Shelby Wallace: Actor, Writer and Film Producer

Unfortunate Son: A Novel by Shelby Wallace

Chapter 1


“I have a son!” Allen said to himself in disbelief as he began to piece together the documents before him, “But why would she keep this from me?”

Allen began to sob as he recalled the fond memories of his beloved Lenora. She had been his only real love since the day he met her some 25 years ago in high school. She had a Puerto Rican mother and she was raised to be an honest, loving and nurturing companion. She was all those things and more to Allen. Allen would have gone to the ends of the earth and back for Lenora and she knew that. Allen was now beginning to understand why she kept the knowledge of his son a secret. She knew that Allen would forego Law School and deny himself a better life if he knew she was pregnant. Their last summer visit together before Allen entered Harvard Law 20 years ago left her pregnant. Lenora couldn’t bear the thought of Allen eventually becoming bitter and unfulfilled by having his dream deferred and she couldn’t bear to give up the life inside of her so she did the only thing she could…she concealed it.
Allen’s tears began to stain some of the old documents and as he shuffled them to the side, he noticed the sealed letter. It simply read Allen on the front. Allen wiped his eyes, let out a heavy sigh and opened the letter. The letter read:

Dear Allen,

If you are reading this, it means that the cancer is terminal, I have passed on and you may need some explanations. I put all of the evidence before you to try to prepare you for this letter. First, I need you to know that my love for you will never die and I need you to forgive me for keeping this from you. You would always say that you would move the mountains for me and I couldn’t let you give up Harvard. I know I was selfish and I didn’t give you a choice in the matter, but I did it for you.

Since I had family in New York, I knew I could just leave the DC area and still be ok. I know I should have called or written or given you forwarding information but it would have been too hard to go through with it if there was a way for you to find me. That is why I changed my last name to mom’s and went on as Lenora Rodriguez. Mom understood although she didn’t want me to suffer the way she did when she was forced to raise me on her own after dad died in Vietnam. I promised her that I would let you know once you graduated law school, that is why she came with me and kept my secret. I followed your career and decided that as soon as I got a chance I would contact you. You blew up so fast after school that I couldn’t keep up with your career and all your travels. Once you got into politics, it was almost impossible to get an audience with you. Besides, the older Tommy got…oh yeah…I forgot to tell you….as you can see from the birth certificate, I named him Thomas (well Tómas to appease the latin side of the family) since I remembered how you had traced your lineage back to Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. You used to say “I am gonna name my son Thomas so that when he becomes President, he will be known as the ‘black’ Thomas Jefferson”. Anyway, the older Tommy got the worse he got. He was always a good kid, and very smart by the way…and stubborn. He took after his father. He was even born in May, just like you. But he was too smart for his own good and he always got into trouble because he was so bored with school. He had dreams of being rich and famous at a young age and he was always hanging out with his bad ass cousins. I worked two and three jobs at a time to make sure he went to private schools and he appeased me by keeping good grades. But, the Bronx is the Bronx and Harlem is Harlem and I can’t keep him from being out on those streets. I knew that having a delinquent son at your side wouldn’t blow over so well for New York’s first black Senator so I stopped trying to contact you. But Allen, he’s becoming a man now and I don’t know what he is into but he is very respected by the bad element in our neighborhood. I need you to guide him in the right direction. Convince him to go to college and do something positive with that beautiful mind you gave him. You said you would move mountains for me, and if you still love me the way I love you, this is my mountain. The attorney will give you everything you need to know in order to contact him. You can trust Edwin. He is my cousin. Tommy will be receiving a similar letter and he will be expecting to hear from you. Please my love, do what you can. Stay true to your heart and our God and we will see each other soon. I will be waiting for you.

Your Forever Love,



Lenora

P.S. – I only ask that you two keep your relationship a secret until the time is right.


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