Voyage to NC

Now I have fully invested in transporting back to 1985 to that time when my father came into my room and spoke with a firm voice, “San! Tammy! We are driving to North Carolina with your Uncle J this weekend.” San is short for Sani. The memory is clear as day, as if I am watching this whole scenario on TV. I remember that moment when me and Tammy turned and looked at each other, did a little smirk… and then screamed out, “Yessss!!” My father has two brothers and five sisters; we have a bunch of aunts and uncles and a million and one cousins. That is all we dreamed of—to go to North Carolina. My grandpa and grandma live there on a farm with so much land. Living in the suburbs, we always craved going to the country because it was always so much fun for us kids. We immediately packed our bags; we were so excited.

One of me and my sister’s friends, Sasha, called us on the phone; she is very fair-skinned and looks mixed like us. People also assume she is our sister too. Sasha had long, wavy black hair and light brown sugar colored skin.
She asked, "What are your plans for spring break?"
We told her we were going to North Carolina to see our grandparents and hang out on the farm. She was jealous and told us she was doing nothing.
Sasha then responds, “Aww, can you ask your dad if I can come, please, pretty please with sugar on top?”.
We asked him, and at first he was hesitant, but then he finally said, "Alright… she can come." Sasha, along with us, was super excited and just couldn’t wait to begin our journey to the country. As we were packing our things, my sister Tammy asked if we should bring our paper
dolls?
“Heck, yes!” I yelled out.
“Yay! This can keep us busy in the car.” Tammy replied, her eyes sparkling with glee and her dimples denting her cheeks because she was smiling so hard.
When we finished, we carried our things to the car and gave our mom a big hug. My mom usually did not join us on the trips to NC, she had no interest in visiting the country.
One of the neighborhood kids who lived across the street ran to us outside. His name was JJ.
“Where are you guys going?”
“We are heading to North Carolina to visit our grandparents.” I said while bouncing up and down with excitement.
“I heard down south is different; they don’t mind that y’all are mixed?” JJ uttered with a condescending tone and smug grin.

JJ was obsessed with me, and Tammy, of the racial mixture within our family. We did not like him very much back in the day. Probably because he made bad racial jokes towards us or called us horrible names such as “Y’all are Oreos”, “Y’all look like Zebra’s”, or my personal favorite which I state in a very bitter tone, “Y’all are black nazis”.
“I don’t think so; why would anyone act differently because of us being mixed?” I remarked with my arms folded across my chest.
“Because they don’t have mixed people down south, that’s what my uncle always tells me.”
“Well, we are going, and we have family there.” I stormed off into the car and waited for Dad to get in the car and drive off.

Tammy grew up to be a very popular and confident girl, hanging out with sizeable crowds and going out every night. But in the past, she was shy and quiet. I looked over at her, smiling as she packed all our paper dolls in a bag with scissors and crayons, enjoying her innocence and excitement. Soon after my dad drove off, he picked up Sasha. She sat between me and Tammy, and then he picked up my uncle. The drive from Jersey to North Carolina took eight hours; with teen girls in the car, we had to use our imaginations to keep us busy for that long drive. Little did I know that the trip to North Carolina, which in the beginning was fun, would have turned into a nightmare.