Where There Is Love

The argument was hot between daughter and mother one sunny day. "Why did you marry this white man ?" Nancy asked her daughter, Jeanna, Nancy added  "We have enough problems in our lives''. Jeanna's sister, Carolyn  had been brutalized, raped and ridiculed by the white man. The only African American family on the block was being harassed daily in this predominantly white neighborhood..

Jeanna's mother ,Nancy recalled being called a nigger and coon by the whites, burning crosses in their front yard as a child in the 40s while coming up. Life as a single parent with two beautiful daughters was hard trying to work two jobs to raise her family.  

Nancy felt betrayed by her daughter ( Jeanna) for marrying this white man. Nancy said to Jeanna "Did you forget it was a white man a member of  Klu Klux Klan that beat and hung your father and also raped your sister, Carolyn?. Did you forget the deep- rooted scars on your back from whipping you with a leather strap?". 

 In annoyance Carolyn replied her mother    " I will never forget, it haunts me day and night., Mother let's go ", she shouted. Jeanna hesitated before speaking and said " Bob my husband shouldn't have to pay for others' mistakes in our lives. I love him ":  The door slammed as Jeanna's mother and Carolyn walked out.

Bob came home from work with a bouquet of flowers in his hand and a nice bottle of red wine. He was searching around the house for his wife . He wanted to surprise her with his new promotion from work and take her out  for shopping. It was then he saw her crouch over their bed crying and visible scars showed from underneath her shirt. He asked " are you okay Honey? ", for he had never seen his wife cried before.  

Alone in her room Jeanna fell to her knees and prayed. She asked God to soften her mother and sister's  hearts.  She begged for forgiveness for them and herself.  Bob her husband is the best  husband any woman would pray for .His thoughtfulness and love outweighed any questions her mother posed. She thanked God for meeting a wonderful ,caring,  and loving man regardless  the color of his skin.

After she composed herself from weld eyes, she stood up and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, softly whispered into  his ears and she said " you are about to be a father. I am two months pregnant". He immediately swept her up off her feet and spin her around with such joy in his heart that he kissed her repeatedly.

But  the dreadful thought hit her like a boulder , her mother and sister's reactions to her pregnancy. Bob could sense something was wrong. He asked again  " Are you okay ?''. Looking off to the walls in the bedroom , she replied  "My mother and sister will not be happy for us " but  Bob replied
 while holding her close  ''I love you unconditionally, I'm so thankful for marrying a good woman and  now about to have my baby. I pray that your mother and sister will have a change of heart ".

When the baby arrived  , Bob was right there holding his wife hand through it all. The nurse said,
" It's a girl ". Bob kissed his wife and wept. He started praising God for the wonderful bundle of joy that was just  born, Suddenly from nowhere ,Jeanna's mother and sister were standing in the doorway of her room looking as if they had seen a ghost , both of them ran to Jeanna's bedside as  mom kissed her forehead.

Nancy was so proud of being a first time grandma that she couldn't wait to hold her granddaughter.
''Where's my grand baby?'' she asked the nurse as she extended her arms and hands to receive her granddaughter as Carolyn made her way over to hold her niece. Both of them were so delighted that they forgot about Jeanna and Bob were in the room.

Bob held his wife's hand by her bedside as both glared into each other's eyes. They knew  it was God that brought all of them together and put love in their hearts through this little bundle of joy named Mary....

If these walls could talk

Roger heard his mother Sarah, calling from the cellar. "Please come quick", Sarah yelled, for his father Dennis, was laying on the floor holding his chest. Thoughts of his father dying made him realize how critical time is, so he desperately told his mother to call the paramedics as he held his father's hand. They rushed Dennis off to St. Thomas' hospital  where he later died from a massive heart attack.

Dennis served  in the Army as a Black Ops specialist. Roger  recalled  his dad being gone away from home for months, that seemed like years to two young siblings.  Standing in his mother doorway he vividly  recalled his  horrible childhood memory which appeared to him like yesterday .   

                     

He remembered the  thought of his mother 's drinking  heavily that one night she literally destroyed their house by breaking out all the windows, turning over multiple tables and chairs and screaming using profanity as he  and his  sister, Kimmy held each other tight. Suddenly out of  nowhere, they  saw  her with Dad's old gun in her hands aiming it at them before she turned it on herself and accidentally shot herself in the chest. 


''We were only small children at the time, as we ran over to the neighbors house for help ''.

She recovered  from her fatal wound and announced to Kimmy and myself by saying ,"You kids have it easy. I was raped and sodomized by  my father and two brothers . I have three kids, one for each  of them . The children were taken away by my grandmother and I never saw them  again!. I never wanted to marry and have any children. I hate you all ."

 Roger stood there in shock for he knew his mother was telling the truth by the penetrating look in her eyes.  ''Kids by my grandfather and Uncles?'', Roger asked  his mother , he continued ''I tried to understand but the pain you inflicted on me and my sister were too deep to ever forgive you''.  Roger was shaking his head in despair to think that his uncles and grandfather could do such horrible things to his  mother. ''This is the worst sin ever",Roger replied Sarah".

''Kimmy and I finally left home and graduated with honors from Lincoln University. While my mother is undergoing psychiatric treatment. My grandmother, Rose came to visit me at home one day after twenty -two years had passed with a letter in her hand that read Please forgive me for all the wrong I have cause in your life and my daughter's life. I have lived in shame for so long . The three Professors at Lincoln University that you and your sister attended are my daughter's three children I took from her when she was fifteen years old. They are your brothers.



