The Boy She Illegally Brought To The Lavender Field (bwwm)

Page 53

Daniel grabbed the picket signs from the back of his truck.

He read them.
"All Men Are Created Equal" read one.
"No More Silence, Make Change" read another.

"These are real nice, Annie." Daniel stated. "You got some pretty handwriting."
"Thank you." she smiled.

"ANNIE!" someone shouted.

The two looked in the direction of the voice.

Jenny jogged over with her sign in her hands, her off white top tucked into her brown pants. Her hair was pinned up like Annie's, and she wore pretty shoes like she always did.

"Hey, Jenny!" Annie said enthusiastically.
Jenny slowed down when she noticed the white boy next to her friend.

They stared at each other.

"Is this him?" Jenny asked as she sized him up.
"Daniel this is Jenny. Jenny this is Daniel."

Jenny admitted to herself that Annie was right, the man is pretty.

Daniel tried giving out his hand to shake but Jenny didn't touch it.
"I don't shake no white man's hand." she stated.
Daniel took his hand back without arguing and Annie held onto it.
Jenny looked in discontentment.

"You're marchin' by yourself?" Annie asked and grabbed Jenny's attention.
"Course not. I'm marchin' with my people." She looked at Daniel.
He was staring around at the crowd.
"He know you was bringin' him here?" Jenny asked.
"It was his idea." Annie admitted.
Jenny was shocked.

But that didn't mean anything.

"Well...we'll know how he really feels when he gets out there."
Daniel looked at her. He was annoyed now at her lack of trust in him.
"You comfortable bein' around this many colored folk?"
"I'm here, ain't I?" Daniel sassed.
"Not for long." Jenny rebutted.
"Alright stop it, you two." Annie commanded and stood between them.

"Jenny, before you go expecting less out of him, at least let him prove it to you. Please?" Annie whispered.
Jenny just stared at her friend.
"I know you don't like it, but...I really like him. He's not like the other ones, I promise."
Jenny sighed. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be the first one to say I told you so."
"That's alright." Annie accepted.

Jenny glared back up at Daniel. He looked at her but he didn't glare, he just waited patiently for her to say something else about how she very obviously doesn't like him.

"Come on, before we end up at the end." Jenny gestured her head in the march's direction and the couple followed behind her.

They squeezed inside and Daniel was shocked at how few people stared at him. But he realized their attention was on something far more important.

He saw everyone else holding up their sign and listened to their chants. He held his sign up high with them.

His hand was grabbed and he looked at Annie who was chanting loudly and waving her sign.
He examined the crowd some more.

Women holding hands with their friends next to them if they weren't holding signs.
Some walked with their eyes closed while they were praying.
The men punched their fists in the air and chanted loudly with a face of anger because they were tired.
He noticed he actually wasn't the only white individual in the march. They had a few white men and women scattered around, not nearly as many as the colored folks but it was more than he expected.
He looked at the older black woman who marched with an open hand held towards the sky and her eyes closed like they were calling down something from above.
It all made Daniel's heart race.

He looked at the sides of the streets.
He received more stares from the people who looked like him. He watched them whisper to their friends as they watched him walk with his sign in the air.

"Ain't you the mayor's boy?!" somebody asked.
"Yea, I am!" he shouted back as he kept walking.

His eyes continued scanning the crowd.

He saw someone familiar.

The man who owned the record shop. He was walking in the opposite direction and Daniel wondered where he was coming from.

The old man looked at Daniel.

Daniel moved a bit to show Annie walking beside him and lifted their hands together. The man saw.
He nodded at Daniel and kept walking.

Daniel smiled and faced forward to continue on.

"How long have you been out here?" Annie asked Jenny.
"Bout twenty minutes. I didn't know you were comin'."
"Yea, he told me he asked a black man that owned a record store when the next one would be and he told him. We ran a bit late though but at least we got here."
Jenny looked at Daniel who'd learned the chants and repeated them as well as he held up his sign.
"Hm. He's loud." she stated.
"Yea."
Annie had a smile on her face and Jenny looked at it.

"So you really like this white man, huh?"
"Shhh...I don't want too many people knowin'. We walkin' but the change ain't happen just yet." Annie interrupted.
"Well you two were holdin' hands for the past five minutes."
Annie felt Daniel's thumb rub the back of her hand. She sighed. "Yes. I really like him."
"Hm."
"And I know you don't approve, you ain't gotta tell me anymore. My family don't approve either and I'm still here. Your opinion ain't stoppin' me."
"Well I wasn't gonna say anything. I see he's one of the good ones. Not too many would show they face in a civil rights march, let alone bring attention to they self. You're right, I don't approve, but I'm a little bit more comfortable with it now."
"Well...good. He'll show you why you should approve. Just give him some more time."
Jenny nodded at her smiling, giddy, friend.

The march stopped.

"Uh oh..." they heard someone say.

"What happened?" Annie wondered.
Everyone was looking forward.

She could hardly see over all of the people.

She shook Daniel's arm. "What's happening?!"
"Hang on, I'm lookin'." Daniel said while trying to see over the crowd.

"Shit." he huffed. He couldn't see past the signs and other tall men.

People started screaming from both ends of the large group while those in the middle turned around in panic, heads on a swivel looking at both sides.
The crowd began dispersing and running quickly.

"What's going on?!" Annie shouted.
"They brought out the hose!" some stranger answered her.
"They got the dogs!"
"RUN!" people yelled.

Daniel immediately grabbed Annie's hand and took off running.

"But Jenny!" she stated and turned around. Only to see that Jenny had already ran off as well.

She followed behind Daniel as he pulled her off and around the town to find somewhere safe.
They were a couple miles away from a majority black area so he just attempted to get as far away from the officers and marching site as possible.

"Where are we going?!" Annie asked.
He found a bus that was making a stop for people to get on.
"Come on!"

They made it to the stop and Daniel took their signs and put them on a bench.
"But-..."
"I'll help you make new ones. But they can't come with us." He picked her up and put her in the bus then got in behind her.

The bus driver stared at Annie. Then at Daniel and was visibly confused.
Daniel went through his wallet and gave the bus driver the owed fare before he put a hand on Annie's lower back and led her throughout the bus.

"Sit here." Daniel commanded. He gestured at a seat near the front.
Annie looked at him. "I can't do that..." she whispered.
"Yes, you can, just sit down."
Annie sighed but took the seat anyway and moved closer to the window to let Daniel have the space next to her. He sat as well.