The Emerald Virus (15 page)

    
One man from the group walked back with him. The man said he was a trucker and
had been listening to truckers talk on the CB radio about the shootings. He had
just heard that the black car had been in a shootout with a pickup truck and
the car had crashed hard. The trucker didn’t offer any information about the
occupants of the car.

    
George said, “Thanks for the information, but I was just curious. I think we’ll
get back on the road now.”

    
The trucker looked at George and said, “Word on the road is that the shootout
was between that car and a pickup truck that looks a lot like that one over
there.” He smiled as he said, “Glad you don’t know anything about it, although
it seems the folks in the pickup did us all a favor. Good luck on the rest of your
trip.”

    
George said, “Thanks” as he arrived at the pickup. When the gas finished
pumping, and Andy and Maiya returned, George took time to visit the bathroom
and then took over the driving. Maiya started to get in the back and Andy said,
“No you don’t, you get in the front with George, that’s where you belong.

    
Maiya smiled but didn’t say anything as she climbed in the front seat.

    
George described his talk with the trucker and then said, “Also, I’m going to
drive a little slower, maybe 75 or so. I think if we’re careful we won’t have
to stop for gas until we get to Dallas. I think the fewer stops we make the
better off we’ll be. I’m glad that trucker spoke up, it sounds like we probably
saved not only our own lives but some others as well.”

    
Maiya replied, “That’s a relief I guess. George do you think we killed anyone?”

    
“I don’t think you did, I think I saw all of your hits and I didn’t see any
wounds. I know I hit one of the passengers and maybe the driver but I have no
idea how badly anyone was injured. One of the guys in the backseat shot one of
his friends. I think that guy is dead for sure; there was a lot of blood.”
While George felt a little bad about lying to Maiya he felt under the
circumstances it was best. George thought she had enough to worry about in the
short time any of them had left. He was also pretty sure she would disagree
with him.

    
George was driving in the center lane a couple of minutes later when an
eighteen wheeler passed them on the right. As the truck drew even with them he
recognized the trucker as the one he had talked with at the truck stop. The
trucker blasted the air horn, gave them a thumbs up, smiled and drove on.

Thursday
evening: Dallas, Texas

George,
Maiya and Andy drove in silence for a while and Maiya couldn’t help but think
how unfair life was. She finally met someone she really liked, from a good family,
and it was too late.

    
She thought George was amazing. Last night all he did was hold her and talk
with her. She was pleased that he knew that was all she needed. Then today he
had fought for her and had done so in a way she had never envisioned. She knew
he had fought for himself and his brother as well, but that was negated by the
fact that he had wanted to drive her to Dallas in case something like this
happened. He wanted to be there for her. As the trip continued she realized
that she was rapidly falling in love with him, and she didn’t know what to do
about it. She thought again that life was being particularly unfair.

    
She kept telling herself that right now life was unfair to just about everyone
on the planet, but it didn’t seem to help. Then she wondered how her parents
would accept George. She thought they would be okay, but the issue of her
dating a white guy had simply never come up before and so she wasn’t sure. On
the other hand her parents were great about almost everything and she had no
reason to believe they’d be different because of George’s race.

     
Last night he told her that he was pleased that her race didn’t seem to matter
to his parents, but that on the drive from Atlanta he wasn’t sure that would be
the case. While he was growing up he and Andy had been taught to be respectful
and polite towards everyone. Their parents had not accepted derogatory or slang
terms about any group of people. However, they had never talked much about the
other races and George didn’t know why. He thought maybe it was because they
didn’t know a lot about other races and didn’t know what to say.

    
Maiya knew exactly what he meant. She had been raised a lot the same way. Her
parents taught them to be polite to everyone and they expected the kids to
comply all the time. However, her family had talked about race. She thought
about George’s explanation of how his parents simply didn’t know what to say so
they remained mostly quiet on the issue. She smiled when she thought of the
irony. She didn’t think her folks were any more knowledgeable about whites, but
they choose to talk about the issue. Then she thought of why they choose to
talk and she stopped smiling. Her parents felt they had to explain to their
children the threat that a black person was under in this world. There was
always the danger and fear of what might happen; from within the black
community, from the white community and even from the Asian and Hispanic
communities.

