Amnesty by Kim Lenor (best books to read all time txt) 📖

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“Honny!” Mother interrupted, “Her name is Sahona! That’s the name I specifically gave her, and it’s Indian meaning patience, which is what I needed for the nine months she beat up my body! Her middle name is Angel because when I found out I was pregnant with her, it was like an Angel had told me a beautiful story. So you get it? Sahona Angel Story? I put a lot of thought into that name so please don’t do that ghetto abbreviation thing.”

“Ok… I’m sorry. Well as I was saying, Sahona and I have been dating for two years now and I love her with all my heart.”

“What do you want to do after high school Ian, is it?” Father inquired.

“Yes, it’s Ian and I want to be a teacher.”
Mother let out a loud deviant laugh.

Ian continued proudly, “I love children and besides boxing, I tutor at the recreation center.”

“Boxing? What recreation center? There aren’t any recreations centers around here,” Mother snapped back.

“No, you’re right it is downtown,” Ian replied.
Mother and Father’s faces seemed to cringe at the same time. I couldn’t put Ian through anymore, we weren’t even halfway through dinner but to imagine him going a second longer dealing with their snobby interrogation was more than I could bear.

“Look! I just wanted you to meet the person I’m dating and will probably marry after we graduate from college. I can’t allow you to sit here and look down on him a minute longer. He makes me happy and whether you accept him or not, he’s who I am dating and now you know.”

I grabbed Ian’s hand and led him to the door, “Ian I’m sorry, I figured it would be exactly like this but I just thought it was time they knew.”

“Don’t worry about it Honny, your mom didn’t hear that did she?” He joked, “No really, you’re all that matters to me. I really don’t care what they think.”
“Good and you’re coming back tonight, right? I’ll leave the patio door open as usual.”

“Of course, I’ll see you some time before midnight.”

We kissed and I shut the door behind him. I tried to go straight upstairs to my bedroom but as soon as I walked past the dinning room, Mother called for me and insisted, “Sahona! We need to talk about this boy.”
“Mother there is nothing to talk about.”

“Sahona, you need to stay focused on finishing school and getting into a good college. Maybe if you focused a little more you could have received a scholarship or something. This is not the time to divide your attention any more,” Mother said adamantly.

“Mother, I have been focused. Ian is helping me focus if anything.”

“Besides, you are talking about marrying him after college…he wants to be a teacher! What do they make now, $30,000? No one can live off that! You being a lawyer and him a teacher, you’d be marrying beneath you,” Father slurred.
“And I don’t mean to sound funny but he’s a stray. Were his parents on drugs or something?” Mother asked with no shame.

“NO! His parents were killed!” I said annoyed.
“Well Sahona, you’re not going to be his hootchie “Honny” video girl or whatever, living downtown playing around at intercity recreation centers. On top of that, he’s violent, all boxer’s are, that’s why they box to get out aggression and when they are not in the ring they are beating their wives and kids.”

Father drunkenly agreed and Mother continued, “Look at that Mike what’s his name… biting off someone’s ear. Oh Sahona no!” She laughed, “So I say, put all this behind you and focus on your future and when you’re ready, you’ll find some nice doctor like your father or lawyer to marry. This one isn’t for you baby… Get this out of your mind. Okay?” Mother tried to say with affection.

“Get this out of my mind?” I repeated in amazement.

“Yeah, sleep on it. You’ll realize what we’re saying in the morning. I’ll tell you what Sahona, you know I can be a little more open-minded than your mother, so I promise that we’ll think over you’re little friendship and see if we can come up with some guidelines so that you can still be at least friends, okay?” Father stated between sips of the alcohol that filled the air with the most sickening aroma.

I just turned my back to them and hurried to my bedroom. I could hear them laughing hysterically as if I had just held a comedy show for their entertainment. Father’s slurring words and Mother laughing at herself as if she was so clever coming up with all sorts of insults about Ian made me sick to my stomach.

When Ian finally made it back that evening, I stepped out onto the patio and I began to tear at his clothes and kiss him aggressively because I was filled with so much anger and frustration, and I knew he’d appreciate me taking it out on him in this way. This time though, I didn’t sneak him into my bedroom and lock the door, instead I led him into my parent’s bedroom and we had the most aggressive, sloppiest, dirtiest, kinkiest, sweat pouring, mad, crazed sex we had ever had all over their bed. I didn’t know where my parents were in that house nor did I care. Afterwards I made up their bed nice and neat and as I flashed back to what had just happened, it felt like such sweet revenge. I even left them a nice little surprise under their pillow…, the condom.

