Just as the sun was going down, Simon's father came out the building with a crazed look on his face. He walked over to the children sweating and angry as twenty or so black crows came out of nowhere and swooped down onto the tops of tree branches and cawed irratically as if they were trying to block out what Simon's father was about to say because they knew it wasn't going to be right and would have life changing consequences.
     He began to spew hatred about his not agreeing with race mixing and it was wrong because it caused mixed up minds and mixed up children like himself, Simon and all of Simon's little friends. Then in his crazed mind he quickly turned his words around by telling the children they didn't have to suffer the consequences of being mulatto. Instead they should take advantage of the situation their parents put them in by being proud of who and what they were. They had the power to become responsible for a rare and distinguished bloodline that wouldn't be bothered with too much prejudice.
     "They say one drop of blood can change your racial identity from one nationality to another. So what if you had several drops of blood from different races running through your veins? If you were a part of just about every race there was, there would be no prejudice from those who you were a part of. You wouldn't be just one person. you'd be everybody!" Simon's father screamed with delight as

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the crows swooped down flapping their wings around him and flew back up into the sky just as suddenly as they came. By now the parents and organizers were outside after hearing all of the commotion. Simon's mother ran over to Simon's father who had become hysterical and screamed that he was turning into a zombie again.
     Some of the men, including Alvin Sr., grabbed him and knocked him to the ground. They restrained him as someone ran to get a doctor. The children were gathered up and taken into the building. Alvin Jr. snuck away and watched out the window as Simon's father began to tire and quieted down as he stared into space. There was no meeting that night and Simon's father was later admitted to a state mental institution. Of course Alvin Jr. looked at the incident as the ramblings of a crazed man back then, but remembered every word, including the rare bloodline speech.
     This was when he began to take a closer look at everyone around him and wondered about the drops of blood that flowed through them making them who they were. The ever growing members in the multi-racial support group over the years became more and more mixtures of the world's international populations. Simon's mixture was creole, Brazilian, Greek, and Puerto Rican. Then there were the creole cousins. The husband was Alvin Jr.'s mother Marla's first cousin, which made his wife her cousin by marriage making them all in-laws and cousins too. Their mixture of heritage were remarkable too.
     Marla's first cousin was creole mixed with European, Spanish, and West Indian while his wife was half creole and mixed with Greek, African, and Russian. Now this made their children Samuel and Samantha Alvin Jr.'s and Marla's second cousins, and Alvin Sr.'s cousins by marriage. So this mixing made them a mixture of all of these nationalities which fascinated Alvin Jr. The mixing of the cultures had given Samuel and Samantha equisite coloring and the chance to mix even more nationalities with their children in the future.

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     Although genetic mixing had become a huge part of Alvin Jr.'s life now as well as a part of his healing process, religion was something he wanted no part of. In his eyes God created different races which caused the big rift in people that brought on the dreaded belief in inferiority. The cousins were church going people, but he made it clear that he couldn't participate in religion or believe in a God that would allow different races of people to hate each other so much that the hate would sometimes lead to death. His mother Marla unfortunately became of a victim of this hate.
     Alvin Jr. was eleven when his father was promoted and had to move to another office where he became the object of a pretty white woman's affection. They both worked as partners at a pharmaceutical laboratory. Over the next year she had fell in love with the handsome Alvin Sr. and wanted him for herself. He told her he was married and loved his wife. When she found out that his wife was black she knew she had to take him away from her because he shouldn't be married to a black woman. She became more angry as time went on because he continued to reject her advances towards him.
     She blamed his wife. She became jealous and vengeful of her as she began to watch her from afar. The jealousy turned to hatred and one day in a fit of jealous rage she killed Marla Multea as she came out of a doctor's office after a visit to a gynecologist. Marla was found to be pregnant when she died. The woman was not punished or jailed by police who were prejudice and lied that the murder was in self defense. The woman gave a grieving Alvin Sr. a few weeks to mourn Marla then thought it would be easy to get with him because he was vulnerable and Marla was dead. She was wrong.
     When he still rejected her advances, the unstable woman tried to kill him, but he killed her instead. Even though it was actually self defense, Alvin Sr. was jailed because the police didn't like him because he liked black people. With his mother dead and his father in jail, twelve year old Alvin Jr. went back to live with the creole cousins. Years later, still devastated and disillusioned, he

