Mirika Cornelius- www.mirikacornelius.com
Mirika Cornelius
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Columbia, South Carolina
United States
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| General | All of my books have meaning and are they are topics that I am passionate about. From love, happiness, friendship, and marriage to topics such as hate, vengance, abuse, and suffering, you never know what you will get when picking up a Mirika Cornelius novel.
There is one thing for sure. God will be represented in it. Life wouldn't be life without Him, and real life is a trip. It has its flaws and sorrows, joys and excitement, and God is right there watching at all times.
The stories that I write are very real, but have a unique purpose while entertaining. That's just my style, and nothing is in vain.
Enjoy reading. For more, visit the sites below.
Mirika
www.mirikacornelius.com
www.innthebasement.com
Remember God loves and provides life through Jesus Christ. That's the best news today! | | Music | EXCERPT TITLE: Holding hands with a dead body
From the novelSECRET, winnner of Writer's Inn Best Excerpt Contest
I sit right by her coffin, and dare not nobody touch her ‘cause don’t nobody know what she likes but
me. All these people in here who ain’t never came over to see her come showing up now when she’
s gone. They shouldn’t even be here. I hear some of ‘em talking about how the doctors say her
heart gave out. Them doctors don’t know nothing anyway. I know why she died. I’m the one that
had the dream, and they don’t know what they’re talking about. She’ll be back just like she said.
I reach for Aunt May’s hand in the casket, and hold it. She has on white gloves and her favorite
dress up shoes that she had to stop wearing because they used to hurt her feet on the heel.
Whoever put her clothes on dressed her fine. She has on a pure, white gown, and they put a
purple lily on her chest. The stem of the lily goes all the way down her stomach. Her hair is done
up like I’ve never seen it before. It’s all pulled back with no hair in the front like I’m used to seeing.
When I look up at her face, she looks like she wants to tell me late happy birthday. Even though
she’s laying here in a black coffin with flowers and cards all around her, she looks like she don’t
even belong here. Look at how alive she looks. She even has on lipstick. She hardly ever wears
that stuff. Only a little bit on Sunday. A lady comes up to me.
“Honey, darling, it’s alright. We loved your aunt just like you did, but you can’t sit up under her like
this . . . “
“Don’t you tell me what I can’t do with my own aunt. Who are you anyway?”
“You need your butt whipped.”
“But I bet it won’t be by you.” I move closer to my aunt. “She’ll be back - she told me so. She just
fooling you!” Tears roll down my face as I hold on to what my aunt told me in my dreams.
The lady walks away. If my aunt could talk, I know she woulda’ sent her away from me. Can’t no
lady come up to me and tell me that I can’t sit by my aunt. My Uncle Junior comes and pulls a chair
up next to me.
“I know you miss your aunt, baby, and I sure do, but you have to let her hand go. It don’t look good
for you to be holding Aunt May’s hand while she’s resting.”
“She is not resting, U.J.. She’s dead for a little while, and if it was alright for me to hold her hand
when she was walking around, then it’s fine if I hold her hand now.”
He grabs my other hand. “Secret, I have to go back up to Boston, sweetheart, and I want you to be
fine when I leave. You see that lady other there,” he says pointing to the other side of the room.
“That’s your other aunt who’s gonna be taking care of you now,” he explains looking away in
sadness.
“I can take care of myself. Why can’t I go with you back to Boston?”
“Because, Secret, that’s no place for you to live right now. Maybe some other time.”
He takes my hand from my aunt’s and places her hand back inside the coffin. Aunt May said that
she would never leave me. Truth is, she did leave without me. Aunt May used to always say that
there are no such things as good-byes, just bad-byes, because if they were supposed to be so
good, why do they hurt so much. Instead, she would say, see you later, or God bless you. To her,
good-bye meant that you would leave forever, and forever means that she would see you no more.
. .never.
I don’t want to stay with my Aunt Janie. She never did act right to me. She always acts like her
mind ain’t all together and her tongue is too loose. Never knew her well because when she did
come around, she would only roll her eyes and complain. Only time I would see her smile is when
men was somewhere near. Once, when I was younger, she came to sit with us at a cookout. It was
me, Aunt May, my cousins July and August, they’re twins, and some more people that I don’t know
too good, but are my family. Lyz’s momma has a brother named Jeff, and they came over to eat
with us, too, because they were our next door neighbors, and since Lyz was my best friend, Aunt
May invited them, too. Now, I heard that my Aunt Janie was forty to forty-seven years old. Jeff didn’
t even look half that old, and she was sitting on his lap. Even with her legs crossed! Throwing her
arms all around him and shaking her head back like she was having the time of her life. Her big old
breasts just flying all in his face. I kind of felt sorry for him because he looked embarrassed. You
know, he’s light skinned, and you can see when they turn shame. They look like they turn a violet
color.
At the end of the wake, I go up to my aunt and kiss her see you later since she don’t like good-
byes. I also whisper something in her ear. “Aunt May, I know you came to me in my dreams and
talked to me. I remember, and I’m gonna see you again. You can fool these people, but you can’t
fool me. I love you.” I give her a kiss on the cheek and leave. My heart hurts. It hurts real bad
today.
| | Movies | Excerpt Title: Just Like Jesus, Grandma wrote in the dirt.