    
She decided that her folks may not have understood the white culture terribly
well, but they did understand the threat, and from that they tried to protect
their children. She now knew the threat was from a small minority of whites,
but when you couldn’t tell who those people were you tended to regard everyone
with caution.

    
They also talked about whether the threats were due more to class differences
or race differences, and they always came to the same conclusion. It was
probably both. As the family progressed economically and moved to the suburbs and
a mixed neighborhood, life became easier. The family was accepted as just
another family trying to improve their plight. They had moved for the last time
when Maiya was twelve years old. That move had been to an upper middle class
neighborhood that while predominately white, was about forty percent minority
and included Hispanics and Asians, as well as African Americans.

    
Maiya and the family always felt at home in the neighborhood. Occasionally crime
would rear its ugly head, but not often, and usually in the form of a burglary,
or a car stolen from the street in the middle of the night. Violent crimes were
rare. It was a comfortable existence and her parents were pleased with the life
they had built for their children. The issues of race were still discussed but
from a different perspective now. They still didn’t have any answers, but they
were more secure now, and were more distant from the problems. Both were
improvements.

    
Looking back Maiya realized that she didn’t agree totally with her parents
feelings about race. She didn’t worry as much about race as they had, and she
knew that was because the world was better today for African Americans than
when her folks were young. 

    
She also knew that she didn’t feel entirely safe as a black woman today, and
that she was uncomfortable around some people, especially those she considered
lower class whites. Thinking about that now, she realized that was as unfair as
her white friends had been when they told her about being uncomfortable around
lower class blacks. She realized that what it came down to often was a
difference in class. Crime was high in all lower class neighborhoods and if you
were raised in that environment it was extremely difficult to get out; for some
it was simply not possible.

    
There was still a lot of room for improvement, especially in the areas of
education and jobs. Maiya knew the promise of the Constitution could not be
reached until every citizen had the same opportunity to be a contributing
member of society. That meant decent schools and a decent beginning for all
citizens. That was a tall order, but the founders didn’t write lofty goals into
the Constitution because they thought it would be easy, they thought those
goals were achievable.

    
Maiya was brought out of her thoughts by a car blasting its horn as it passed
them. It must have been doing a hundred miles an hour and had passed them on
the shoulder. She realized that her thoughts had little meaning in today’s
world, but she hoped the survivors could and would build something better.

     
George had also been thinking about Maiya and his parents and how easily they
had accepted her. As a young adult George had come to the conclusion that his parents
didn’t have race discussions because they didn’t know what to say. They had
acquaintances that were Black or Hispanic or Asian, but those people were
either work or church related, they weren’t personal friends. His father
mentioned cultural differences now and then but George thought he was referring
mainly to the Hispanic population. He just wasn’t sure of actual differences
between black and white America.

    
George knew that he didn’t have a lot of knowledge of how black families lived
and until yesterday he would have been self-conscience about that. But after Maiya
had told him that she felt the same way about white families he felt a little
more comfortable.

    
Maybe it was time people started talking about race more openly. When that happened
feelings would be hurt and people would be offended he was sure. But all in all
that was a small price to be paid for progress. He knew there were a lot of
people he would consider hypocritically sensitive and would be problematic.
They would take offence at almost anything said about them, but would feel free
to use harsh language themselves. There was no dearth of people like that in
any culture. But still, if they could leave political correctness to the
professional politicians, and have honest conversations amongst everyday people
of all races they would probably all learn something. Usually learning meant
progress, although George understood that progress might first come as a step
back before the proverbial two steps forward. The problem would be surviving
the one step back.

    
George then came to his senses and realized that with the end of the world
approaching quickly he should probably spend his time thinking about more
pertinent issues. He shook his head and hugged Maiya a little more closely as
he continued to drive.

    
Andy was in his own world as well. He couldn’t believe that he had just been
part of a gun battle and he was as pleased as he could be that he had kept his
head, had held the truck steady, had watched the battle mostly through the
mirrors and had accelerated when he needed to, although the black car had
almost hit them despite his efforts. The most important thing was that he
hadn’t panicked. He had wondered in the past how he would react in a life
threatening situation. Now he knew.