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pretended to be okay, but continued to see the clinic counselor who he eventually lost his virginity to during one very emotional session. Alfreada shamefully took advantage of the then fifteen year old. During the same time his eyes were opened to a maturing fifteen year old Samantha. She had blossomed into a very strikingly beautiful young woman who in his eyes had unfortunately worshiped God too much. She often spoke of becoming a preacher and downed Alvin Jr. for calling himself an atheist. Even though their beliefs were different and they were second cousins, they each felt the strong attraction they had for each other.
     Over the next two years the two tried to fight the ever growing feelings they had for each other until they couldn't anymore. At seventeen they gave in to their secret passion which was no longer a secret a few months later when Samantha became pregnant. The family was in an uproar when they found out from Alvin Jr. that Samantha had lied about not knowing who the father was of her baby as she tried to protect him.
     He proudly confessed to show he was no coward. Samuel, who had looked at Alvin Jr. as a brother, punched him uncontrollably until the father stopped him. He kicked Alvin Jr. out the house. He went to stay with his best friend Simon until Samantha suffered a miscarriage. When he heard about it he tried to go and comfort her, but the cousins had sent her off to a convent to become a nun in an effort to serve God for her sin. A distraught Alvin Jr., who was forbidden to see her, went to see his father in prison.
     He told him that he was leaving town and giong back to Atlanta for a fresh start because of everything that had happened. He also told him that he had hired a lawyer to look into his case to see if they could file charges and sue the police department for discrimination and miscarriage of justice. Alvin Sr. thanked him as they said their goodbyes. He left and went to say goodbye to Simon, who had decided to join the army at the last minute. They both went to the airport and flew off on their separate ways.

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     Four years later they all were twenty-one. Alvin, who dropped Jr. from his name, became a paid research assistant at a rural genetics facility after volunteering there in Atlanta for a year. Simon had served his time in the army and was now a recruiting officer at a local office in Atlanta. He was married to a woman named Ginwana, who was an army brat, who he had met while stationed in Germany. she also happened to be mixed with a little Asian, Austrailan, and German.
     Samantha had lived in the convent for four years, but couldn't go through with becoming a nun. Instead she took a vow of celibacy and prayed for forgiveness as she corresponded off and on with Simon. Since she was disowned by her family and was ready to leave the convent, she took Simon up on his invitation to come to Atlanta to live with him and his wife and talk to Alvin who truly missed her. He didn't really agree with what Alvin and Samantha had done, but they were his family and family supported each other, no matter what.
     Simon and his wife Ginwana had a dinner to welcome Samantha and invited Alvin. When the two saw each other again sparks flew and they fell in love all over again. The two moved in together and thought to hell with those who didn't approve. Two months later they decided to celebrate their reunion of reuniting and Samantha finding out she was pregnant once again by geting married in Simon's house. Ginwana was pregnant too and the births of their babies were only a few months apart.
     Simon had a girl and Alvin a boy. This was when they discussed the speech Simon's father had given years ago on taking advantage of mixing nationalities to give their children a chance to be a part of combining several different races instead of just one. Since they all were multi-racial and bi-racial they agreed to make a pact to teach their children this way of thinking to keep the bloodline going. No one would be allowed to have a child that wasn't at least four different nationalities and maybe have some arranged marriages to make sure the children obeyed.
     Around this time Alvin's father was freed from prison after a fair compromise was reached between the lawyer and the Sheriff's office. He too went back to his hometown of Atlanta and basically kept his comments to himself after hearing about their lifestyles.