From the 2nd book in the family saga of SECRET - COLORED LILY, Poppa Took My Innocence
At Grandma Sunshines Birthday Cook-out
“You want somethin’ wit me, Jocie?” asks poppa as he slides his arm around my waist after I
pass the first bedroom on the left of me. He must’ve been in there waitin’ on me to start
coming down the hall. I freeze at his touch. Immediately, my eyes fall down to his hand that’s
coming around in the front of my stomach and underneath my shirt. The scabs from his
hands are rubbing up against my skin.
“Momma,” I start, getting ready to call loud but hush up and make a sentence instead. “She
says come and eat.” Then, I push his hand down as hard as I can push it, but when I do that,
he yanks my arm up in the air so that I feel a small pop in my arm like he pulled something
out of place. Before I can even get a scream out, I hear grandma’s cane hitting the railing of
the porch with that cane of hers as hard as she can and over and over again.
Poppa, then, drops my arm and moves from behind me, jumping from the noise grandma’s
making. What I see when I turn around is grandma staring right at me through the screen
door with tears streaming down her eyes while she’s banging that cane. I hurry up and move
pass poppa. Grandma please! I run out, swinging the screen door open, to her to make her
stop fussing, but I can’t. She saw it all. She saw poppa with is hands all over me, and I know
she’s liable to kill him dead. Momma, too. I never saw grandma cry before.
“Grandma! Grandma, stop please! Stop making all this racket. It’s fine, grandma, please! He
didn’t hurt me. Just touch me is all, grandma, please!” I panic and try to grab her by the arm,
but she swings that big cane of hers at me so hard that I back away. She’s not even looking
at me anymore either, but right back there in that hallway at poppa. I don’t want to, but I call
on momma before grandma hurts herself. “Momma, come and get grandma! She’s gonna
hurt herself, momma! Aunt May! Something’s wrong with her. She won’t sit still!” I yell at the
top of my lungs, but then, all of a sudden, grandma cuts her eyes at me deep after what I
said. The way she did it made me throw myself back against the porch rail. I dare not speak a
word. Then, she picks up that cane and breaks it on the side of the porch right beside me.
The part of the cane that hit it falls to pieces. I don’t move. “I’m sorry, grandma, but y’all not
supposed to know. He told me it would kill y’all or he would,” I whisper, my lips quivering.
Tears come down my cheeks as momma, Aunt May and Junior come running toward us. With
grandma standing there looking at me with horror in her eyes, I touch her arm and say, “It’ll
be time for poppa to stop soon what he does to me. I’m almost grown. Don’t make a fuss,
grandma. Everybody’s happy. I can take it. I can, grandma.” As I speak, I remember what
poppa has been telling me since I was small. Telling me all this is my fault, and that if the
family breaks up, then it’s on a count of me.
Grandma, then, at the sound of my words, lifts the rest of her broken cane and shoves it into
my neck. She’s tryin’ to say something, but all I can understand is humming. It’s not hymn
humming. This kind of humming is hurting her, not doing any healing. Moving my eyes over
at momma, Aunt May and Junior, they’re all stopped in their tracks at the sight of this cane at
my throat. My neck is so stiff I can’t swallow. Finally, grandma moves that cane from me and
heads up the steps toward poppa, one step at a time, pulling herself up that rail with her old
broken cane. I’ve never seen grandma like this. As I glance up at poppa in the house, he
leans up against the wall and lights up a cigarette. Then, he takes it from his mouth and tips
it to the floor, dropping the ashes on that floor Aunt May mopped up real good this morning.
If I didn’t know better, I would think my own grandma is on her way to stab the life out of him
with that cane of hers. I feel a tug at my arm.
“What’s wrong with my momma, Jocie?” momma asks pushing past me with all the might she
can muster when she reaches the steps. She’s breathing really hard. Aunt May is the last
person to get to here while Junior jumps the rail of the porch to hold grandma up. She’s
struggling up the steps.
“Grandma! Grandma, what’s got you upset like this here?” Junior asks. “What Jocie do to
you?”
“I didn’t do anything to her,” I silently respond with my head down, staring at my feet.
“What you cryin’ for then, Jocie?” he yells. “Had to go and say something to her. You the only
one over here with her, and you supposed to be gettin’ poppa anyway…not messin’ ‘round
gettin’ grandma upset.”
“I said I didn’t do anything!” I yell at the top of my lungs, squeezing my fists together, with the
thought of what grandma saw showing up over and over in my mind. “I didn’t do nothing!”
Aunt May nears me, looking at me funny, but then speaks. “Alright, now. Be quiet, and shut
up your mouth there, Junior. Where’s your poppa, Junior?” Aunt May asks slowly. “Go get
him right now. Need him to help us get grandma inside. Ain’t nobody’s fault grandma throwing
a fit but grandma. She’s the only one with the power in herself to do it. It ain’t your fault,
Jocie.”
“Yes ma’am,” Junior answers.
He’s gone. Poppa’s been gone. He was standing right there in the hallway with that cigarette
hanging from his mouth, and now he’s done gone. As my eyes scan the inside of the
doorway, I don’t see him anywhere. I don’t even smell him. He can always disappear like that
when good is coming to get him. Evil always runs from good, I hear, but evil always runs
toward evil. It’s a fight if good and evil connect.
Before I get my eyes focused back on grandma, I wipe my tears and wipe them fast. Then I
go up behind grandma’s waist to hold her from behind while Junior’s in the house. She’s so
upset she’s shakin’. When she gets to the top of the porch, I grab the other rocker and help
sit her down.
