I suppose you want to know what this is all about. So, I suppose I’ll start at the beginning. The start of everything. I’ll take you back all the way to the year Nineteen Hundred and Thirty Four. The year it started. Well… maybe not started… but finally came to a head. 

*** 

    “Move out the way!” A young woman was shoved to the ground. 

    “Hey!” Dark brown eyes settled on the group of boys that surrounded the girl. 

    “Get away from my sister or I’ll beat you all with this here broomstick!” 

    “Aw come on Lily…you know as well as we do that ain’t no chance for her in life. She’s too dark and ugly.”

    “Stop it!” The cafe au lait colored girl came swinging that broomstick towards them and they scattered like roaches. 

    “Don’t come back ya hear! I’ll skin y’all ‘live.” Panting, the girl knelt and placed a hand on her sister’s glossy black curls, nearly identical to hers. 

    “Don’t listen to them Kira. You ain’t ugly.” 

    “Nawl…they only tellin the truth.” The girl sat up, biting her bottom lip. 

    “I’m not like you Lil. Or Jimmy. I’m cursed.” 

    “Stop that now! Git up.” She began to stand and stood still as her sister brushed the dirt off of her dress. 

    “You ain’t cursed. You are beautiful you know. They only jealous they sisters got nappy ass hair. Least we can comb ours straight through with no grease.” That brought a small smile to her. Yeah that was her saving grace. She had everything right about her except for her skin color. The beautiful long curly hair inherited by their father and grey eyes, she woulda been a dame had she not inherited a color darker than her mother’s. 

    “Anyway, I think we should go wait for Jimmy at the train station. Shouldn’t he be comin back up from Atlanta by now?”

    “Yeah that’s what I heard.” Lily said, wiping some sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand. 

    “I’ma go fix him a nice little lunch.”

    “Don’t bother. You know he probably gon treat us when he get off the train.” Nodding, she fixed her hair, slipping stray curls back behind her ear and made sure the pins that held her updo were secure. 

    “Okay let’s go.” 

*** 

    “Sneaky son of a bitch.” 

    “Look, we had to do what we had to do.”

    “You tryna get us killed Jim.”

    “Look, if you minded yo business we’d be set.”

    “Bullshit.” A group of men sat together in one of the rare integrated cars, drinking some coffee. 

    “You lucky I even came up here.”

    “Well, you pulled a string for me so consider this my way to thank you.”

    “Whatever. Listen, you and the rest of y’all dusty ass negros ain’t gettin ready to make me lose this job here. I happen to like it.”

    “Hey, watch it yellow boy.”

    “Don’t bring my appearance into it now you assholes.” He retorted with a grin before flicking them off. 

    “Member I was raised round you lot. I might not look like y’all but I’m every bit a Georgia man otherwise.”

    “Yeah whatever Joonie boy.”

    “Say June Bug,”

    “What?”

    “Where’d you get a name like the one you got from anyway?” Turning almond shaped eyes over to the passing swirling green, he shrugged. 

    “Don’t know. When Mama found me, she said my name was written on some paper in my basket.”

    “Oh.”

    “Yeah. Said it’s Korean.”

    “Interestin. So you a Korean then?”

    “Yeah by blood I guess I am.”

    “Where is that even at?” The group of men eyed the idiot of the bunch… Frog.

    “Frog you a dumb muhfucka ain’t you.”

    “Aye lookee here I ain’t neva heard of no Korea. So forgive me fore askin.” He however just sat back against the seat, lips set in a smirk. 

    “It’s in Asia Frog. East Asia.” 

    “Oh.” 

    “Maybe yo parents got ridda you cause you got them big ol soup coolas for lips.” Scat, a fast talkin sneaky sonabitch joked, returning his earlier middle finger with one of his own. 

    “Fuck you Scat. You sure as hell can’t talk with them bubba lips stuck to ya face.” But it brought a laugh from him, all of them. 

    “Yeah how many Koreans got lips like yours? Truth be told when I first met you I jus’ thought you was high yella.”

    “That right?”

    “Yeah. Not even the Chinese I seen got lips like yours. You sho you ain’t black somewhere fa real?”