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     As the years went by, the two families had nine kids between them and the children all had very light golden brown skin with curls and waves in their hair. As the children grew, a few of them became involved with the others family romantically allowing Simon and Alvin to become in-laws, making them father-in-laws to each others kids and later grandfathers. The tradition was instilled into the offspring and it became only natural for the children to pick a mate who had several nationalities in their immediate families. If they couldn't find someone outside the families, they would mix and mingle amongst themselves.
     Pretty soon just about every nationality could be found within the Multea and LeJune family trees immediate family. Thanks to their continued involvement with support groups that discussed what it was like being multi-racial, their children and their children's children were able to meet, fall in love or get with others like themselves simply to reproduce and keep the bloodline going. Alvin took it upon himself to have meetings every six months to make sure everyone was doing his or her part to keep things moving.
     As the years went by everyone seemed to be happy and cooperative so the meetings became annual and were being called family reunions. Halls were being rented to hold the reunions as the gatherings became larger and festive. The yearly donation of the plantation came to be when it was donated once by the owners to Alvin for one of his genetic research fundraisers which they were interested in. A friendship between the two began which led to the yearly use of the plantation. Alvin's genetic family plan was not immune to crime, addictions, and other family dysfunctions that affect average families. A few family members fell in with the wrong crowd and became hooked on drugs and alcohol while two were actually arrested and went to prison.

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     Some of these were the ones who slipped through the cracks and or who just didn't want to cooperate with the family rules. Those who weren't exactly up to family standards simply, 'disappeared' which was enough, most of the time, to keep everyone in line. The not knowing what happened to them became the family's deep dark secret because no one knew or would tell. Appearances became of the utmost importance. Unfortunately the demand of having to look a certain way and the multi-racial mixing made some of them develop mental problems. Professional help was sought clinically by a few family members.
     Because of this some went to school to study psychiatry and psychology. Others followed Alvin into genetic research as they studied the effects of race mixing and tried to perfect it as to which cultures made what coloring in skin pigmentation, eye color, and hair color. They all got into fundraising and charitable events to further their research in genetic testing on racial mixing and the average body make-up regarding heredity's impact on looks and health. Other professions were encouraged, as long as genetics was still practiced and always came first.
     No one truly had a problem with this because it was something that just was expected of them. They grew up knowing this. None of them had high profile careers, those who opted to have other careers, due to again keeping what they did within the family. They liked themselves because they were beautiful, wealthy, and rare. They all lived in different parts of the country and were often asked by other individuals, "what nationality are you?" No real prejudice was experienced because they all fit in just about wherever they went passing for a particular race when needed.
     Alvin was proud of his creation, but now had no one his age to talk to about it. He was one hundred and five years old and everyone he grew up with was dead. Unfortunately Samantha died first a while back of complications from pneumonia, Ginwana died next of cancer, and Simon died last of a heart attack right after Ginwana. He felt that he had given his life to try and perfect his friends and family's lives.

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This was a new generation of kids he realized and had seen the ranks crumbling when it came to keeping the rules alive and followed.

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chapter three

     "So there you go honey, my story that is truly the father of all stories. I worked hard to make this family what it is. So I'm sorry, but we can't allow the likes of you to come in here and mess up years of perfection. No offense to you young lady." Alvin assured as DaSasha shook her head.
     "That's okay sir. None taken from the likes of you either, but how dare you and your sick clones here try to down me because of who I am. None of you are better than me. At least I'm not a product of some crazy man's recycled incestually made genes." DaSasha defended herself as they all looked on surprised. Raeden nodded and laughed as he agreed with her clapping.
     "You tell 'em baby! Who do they think they are?" he smiled.
     "We're your family Raeden, and the incestual stuff my dear is rarely practiced now. There's so many bi-racial and multi-racial people now that we don't have to reproduce amongst ourselves as much. It's only done to keep the Multea and LeJune namesake alive with only third and fourth cousins." Deena explained.
     "And affairs amongst our cheating married in-laws. We have to go with the flow of things these days, right grandma LeJune?" Raeden asked a silver haired woman who sat a few feet behind Deena. She didn't utter a word, but gave Raeden a stern look.
     "That's enough Raeden." Alvin warned.
     "I agree. I've heard and seen enough of and from you people. It's very fascinating that you people choose to live like this, but those who don't want to shouldn't be forced to do so because it's the family's golden rule. Threatening and scaring your own family members to participate in such sickness isn't fair. I can see why a lot of your family members suffer from mental disorders. I can see how social anxiety from deep-rooted prejudices back in the day brought on a need for social change, but you great great grandfather Multea took it to the extreme. I for one don't have a problem

