Flash Forward

Elizabeth never did remarry. She expected a lengthy grieving period, having lost both her official husband, Moses, and her functional husband, Abe, but she never could find an adequate replacement. She looked herself in the mirror. Jesus, she thought, in the blink of an eye the crow's feet creeps up on you and the weight starts to be more and more **** to drop off. She was 47 now.

Her household, bereft of a male authority figure the past years, suffered adverse consequences. Emily, the eldest child, now 26, had gone the safe route, marrying older insurance salesman Ian Pritchard, who was 35 and a member of what Elizabeth found to be the most priggish and stuck-up family in the entire neighborhood. Her twin brother Aaron was going for an MBA, but was 26, and had never had a girlfriend as far as Elizabeth could see. He'd taken seven years for college, spending almost all his time with his frat brothers.

Katie, her last daughter with Douglas, was 24, and has dropped out of high school, moving to Atlanta to start stripping. It was especially galling to Elizabeth that she dropped out, as she had the greatest hopes for Katie, who had her natural beauty and much of Douglas's intelligence. The last Elizabeth had heard, Katie was dating Dontrelle Simmons, a 19 year old Black male and her sometimes-boyfriend, sometimes-bodyguard, and sometimes-pimp.

Nor was Katie the only one that was enticed by the pole. Sarah Jones, 22, one of the children from Moses and Shanequa that Elizabeth weaned and raised worked at Gold Digger's, the upscale strip club. Her brother, Moses Jones Jr., 20, also frequented the club, sweet talking the madam of the joint, Jenny who was 41.

Only Samson Jones, 23, the only child that Moses fathered with Elizabeth, was interested in the political life, and only then as a facade, moving to Texas to intern for the recently widowed Barbie Putnam in creating a library in the honor of her late husband.

Douglas and Shanequa Lancaster remained married. Douglas was now 52, and Shanequa 43. They lived with Jaylen Lancaster, also 43, as a throuple, raising their four children, the oldest, Shalonda, who harbored the same interest in stripping.