“He’s in the bathroom, Aunt May, but he comin’. Y’all done got grandma down, though, and
that’s a good thing,” Junior calls huffin’ from inside the house, holding on to the door.
“Good,” momma answers before Aunt May gets a chance to. “Help Aunt May keep an eye on
your grandma.” After giving her orders to Junior, she comes near me down to where I already
backed up to…the bottom of the steps.
Before she even speaks, I answer like she already asked me a question, “Yes ma’am.”
“I saw you go inside this house with my own eyes after your poppa. I saw momma facing her
house, too, right behind you, watching every move you make. That’s something about
momma you don’t know. Noddin’ don’t mean sleep. It’s what it is. A nod. Sleep is sleep. A nod
is a nod. You know why I send you to walk with her all the time, Jocie?”
“No ma’am.”
“Because you make her smile. This the first time you done made her frown. Now you want to
tell me what happened or you want grandma to.”
“Grandma can’t talk,” I quickly respond wondering if momma’s holding back some more
secrets that I don’t know about.
“Yes she can. She don’t point that cane at nobody’s throat ‘less she madder than God’s own
wrath. She loves you, but it looked to me like she could’ve killed you dead if you said one
more word.”
“Momma, I didn’t do anything!” I struggle trying to get her to believe me. “Grandma,” I call for
her while I watch as she fights to catch her breath. “Tell her I didn’t do noth…” I can’t even
get the words out of my mouth before I see poppa at the door. He’s even acting like he doesn’
t know what’s wrong and looking right in grandma’s face.
“Momma, here go some dirt here.” Junior’s rushing dirt back and forth to the porch. That’s
another reason why grandma normally sits at the bottom of the porch. It’s so she can write
words and erase ‘em easy with her foot in the dirt. “Here, grandma. Tell us why you hurtin’
and actin’ crazy round here.”
“Junior!” Aunt May fusses at Junior for askin’ grandma such a question. Junior just shrugs his
shoulders and moves away waitin’ on her to write something.
Poppa, then, leans over closer to her and begins to talk. “Yeah, Momma Sunflower, tell us…”
Before he can finish his statement to her, grandma swings that small piece of her cane so
hard it busts poppa right on the side of his face and the other side of his head hits the brick
of the house. Immediately, like tomatoes drip juices when you bite into them, blood came
running down his face.
“Jesus! Momma!” Aunt May rips the cane from her hands, and at that, grandma begins to
swing her arms back and forth and forth and back like she’s fighting with the palms of her
hands. Tears are coming down the wrinkles in her face, and I don’t care what we do to try to
stop her, she won’t stop.
“Rain! Rain!” Aunt May calls to momma, but momma has her eyes set on poppa. She’s not
movin’ not one muscle. Even though Aunt May’s callin’, she acts like she can’t even hear her.
She almost looks like she could kill him.
“Momma!” I yell knowing good and well why Aunt May’s calling her like she is. Grandma…she’
s not breathing right. And her eyes…the blood vessels are busting inside of ’em. Momma
said all her life she had something like what they call asthma where air can’t enter in and
none can come out. Makes sense because if none can come in, then where would you get
the air that is supposed to come out.
When I call her, whatever she was thinking about while she had her eyes on poppa, she’s not
thinking on anymore. “What’s wrong with momma?” she says immediately. “Is she breathin’,
May? Is she breathin’?”
I back up and stare at poppa holdin’ his face from being hit. He wants her to die. I know he
does. Just so she can’t write in this dirt for us. That’s exactly what he wants. Even though all
this is going on around me, I can’t say it. I just can’t say it.
“No, Rain, she not breathing how she should,” Aunt May answers fanning her with the bottom
of her skirt. “First call on the reverend and then the elders.”
“I’m callin’ the doctor, too,” momma adds.
“No you don’t,” Aunt May responds still fanning.
Momma stops in her tracks on the way to the doorway and looks back at Aunt May like she
done lost her mind.
“What did you just say, May? No?”
“Momma ain’t going to no doctor.” Then, Aunt May frowns up and continues. “The way they
treat her last time she went she like to die in the first place. She wrote me while in the hospital
the words NO MORE. So I’m not lettin’…”
“What momma wants? Momma’s about to die here, May, over something that can be fixed. I
don’t care what momma wants!” momma screams back at her. “This is your old timey way,
May! You hear? You and momma’s! But I’m not standin’ here stupid like God won’t provide
help. He can help however…”
Aunt May calmly responds letting her skirt fall to a stand still from fanning, “I took her out last
time. The doctors didn’t release her. I took her. While she was still sick even, that’s when I
took her. Momma wants it this way. She’s old and tired, but she said in writing to never take
her back. She wants her spirit leaving her body right here in this house if it wants to go and if
she’s not strong enough to hold it. Not ‘round no strangers who don’t know the Lord and treat
her like being black is a sin. Now…” Aunt May stands to her feet. “She ain’t going back. I gots
to live with my obedience. She told this here to me, not you. If she leaves us today, this is
what she wants. I might not have as much learning as you, Rain, being you the younger, but I
keep what I got and respect it. And that’s my word and promise to momma and God. You
hear that? She ain’t going to no hospital. Never again.” Aunt May kneels back down, and
looks into momma’s eyes as she’s trying to breathe. “Momma, you put down what’s wrong
with you in this dirt if you can do so, and you lift that piece of stick you got here and hit this
wall if you don’t want to go to that hospital. The Lord will see, and we all will obey.”
