Copyright ©2020 by Creole Gaudet. All rights reserved.
No part of this chronicle may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system – except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper – without permission in writing from the publisher, Creole Gaudet.
MARCH 8, 2020
KNOCKOUT SPORTS BAR – NORTHWEST HIGHWAY – 12:16 p.m.
Sway was halfway across Northwest Highway when I caught up to her. I nabbed, securing her by her hips. Her legs were still in motion. “Sway! Stop!”
Tires screeched, horns blew. The traffic jammed. “Sway!” I turned her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. “Sway!”
There were snipes and jeers. “Get the fuck out of the street, asshole!”, “Why are you playing in traffic?!”, “You’re going to get someone hurt”.
I held her close, comforting. “Baby… Come on… Let’s go.”
She looked around, then to me. “Okay.”
As I took her hand, a silver sedan slowed. The window powered down. I stepped in front of Sway as I eyed the driver. A middle-aged white man with a salt and pepper Caesar cut and matching beard. Dandruff sprinkles rested securely atop his shoulders, embedded into the mesh squares of his faded medium blue polo.
Riding shotgun was a pale-skinned Rubenesque with a jet black bouffant. Her icy blues darted behind a stiff, puffy, collagen-injected mask.
The fiery four-carat on her left hand told me it was his wife.
“Who the fuck do you think you are? Go back to the hood where you belong…” The insult was saddled with an N bomb ending in a hard er.
He topped it off by spitting at us, grinning as he drove away.
However, he’d made a mistake. The traffic light had just turned red. He was trapped.
I paced towards him, zoned, enraged, seething with anger. There were no horns blowing, yelling, or shouting, only questions in my head.
What did he mean by back to the hood, where I belong?
Did this motherfucker somehow know my dream and my goal?
Did he know I was risking my life and my freedom out here on these same streets to reach my tower in the sky?
Was it somehow written across my face?
His bitch noticed me first through the rear window. She was wide-eyed, terrified. I knocked along the panels as I approached.
“Get out of the car!” I tugged at the handle. The door was locked.
He shook his head behind the glass. “No!”
“Get out here and face me like a man, or I’m going to fucking break the window and pull you through it!”
“Go away!” He glanced at the light. The sedan crept a few inches.
He watched obediently as I stepped back, pointing to the glob at the bottom of my pant leg. His wife clutched behind him. I removed my pullover and wrapped it into a tight ball around my fist.
He was clipped by the DART 528 turning from Technology Blvd.
The bumper of the big bus tore open his quarter panel as the mounted twelve-speed spun from the rack, crashing into a mangled mess in the middle of the intersection.
I stood watching as the silver sedan turned onto the Stemmons on-ramp and slowly disappeared. “Scary ass bitch! I’ll see you again!”
Sway was next to me. She tugged at my hand, leading me to the sidewalk. We stood as I tossed on my shirt. She adjusted my sleeves, evening the tail. “I was so scared. I thought he was going to shoot you or something.”
“No, no… It’s okay, don’t cry.” I pulled her to me.
“It was all my fault.”
“No, it was not. Don’t say that.” We began to walk.
“I’m so sorry, Andre…”
“For what?”
“I just lost it. I don’t know what happened. It was like reality hit me. I’d never considered it that way…from that perspective. Hearing it from someone else, I guess.”
“Sometimes we don’t see so well when we’re in the middle of it.”
“But I saw it and didn’t see it. Does that make sense?”
“Of course it does. You were born into it. It’s how you were raised.”
“We try to think of our parents… We have to love them, right? We have to believe they only want what’s best for us, don’t we?”
“Sometimes they are raised the same way.”
“But they have to know it’s not right. They don’t have to stay that way. My parents are educated and smart. Somewhere along the way, they learned better. They must have.”
“I think that when the system favors you… When you have an advantage… You play the game.”
“And just ignore everything going on around you?”
“You lived in a white…”
“A white neighborhood. I went to white schools.” Sway paused. “Can’t… You don’t have to see it if you isolate yourself. Then you fucking do everything in your power to make sure minorities, no matter how hard they claw, you make sure they never make it.”
“It’s a fucked up game.”
Sway grinned. “I could have killed myself…and you too. You came for me.”
“I will always come for you. I would give my life for you.”
“I love you, Andre.”
We paused. “Look at this. Look at her, Sway.”
“She’s still staring at them.”
“The thieves.”
“Shit! Our food is getting cold, Daddy!”
“It’ll be okay.”
“Maybe they can reheat it for us!”
“I’m sure they can. Just relax.”
“I’m going to ask!”
“Hey, don’t worry about the food… My only concern is you.” We smiled. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
We caught Tyler’s attention as we entered. She stood. “Was it something I said?”
Creole Gaudet
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