Remembering Felicia

Today while cooking black beans and rice I thought about an old friend of mine from Florida. We were both CSR's for UPS and had lunch at the same time. The group of people, with whom I shared a house, had a fondness for black beans and yellow rice, so most days I took leftovers with me for lunch. Felicia also loved black beans and yellow rice and got in the habit of getting a plastic fork at the lunch counter before sitting down and she and I would share my plate of rice and beans. One day I didn't have the beans and rice and Felicia sat there, fork in hand, with the saddest look on her face and she told me she had come to look forward to our communal lunch of beans and rice. I never missed a day again :-). Couldn't take that sad look!

Felicia, I and a tiny blonde named Doreen all became friends. One day Felicia and I were talking and she called me Doreen. I looked at her and asked, "Felicia' do I look like a 4'9", 80 lb. blonde woman?" To which she responded, "Bonnie, don't you know all you white people look alike to us?" She could always crack me up.

At that time I smoked a pipe and Felicia smoked cigars. We were an odd couple for sure so after lunch would go out on the patio and have our smoke. We got some odd looks but we didn't care. We were who we were and made no apoligies. Of all my friends in Florida, next to my friend Rick who passed away a couple years ago, I still miss Felicia. I hope she has as many fond memories of me as I do of her.