How my wife betrayed me

Constant  fear loomed in Danny's mind, thinking that his wife Robin is having an affair with his best friend Tony,as the family gathered for Christmas dinner , Robin saw Tony go down to the cellar for another bottle of wine. She immediately followed him not realizing her husband Danny was watching.

Robin is a connoisseur of wine for she only wanted to help Tony pick out something special for her husband and to show the family this wonderful present she had bought for him, but Danny's suspicion led him to the cellar as well. He lurked in the shadows, watching.

 Danny heard Robin telling Tony as she playfully laughed  "Please give it to me now !". Danny not knowing that Robin was talking about the bottle of wine became jealous as he thought about the playfulness of him and his wife in the cellar when they first got married , He continued to stay in the shadows to look and listen as they went back and forth discussing about the wine.

Tony informed Robin that " it was his first time he had done this ." Danny still not knowing what the two of them were up to was becoming more and more curious by peeping around the door trying to get a glimpse of them. Robin said " What about our guest upstairs ?, they may hear us making noise down here and my husband might find out". Danny bit his lower lip and mumbled "what kind of shit is this ,my best friend and my wife?", as he still loomed in the dark behind the curtain.

Robin shouted "give it to me right now before someone comes down here" No one could hear them over the loud music playing upstairs. Tony replied  "We got to take our clothes off, bend over and hold this in place . Danny almost fainted . He raced from behind the curtains to catch his best friend and wife in the act of fornicating,

Tony stunned" falling forward onto Robin  with his pants half way down. looking back at Danny to see if he was going to deliver a deadly blow. He ( Tony)  was begging for forgiveness while laying on top of Robin.
Danny had no mercy at this point , with both fists clutch tightly he began to strike Tony repeatedly in the head and face with all his might . Robin sobbing as their guest started to trickle downstairs to view the altercation. Someone ran to pull Danny away from Tony. "How long has this been going on?." Danny parents asked?

Robin stated " I love Tony we've been together for some years. I have a three year old son by him "  Danny heart raced as he reached out and slapped his wife  for saying these horrible things and lying to him all these years. "Robin  pack your things and leave this house immediately." Danny said.Tony had been Danny's friend for over ten years and never knew he was so deceitful.As the guests were leaving one by one, Danny's parents offered and apology as to what had  just occurred.

Danny was distraught , he wanted to be alone to digest what had transpired between his best friend and his wife. He (Danny ) asked his parents to leave also. Alone and disgusted he found a bottle of Jack Daniel and poured himself a drink. He often thought about having children with his wife but she (Robin) informed Danny that she couldn't have any children. He couldn't imagine all the lies and deceit of  being married for eight years to Robin.

Danny decided he needed to move on by divorcing Robin. He enrolled in some art classes where he met a beautiful young woman named Melissa. After dating her for two years he asked Melissa to marry him. They had two beautiful twin kids together and love each other unconditionally.  Danny told Melissa "This is the life, I always prayed for with his third child on the way ."

Staff had 15 surgeries

 I witnessed Industrial accident 
Mr.Van worked for a company that fabricated steel and aluminum that sprays a type of coating on the inside of the can to prevent corrosion .The industrial accident he witnessed in his life still makes him shiver and develops goose pimples whenever he remembers the horror he witnessed in the company he once worked. He gave reasons why Safety measures should be religiously observed

Let's listen to Van's take on why not to take safety for granted in the video above

Leg wrapped among the moving machine

Van started the  story of how a colleague's leg was ''wrapped'' in an industrial machine spinning and rolling. His words  ''Listening to muffled sounds below me, I saw my co-worker's leg being wrapped up in coil from a machine that had pulled her in. ''I  worked for a company that fabricated steel and aluminum that sprays a type of coating on the inside of the can to prevent corrosion. On this particular day I was a floor line lead responsible for coil that range from five to ten thousand pounds and placed it on a carriage that loaded it onto and Arbor. The Arbor function was to spin the coil and loosen the coil to run through a process of painting ,sealing, and heating, then recoiling it back out''. 



He continued ''I was taking twenty one thousand  pounds of coil off by utilizing a special forklift, while in the process of lifting the coil up into the air I heard a clicking sound which primarily meant the coil has broken. As I went to jump off the the fork-truck I looked directly in front of the Arbor and saw a human leg ,flipping around  on the coil. I immediately got off the fork-truck. Everyone present knew when they heard a certain sound to come to that location. When the Engineer arrived he shutdown the equipment which caused tension in the coils with the employee wrapped up in it. He then reversed the machinery while other employees dialed 911.



''After realizing that the coil did not break and  it was one of my female co-worker's leg that was being wrapped around in the coil. The victim  went against some safety features trying to check the OD which is how much wax coming from the OD coil process. Instead of her being on the outside as the coil turned counterclockwise to take her test she went around a safety barrier to take her test at the bottom of the equipment when the machinery being extremely hot pulled her glove and snatched her in''.


 Rescue at last

''When the Fire department arrived they were trying to figure out how to get her out of  being wrapped from  the coil. Van stated " the lady was wrapped around in the coil about twenty times. The Fire Department had to cut her out by using the jaws of life which represented something like big scissors or can opener. Once they got her out, no one was allowed to go in that area where she was''.


Van added  "after she was freed from the coil they had to put this pin in her head to release pressure, and they had to keep the coil which had skin and teeth in it for insurance purposes. They shut the plant down for a whole day and a half due to investigation of the incident."

Victim had 15 surgeries
Asked what happened to the lady after the accident, Van said ''she had fifteen surgeries, she ended up alright but not 100% like she was."


Safety measures 
The company had taken measures to put more safety locks in place to prevent this from happening again.