Yayah

“Hello, Ms. Trina?”

I could not recognize the voice at all.

“Yes, this is Trina. How can I help you?”

“I kept your number Ms. Trina?”

I listened to the voice carefully, but no matter how I tried, I really did not recognize the voice on the phone at all. I finally gave in and asked,

“Who am I talking too?”

“Ms. Trina this is Jasmine. I came into ya’lls church that time and I was hungry. You made me some food.”

I was so overjoyed to hear from this young lady! I thought that all was lost after the way the Hebrew Israelites had treated her, but she did keep my number and she did call me.

“Jasmine where are you at? Do you need me to come and pick you up? I could hear tears in her voice. Ms. Trina, I would like that a lot. I really need to talk to you.”

I quickly got up from the table and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.

“Ok Jasmine, just tell me where you are at and I am on my way.” Jasmine was at Niecie’s restaurant on Sixty-Third Street.

I left my plate on the table, threw on some sneakers and I went to Niecie’s. Jasmine was there waiting for me in the parking lot. She looked very clean and neat. I almost did not recognize her. I got out of my car and I hugged her. Jasmine was crying.

We went inside and I ordered lemon water. I told Jasmine to order anything she wanted. As Jasmine looked over the menu, she told me that she really needed to get back to Minnesota, but her mother could not afford a bus ticket for her. I told her that I would buy a ticket for her. We talked for a bit and finally, the waitress came to take her order. When her food arrived, we continued talking. While she ate I called Delta airlines and I found a fairly cheap ticket to Minnesota. I asked Jasmine how quickly she wanted to get back to Minneso...

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... about the price at all.

I asked Sheldon first,

“What do you think about paying such a high price for the food?”

I asked Sheldon first because I thought for sure that he would object, especially since he was not a member of the Hebrew Israelites.

‘Well Mama, we came all this way to have a good time, I wish we had known in advance that the first meal was going to be twenty-five dollars, but since we can all afford to pay for our own food, we should just stay, make the best of it and enjoy ourselves.”

I was really surprised that Sheldon answered the way that he did. I knew at that point that I was out voted, especially since everyone could buy their own food. I looked at Morgan and Paul; they were in agreement with Sheldon.

I was aware of the fact that Elijah was ripping us off, but the rest of the family wanted to stay and it was ok especially since they were