To My Galaxy

No job. No money. And now, no boyfriend, which also meant Andromeda Cartier, a 30-year-old Black woman with no prospects, or degree, no longer had a roof over her head in Chicago. Ursula, her mother back home in New Orleans, warned of foolishness from city boys. Andromeda ignored her mom's intuition and cut off all communication with her entirely. Their silence was going on 3 years.. To make matters worse, David, a John Henry looking brother, with significantly less morale, hovered over her while she packed, a shed her tears. He didn't want to have a reason to let her back in the house. She wasn't sure if she ever lived there to begin with. Andromeda had made a bed she couldn't even lay in.

"Make sure you get all your shit out my house," David howled. Andromeda put her heart and soul into their relationship. Sacrificed her love of family, and self, just to support the one she loved most. "It's not like you can afford to be with me anymore, anyway. Besides, now you can get back to the dirty south where you belong and be with your witch of a mother."

The nerve. The gall. The audacity. Andromeda felt it all. But, she was nearly done gathering her belongings and luckily her phone rang before she could slap David with the strength of all the witches who came before.

"Hey girl. Del Ray and I are outside when you are ready." It was her queer best friend and ride or die, Mark. "You sure you don't want us to come up so we can beat Dave's ass? Don't let the fruitiness fool you. Ain't shit sweet when you mess with me and mine."

"Of course not. I don't need no more connections with him. It's bad enough I'm still here trying to make sense of all this and pack. Even if you beat his ass, that ain't gonna change the fact that I don't have a place to stay, or a job to pay for it. It also won't change the fact that he's an asshole who I probably should've left eons ago--"

"Aye, fuck you, too, Andy!!!" David was as nosey as he was disrespectful. "No fuck you Dave! Ain't nobody talking to you, anyway. Better shut up before I knock your block off." It was bad enough David was kicking her out with no real explanation other than kicking her while she was down. To add insult to injury, she had to reconcile with the fact that she chose to be with him. And it felt like, up until this very moment, everyone knew how bad he was except for her.

"My bad, Mark. I'll be down in a second."

"Aight now girl, but if you're not down here in 10, I'm going to assume he's assaulting you and boff'us gon' come up there and beat his ass. Okay?"

David came back inside with a handful of mail. "Made a trip to the mailbox so you could just walk on by. Now give me all my keys and gon' head and leave." With all the strength she could muster, Andromeda straddled her heavy-as-shit duffle bags on her shoulders and stormed out the door and down the winding steps of her walk-up. Right before she got to the front door of the building, she noticed a pink envelope addressed to her on the floor. David didn't even have the decency to make sure she had all of her mail. And it was from New Orleans, so that meant family was trying to reach out somehow. Of course her mom probably told the family not to call her, so they did the next best thing: write. Andromeda slowly knelt down to grab it without shifting a pound from her luggage. "At least my body didn't go to shit in this relationship." She carried that positivity forward, out the door and into the shot gun seat of her best friend's car.

-----

"Your folks still write letters? In the year of our Lord 2011? Y'all a different bread of negros. The Renaissance kind." Mark and Del Ray were pulling Andromeda's bags from the back of their SUV as she opened what she thought was an 'I told you so' letter from her people back in the N.O. She tried to call Ursula a couple weeks ago when she lost her job, her man, and her roof, in an effort to remodel the bridge she burned. She tried, but Ursula never called back. Maybe this was her response. "My mom is just petty like that," Andromeda said jokingly. "When we last spoke, I told her to never call me ever again. I tried to call her back and apologize the other day. So, of course she wrote me a letter when I tried to renege on my word"

"Damn. You're mother is thee Petty Labelle." And Mark loved a good read, even at the expense of his partner in crime.

"I know right," Andromeda said laughing. "Where do you think I get it from. She didn't even put her name on it, just so I really wouldn't know it was her until I opened it." Andromeda opened the pink envelope with her nail and kickstarted the read. Come to find out the letter was from her Auntie Uma.

Dearest Andromeda,

How is Auntie's galaxy doing? I hope all is well. Unfortunately things aren't doing too hot down here besides the weather. Your mother, my dearest and only sister, has been called to the Lord by cancer. I know that you all weren't on speaking terms, but know that she loved you very much and brought you up every chance she could, even though we all knew she didn't want to. I would've called you, or reached out to you sooner, but your mother didn't want us to tell you anything. Talking about "she'll need me before I'll need her." You know your mother is stubborn. Anyway, please call me the minute you read this so we can start planning the arrangements and get you down here for the service. I managed to check her messages with her before she passed, so I know you have the free time.