Grandma hits the wall first, and then, she dies, falls slumped over in the rocker, after writing
the letter P in the dirt. Everybody knows who she was getting ready to spell out. Especially
me. I’m sorry, grandma.
| | Television |
Excerpt Title: The First Time...Not Virgin Like However...But With A Married Man.
From the novel, Ain't Quite...What I Thought
Yeah, he’s sexy, but he got the wrong crazy. It wasn’t me. I ended up at Capital City forty-five minutes after
they closed. Andre’ was still inside. The only reason I knew that tid bit of information was that there was still one
car in the lot in one of the spots labeled management. That had to have been him. I was hoping that he would
have left, but then the devilish side of me that I hated wanted him to be there.
I sat in my small, decrepit Saturn that I’d wrecked two years ago, and I looked at myself in the mirror. I’d gotten
dressed up. Well, not too dressed up, but too much for a married man that I didn’t plan on hooking up with. Who
was I fooling? Deep down inside myself, I felt torn. I felt like I was two different persons. One I liked and the other
I wanted to toss over a bridge and kill.
My make-up was flawless. Shoot, it made me look ten times better than ever! It took me thirty minutes to do it
versus the five to ten it normally took. I believed that it was more nerves than anything that kept me in that
bathroom mirror that long rubbing it on. Had to ensure there were no smudges and spots all on my face. For the
most part, I didn’t wear foundation, but I put on a little tonight along with the powder and eye shadow. Gray eye
shadow. I loved midnight eyes at night. That part was habit, not just him. The foundation was more a him thing
which made me feel worse about having dinner with him. It made me feel like it was a sex hook up or something.
My heels weren’t so high, about three inches, and they strapped up my ankle and tied at the back. There was a
sale at the mall, so I had to grab ’em. It would have been a sin against humanity if I didn’t. Tonight was my first
time wearing them. They matched perfectly the outfit that I was about to strut. My outfit showed off my waist and
complimented my face. I loved this color on my skin. Pink. The top portion of my outfit stopped at my navel, left a
tiny lace gap, and then continued down to the floor. Not hoochie, but extremely figure complimenting.
“What else was I gonna dress like, huh, Jeena?” I spoke aloud to myself in the car, angrily. “This is Capital City.
What do you want to look ugly for anyway? Nothing at all wrong with looking good. Shoot! Get that man excited
for what he can‘t have. Maybe he‘ll love his wife more.” I exited the vehicle and bumped the car door with my butt
to make it shut. It’s what I had to do to make the door shut completely. A van tore my car up on the side.
Surprisingly, I didn’t get hurt, just very sore. The wreck…my fault, so I didn’t attempt to fix my car. My insurance
sky rocketed, and left me broke for a while, and too proud and old to get momma’s help.
By the time I reached the heavy glass door, my gut was bubbly and my heart felt like it was underneath the heel of
my shoe. It was pounding so hard that it started to hurt. What the hell? I stopped cold in my tracks. I wasn’t
gonna do it. I hadn’t had enough practice being in front of male strippers and not touching them, let alone
someone that looked like him. Barely, if at all, being able to see through the tinted glass that made up the
windows at Capital City, I attempted to turn around, but then guess who appeared at the door. Dang! Ex-nay the
Andre’!
“Don’t turn around,” he stated in the most earth shattering smooth voice I have ever heard. I must’ve been
desperate for sure. Everything about this man was brand new! It’s like I was an inmate for a couple of years. I
was in denial. We were in denial. I stood there, crooked in my stance. Frozen solid like an organ on
ice…incapable of making a sound.
“Come on in.” He had to repeat himself because I was dumbfounded at the sight of him…us…about to be locked
up in here together. Did I mention alone?
As he held the door open, I waltzed inside. I felt his eyes follow my hair down to my shoulders, and wherever else
his eyes went, I didn’t know because my cell phone began to vibrate. I felt it up against my ribs and my arm as I
held my purse between the two. I panicked, but didn’t answer it. I didn’t even know why I panicked, but I did.
Calm down, Jeena. Do it now, I preached to my brain.
“What’s wrong?”
I didn’t notice that I’d stopped dead center of the huge red circular design on the polished marble floor, and
Andre’ was standing directly behind me waiting on me to move. I was blocking his way. “I’m sorry. Excuse
me. My cell phone,” I glanced down at my purse that I was, a that point, squeezing the life from. “It vibrated. Kind
of startled me.”
That’s when he placed his hands around my waist, and moved to the side of me.
“It’s just dinner, Jeena.”
And he can cut that accent out, too! First it’s southern and then it’s foreign. Come on now!
“Okay…” I decided to loosen up. “If it’s just dinner, you can stop with the succulent accent.”
“You like that?” he asked with a light grin as he walked to the table where he had our meal prepared.
“It’s alright, but fake,” I taunted.
“Fake, huh? My pops is from Barbados and my mom from California, born in Georgia. Can’t be too fake. I can
switch it on and off. I can sound like this, too,” he stated, changing back to the southern.
Damn again.
“I thought it sounded too good.” I smiled, attempting not to allow my embarrassment to show through. So much
for trying to impress me. He wasn’t. It was something he was born with…but what did I even care? His married
self. “So, what do you have for us tonight, Andre’?”
