July 21, 2020
By Chantal Eyong
She wondered if she was falling in love, like the way her father fell in love.
After shifting to her side and using her stemless glass as a book paperweight, she gave up reading. She stood to her feet, stretched, and searched for sage she stored away. Maybe the sage scent would help her focus.
Her father once told a story about how he celebrated her mother’s first birthday in the United States. 1983. He bought a large chocolate cake from Shop-Rite and sang “Happy Birthday” in their one bedroom apartment. What did her parents think when her mother blew out the candles? When they divided the cake and ate together, did they feel alone?
She found the sage. When she lit it, she studied its swirls. Could she love someone the way her father loved?
Chantal Eyong
Writer
Chantal is an author, artist and media producer based in Los Angeles, California. Her work focuses on Afro-diasporic narratives in relation to the self, place-making, archives and memory. Chantal holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of California Riverside and is currently a doctoral student in the Media Arts + Practice program at the University of Southern California.
Images credits:
Feature Image by: @ivycoco23
