Across The Tracks (4 page)

She chuckled, “No, Wells, you hate me and people like me that much, that you do harm in other ways. You don’t have the balls to stab us directly, so you use the law and your position to do the killing. It’s a damn massacre.”

He looked confused and then anger slid across his face. “You are going to stand on your high horse and try to blame me for all the wrongs that have happened in the judicial system. I handle all of them,” he raised his hands, “oh no, 70% of them at least. Right? This is all my fault.”

“Of course not, it’s a systematic problem, which you contribute to every day.” She looked at him square in the eye and continued, “But at least have the decency to admit you don’t like people, not like you. I already see you for who you are, you don’t have to lie to me, Wells. I won’t write about you again. I’m not bitter, but I am angry.”

He looked at her intently and said, “It’s not that I don’t like people, not like me. I don’t like freeloaders, people who con the system every day, get away with murder on technicalities, people who are weak, stuck in the same rut, never getting out. It boggles my mind. You are not like them, but you are a sympathizer, which makes you weak as well. Because you’ll die a lonely angry woman, with nothing to show for the energy you put into people who don’t even give a shit about themselves. They’d rather be on welfare and drive fancy cars than get a damn job and help the rest of society. It’s like a fucking cancer that nobody can solve or find the cure for. I don’t hate them, I despise them. It’s not a black/white thing, it’s more of a strong/weak thing.” He said and took a step closer to her.

“Ah, I see.” She was looking up at him.

“I wonder how you feel about women.”

“Lisa, I’m not a sexist or a racist,” he said thoughtfully.

“So you think,” she added.

“How am I a racist?” he looked at her lips, “Tell me, what makes me a racist?”

He was within an arm’s length of her, which was a little close for Lisa. She looked into his eyes and started to see him as a man and not the monster she was making him out to be. She was 5’9, so he had to be about 6’3 because he was almost a half a foot taller than her, she noted as he was looking down. He had short cropped blond hair that had a slight mohawk formed with some sort of hair product. The cut was expensive but showed off his assets and edginess. He had sharp features, with deep gray eyes, pointed nose, pink lips and a chiseled face. His nose was a little crooked like it had been broken before. Even that defect did not stop the man from being handsome. His eyes were low as they were still fixated on her lips. Lisa thought something was happening here, but she could not easily identify what that was.

“The definition of a racist, when used as an adjective, means ‘having or showing the belief that a person’s race is s-superior than another.’” Her voice cracked as he invaded her space.

“I’ve demonstrated that?” his voice was much deeper now.

“Y-yes.” She said with her back flat against the driver’s side of the car. “Can you move back? You are in my personal space.”

He stopped advancing on her and said, “How have I demonstrated that?”

“You send 70% of our Black and Latino brothers and sisters to jail and have them plead guilty to save you time, I’m sure. Also, because you don’t care. Therefore, you are contributing to the cause, which as you lawyers put it, makes you an accessory to the crime.” She started to gather her strength again. “As a matter of fact, why are you at the state’s attorney’s office? Why aren’t you at a private law firm working for people in your class bracket since you’re not a racist, just prejudice? I bet even your own people outside of your class don’t like your kind, but you don’t surely don’t like their kind, huh?”

He tore his gaze from her mouth to her eyes and she saw deep-seated anger in there. She must have hit a nerve. She took a side step away from him and he followed her with his eyes.

“You really are scared of me?” he asked sincerely.

“Not really, but if you decided to swing, I’d rather not break my window when you fell into it,” she said calmly.

“You are a piece of work.” He smiled.

Damn, he looked even better.

“Whatever, Mr. Wells, your job is done. I’ll likely be fired before the month is out, thanks to you and your class of folks who want to shut me up. However, don’t underestimate me. I may not have a class to teach in, but there is a corner on every block, Mr. Wells, and I will make that my classroom.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked as he walked towards her again.

“I’m talking about you putting pressure on someone to fire me,” she replied. “I’m sure I’ll have the official documentation later tonight.

“I did no such thing.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Look, all right, I fucked up. Jaded, sure, racist, no, prejudice, eh. Getting you fired, absolutely not.” He seemed sincere, “No matter what you think about me, I haven’t seen most parents do what you did for Ricardo. Even calling me out on my shit.”

She cocked her head to the side to look at him with curiosity etched on her face. She did not know whether to believe him or not. It really didn’t matter.

“Look, let’s do dinner, you, me, and whoever.” He smirked with one side of his mouth turned up.

“Why?” She was confused by the turn of events.

“Because I want to mend fences.”

“Riiightt,” she drawled out.

“I do.” He seemed genuine.

“Fine, my boyfriend and I will have dinner with you on one condition.” She thought he bristled after she said, boyfriend. “You admit your practices were wrong, come to speak to the NSPPF board’s annual meeting about what you intend to do to fix this. Then work with the local law enforcement and schools to ensure this happens.”