“I had the chefs make us some down home food. You know that good stuff momma used to make.”
I didn’t know about my momma. Ha! Poor momma…she couldn’t cook a lick! Her spaghetti tasted like lasagna
and her chicken like turkey. It was good though, but you had to look at what you were eating literally or you would
think it was something else. I still love myself some of my momma though.
He continued talking while he reached from behind me to uncover my plate. As I sat down in the chair that he so
kindly let out for me, I thought to myself, Mrs. wife Tina has herself a gentleman. Then, I checked him out as he
came around still talking about the food. Who cared about the food? I already saw what it was…some collard
greens, macaroni and cheese, and not fried, but grilled chicken with a side roll. In spite of the big fact that he
wasn’t my man, I still caught a nice, elaborate glance at his get up. Nice silk shirt with brown slacks. Once again,
just like the other night, his shirt danced on his ripples. I darted my eyes away again with slight hopes that they
would fall out and roll across the table to see Andre’s reaction to them rolling. Bet this dinner would be over then,
I thought.
“The only things I didn’t get are the drinks. What would you like?” he asked me while he rubbed his hands
together like he was the one who cooked the meal.
“What sounds good?”
“How about some…do you want some…” he contemplated.
Not alcohol. Anything but alcohol!
“Water!” I blurted out after thinking about it for those three seconds he was fumbling over his words. Afterwards,
he stared at me strangely, but I cared less. The last thing I needed to gulp was some alcohol. Water purges your
system, and that’s what I needed then, something that would purge me. Make me clean. Make me whole. Make
me sane!
“Be back.” He marched off.
As I sat there, stiff as an ironing board, I watched through the windows as people walked by. There I was.
Then, I began to second guess the windows. Could they see me if they got close enough? I could see them. I
mean, I went to eat at Capital City many times, and I never was able to see inside, but tonight, I was paranoid to
the extreme. I was meeting a married man for dinner in his freaking restaurant, and there wasn’t a curtain hang
ing!
I gazed back at the restaurant’s entrance. Jeena, it would be so easy if you just got yourself up from here and
left, I thought. Do you even know if you can handle this? Before I could finish planning my next move, Andre’ was
walking back with the drinks. My throat was numb. Never in my life had I been that nervous. I don’t even think it
was because he was married…as that should have been all the reason to make me back off… but it was more
some sick sense I didn’t understand all too well because I never felt it before.
“Thank you…” I paused. “Andre’.” Uh oh, I choked. I didn’t know why I choked up and paused, but I did, and he
noticed. I knew he noticed based off of the slightly and nearly invisible grin he tried to hide.
As I tried to take my glass of water from his hand, my fingers stroked his, and he held onto the glass.
“It’s alright. Just dinner.”
I took a deep breath and breathed out…through my nose. Didn’t want him to notice more than what he already
had about my hesitations. Hesitations…I knew to the viewer it could mean only one of two things when it was
pertaining to me and the reason for this particular hesitation was lying…to myself. I was too attracted to him, and I
wanted him for myself. I got myself together and fast.
“This looks nice, Andre’. Very nice. So, how long have you been working here? I never saw you before in here,
and I come here about every two, three months.”
“I moved. Me and Tina. I transferred from the only other Capital City there is, but I‘ve been living here for a good
while now.” He sat down.
“Where’s that…I mean, the only other Capital City?”
“Chicago.”
“Chicago?”
“Yeah, got sick of the snow and cold. Needed to get down here to Miami where it’s hot.”
“Chicago.” I didn’t know what else to say. My dumb behind sounded like a broken record on a dusty record
player. Finally, I just shut up.
“Are you from here?” he asked.
“Yes…kind of. Orlando,” I responded dryly. I took a sip of my water. “I grew up there, but born in a town just
outside of it.”
I finally lifted my fork and began to eat. My first stop was the collard greens. That was my thing. I loved them
probably since my momma’s womb, and I’ll probably be buried with ’em. Even though I liked mine hot and spicy,
these mild ones would do.
“Where exactly were you born?” I asked.
He began to eat on his macaroni. “”I was born in South Carolina. Columbia.”
“Why did you leave?”
“Momma was visiting family when she gave birth. After she was finished with pushing me out, I guess we left.”
“Funny.”
“True.”
“Is your wife from Columbia?” Just thought I would toss that on over in there next to his chicken. Make him choke
on a bone.
“No, near Chicago. It’s a city about an hour away from…” In an instant, he stopped talking and looked at me a bit
softer than he was when he was talking.
Man, what the hell? I quit chewing. It felt funny. Somebody staring at you while you eat that you barely know.
Was this how he felt when I was gawking at him in the tub? Immediately, there I was having a blanket of paranoia
engulf me, so I freaked out. I grabbed my napkin and wiped my lips to make sure there was nothing on them, and
ran my tongue over the fronts of my teeth to be sure nothing was sticking there. He kept staring, so I finally asked.
“Why are you looking at me, Andre’?”
“You have a beautiful face.”
Oh hell no. Make-up, baby, just make-up. Got acne all on this forehead here, honey.
“Not like the face your wife has.” Instantly, I felt like I was in a storybook except I wasn’t the author. He wasn’t
going to write me into this story if I had the strength to stop it. That’s right, Jeena, keep bringing up the wife, I told
myself.
“She’s beautiful as well.” He began to chew on the chicken he handled in his hand. “Are you as beautiful as she
is inside and out?”
