Diamonds, Caviar and Thugs: A Promise Ring

Round Diamonds Rings: $159

The first ring I ever got from a boy was given to me in elementary school. 4th grade. He was not even a kid I liked. We had just moved from the city to the suburbs and the developement we lived in was a large circle. !/2 the circle was one street and the other 1/2 made up the rest of the neighborhood. The 2nd half of the circle, Woodly Circle was the last 1/2 of the circle to be developed. The first half of the circle, Haywood Circle was where the developers began building. The homes on Haywood were there about a year before the homes on Woodly were begun.

The people on Haywood all knew each other and were well established and the kids all knew each other and were clicky. Stuck up was really the word. It the days of segregation, it was the first black subburban area out side of the city. Lots of teachers and ministers lived there and most seemed stuck up. (FYI:My mom was a teacher also.) As it turned out most of the people on that circle were what we used to call, "high yellow."

They were black people closer to their slave roots. They had the black, long, wavey "good hair." No nigga naps for them. They were light skinned and they did not like darker skinned black people. They were a race almost unto themselves. They only dated each other and married each other and rarely looked at anyone darker than themselves.

The boy who gave me my first right lived on that high yellow part of the circle and he was too. He was a pudgy little boy , wavey hair and a big smile. He was nice and was not as stuck up as some of his neighbors. His mother and mine taught at the same school. I rememeher it was summer and most of the kids I played with were boys. The girls all lived on the other half of the circle and did not assiciate with me. I was way to dark. I wanted to play with those girls. They were girls after all! I had dolls to play with.

I would ride my bike that way, but they would always be huddled up with their bikes in someone's driveway. They pretty much ignored me. So after asummer of riding bikes aroudn and around that circle, I guess that pudgy little boy liked me. Let's call him Leon.

Leon came to my house one day without his bike. Odd! He had walked the circle to my house. I wanted to go get my bike. It became clear that he just came to vist as none of the usual crew was with him. I really did not think anything of it at first. It happened again and then again. After a week, I got it. He had a crush. Did I? No. Pudge was not what I was into. He was nice to ride bikes with but that was all. I was in 4th grade.

Well, one day he had a present for me. It was something small and wrapped in paper. He came to visit and gave it to me when he was leaving. He told me to open it once he left. I did and inside was a gold ring. I have no idea if it was real or not. I was shocked and in awe and pleased all at the same time. I did not know what to do. I put it on. It was all gold in color and had a gold swirl as the design. It fit. He called me after he got home and asked me if I liked it. I told him I did.

I wore it for a few days before my mother asked me about it. She finally noticed it. I told her about it and she wanted to know where Leon would have gotten a ring. I did not know. It was all wierd anyway. My mom called Leon's mom and they talked and when it was all over, Leon had taken the ring from his mother's jewelry box. My mom said that I could keep the ring. I had to give it back.

Love won and lost all within a week. I gave Leon back his ring and we went back to riding bikes.