“That seems rehearsed,” he replied.

“Well, who knows, my next job could be as a lobbyist. You’re a lawyer, so don’t shit me like you didn’t have something like that planned already,” she smirked.

He ignored the last part of her statement and said, “Okay, deal. I’ll contact you for the details for Friday.”

“Fine,” she said glad to get that over with.

He took another step towards her and he whispered, “Nice doing business with you.”

RICH
:

Rich didn’t know why that woman got under his skin so bad. He could not put his finger on it for the life of him, but he needed to find out quickly. He just might kiss her. That was the most absurd thing he’d ever fathomed. He was not a racist, but he also was not attracted to people outside his race either, nor did he think people should date outside their race. His father called their kids ‘mutts’ and called anyone in a relationship like that a ‘
sympathizer
,’ which made them equally weak.

At that moment, Rich realized that he just gave a similar speech to Lisa. The same spiel that his father used to rant about race issues. There were things to admire and emulate about his father, but Rich did not feel this was one of them. He really did not have enough experience to have an informed opinion, just what he was taught. Lisa seemed so convicted and that was what made her attractive, Rich guessed. He did not have that passion about anything. He was on a plan and all the people strategically placed in his life were there to help him achieve that plan. Even Grace.

Friday came and for some reason, Rich was looking forward to the dinner. Grace invited herself to the dinner after she apologized for pushing him during a tough time, as she put it. She apologized on her knees, in between strokes on his cock. She knew how to get him to forgive her because she fucked up often. His boss was happy about the progress he was making with Lisa and also informed him that after the article had come out, the judge threw Ricardo’s case out.  Rich was glad to hear that, despite the façade he kept up, his heart hurt when he saw what that boy had gone through. He was not a heartless bastard, he just did not know how to take all the heartbreaking stories that came with the job, nor what to do with them because he could not fix them all. He felt like Lisa wanted him to fix a system that he had little control over. He could do more as a Senator, maybe she could help him. He almost laughed at that notion because he could see her laughing at the absurd request. She would probably have tears in her eyes again from laughing so hard. The woman thought he was a racist and prejudice asshole and would not help him if his life depended on it. Why that bothered him, he still was trying to figure out.

Rich and Grace were there twenty minutes early, as they wanted to be the ones who were seen in a position of power. Lisa and her boyfriend came in five minutes later hand-in-hand. As they approached the table, Rich stood up to greet Lisa and shake the boyfriend’s hand. He was a tall brown man with a low haircut. Rich and he were about the same height and similar physique, but Rich first thought was that he could take him. He had a firm grip and not to be ignored as Rich was sure he made a point of squeezing his hand until his turned a shade of white.

“Lisa, this is my girlfriend Grace,” Rich said as he waved his hand towards her.

“This is my boyfriend, Danny.” Rich nodded at the man with the firm grip and sat down.

Danny pulled out a chair for Lisa and then sat down. “What’s good here?” Danny asked.

Grace chimed in, “Oh, the fried chicken here is to die for.”

Lisa and Danny both swiveled their heads towards Grace.

Rich cringed as he knew Grace did not mean anything by it, but she was more sheltered from different types of people than he was.

Lisa smirked at Rich and said, “I’m sure it is.”

Danny shook his head.

Grace turned beet red and whispered to him, “What did I say?”

“I’ll tell you later.” He internally chided himself for not thoroughly going over what would be discussed and not discussed. Especially stereotypes about food and the notion that all black people like fried chicken and watermelon.

Grace excused herself from the table to powder her nose or cry. Rich was embarrassed for her, but she also embarrassed him. After she had left, Lisa looked up with a knowing gaze.

“So, this is the mending fences meeting?” She sarcastically commented.

“I hope so.” Rich raised his eyebrows.

“How do you plan to do that?” She mused.

“Well, by first apologizing again. Even for Grace, she’s not used to this.”

“What, being around the colored folk?” Danny added.

Lisa elbowed Danny and he smirked. Rich glared at Danny while responding, “Something like that?”

Danny grunted and kept looking at the menu.

“What else?” Lisa queried.

“As you suggested, I’ll be at your next board meeting and I’ve already set up meetings with several urban schools and police stations throughout the city.”

“Ah, you don’t procrastinate, do you?”

“I try not to.”

“Good to hear, maybe one day you’ll actually mean it.” Lisa quipped.

“Why are you always busting my balls?” Rich was starting to get angry at her complete dismissal of all attempts he made towards fixing this problem.

Danny must have heard the underlying tone in his voice because he raised his head and eyebrows at him.

“Because you are doing and saying all the right things, and I’m not trying to be mean or bust your balls, but you simply have no investment in any of it. You are doing it because it was told to you or it will benefit you. I just hope one day you mean it. That you do something like this because you give a damn.”

“What makes you think I don’t? How can you sit there and be the judge and jury about what I care about?” he lowered his voice. This was supposed to be a ‘mending fences’ meeting, but she would not let up.