The next morning when I went down to fix myself breakfast there was an envelope taped to the refrigerator with my name on it. The note inside read:

Sahona,
Your father and I discussed it and we decided that we do not want you seeing this boy outside of school. It is important that you finish this year strong. Get those college applications completed, that’s the only thing you need to think about right now. We are sure he’s a good kid but he’s not the one for you. We don’t want you around a boxer and we want you to be with someone that can equally contribute to your future household. This is our final decision. We are sure you understand that this is only in your best interest. Have a wonderful day at school. Talk to you soon.
XOXO
Mother & Father

I couldn’t rip that letter up fast enough because I felt that they had no right to judge Ian so harshly and most of all leave me a note, a rejection letter almost about someone that was so important to me and assumed that I would just comply. I made up in my mind that Ian would never be hidden from them again. I loved him, I was going to be with him and I was going to do it right in front of their faces.

From that moment on, I made it a point to make sure Ian was there whenever my parents were around. I doodled his name on their important mail, I put pictures of us around the house and whenever I would get a chance to talk to my parents, I always brought Ian up in the conversation. They always made their snobbish comments and fussed about me seeing him but it was not enough to make any type of impact on me.

One day after arriving home from school, I walked inside the house to see both of my parents standing in front of door waiting for me with huge smiles on their faces.
“Sahona, we have a big surprise for you!” Mother said as she pulled car keys from her pocket.

“You got me a car? I thought you said on graduation day, it’s still early in the year!” I yelled as I rushed to the garage and opened the door.

Tears filled my eyes as I stared at the brand new, black on black convertible Mercedes Benz Coupe with all the bells and whistles. They had even personalized the license plate with my name. It was a beautiful car but I was emotional because I could see my freedom being even closer and a lot more within my reach.
“Look in the glove compartment Sahona!” Mother said excitedly.

As I opened the glove compartment and began to read the letter that was inside, I started to scream with excitement realizing it was an acceptance letter to UCLA. I began to jump up and down in the driveway, and for once we were all so happy at the same time. I jumped into the driver’s seat to go for a test drive and before I could get off my street I had dialed Ian, “Ian! I have great news!”

“So do I, you go first.”

“Okay first I got a new car and I’m on my way over there to show it to you right now! Second baby... I got accepted to UCLA!” I screamed with excitement.

“Sahona! Congratulations! I guess I’ll see you on campus because I got accepted too!” He said excitedly.

“Are you serious?! This day can’t get any better, we get to go to school right here in California… then when we are done we can move anywhere where we want, far, far away from here. Ian I think today is the happiest day of my life.”

When I pulled into Ian’s driveway, we ran into each other’s arms. Our plan was in motion and everything was falling into place. I could see our lives becoming perfect as I had only just imagined before.


Chapter 3
A few months had past and Ian and I were driving home from school, he was driving my car and I was dancing like a wild woman to the pop song that was blasting from the stereo. We were chilling and feeling good with the top down as we approached the red light and slowly came to a stop. After a few seconds he and I nearly jumped out of our skin as we looked to the left to see my mother also stopped at the light staring at us. She didn’t say one word as she slowly pulled off with the most enraged, horrified, and disgusted look on her face.
After dropping Ian off and arriving home, I knew there would be trouble. As soon as I walked in the door my parents bombarded me with accusations of being under some sort of mind control orchestrated by Ian. I tried to defend myself and Ian but they yelled over me. I turned my back to them and was going to head to my room but my father said something that really caught my attention. He demanded, “Give me the keys to the car Sahona.”
“What?! Why?! If you don’t want Ian to drive my car then I won’t let him drive. It’s really no big deal!” I insisted.

“It’s more than that Sahona, we don’t want Ian in the car or around you. We already allowed you to see him as a friend in school but you don’t get the point. You are totally out of control regarding this boy. We tried to warn you and give you an opportunity to abide by our guidelines but you refuse and you deliberately try to rub it in our faces every chance you get, so we have no choice,” Mother said.
“Give me the keys Sahona…,” Father insisted.