    “Who knows…shit I might be. We’ll neva know will we?” 

    “Don’t matter. You as good as one of us.”

    “Damn right.” The breeze from the open car rustled his hair and he sighed into the air. 

    “It’s good to have you home June Bug.”

    “Yeah good to be home.” 

*** 

    “They train comin in!” The girls excitedly waited as the train pulled in. Amongst other family members ready to see their family members, they waited and waited until they grew near mad with excitement. 

    “I see him! JIMMY! OVA HERE!” In the swarm of people, there their brother was, comin out of the Colored exit. His celadon eyes found the girls. 

    “Lily! Kira!” 

    “Ova here!” The bunch of men pushed past the eager and anxious bodies, soon coming up to them. 

    “Welcome home!” Lily gushed warmly, coming to hug him. Kira on the other hand found she couldn’t pay attention to her brother at the moment, instead her eyes finding the man who stood taller than her kin, warm deep eyes taking her in just the same. Funny she hadn’t noticed before how the crisp white of his shirt stretched nice and taunt across broad shoulders and biceps. Feeling her face grow hot, she forced herself to look away from him. He musta been nibblin his lips cause they were rosy and swollen and she most definitely needed to look somewhere else. 

    “You findin Joon mighty interestin Kira.” The embarrassment she felt only intensified as she looked up into light green eyes, eyes that teased. 

    “What? N-No… I wasn’t…”

    “You still ain’t said nothin to me girl.” 

    “You finally brought yo big arrogant head home huh?” The boys hooped and hollered at her retort and she yelped as he playfully lifted her up into his arms. 

    “My bein away don made you git fresh huh? Lily what you doin to this girl? She was nice and quiet till I left.” Lily grinned. 

    “I ain’t got nothin to do with it. She gettin her sass from Mama and I for one think she growin up jus’ fine.”

    “Hmph. All y’all damned women get it from Mama.”

    “Yeah and glad of it. Without us y’all menfolk wouldn’t know what to do. Couldn’t keep clean clothes, eat or bathe for that matter. Y’all should be thankin us.” 

    “Somebody’s been reading them God awful women rights magazines again.”

    “Yeah and what of it?” Lily shot back as she led the crowd of them away from the platform. Finding her feet once again on the ground, she let out a breath of relief. 

    “Kira, Mama nem still on the crop?”

    “Yeah.”

    “Damn white devil. At the rate they goin, they ain’t neva gon pay off their loan.”

    “Gon be in the cotton fields forever.”

    “That’s the design of it all.”

    “Bastards.” 

    “Hush. Don’t talk so loud.” 

    “So James…where we goin to eat?”

    “Huh?”

    “Don’t huh me. Kira an I don came a long way to come fetch you boys. The least y’all could do was feed us.”

    “Bullshit.”

    “It’s a’right Jimmy. I got it.” June Bug spoke up, eyes never having left her. Swallowing a thick lump in her throat, she smiled at him. 

    “Showin off now huh? Mister Big Shot think he big shit now that he seein places and makin money.”

    “Scat, you jus’ mad you ain’t makin shit but shit.” The group laughed and he winked at her before slipping hands into his pockets. 

    “Gals, pick where y’all wanna go. It’s on me.” 

    “I wanna try a malt.” Lily requested, nudging her with her elbow. 

    “Y-yeah I ain’t neva had one neither.” She piped up, cheeks fulla fire. What was wrong with her? He was making her feel very unfamiliar things and she wasn’t sure she appreciated them or understood them. She’d never been this flustered around him before. After all, this was June Bug… her June Bug. Best friend from the time she would remember. He’d always been like a big brother to her, what being four years older than her. But at 21 moons, he wasn’t making her think of him as very brotherly and that bothered her. 

    “Malt it is. We’ll go to one of the best malt shops in Mableton.” 

    “Alright.” 

*** 

    “You runnin from me or somethin?” He couldn’t help but ask, lips twitching in a smirk. 

    “No I ain’t runnin from you.”

    “Then slow down girl.” He reached for her hand and pulled her back towards him. 

    “Look don’t be make demands.”  Lips now stretched into a grin, he licked them. He wasn’t sure where this feisty little girl was comin from but damn was he enjoyin her. His Kira girl was growing up mighty fine. 

