Named Lashondrika Jones, but called Shon, was absolutely beautiful. Dark chocolate was the color that covered her beautiful yet tender bones. Styled short with spikes, her hair stayed fresh all of the time. Though all this was true, clothes were her specialty. Lashondrika's lovely hands created every piece of clothing that lay on her body. At the age of 14, women off of the street frequently pulled her aside, and asked her where she had gotten her clothes. When they found out that Shon had made the clothes herself, they were absolutely stunned. Though Lashondrika had a dream of becoming a famous fashion designer, the environment in which she was surrounded by made it hard for her to believe that it was possible, but determination had her by the hand.
As a young child, Shon lived with her elderly grandmother, Dorothy, because her mother ran the streets all of the time, and was a drug abuser. The bond that Lashondrika and Dorothy had was so strong, that no man or woman would ever understand it. Dorothy wasn’t like most people grandmothers, who are always nagging, and saying that young people don’t know anything. She was a type of grandmother that was very cool, but knew how to put Shon in her place if she needed to, and she loved her grandmother for that. Lashondrika also loved and respected grandmother for teaching her something that her mother wasn't ever able to do. Dorothy taught Shon how to be, and carry herself like a true lady and woman. Dorothy taught Lashondrika how to walk in heels while balancing a book on her head, to teach how to walk like a lady. To this day, Shon can still hear her grandmother saying, “ Stand up straight baby, and be proud to be a Jones.”
Dorothy taught Lashondrika everything she knew, from being a lady to how to handle herself in the business world. The last thing Dorothy taught Lashondrika how to do before she died was teaching Lashondrika how to sew. Dorothy would tell Lashondrika, “ When I was little, we didn’t have money to buy clothes, so our mother sewed all of our clothes, and that was all we had to wear. Today, I’m going to teach you how to sew, so if you ever get in a bind, and can’t afford to buy yourself some clothes, you will know how to get some fabric, and make your own self fly.”
After about six months of sewing lessons, Lashondrika became quite good at sewing, and all of a sudden, her grandmother became quite ill, and had to be rushed to the hospital. Once Shon arrived at the hospital, she found that her grandmother had breast cancer and had two months to live. At that time Shon was sixteen, and would be 17 in a eight months. She was kind of nervous about having to go to a foster home, but the news that she would be losing the closest figure that she had to a mother was dieing was just too much to handle. Lashondrika had friends, but for the next two months, she would have to just put her friends on hold, and concentrate more on her grandmother.
Dorothy did have another daughter, Shanae Jones, who became a successful doctor at the age of 28. Shanae had gotten arrogant since she went off to medical school, and forgot about her mother and family who stood by her all the way. Now Shanae lived in Los Angeles California doing cosmetic surgery. Shanae resented Dorothy because Dorothy had a house in the ghetto, and she wasn’t rich. Little did she know that she was richer living with Dorothy than she was now living in her big condo by herself? When Shanae was living with Dorothy as a child, she was very rich, because she was well loved. Shanae took that love for granted until she was grown and alone, and realized that she missed her mother dearly. Shanae couldn’t call her mother and apologize because she had been so rude and disrespectful to her mother by not calling Dorothy for all those years.
After finding out that her grandmother had two months to live, Lashondrika thought that Shanae should know that her only mother was about to die. The day after Dorothy was released from the hospital, when Lashondrika and Dorothy arrived at their house in the “ghetto”, they found Shanae sitting on the living room couch crying. When Dorothy looked to the left and saw Shanae sitting on the couch crying, she couldn’t believe her eyes. The daughter that had once neglected her was now in the comfort of her home.
Over the next couple of days, Shanae and Dorothy spent time catching up as mother and daughter. Lashondrika was happy for the both of them, but she had to admit that she was becoming jealous because she wanted to have her grandmother. Once Shon analyzed the situation, she saw that she was becoming selfish. She had had her grandmother to herself for as long as she could remember, so it wouldn't hurt her to share her for a couple of days.
The two months in which the doctor gave Dorothy to live came by so quickly. On what was supposed to be Dorothy's last day alive, Shanae and Shon said their last good-byes and waited for something to happen. When Shon and Shanae woke up and saw that Dorothy was still alive, they were extremely happy. That morning, the girls thought that it would be a good idea to cook a big feast in celebration of Dorothy's survival. Later on that night, the family of women prepared a huge feast, dressed in their classiest clothing, and sat at the dinner table as a family for the first and last time.
Around about midnight, Shon heard moaning and yelling coming from her grandmother's room. Once she reached her grandmother's room, what she saw was something that she couldn't believe. The woman that she once knew was her grandmother wasn't there anymore, she was now a stranger. The stranger was shaking frantically and foaming at the mouth Shon knew that her grandmother was somewhere inside this stranger, so she knew that it was her duty to help this woman.
"Shanae! Shanae run and call 911!" yelled Shon as she ran over to the stranger bedside.

" Ah yo Shon, what's all the yelling about", Shanae asked half asleep. Once Shanae saw what was happening, she immediately ran to call 911 and asked no more questions.

"Come on granny. You have to make it through this. You are the only family that I have, and I don't know what I would do if I was to lose you." Lashondrika spoke hoping that her grandmother inside of the stranger was listening.
All of a sudden, the repulsive shaking stopped. Dorothy's eyes were rolled in the back of her head, and it seemed as if Dorothy wasn't breathing anymore. Shon couldn't help but crying, because deep down she knew that she had just lost the person that meant the most to her. When the paramedics finally arrived, they said that Dorothy died from swallowing her tongue during a seizure. Lashondrika was too hurt and confused to cry anymore. She was in a state of mind that she didn't want to be bothered with anyone.
After Dorothy’s death, Lashondrika had to go and live with Shanae because she wasn’t 18 years old yet. Shon was still in shock over losing her grandmother. Once Shon finally got out of her bed and picked herself up, she decided to go in Shanae’s room and see how she was holding up. As Shon entered Shanae’s bedroom, she saw her lying on the floor crying.
“What’s wrong with you.” Shon asked with an attitude.
“What you mean what’s wrong with me. My mother did just die.” Shanae replied with an attitude.
“You neglect her, then you come back into her life the last couple of months, and all of a sudden, you are her daughter again. You are such a joke.”
“I have always been her daughter, it’s just I didn’t understand that money isn’t everything.” Shanae yelled at Lashondrika as she stood up and began to get in her face.
“Whatever!” Lashondrika yelled back.
“I know that you are upset that she’s gone, but you can’t take your anger out on me. I loved my mother even though I might not have showed it all of the time. What I do know is that my mother loved you with all her heart. To tell you the truth, when I came back I was kind of jealous of ya’ll relationship. It’s all right to be sad. Come here and give me a hug.” Shanae told Shon as she moved closer to her trying to embrace her.
The tears that Shon was trying to hide couldn’t be held back anymore. Before she knew it, Shon was in Shanae’s arms crying her heart out. The two women spent half of the night mourning over Dorothy’s death, and the other half Lashondrika spent reminiscing on the joy that her grandmother brought into her life.
In the fall, Lashondrika attended Urban Fashions University at the expense of her new best friend Shanae. Shanae continued to be a doctor, but didn’t work as much, and spent a lot of her time hanging out with Lashondrika when she could, and just enjoying life.