What type of insanity was that? Was he now comparing me to his wife? I didn’t know his wife! She should have
been kicking my you know what up and down this side of the earth, but hallelujah she wasn’t.
“What do you mean? I don’t even know your wife.” Gulp went the water down my throat. I wasn’t gonna get on
his wife in a bad way. Not me. No way. And I wasn’t gonna play into this fake man made competition that he
wanted me to fall into. Andre’ was slick but not that slick. He would have to wake up early in the morning to shade
my eyes.
“I mean, do you have a sense of self?” he asked…nonchalantly at that!
“Say what?” I know this joker wasn’t making a sly attempt to pry into my person and ease drop on my secrets. My
eyebrows curled up and my brown nose tilted up in the air like I was above that question. Contrary to whatever I
was thinking, however, that was a good question he posed. His wife was wonderful inside and out from what I
could tell. It emanated from her, and she wasn‘t me. Was I seriously that wonderful? I was fantasizing about
getting busy with what was hers! Suddenly, like a rush of wind busting me in the face from the wrong direction, I
felt like this was getting to be a game, so I decided to play back…and win. He wanted me to rate myself for him,
didn’t he? I didn’t know why I felt like gaming, but I needed control of myself back, especially before I lose my cool
and give it up to him. Really, I needed to make a bumper sticker saying lust kills and don‘t try this at home. I
thought I could handle this tease I was gonna throw on him, so I made my move. Rule number one, I thought, was
never lose control of the conversation. I wasn’t going to tonight.
I lifted my right leg and placed it on my other, my toes showing from underneath the table and its cloth while I
grazed up against his leg.
“Andre’, I have plenty sense of self. How about you?”
“Yeah,” he responded wiping his mouth with the golden colored napkin, then tossing it down on the table. Then,
he leaned back. “I have enough sense of myself to know the things that I want, the things that I like, and the
things that I hold in high esteem…untouchable. They are all different to me, and I know the difference. What do
you do when you want something, Jeena? Do you know the difference or is there a difference?”
Who sat back on a clear blue day and thought about stuff like that? “Andre’,” I couldn’t take it anymore. I lost.
What was that two seconds in the ring, and the bout was over. He began to stare me up and down, and I could
feel my eyes. They weren‘t just focused on his lips, but his hands, chest…shoot, his body. I moved my toes away
from grazing his leg immediately. “I’m gone.” I got up from the table, grabbed some mints off the table, popped
them in my mouth and headed for the door. Fast. I figured, hey, these mints will hold me as hungry as I was.
Keep my sugar up so I won’t pass out. Too much stress.
On my way to my exiting destination, I heard the sound of Andre’s footsteps behind me, and I pictured his body.
Muscles beneath the clothes. Everything that I imagined from the images I retrieved from my memory banks of
him in that tub of water. I even began to see myself on top of him in that darn hospital tub with my own clothes
off…us both dripping wet! My hormones just wouldn’t stop. The more I tried to stop them, the less I wanted to. It
was becoming too much. The people in the street were walking back and forth, some waiting on cabs, some
across the street at the hotels, and others just enjoying the night. I saw all of this as I peered through the glass
windows and reached for the handle on the door. Suddenly, his hand landed firmly on top of mine. The more I
pulled, the more he held. Terror began to rip through my skin, and my heart began to flutter at the same time.
That dog-on door wasn’t gonna come open. I didn’t know whether to fear or let go, but I knew that my mind couldn’
t choose. He chose for me.
Andre’s arm…his hand…his fingertips gently glided across my belly button, and my stomach tightened. He wasn’t
even tugging on me to keep me with him, but it still felt as if he was. I had never been held in place before with a
touch as soft and simple as that, but there I was, stuck in my stance. I slowly began to breathe, his hand still
barely around my waist, but enough for me to feel the heat from his palm. I didn’t turn around. His hand that he
had placed on my hand while I held the knob to the door, he slid off slowly, bringing my hand with his. Then, I felt
as he caressed his whole body closer to mine and whispered in my ear.
“Don’t go, Jeena.”
His voice almost quivered in my ear. Just the tone of it made me want to comfort him…shoot, and myself for that
matter!
“Jeena,” he stated softly to me again. His breath on my neck made my toes curl and a freaking chill drip down my
spine. I almost jerked. “Jeena,” he repeated once more, and then, he grazed his lips across my shoulder near my
dress’ strap. It falls off of my shoulder. As I reached up to push it back up, his lips kiss my fingertips…all the way
down to my wrist and moving up my arm.
Quickly, not realizing what I was getting ready to do, I turned and faced him. As soon as my eyes met his, I looked
down, fast, not my head, but only my eyes. I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t even get my lips to part.
“Will you stay?” he asked quietly, leaning his head down. He was trying to look into my eyes. He was taller than
me, so he had to lean over a bit.
Even though the fact was that I heard his question, I wasn’t going to answer, however. I knew what he wanted,
and I also knew what I wanted. We matched. Like bees to flowers, I felt I needed to feed off of him. Like
everything I needed, he was my source. He read my mind, so without my answer to his question, he continued to
lean over and attempted to kiss my lips. I looked to my left, through the window. People everywhere.
“Don’t worry about them. They can’t see us.”
“Andre’,” I spoke, but then he interrupted.
“Jeena.”
