Freedom Train

December 26, 1962

December 26th, 1962  

"He just came out of nowhere like some knight in shining armor? How romantic," Liz sighed as she sipped her chocolate milk shake.

Annabeth smiled, remembering the previous night with incredible fondness as she replayed the incident to her pals.

She had thought a lot about Terrance that morning, wondering to herself whether she was going to keep him to herself or share his existence with her friends. She finally decided that she needed to talk about him, at least the once, or else she might just explode. She knew that she should keep him to herself, for the safety of them both. But she had known Liz and Sandy her entire life. They were literally in pampers together.

Annabeth had never lied to her best friends and she had never intentionally withheld any type of gossip, whether it was about her or someone else. So almost as soon as they sat down at Jim's diner, Annabeth began to tell them all about her exciting night.

"I don't think he was trying to be romantic, Lizzy," Sandy replied as she dipped her thick cut French fries into her huge mound of catsup.

Liz ignored her and leaned forward in the booth, crossing her arms on the table top.

"What happened next?" she inquired.

"Well, after he stepped out of the shadows and I saw that he was..."

Annabeth didn't know why for certain, but she was having trouble finding the right descriptive term. Luckily, Sandy was never at a loss for words.

"Colored," she finished for Annabeth with an eye roll.

"Yeah. Colored. Well, I'm sure he thought I would just run the other way."

"But of course, you didn't," Liz sighed dreamily.

Annabeth took a big bite of her burger and then set it down and smiled obliviously.

"Well, why would I?" she answered as she chewed. "You know I don't buy into all that white versus black mumbo jumbo. He had just potentially saved my life after all."

Annabeth didn't go into the crude details of last night with them. All she had told them was that she was almost the victim of a Birmingham mugging until a tall, dark, mysterious stranger rescued her. The disgusting truth of that night was a secret best kept between Terrance and Annabeth.

It was traumatizing enough to have to live through it once. Besides, Annabeth didn't think that she could stand to see the shock and horror in their faces if she had told them the truth. She wasn't sure she wanted to deal with the pitying gazes, either.

"And it didn't hurt that you got weak in the knees at the sight of him," Liz giggled.

"I can't believe those scumbags tried stealing your purse. No telling what else they would've tried to do with you had he not come along to save the day," Sandy said with a shake of her head.

"I can't believe you thought it was a good idea to go wandering around a strange town by yourself at night," Liz continued.

"That's what Terry said, too." Annabeth grinned, allowing herself to zone out momentarily at the memory. "Anyway, I asked him for a ride back to the party and at first, he was pretty hesitant, but eventually- After some slight nudging- he agreed to bring me back. He kept the car as far in the shadows as he could, and we parked under this broken street lamp and we talked a little. It was getting late and I knew I had to go, but I couldn't help but feeling like I just had to see him again. So, I gave him my address and asked him to meet me behind the barn. Tonight."

Liz squealed in delight, but Sandy looked completely perplexed.

"So romantic," Liz breathed.