    “Don’t make me put you ova my knee now Kira.” He half warned, half joked watching the way her smooth brown cheeks grew red. The two of them slowed down some, fingers still entangled, still lost in the throng of people on the road. 

    “How old are you now?” He asked, eying a loose curl or two that had slipped from behind her ear. 

    “17 suns.”

    “Ah. You’re a big girl now.”

    “I’m a woman now Joon.” She corrected, tong haughty. 

    “Excuse me then. Woman.” He said, gaze drifting down her body once real quick. That she was. He couldn’t deny that she was. He tried his damndest to keep some distance… some familiarity between them but he was also a man and he had more than noticed her figure in the two or three days since he’d been back home. She filled out her dresses in the right places and then some. Letting go of her hand, he let her walk ahead of him a bit, allowing himself the chance to admire her some more. The girl had the nerve to have an ample rump behind her now. That musta grown while he was away. 

    “Pick up ya feet June Bug. I’m gettin hungry.”

    “Are you?” He asked, eyes slipping back up her petite little frame, all smooth curves and dark brown skin.

    “Yeah.” If she still bore any resemblance of the little girl he knew, she'd have the appetite of a man. 

    “Well then it’s a good thing I got some money on me ain’t it?” Glancing back at him, she pursed her lips. 

    “Yep.” 

    “Well why you standing out here. Let’s go on inside so you can eat.” He grinned, lifting her up on an ascending step. Giggling, she gripped his hands as he did it again. 

    “Will you two stop and come on?” Lily said under her breath tersely, arms crossed. 

    “Quit bein mean Lil.” She shot back, pushing his hands off of her waist. 

    “Hmph. Y’all act like y’all ain’t ever seen each other before.”

    “I missed him a’right? Leave me alone.”

    “Yeah Lily Bean. Leave Kira ‘lone huh?”

    “Fine. Long as you buy me whatever I want hear?” 

    “Yeah yeah. Gon inside Kira.”

    “Okay.” Him and some of the other boys stayed outside to light a cigarette and he glanced at her one last time as she sat in the colored section booth, laughing at somethin her sister said. 

    “She’s become kinda beautiful huh?” Turning eyes onto Scat, he exhaled smoke. 

    “Kinda beautiful?”

    “Yeah it’s a damn shame she’s a darkie. She don’t got much titty but she’s got an ass that’ll stop traffic. Good curly hair and them grey eyes of hers get anybody hard huh?” He felt his throat grow tight. 

    “She’s…she’s definitely a looker.” 

    “Yeah who woulda thought that lil pickaninny woulda grew up to look like that? Even her beautiful ass sister don’t got parts like her. She too top heavy for me.”

    “Aye I don’t know what y’all talkin bout. Lilian Burnett is the finest gal in Smyrna. She the finest shade of caramel, so sweet it give you a cavity. Them freckles look like a Georgian night sky. And you can get your fingers through her hair with no fucking problem. Shit, y’all no good negros ain’t good enough for her. Couldn’t handle them big luscious titties of hers no way.”

    “Aye y’all better chill out. They are my sisters.” Jimmy said, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

    “Sorry Jimbo.”

    “Don’t call me that.”

    “Why Jimbo?” 

    “For fuck’s sake Scat.”

    “What’s wrong Jimbo?” He pestered with a mischievous grin, barely ducking from one of his hands. 

    “Okay I don talked enough. I’m ready to eat and since our man June Bug here payin for lunch I’m ready to throw down.” All of them started towards the door but his hand caught the arm of one of em. 

    “Dipp.” The man looked at him, grin wide and easy on his face. 

    “What?” 

    “About what you said earlier. About Kira.” 

    “What of it?”

    “Don’t call her that again a’right?”

    “Fuck you on bout Joon? If you turned off the light with her in the same room you wouldn’t be able to see her.”

    “If you make fun of her color again you and me gonna have problems you hear me?” The man laughed condescendingly. 

    “Oh…I get it. You don seen that ass and it got you rethinkin the whole brother thing huh?”

    “Don’t piss me off you bug eyed sonabitch.” Shoving the grinning man away from him, he glared at him. 

