Dena Tyson Fans

                                Here's what you can look forward to...

                Coming soon! 

My title So Said To Be will be released around Thanksgiving.  This suspense thriller takes a different turn that will keep you on the edge of your seat!  Check out the excerpt below.

“I would never have imagined a day in January standing on the flawless green of
the V.A. Cemetery in Memphis giving a last farewell to my father of eighty years.”
she thought, deeply.  Dok held on strong keeping her emotions at bay, as she watched the small group around her broken.  Her cousin Fish was most surprising since he was known not to have an emotional bone in his body.  It must have been the guilt that finally got the best of ‘em, since he and Brooks always competed with each other, and now his competition had left him.  Brooks was the last of his four siblings and survived by his only daughter.
“Thanks for coming Langston, it’s good to see you.” she smiled solemnly, giving a
hug.
“No problem Dok, good to see you too.  Sorry ‘bout everything.” he said, in his
most southern drawl.
“Yeah…” she nodded, peering across the cemetery.
“So how are things in Chicago?”
“Cold… I flew out in a big snow storm.” she replied, making her way to the car.
“That’s Chicago alright.” he spoke, giving a nervous grin.  “So are you goan be
here for a while or you headed back to Chicago?” he asked curiously.
“I don’t know what more I can do here Langston, my father’s gone now.  He was
the only reason I had to come back down here since he and my mother divorced.”
she paused.  “This place doesn’t have anything else for me so I won’t be back…
too many memories.”
“So how is ‘yo moma?”        
“Aw Libby’s fine.  She didn’t come she didn’t want to remember him this way.”
“Yeah I can understand that.” He hesitated for a second before asking  something
that had been on his mind all day.  He felt intimidated by Dok, but admired the way
she carried herself.  He watched her blossom into a finely tuned, educated well
spoken young woman.  Her stance and the way she wore a suit demanded the
attention of anyone around her and she was well respected.  She wasn’t afraid to
kick off her stilettos and pop the hood of a car either if the need arose.  That she
learned from her father.
Langston knew something she hadn’t about Brooks and has known this
information for many years.  The problem now was he needed to try and figure out
the best way to approach the subject.
“Say, lemme ask you sumthin Dok.” he said, leaning against the car.  “So what’re
you gonna do ‘bout the house?”
She looked towards him a bit puzzled by his question, resting her purse on the roof
of the car.  “I’m flying out in the morning so it looks like I’m going to have to come
back in a couple weeks to settle the affairs and clear out the house.  He’s got a lot
of stuff in there and I’m not ready to dig though all those memories right now.”  
She gave a half smile reaching for her purse.  “One sadness at a time, you know
what I mean?” she said, opening the car door.
“Well if you need any help just let me know.”
There was something in the way he spoke that seemed to bother her, but she tried
to blow it off and pushed forward.  As she turned the key in the ignition she could
see Fish heading in her direction, and she didn’t want to deal with him at that
moment.
“Alright I’ll keep that in mind, you take it easy Langston.” she said, driving away.
“Where Dok headed?” asked Fish, nearly out of breath.
He and Langston never saw eye to eye and he gave a half hearted response.  
“She took off, she headed back to Chicago in the mornin.”
“In the morning… where she stayin?”
“I don’t know… she never really said, or maybe I didn’t ask.” he shrugged.
Fish thought for a moment, taking a long pause.  Langston took his keys from his
pocket, moving in the direction of his parked car.
Fish cut his eyes towards him.  “So why did you really come today?  I don’t think
you have any business being here!” he spoke sharply.
“Well that’s a matter of opinion ain’t it?” Langston replied giving it right back to ‘em.
“Brooks was not ‘yo daddy and ain’t no need of you bothering that girl with ‘yo
nonsense.  He dead and goan now let it stay with ‘em.”
Langston held his ground and stood in front of him.  “She don’t know now, but she
will.  I’ve already contacted my attorney.”
“’Yo attorney huh…?” he laughed.  “Now where you got money for that?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout it.”
“I’m not… cause you ain’t getting a damn thing, I’m gonna make sure of that.”
“So what’s ‘yo problem Fish huh…?”
“Problem is I never liked you.  Brooks had a good life, a good marriage then he
fucked around with ‘yo moma and got you.  Nobody else knew about that but me
and Brooks.  I think Libby might know sumthin but I ain’t sure.”
“Look I’m trying to be nice here Fish.” he warned, clinching his teeth together
tightly.  Fish was a man of sixty-five and his body was frail from the alcohol of years
past, and Langston could easily take him on without a problem, but he had a
conscious.  He struggled to keep his anger at bay, as Fish continued his tirade.
“Yeah I use to see you when you was a boy.  Down there sneaking around lookin
in the windows and shit.  Just pathetic.” he lashed.  His words cut into him like a
knife.
Langston paused for a moment taking a deep breath before he spoke.  “See I’m
gonna walk away before I kill you old man.” He shot him an angry look, backing
away.
“Yeah, you go on and crawl back into whatever hole you came out of, and keep it
that way you hear me!” he yelled.
“You will never know what I’ve gone through or what it felt like for me growing up.”
he shook.
Fish spat on the sidewalk without a response and headed across the street to his
car.
Langston sped off heading towards Poplar Avenue.  Fish had hit a nerve and took
his mind to a place where he didn’t want to be.  As he reached South Parkway he
thought about the house and that Dok wouldn’t be there, so he turned finding
himself parked in the driveway in the very back of the house.  He sat for a moment
starring towards the screen door, thinking long and hard about the way Brooks
had treated him.
“This house was never good enough for me huh Brooks….” he though.  “For all
these years I couldn’t even come pass the driveway.  Had to meet me outside like I
was a stranger or sumthin.” he continued, his eyes began to swell.  “So now
what…” he said, looking over his shoulders toward the neighbor’s house next door.
He noticed the window to the back room was hidden between two overgrown
bushes on the side of the house, so he stepped out of his car and quickly hid
himself between them.  After a few moments he caught his nerve and pried open
the window and crawled inside.  He made sure all of the other blinds were shut as
he went from one room to the other in the small two bedroom house.  He paused
for a moment as he stood in the doorway of Brook’s bedroom making a note of the
papers that had been strewn across the night stand on the side of his bed.  So he
walked over taking a look, wondering if he’d find anything of importance that he
could use to his advantage.
The anger began to fuel his soul.  “So what’re you hiding Brooks and where can I
find it after all these years.” he thought.   He gathered the papers and put them on
top of the bed, then opened the closet door next to the window.  Brooks had been
retired for many years from the railroad and had loved his job.  His shirts and
pants were neatly hung on the rack, and in the back of the closet were some old
suits he wore on special occasions.  
Langston stretched his arm toward a suit in back of the closet and felt the wooden
floor beneath his right foot give way and he stumbled coming to his knees.
“What the hell…?" he thought, seeing the loose board.  “Cheap ass… I could’ve
broke my damn neck.” he complained, lifting the piece finding it easy to remove
and peeked inside the hole.  He removed a second piece that revealed a grey
metal box that had been hidden there.  His curiosity got the best of him and he was
able to remove the entire front section of the closet floor.

This novel is all about my dreadlocking experience.  I share my story, the ups and downs in my lifestyle change, because once we resolve to learn about our natural hair aka "nappy roots" it goes beyond a hair-do.  I teach the things I've learned about our culture and how to go about taking care of my hair naturally without the use of chemicals or oils.  I share my hair styling secrets and so much more.  Y'all stay tuned for this release.