The Ball — The detainment, the kidnapping, and the arrest
Only a few will figure out what this means. If this is you, please leave a comment and let me know where this touches you.
There she lay contemplating what let before her. Hoping, dreaming, visualizing the what if’s.
But that was a week ago…
Forward to the past (pun intended)
She had received her invitation to the ball. The letter had come in her magic glass box held in a plastic shell… Sparks shall fly in the Savanna and she … well, she was invited to the ball. Not just to watch for afar but to attend, dance … to move, to engage… she was going to the ball because the ball was coming to her.
Hundreds of hungry men and women conceived and birthed from her womb would convene in unity. They would convene with sheer determination and grit intentionally committed to fashioning her ball grown… because, Alas! She was gonna dance again! Wouzas! The excitement… just too great! Just too much !!’ Just… Mashallah!
And then it happened.
Her babies were finally here. Carried forth in those skyward tin cans that moved through clouded traffic. They were here. The brothers and sisters gathered at tin can reception, waiting excitedly, expectantly… hopefully.
Then bam! The first shoe dropped!
“You can’t enter,” some said.
“But we have papers.”
“We said you can’t enter.”
“But we are bringing the ball. We belong here too.”
“NO! You can’t enter? Restricted.” They turned and smiled with cowardly respect to the white sheet, “Yes sir, come in.” The smile turned into an aggressively mean scowl as they turned back to my sons and daughters. “NO! You cannot enter.”
“Why ever not? You let them in. They don't even look like you.”
“Those are the rules! Move Aside!”… “Yes sir, I will carry your bags.”
“Wait! What? When? Who made these rules? Why? Yester in the day. No one told us why. Why can’t I come, home brother?”
“Stop asking me silly questions. You can’t enter”
Apprehensive tension filled the air as she shuddered. Watching her children squabble over petty issues disguised as life or death boundaries to their Ubuntu.
The first tear fell as for a moment it all seemed hopeless. The parts that were to form the ball were going to crash. Desperation!!!
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“Catch them, children!” She yelled silently. “Don’t let them fall! Come on babies! You can do it! Catch them!”
“How mama?” They said back. Tired, seething with anger. “They embrace the others and deny us. They must pay for this”
“Choose light!” She said “Be the light. See them in you and see them in you. Share what you see. Help them see. Love!”
After Ubuntu became more than just a word, catch the balls they did. Hurrah!!! There they walked, her children with heads held high. Side by side. Pushing carts full of goodies and intention towards the part of themselves that was lost on the other side of the dotted side… The Barely-In Con-(inter) ference
A sense of joyous expectation filled their hearts as they trudged forward with determination. They met, embraced, and together set out to execute the final details of the ball. Mama SHALL dance once again.
Her ball gown was in the tailoring process. She was going dancing remember :-D…
And then suddenly, the second shoes dropped. The boxes in the various forms that carry information about what her children are doing rang with grave news. A child had been kidnapped. By her own children.
Heart wrenched, mind raising, nerve-wracking, was the outcry of her soul. Why, children, why?
As they listened on, her ball planning children sat in despair alarmed that such atrocities could happen in this land they chose to hold the ball in. First, they were detained, and now, this. Whatever could be worse?
Outraged! But still, with intentionality and resolve, they moved on. This ball is GONNA HAPPEN! And mama, well mama is just going to dance, now, won’t she?! Shit happens! Every day because of those dotted lines. But this time, progress was not going to wait. They would take care of both. That’s who they were! MAMA WAS GOING TO DANCE DARN IT!
And dance she did! Ohhh it was beautiful. Streamers of orange, gold, black, red, green, lavender, white, and other colors that only Martha Stuart could know… lol… Huge white screens of color displayed beautiful moving and still images. Over 600,000 of her children came that week. Oh yes! that week. The ball lasted 3 whole days you see.
That what happens when children come together… wink
There were handshakes, Hugs, tears, apologies, the coming together, and embraces. Oh! What a sense of triumph. Authentic promises and plans for the future along with a resolve to never let go of collective determination to leave past those dotted lines. The energy in the atmosphere was electric. There was an unquestionable bond of brother and sisterhood.
She smiled as her heart exploded with sheer glee. Her babies were one, Again. Finally. They could see the truth.
Nothing could pull them apart now. The ball had done it!!! Li li li li Li li… the flower of the Savanna sparkled and danced, head high in pride.
What could go wrong now?
Then suddenly! It did!…
“Wena! wait a minute.”
Oh no!!! What are they doing? They can’t! On no! They have…
They took her children, those that had flown in on that tin can. They took them. In policing uniforms, they held them. Arrested without cuffs, they were held.
Here it comes! She could sense it. She could feel it! The boiling point. These were her children after all.