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with race mixing, but when you're doing it as a purposely continued science project instead of as a, let nature take its old fashioned course, then you've stepped over the line. As you can see, I paid attention in my social behavior science class. My professor truly knows his stuff." DaSasha finished.
     "Isn't my baby smart?" Raeden smiled.
     "Do you think this is a joke Raeden? We've caught on to your little snide remarks." grandma LeJune said as Raeden slowly walked over to her.
     "Really? I may look at all of you as jokes, but not Rayla Lejune. She was my father's sister. She was my aunt. You remember her grandma LeJune? She was your daughter."
     "Of course I remember my own daughter boy!" grandma LeJune snapped.
     "Good, then of course you remember when your family loyalty made her get with your still married old brother-in-law which resulted in a pregnancy and you became responsible for her and her baby's death. She had carried that baby to full term, because of your and the rest of the family's encouragement, knowing full well that this baby had several possible birth defects. The pregnancy should have been terminated early on, but the family talked her into keeping it not caring about what the poor baby would have to go through once it was born."
     "Stop it Raeden!" Deena snapped as he continued.
     "Well of course complications arose and it came to the fact that only one of them could be saved, either the mother or the child. You all talked cousin Wane, who was the family gynecologist, into letting aunt Rayla die and save the baby only because it was to be the first in the family with eight direct races in it, four from its mother, four from its cheating elderly father. She slowly died in agony while Wane tried to save the baby who wound up dieing anyway due to birth defect related complications. You let your own healthy daughter die to save a defective baby because of its eight different drops of blood!"
 
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     "So Raeden, you see your grandma LeJune and all the rest of us as the blame for your aunt Rayla's death and for your father Raymont's leaving right?" Alvin interrupted and threw in as Raeden turned to look at him and nodded.
     "You're damn right great-great grandpa Multea! Except you all didn't make him leave, you killed him! That's the family's dirty little secret right? When someone goes against the rules, you get rid of them." Raeden said emotionally.
     "Not all of them son. In your father's case he left willingly. You're right, Raymont Goald didn't agree with our practices so we asked him to leave. He accused us of participating in unnatural breeding since he was adopted into the family by grandma LeJune. Raymont was the multi-racial son of grandma LeJune's late husband Remy Goald from a previous relationship. Your father is very much alive." Alvin said as Raeden turned to his mother surprised. She nodded.
     "Your father is alive and well and living in Canada with his French wife and kids. After this stunt you just pulled today we should send you up there to live with him." Deena said angrily as Raeden nodded.
     "You're right. If my father is alive and living with a woman of one race in Canada I'd love to marry DaSasha and go up there to live too and change my name to Raeden Multea Goald. All of these years I thought he was dead. Of course you never told me he was dead mom, you told me he left you and wanted to take me too because he wanted me to grow up in a more normal and open minded environment."
     "That's exactly what I told you. I don't lie. You were five then and wanted to go with him, but you were my son and this was my family."
     "And when we say family we mean family Raeden. Real family stick together no matter what. The rest of you who don't believe in us will follow in the footsteps of those before you, you'll be exiled which means you will no longer exist to us." grandma LeJune spat.
 