“I’m not trying to judge or put you on trial, you are the only one that can do that. I am, however, speaking a truth that whether you want to admit or not, is just that. Truth.”

He’d had enough. “I’m going to check on Grace.”

She raised her hand, “No, I’ll go.”

She got up and went towards the bathroom, then Danny said, “You know you fucked up right?”

“What?”

“You fucked up man,” Danny said.

“You messed with one of her students, those are like her own kids. She will fight for those kids. If you ever want to get into her good graces, like to the point where she isn’t making it her life’s mission to fuck up your career. You’ll want to give a shit about those kids.” Danny raised an eyebrow and continued, “Just some friendly advice.”

Danny’s face turned serious and he continued, “Here’s some more advice, if you fuck with her career, it won’t be just her trying to end yours.”

Danny called the waiter over, as his threat had been made and he had moved on to another topic.  He ordered a scotch on the rocks and a lemon water for Lisa. Grace and Rich already had their drinks. Rich looked towards the bathroom and wondered what was taking them so long. He hoped Lisa was not rearranging Grace’s face, although that would be a little funny. He also hoped Grace was not embarrassing him any more than she already had. He decided to get up and find them, but he saw Grace coming back from the bathroom looking better than when she left. She smiled at him and sat down to take a long sip of her margarita.

Rich decided to go to the restroom anyway. He walked into the women’s bathroom, looked under the stalls and saw Lisa’s feet. He locked the door so he could corner her. He wanted to know why she was always busting his balls. When Lisa emerged from the stall, she jumped when she saw him. “What, you’ve come to finish me off?”

She approached the sink to wash her hands and Rich slowly walked towards her.

“Why are you always busting my balls?” he asked. “Even when I come in peace, apologizing, you are always breaking my balls. I want to know why.”

He kept advancing on her. Lisa stood there with her wet hands and a smirk on her face. “You think I’m busting your balls because I said you don’t care?”

“Fuck yeah, you don’t know shit about me. You just met me last week and you think you have me all figured out?”

He was about a foot away from her and her fragrance surrounded him. She smelled like chocolate, but he did not think there was such a thing - ‘chocolate perfume’.

She muttered something.

“What, speak up darling, I can’t hear you.”

“I met you 15 years ago,” she said with defiance in her voice.

“What, no you didn’t?” He was racking his brain.

“Yes, I did. It was at the community event, put together to bridge the North and South side of Philly. We played basketball against each other.”

Oh shit.

A wave of nausea flushed over him as Rich turned pale. “It couldn’t be,” he muttered.

“Oh yes, it could. You elbowed me, knocked me down and said, ‘You’ll pay for that blackie.’” She reminisced.

She recited that like she would never forget those words and worst of all, like they ran through her head more often than she would like to remember.

“Goddamn.” He felt sick as he touched his nose in remembrance.

“So, you see. I may not know you, but I know enough about you to know what I know.”

Rich looked down at her and saw that little girl with braided hair to the back, looking like a tom-boy. A tom-boy he had vowed to go easy on until she stole the ball from him and showed him up in front of his family and friends. His dad had pulled him aside and told him if that blackie did it again to make her pay. That was what he did. She stole that ball and he ran chased her with a vengeance, knocked her down and told her what was said to him. He paid anyway because after those boys had beaten up on him, his father broke his nose for letting her steal the ball, not once but twice. 

He looked at her lips and said, “You don’t know me, darling.”

Lisa was about to say something and before she could, Rich brought his mouth down to hers. At first, he kissed her softly, then when she didn’t resist, he put both hands on the sink, caging her in and deepened the kiss. She opened for him and he invaded her mouth with his tongue. He swore the women tasted like chocolate. The smell was everywhere. His erection was straining against his khaki pants. He felt fingers in his hair and he groaned. She was kissing him back while Grace and Danny were at the table waiting for them. He wanted to pick her up and take her home, where he would get to taste her sweet chocolate pussy all night. Finally, he gave in and rubbed his hard erection against her stomach. This move jolted her back to her senses because, in the next moment, she stopped kissing him and pushed him back.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. “We can’t do this.”

“Why not, we both want it.” He was trying to understand it all himself.

She turned to glare at him. “No, we don’t. Don’t you need to go home and wash your mouth out with bleach? Can’t have black cooties.”

“You know, I’m beginning to think you are the racist between the two of us.”

Lisa’s eyes widened and she slapped him right across the face. Rich stood frozen in place because it didn’t register that he had been hit. By the time he came around, she had unlocked the restroom door and was gone. He finally emerged from the ladies room, after two women came in and saw him standing in their lair looking stunned. Rich came out to see Danny and Lisa leaving the restaurant. He would have run to stop them, but didn’t want to cause a scene. When he came to the table, he saw that Grace was drinking another margarita and looking very full of life. While he was feeling very dead inside.

So much for mending fences, he thought.