That was it. His lips met mine, and my eyes went shut. Our first kiss. My first kiss… To a Married Man.
| | Books | INN THE BASEMENT (www.innthebasement.com) is my online baby, and it began as a newsletter, later becoming a very popular entertainment and news blog.
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www.mirikacornelius.com - only place for an autographed copy
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| Status: | Married | | Here for: | Networking, Friends | | Orientation: | Straight | | Body type: | Slim / Slender | | Ethnicity: | Black / African descent | | Religion: | Christian - other | | Zodiac Sign: | Cancer | | Smoke / Drink: | No / No | | Education: | College graduate | | Occupation: | author and model |
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Publishing - Writer - Novelist
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Author of SECRET, COLORED LILY, Poppa Took My Innocence, and Ain't Quite...What I Thought
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About me:
Visit www.mirikacornelius.com to preview and order all books written by Mirika Mayo Cornelius
Mirika is the author of three novels, and the proud co-owner of the publishing house Akirim Press, which specializes in website design, banners and book covers, and editing services.
Publishing her first suspense/dramatic novel in the year of 2002 entitled Secret, she never dreamed that it would be such a big entertainer. As a result of Secret's popularity, she carved out the 2nd book in this family saga as the dramatic pre-quel entitled Colored Lily, Poppa Took My Innocence in the year 2005.
Now the year 2008 has rolled around, Mirika has set in place a new, fresher novel entitled Ain't Quite...What I Thought which is set for release this year. It is unlike her other two novels in that it relates more with twisted love and romance.
Mirika is also the sole founder and editor-n-chief of INN THE BASEMENT newsletter and INNTHEBASEMENT.COM which have become the ultimate spots for fast and friendly star studded entertainment around the globe. With over more than 20,000 hits per month in just 6 months when first launched, INNTHEBASEMENT.COM has carved its own niche on the world wide web featuring the latest news releases in every area of entertainment with it's own spin, including one on one exclusive interviews with authors and documentary style features.
As the proud mother of the soon to be son who is to be born in April 2008, she can't wait to branch off into this newer realm of life and experience all of what she can learn and teach her first born son, along with husband, two time author and scriptwriter, Rod Cornelius.
Mirika not only has literature licked, but has earned in 1999 a Bachelor's Degree in Pre-Med Biology as well as became a nationally certified professional as an Optician. She is also a contributing writer
to the online magazine Empowering Everyday Women.
[LOVEMYFLASH]
[/LOVEMYFLASH]
Black Man Wants To Bring The Noose Back
http://innthebasement.com/index.php/2009/03/20/bla...The noose, George Lambus who is also a GOP candidate believes, would solve much of the criminal activity going on in Jackson, Mississippi. His words are: Posted via Shareaholic
The noose, George Lambus who is also a GOP candidate believes, would solve much of the criminal activity going on in Jackson, Mississippi. His words are:
How to Boost Human Body's Defenses, or Immunity, Against Swine Flu | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/how_4947465_defenses-immunity-...As there are no cures for viral infections and they simply must take their course, there are things that can be done to boost your body's immunity against the flu, in this particular instance, the Swine Flu. Posted via Shareaholic
Problem With Your Child Sexting? Take The Cell Phone Away For Good.
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Lindsay Lohan’s House Looks As If It Really Was Burglarized…But It Wasn’t
http://innthebasement.com/index.php/2009/05/13/lin...attempted burglary at the residence of Lindsay Lohan, but when the po-po investigated, they found that there was no intruder that actually entered. via AddToAny Share Button
his means the Lindsay Lohan’s house is a mess naturally…at least when the officer saw it. There was no intruder.
Forget The Hype, Iman Says Michelle Obama Not A Great Beauty
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Iman. Her words are that Michelle “Obama isn’t a great beauty” but “interesting looking and bright(intelligent). Will get better with age.
“Church Is In Me” And It Ain’t Leaving Fantasia Barrino!
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he super thing about Fantasia is through it all, she never turned her back on her source - God
The Game, Chris Brown, Diddy - Better On The Other Side Tribute To Michael Jackson Video
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Michael Jackson’s Chef Makes The “Oxygen” Leak On Dr. Conrad Murray
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“Dr. Murray was on the property at least five nights a week,” Jones told RadarOnline.com. “My understanding was he was there all night to monitor Mister Jackson.”
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Who I'd like to meet:
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Jeena Delilah Ray has an issue. That issue surrounds a man she fell deeply in love with while making love to him atop a restaurant table, and then finding out that this loverboy isn't all that she thought, but instead, the doodoo underneath the grass that was supposed to be oh so green.
Caught up in the deception of her heart as well as some little known facts about loverboy that turn her guts to mush, Jeena quickly learns that you get what you ask for when falling in love with a married man!
View Book Video For SECRET, the 2002 debut release
In the small, southern town of Louisville, Georgia, there is a scorned secret that has ripped through homes. Accursed is the whore that it came from, people around town say, but to a sassy, country girl named Secret, that's not all to it. She asks herself, what curse, and what does it have to do with me? That's when Secret takes matters into her own hands and attempts to solve the terrifying mystery of her family...
Photo Showcase
Printer's Row Booksigning in Chicago
Just to share a little more of my world - take a peek into my baby shower at 7 months. Nope, there are no baby pics. Sorry! This is as close as it gets!
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YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!
THE NEW SINGLE BY SUNNYBLAK PRODUCED BY TIMMLLION THE WYCLEFFKID ON SALE!!!!
RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!
