AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I know, but I just don't want to think about it anymore. Let's talk about something else. Like who is Channing?"
I swallowed. "What?"
"I heard you talking to him in that voice five octaves higher than your normal voice. Be careful, these black men act like fools nowadays."
I took another sip of my tea. "He's not black."
My sister's demeanor changed from playful to annoyed. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please tell me, you are not fucking around with no white man."
I didn't know what to say. "You just said black men act like fools."
"Yeah, they do. But they’re our fools. When a white man dates a black woman you don’t know if it’s real or if he just wants to knock boots. You ain't got time for that. You're getting older, and you need to be looking for a serious relationship, a man that will marry you."
"You don't know anything about him other than his name. How can you say what he will and won't do?"
"Because I know men and I'm telling you, white men just use us. You’re too smart and too pretty to allow yourself to be used, Kemara. Didn’t Mama teach you anything!"
"Don’t go there with me, Tameka. What do you know about men? You're already divorced and your ex makes you miserable!"
Her neck snapped back as if I'd slapped her across the face. I would have given anything to take back my words. Her tone was low and flat, "We fight so much because we both love our kids. If that white man gives two shits about any black babies he makes with you, then count yourself damn lucky." I knew she was only spewing bitterness because of the sad state of her own marriage and divorce.
She sat her coffee cup on the table and got up off the couch.
"Where are you going?"
"Home," was all she said before walking out the front door, leaving me in unshakable doubt.
I sat there shaking my head. Tameka tended to get all dramatic when someone tried to point out her unperfect life to her, and yet she was never one to shy away from telling you like it was in your life. Like in this case with Channing. She wanted to put him down, knowing full well her own relationship, or lack of one, was in shambles. I wasn’t going to allow her the satisfaction of spoiling my mood. From what I knew, Channing was a good man and there was nothing Tameka could say to me that would leave me doubting that. I was still excited about our upcoming date.
Chapter Six
Channing
The most gorgeous woman I'd ever seen had just agreed to go out with me. There were no words to describe how excited I was, but my enthusiasm was soon deflated. Where was I going to take her? A classy chick like her wouldn't be down with warm beer and a few rounds of pool. Not to mention if I took her to the tavern on a weekend night, we'd definitely run into someone I knew and then depending on who it was the situation would either become bad or very bad.
I had to think outside of the box. Come up with a date that would truly sweep her off her feet, or our first date might be our last. I went to my computer and looked up the best restaurants within an hour of us. I found a Mexican place that looked good, but when I looked at the prices on the menu the blood drained from my face. Dinner, drinks and tip would cost me almost an entire week's pay.
I looked for something else, but I kept going back to the page for that restaurant. I really wanted to impress her. I'd been putting some money aside; it was time to spend it. Though I hoped taking her there wouldn't mean she'd expect to go to places like that every time. If she did, I wouldn't be able to afford it. But I wanted to make our first date special.
My cell buzzed with a text. I looked down and spotted my brother, Damon’s name.
Damon: Hey, Chan! Don’t forget about the meeting coming up. You better be there.
I read through the message and thought about it. How could I forget about the meeting? No matter how hard I tried, ever since I met Kemara, that damn meeting had been drilled into my mind. I put the phone down, giving it a few minutes, before shooting him a message back.
My great grandfather, Charles, was a high-ranking soldier in the Confederate Army. People that were under him respected him. He was someone that got the job done and everyone looked up to him, but living the life that he did, he had some ideas about the way the world should be and those ideals were passed down by him to his family. So, generation by generation, we were forced to believe the same as him.
My father passed down everything he learned from my great grandfather, just as Damon and I were told we needed to pass this down to our own children. That included his white pride and nationalism. They believed wholeheartedly in the Bible belt. They believed the South belonged to the whites and that once the first black president was elected, our rights were endangered.
That’s why Damon stayed on top of me about coming to the meetings. He wanted as much support as possible to hold steady our beliefs, or the beliefs they wanted us to have. Damon was one that stood by everything we’d been taught, and because the group believed that our rights were in jeopardy, there had been more and more meetings being put into place.
They wanted to head up some kind of takeover, where they could plan an overturning of the government and ultimately protect our second amendment rights and solidify our place as the true leaders of America. The problem that I faced was I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to believe those rights belonged solely to us…and us alone. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to attend the meetings, knowing how badly it could turn out if we kept down a path of superiority in a country where our majority was shrinking. Contrary to all that I was raised to believe, I had eyes and ears. I could see that the country was becoming a melting pot of races, cultures and religions. I was in a good place in my life and sometimes I just felt that maybe fighting for superiority wasn’t as important as my great grandfather, grandfather, and father, had always led me to beli
eve. When I heard another text message come through, I just assumed it was another message from Damon, to make sure I got the first one.
Instead, when I looked down, I discovered that Kemara’s name was on my phone. That brought a smile to my face and suddenly responding to Damon didn’t seem so important.
Kemara: Sorry about that. My sister needed me, but she's fine now. Here's my address...