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     "Fine. Forgive me everyone for falsely accusing you of something that I thought you did to my father. I'm sorry."
     "So all of this is about your father Raeden? Going out with DaSasha there is your so-called revenge against us all? Alvin asked as Raeden swallowed nervously hard.
     "What do you mean great-great grandpa Multea?"
     "That you wanted revenge for your father against us so much that you wanted to embarrass us and get out of the family at the expense of your young college friend here."
     "I don't know what you're talking about great-great grandpa Multea, but DaSasha and I have to be going now." Raeden said grabbing her hand.
     "Didn't you tell a cousin or two in confidence that you were going to find a woman and use her to get us to disown you and use her reactions towards your family in your thesis then dump her letting everyone think the worst of us?" Alvin asked as Raeden gave his cousin Aireus a look of, "how could you?", as Aireus humped up his shoulders.
     "Sorry cuz, you're my blood, but so is great-great grandpa Multea and he's the man. He wanted to know so I told him." Aireus said as Raeden shook his head and DaSasha pulled her hand away looking at Raeden as if she didn't know him.
     "Raeden, is what they're saying true? You're using me to get back at your crazy family? You don't really love me?" DaSasha asked as Raeden sighed.
     "I'm sorry baby, but I'm not going to lie to you because I really do love you. I did tell my best friend and cousin Aireus there that I loved my family but I wasn't all for this unique way of preserving the bloodline with this mandatory one drop of blood from each race rule. It's all about droppings. I wasn't for them keeping me away from my father or from dating a beautiful woman whose immediate family was of one heritage either. I needed to write about it, since I love to write, and use it for my thesis so I could get an easy A for my grade. The twist would be that it wouldn't be from my point of

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view, but from an average sane person's point of view who wasn't a part of this family."
     "So you really used me?" she asked as he reluctantly nodded.
     "Yes, I chose you. You were beautiful, opinionated, and a social science major. Your view on this would be taken seriously. My view would be a conflict of interest since it's my family." Raeden said as DaSasha turned and headed for the door angrily. Raeden followed as well as everyone else. They all listened as DaSasha talked and walked without turning around.
     "Number one, you didn't have to cause all of this drama. You simply could have told me that you wanted my opinion on your circus of a family. Number two, you didn't have to wine me, dine me, or bed me to get that opinion. Number three, you knew you wouldn't have to go through with your bogus marriage proposal once your family met me and I met them so you cared nothing about my feelings. You proposed only to get a rise out of them!" she cried as they now stood outside on the mansion's front steps facing each other.
     "That was true when all of this started, but that was before I got to know you. I truly fell in love with you DaSasha." he said as a helicopter was heard above them.
     "Really? Well these types of situations always turned out like this in the movies Raeden and ended with a happy ending. Well it ain't happening here." she said grabbing at the engagement ring on her finger when a helicopter flew over head and slowly landed on the lawn. A prison guard got out of the helicopter and ran over towards them with handcuffs and his gun drawn. One of the family members pushed through the crowd with his hands up. As the guard neared him, he turned and waved to the family.
     "Take care everyone. It was fun. I'll try to come again next year." he shouted as the guard reached him, handcuffed him and took him back to the helicopter as the family waved.
     "Who was that?" DaSasha asked.
     "Oh, that was cousin Benny. He was jailed two years ago for embezzlement, but he manages to slip out of the minimum security facility each year to attend the family reunion. They're thinking about bringing him themselves next year." Raeden tried to joke as DaSasha pulled the ring from her finger and pushed it into his hand.

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     "Goodbye Raeden." she cried and stormed away as she pulled a cell phone from her purse and called a cab. Raeden called her and began to run after her, but stopped when she held her hand up and stuck her middle finger up without turning around as she continued to walk down the road past the huge moss covered trees.
     "I love you too." he whispered sadly as he watched her leave knowing that he messed up big time.

     A year later Raeden, who graduated college, received high honors on his thesis, became a writer of psychological mind research, got to know his father Raymont and moved to Bellingham in Washington state because it was beautiful, tranquil, and close to Vancover Canada where his father and two younger step brothers lived. His mother Deena and her family stopped talking to him the day he left to visit his father. After several failed attempts of trying to keep in touch with his mother, he gave up.
     As for DaSasha, it took her a few months to start talking to him again after his continuous pleads of forgiveness with roses, and a little persuading from his father who reminded her that it wasn't entirely all his fault. She remembered who he had been influenced by and his need for an A. She decided to give him another chance by starting the relationship over. His father invited her up to Canada to spend Thanksgiving with them. She accepted to Raeden's delight because he did truly love her, and she still loved him too.

                                                                THE END

by DJPM