Make your own banner at MyBannerMaker. com!
SUNNYBLAK'S PROMO FOR NEW SINGLE!
Check out excerpts from my up-coming novel "Crew Love"
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
imikimi - Customize Your World
Myspace Comments, New Year Comments at WishAFriend. com
Happy New Year!
NubianGraphics. com
Whats Really Good?
Just passin through and showing some love to your page!
Hope all is going good for ya!
Pass through my page show some love and download the mixtapes there FREE LOL!
If you know anyone that needs mixtape slots or mixtape hosting then check my page and blog for full details!
Thanks in advance
DJ Ames
I just want to keep you posted on what's going on this way. (Please click on the pictures below.)
I need your vote. I have been nominated for Best Reviewer 2009 by Black Book Clubs Rock. Please click the picture below and vote for me. (And tell your family and friends to do the same. Thanks in advance.)
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..Who's next in the "5 Minutes, 5 Questions With..." series?
Thomas Overton - Murder With a Deadly Weapon
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.. ..Don't be a stranger. Let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods.....
Thanks for the add!
Please come back often, to read some of my sexy, sensual stories and to find out about the book release, book signings and whatever else is going on with me.
"Intense Encounters" available Feb 14th 2009!!!!!
Much Luv
TT
Oye! Mirika, thanks for the add. I hope that you have a great weekend...Take care...Leelee
Just coming through to say hello. Take care
Thanks for accepting my add. I wish you all the best.
Hello, my friend,
As the Spinners sung,
"WHENEVER YOU CALL ME,
WHENEVER YOU NEED ME
I'LL BE AROUND”
DEEP... my heart and soul is endless,
My time is only for those who take me as I am
You can have me
But if you break me
I have already forgiving you
As God would have me to do
So come to me
Love me
Try to understand me
If you can't
Don't fear me
Just take more time
To know me
My friend
A passages from my best selling romantic erotic novel, BRUSH STROKES @ Amazon. com
“A man may admire what a woman does for a living; he may admire her education and social circle. He may be enamored with her physical beauty, but he only truly falls in love, with the softest and warmest part of her, her soul.”
Under the piano stool a pair of tan high-heel slippers, one was standing up and one lying on its side. In my mind’s eye I could still see her feet in them. I could see her sitting there warming her skin by the fire, and seeing all that put me in an oasis daydream.
Just stopping by to keep you up to date on what's going on. (click the pictures below)
My article "Urban Lit is DEAD!" got a lot of people mad.
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Also, here is my latest author interview for the "5 Minutes, 5 Questions With..." series. (There is an open invitation to be a part of this series.)
Check out my interview with Tremayne "GS" Johnson, author of A Drug Dealer's Dream.
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Don't be a stranger, let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods.
MyHotComments HI FRIEND,
HOPE YOUR WEEKEND IS GOING GREAT. WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE STOP BY MY PAGE AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS GREAT HOLIDAY SALE. HAVE A GREAT WEEK
-----ZARIA
Peace is a non-violent way of life, a state of harmony, the absence of hostility.
Find Peace through spoken word and neosoul at SPEAKtoMe.
Speaktome is the city's longest running poetry venue, boasting an intriguingly uncommon mixture of spokenword, jazz and neosoul. Graceful, seductive, and refreshingly mature, Speaktome continues to lead the poetically lyrical movement in Philadelphia.
HEY SIS, HOW IS EVERYBODY. MY LIL MANNIE, IM GREAT, JUST STOPPIN BY TO SHOW LOVE......GIRLIE
BE GOOD.
BIANCA
[LOVE YOU]
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Hey Mirika Cornelius- www. mirikacornelius. com,
Check out my Honda Fit:
Hook up your own ride on Car Show.
Hi, it's very nice to meet you
Hope you have a Great Day =)
Take care,
Michelle
MUCH LOVE TO MY BEAUTIFUL CUZIN!
To God Be the Glory, Greeting's Woman of God, I pray that all is well with you and your family. I pray that the Lord reveals His awesome wonder and promises to you.
Time after time, the Lord speaks to us to get the attention of others. I hope this stirs in your heart and lifts your soul. Until next time, Be blessed and stand strong, for this battle is not ours it is the Lord's.
Dear Lord,
Grant me the serenity and courage to accept the things I can not change, to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
I have learned not to let the world squeeze me into it’s mold. Romans 12:2 says “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” So how do we keep our minds healthy and clean? By living in fellowship with God - living God’s way instead of the way of the world.
If you put garbage into your mind - you’re going to get garbage out. Put good thoughts into your mind and good actions will come out.
Learn to develop a positive attitude, no matter what the world throws at you. For every negative emotion there’s a positive emotion that can be selected by you to eliminate the negative one.
Learn to replace anger with love, fear with faith, despair with hope, and greed with generosity, sorrow with joy, complain with gratitude, worry with trust, and guilt with forgiveness.
Let’s face it; there are some things we cannot change:
We cannot change the weather.
We cannot change the tick of the clock.
We cannot change the past.
We cannot change another person against his or her will.
We cannot change what is right and what is wrong.
We cannot change the fact a loved one has died.
Never worry about anything that is out of our power to change. Stop trying to change people and things and with God’s help change yourself.
Change your attitude towards the things of God.
Change your bad habits into good ones.
Change your brokenness into wholeness.
Everyday change yourself, with the Lord’s help, into the beautiful person
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