(Or
when all else fails, Be Lucky)
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/472528
Aloysius Williams was a happy man, and if
it hadn’t been for his refusal to accept his brown skin as inferior, he
wouldn’t have had so much trouble. For he had been taught as early as four
years old that dark skin pigmentation was the curse of Cain, and was written in
god’s ‘Good book’ and there was no
arguing with the irrational thoughts of an extraterrestrial being.
Raised around light skinned people,
who burned in the sun when they tried to become as tanned, Aloysius
distinguished himself – aside from his natural advantage of color augmentation
that caused such duplicitous envy from his rivals– by
being remarkably excellent at all things sporty. His rivals complained that he
had a congenital disposition towards jumping, catching, throwing and running
because of his animal ancestors. When Aloysius showed them a ‘Scientific
American’ article that showed all Homo sapiens originating from one female in
Africa, his friends were hurt, pained, angry and not amused! They argued into
the night about the definition of ‘homo’ and finally decided to pass an
amendment against the ‘Scientific American’ magazine for the use of such a word
as ‘homo’ because it was not generally used in everyday speech. They would have
succeeded if it wasn’t for the fact that they didn’t really know what an
amendment was.
Throughout his childhood, Aloysius
endeavored to be happy. He was aided in his
task by regular beatings at the hands of men in long black gowns who wore
diamond shaped hats on their heads. That these people talked on behalf of an
extraterrestrial being who they claimed loved him, and wanted him to be happy confused Aloysius. For how
could he be loved if the price of that love was beatings? When it was explained
that the beatings were done because of some evil Aloysius had done to a man
2000 years before, Aloysius was really confused. But this didn’t stop Aloysius
from endeavoring to be happy, because, happiness was part of his DNA, and he
knew that the umbilical cord to his soul meant for him to
be happy. This was despite the spiteful natures of his parents
who couldn’t agree on his name. One wanted a name that meant fame or praise and
the other wanted a war-like name; Aloysius, became the compromise.
I-HOW
ALOYSIUS CAME INTO THE WORLD
His father Fitzroy (Fitzy) Leopold
Williams, was not a happy man, but he was handsome, proud, and contentious,
‘like a bull’, somebody said, but mostly he was a mean drunk, a bully and a
hedonist. As Aloysius grew up with
fragments of pictures of his father - who had been thrown out of the ‘immoral
sexual’ pre-marriage bed soon after his parents’ one and only coitus - he looked like some African tribal chieftain,
regal and black, a warrior who recognized nothing, except his own self-interest.
Aloysius’s
mother, Hildegard Mary Baumgartner was a small, fastidious ash-colored woman,
of German extract, who was thrown out of her father’s home, when it was
discovered she was pregnant. When a black baby popped out of her hitherto
unacknowledged womb, she was banished to the big city to live out her life in
loneliness and shame.
Guilt and shame were thus the only
two qualities shared by Aloysius’ parents. His father thereafter, returned to
his tropical not-so-paradise island, and ended his days in the white rum bars;
while his mother measured out her remaining days in disillusionment and tears.
That such a wonderful night of love-making in the summer heat, after the end of
an awful war, should condemn them to lives of pain and sorrow, was too much for
either of them to be beholden to a harsh
and exacting
Aloysius’s most intimate memory of his
mother was when, as a very young child, she would put him to bed and read him
the story of Haysus, the man who Aloysius was blamed for killing. Aloysius
wanted to be like sweet Haysus so that one day people would feel bad about
Aloysius’ when he died. But Aloysius felt
particularly close to the birth of Haysus’ because Haysus was a bastard - just
like Aloysius!
But Aloysius’ life did not resemble the fairy tales of his mother’s dreams; seeking advice from a
Social Worker and rejecting any rights of Aloysius’ father over his son, she
sent Aloysius to the first of many foster homes before he was five years old.
One of the advantages to having
dysfunctional parents, mused Aloysius as his journey through life began, was
that he would not be damaged by his parent’s misdeeds and failings. For he
became aware very early in his life through a peculiar form of osmosis – before
he even knew what osmosis meant – that he could sense whatever his parents were
thinking about him; even when none of them were in the same room.
“He’s an irresponsible ingrate,” mused
his mother, and telepathically his father would comment instantly, “He takes
after your dopey brother!”
Aloysius consequently realized soon
enough that he had a rare opportunity that many children would love to have -
picking his own parents!
For how many kids have woken up,
late for school, and wished that their parents were dead; or that they would
turn into turtles just when they were lecturing them about the merits of
education and foolish things like potty-training?.
It’s every child’s wish! And so as Aloysius shuffled through the next fifteen
years of his life he got to meet many different potential parents that he was
able to pick and choose from.
TO BE CONTINUED....