    “A’right then I’m sorry. Shit.”

    “Yeah shit don’t do it again.”

    “I’ll leave ya little girl alone. You protective ass bastard.”

    “You better.”

*** 

    When they came into the diner, eyes watched as he came to sit down right next to her, arm comfortably across her shoulder. 

    “Joon,”

    “Yeah lil gal?”

    “Don’t it bother you?”

    “What, the starin?”

    “Yeah.”

    “I’m used to it by now. Don’t bother me. And,” He gently took her nose between his fingers. 

    “It shouldn’t bother you neither. Now, pick somethin to eat.” Cheeks warm, she nodded but otherwise was quiet as she began to browse from the menu. Soon, food filled the table and he watched as her sister and her shared their first malt. The delight that took over their faces. He’d promised himself somethin long time ago. That he’d protect Kira no matter what. See, in the brutal world in which they lived, they were both outsiders. He was more than light enough to pass for white but he was too Oriental lookin to be successful. His eyes a dead giveaway to his Korean heritage. Even if he had more European eyes, his lips woulda had them questioning him had he wanted to pass. At the end of the day the shit didn’t bother him. He was what he was and he was damn proud of it. 

    Kira on the other hand… her life had been cruel. The butt of every joke, snicker and laugh. Her skin color had always been the topic of conversation and she was belittled and degraded sometimes to the point of tears. He’d watched his little Kira girl be bullied and talked about. 

    People told her that she’d never get a man. That any good sensible negro would never want to be with someone so dark and dirty. It was a shame they said. The progress they were tryna make as a race would be wasted on somebody like her. All that pretty good hair wasted on a black body. Them grey eyes would look so much prettier on a lite bright they said. Instead of dark smudges for lips, they wanted plump pink lips, skin so fair you could see the veins bright and blue underneath.  

    “Joon, you ain’t touched ya food.”

    “He too busy makin goo goo eyes at Kira.”

    “Shut up.” He replied, reaching for a fry or two. 

    “Let the man look okay? Our little Kira sure has grown up hasn’t she?” Lily asked with a knowing smile, eying the two in between sips of the large malt. 

    “What makes y’all think he lookin at me like that huh? He’d be better off eying up Lil. Everybody want her.” She didn’t say it with a trace of jealousy, rather resignation… acceptance.    

    “Joon, why don’t you help Kira finish up this malt huh? I can’t drink another sip.” 

    “Lil-”

    “Hush now. Don’t make this man waste the money he don spend on us now.” Cheeks growing red as a cherry, she licked her lips and glanced up at him. 

    “Come on Kira girl. Let’s show her we can do this.” He said with a teasing grin. 

    “A’right then.” Taking a straw in each hand, they began to drink the rest of the sweet until their cheeks grew cold and their tongue numb. 

***

    “That’s it for now Tani. It’s well over a couple pages.”  Fronnie had to admit that already she’d grown engrossed and she wanted to keep reading. 

    “He’d already fallen in love with Gam.” Tani said with a dreamy sigh, closing the journal. 

    “He probably was in love with her for a long time.”

    “Yeah.”

    “I think the same for Gammy. She been in love with June Bug. She just ain’t know it when she was younger.”

    “Come on now. I take you home.”

    “I wanna read one more entry Fronnie.”

    “Tomorrow we’ll come back over okay? And if you pass yo upcomin test, I’ll bring you over here to spend the weekend. We can really get to readin then.” The girl’s eyes lit up and she gingerly fingered the aged leather. From here, she was hooked and she brimmed with so many questions. Huffing, the two girls came down from the attic and peeked into their grandmama’s room to find her sleeping nice and sound. 

    “She’s still beautiful. I don’t care what them folks was talkin bout back then. They wished they could look like Gammy at 94.” Tani spoke angrily under her tongue as they locked up and headed to the car. She had no idea that her Gam had suffered such harsh treatment at her age. And yet she always managed to pull herself up and try to continue on. That was the kinds woman she was. Smiling, Kotani laid her head back against the headrest and drifted to sleep on the way home, dreaming of a tall Asian man and a short petite black woman dancing round and round in circles. Never-ending and everlasting.