My number is 504-330-8004 if it's not saved in your phone. I wouldn't know, because you HAVEN'T called in a while. But I look forward to speaking with you, even under these circumstances.

With Love and Bittersweetness,

Aunt Uma

"Is it that bad, sis? Black moms can be pretty mean, can't they?" Mark was trying to lighten the mood since he noticed his friend come to a halt. He knew something else was up when Andromeda's eyes started to flood like rivers.

"My mother died. My auntie sent me this. I have to go home, right away. I need a phone. I need money. I don't know what to do. I don't...Why my momma? Why..." Mark dropped everything to extend a hug to his friend. "Don't you worry sis. Everything is going to be alright. We're going to help you. Del Ray has flight credit, don't you Del Ray."

"Sure do," chimed Del Ray, still holding bags and sweating outside in the name of friendship. "We're gonna get you down there and don't worry about paying us back. Just hook us up with something when you get that new job. Now let's get you inside so we can get you booked and boarded before the sun goes down."

Andromeda screamed into her best friend's chest, now wet with snot and sadness. "I have to call my Auntie."

-----

"We will now begin the probate by reading the will and testament of Ms. Ursula I. Cartier. I'm assuming all parties are present." Andromeda was the only party present besides her aunt Uma. She wondered if it was because Ursula lived a lonely life, or just a petty one. Both thoughts hurt her brain too much to ponder. The church office room was already beaming from the natural sunlight bleating into her eyeballs. Her flight only landed two hours before her mother's service, which only gave her an hour to get changed and head right back out to meet her family at the church.

"Yes, everyone is here Mr. Broadnax. Please continue." Uma wanted closure to come as soon as possible so they could get back to celebrating the good and bad times of her big sister Ursula, and get out of the church's office room, which felt like the gates of hell.

"Well then," Henry Broadnax continued. "To my lovely sister Uma, I leave my two-story purple, gold, and green house in Lafitte Treme. I also leave everything left inside."

"Bless her precious heart. That's so nice of her. But don't nobody want to stay in there. I got my own house thank you very much," said Uma hoping she'd get something of true value, not the home her sister barely kept up with. "I"m pretty sure it's better than what I'm getting, if I get anything at all."

"To my daughter Andromeda..." Mr. Broadnax continued. "I leave a little black notebook I kept from the moment you were born. And a safe I kept hidden underneath my bed--"

"You can have it all Andromeda." blurted Uma. I can do that legally, can't I, Mr. Broadnax."

"As of your sister's untimely death, her home is now your property Mrs. Cartier-Washington. You can do whatever you want" Broadnax confirmed. "Well, how about it niece?," said an elated Uma.

"Why not Auntie. Like you said, I ain't got nothing else better to do. And it's the least I can do for my old lady." Andromeda was only telling some of the truth. While she was open to her Auntie's generosity, she only halfway appreciated her mother's. Still, it felt good to be home, and to at least have something to remember her mother. Maybe she could reconnect with Ursula beyond the grave.

-----

"How anyone makes it out here without air conditioning is beyond me. I'm appalled at how hot my mother's house is. No wonder she died. I'd die, too if I lived in here." Dawn tried her best to pretend she was in good spirits for Mark's sake. In actuality, her heart was as heavy as the NOLA humidity was on her skin. The only thing that gave her solace was the little black book she had yet to open.

"Glad to hear your spirits are better. We were worried about you. How was the service?"

"Oh you know, traditional Black Christian service. Throw in a big party at the end because...New Orleans. I got a house, a notebook and a safe." Andromeda grabbed the little black book and fumbled with it.

"Girl, that's more than I got right now. Del Ray put me on an allowance on account that my shopping has gotten a lil' OC." Dawn flipped through the notebook, realizing it was mostly blank except for one page.

"What you mean OC?" Mark continued. But Andromeda wasn't listening. She was too busy trying to make out the words written on the page. It was a series of numbers, what looked like a lock combination, followed by a quote.

23 12 19

A DOLLAR A DAY KEEPS THE WORRY AWAY

"Hey Mark, let me call you back." Dawn bolted up the stairs to her mother's bedroom to see if her newfound numbers would unlock the safe.

The safe door slowly opened revealing a letter inside addressed to Andromeda and a $20,000 check.

Andromeda,

If you're reading this I have died. To your surprise, I was not afraid. Just worried about how you would survive. So I saved everyday, so that you would want for nothing. I know we never saw eye to eye. But I was only hard on you so that you could be better than me. Because you are more than my daughter. You are my entire galaxy!

With Love Forever and a Day,

Ursula Iyanla Cartier