    
He also thought about George and Maiya. He had always loved George and they had
always gotten along as well as two brothers could. While he would not have expected
George to bring a woman of color home, he couldn’t say he was actually
surprised, he just hadn’t thought of it before. He could see why George was
smitten with Maiya. She looked great, she had a good sense of humor, she seemed
to be down to earth and she seemed like the kind of person George would date.
George had never been attracted to those on the fringe, or those who spent
their days trying to make you pay attention to them, or those who looked at
life as someone else’s responsibility. George was a participant in life.

    
George and Maiya seemed to be a good fit. Andy wondered what her parents would
be like, and if they would accept George as easily as his parents had accepted Maiya.
Knowing Maiya a little bit, he would guess her parents were not much different
from his parents. More importantly, given what was going on in the world Andy
didn’t think race would make much of a difference to any rational person today,
rational being the key word of course.

    
Andy did a kind of mental double take with that thought. If race was
meaningless now, why had it ever been so important? He was sure he would never
understand that.

    
Andy kept his gaze moving and he paid special attention to the overpasses. He
was still skittish from their earlier encounter and he hoped they did not have
another incident.

    
Andy’s thoughts turned inward and he wondered how he was going to cope with
what was coming. So far his salvation had been his parents. He thought he would
be able to keep things together as long as he had a reason to do so, and he
would not let his parents down by falling apart.

    
His parents had struggled to be able to send him to school and he owed them
everything. They could have said no last year when he asked them if they could
help him through graduate school, but they didn’t. They didn’t even hesitate,
even though they would be financially pressed for longer than they had planned.
Now he would never finish his graduate work or be able to use his skills as an
engineer.

    
Still, he thought he was better off than George, who was falling for a young
woman he would not see again. What lousy and painful timing that was. Andy
thought how funny life was, in an unfunny way. Six months ago when Amy had
walked away from him after three years of dating, he was devastated. He now
knew that had been a blessing in disguise. He had not been seeing anyone steadily
since then and he was thankful for that.

    
The three of them arrived at Maiya’s home in the Dallas suburbs late that
afternoon. While they had continued to see strange things happen, it was mostly
crazy driving.

    
As they pulled into the driveway a large man walked out of the garage. Maiya
said, “That’s Dad”. She jumped out of the truck and ran to him. He held her
tightly and said, “We were so worried something might have happened to you”.
The news people have been saying that cell traffic is so heavy that getting
through to someone is very difficult, so we hoped for the best. Let’s go
inside, your mother is anxious to see you.”

    
Maiya turned and said, “First I want you to meet George and Andy. Without them
I wouldn’t be here at all.”

    
George stepped forward to shake hands and said, “it’s good to meet you sir” and
then Andy did the same and said, “I can’t tell you how impressed I am by your
daughter, George hasn’t always shown such good taste in the past.”

    
Maiya laughed and her father smiled and said, “I understand you have a lot to
tell me. First let’s go meet my better half. By the way please call me Ed; I
think it’s too late for normal formalities.”

    
Both young men said, “Thank you sir” and they followed Ed and Maiya through the
garage and into the kitchen.

    
Ed turned and said “George, Andy I’d like you to meet Bethamie, Maiya’s mother,
everyone calls her Beth and you should also.”

    
As George shook Beth’s hand he said, “Ma’am, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Maiya
has told me a lot about you.”

    
Beth smiled and said, “I haven’t been as fortunate, but I intend to catch up
quickly. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate the two of you escorting Maiya
all the way to Dallas. I hope the drive was okay.”

    
The three young people exchanged glances and Ed said, “It looks like you have
some things to tell us. Let’s go into the other room and sit down where we can
talk comfortably.”

    
Beth said, “Ed, let these guys unwind for a minute. Boys, the bathroom is down
the hall if you need it. I’ve made a salad and sandwiches for you, and I have
plenty of coffee, tea and soda. I thought after such a long drive something
light would be better than a big meal. The dining room is through that door.
We’ll meet there in a couple of minutes and you can tell us what happened on
the drive, and Maiya you can tell me why you can’t seem to keep your eyes off
of George.” This last line was said with a soft smile and a twinkle in her eye.