Silver Currents of Change

Chapter 11

Knowing it would require the cooperation of everything she had inside her, Zarah was determined to do it. No matter what, she had to keep the promise she made to herself and the one she made to Dr. Jared. Usually, anything she set her mind to achieve, she achieved. It wouldn't be easy. No. It would be the hardest thing she ever tried to do—to stop judging every white person she came in contact with before she even knew them. Especially the one white man she believed she had to force herself to get to know.

After reminding herself of her own words, she whispered, "You are the only person who can keep you from working to achieve your dreams." Then she smoothed her hair and her skirt, took a deep breath, and walked over to where Mr. Wilson was standing. She was about to open her mouth to speak when he opened his and beat her to the punch.

"I met with your dean," he said. "I asked him if you might be related to Dr. Josephine Brion-Davis, and he told me,"

"She's my sister." Then she thought, of course he would know Josie. For a brief two years, her oldest sister had been a professor in the J-school. "That's right, you know her ... I mean she knows you ... that is, both of you know each other." She shook her head. She couldn't believe how tongue-tied she was, all of a sudden.

"I knew your sister quite well. Like you said, we worked together. Several years ago ... on the J-School faculty. We became friends. How is she?"

"She's fine. She stopped teaching a while ago. Maybe forever. She didn't really like it. Says she wasn't cut out for it. She's doing something else now."

"I heard about that. That she'd stopped teaching. It's been a few years since I taught a class here too. But I knew she was gone. Ah ... how are the kids doing? Kyle and Kate?"

Zarah felt mortified, shocked. Could they actually be from the same planet? Hearing him mention Josie's children's names. It was too much. "You know my nephew and my niece too?"

"I do. Oh. I used to look after them ... in my office, sometimes in her office if Katy was asleep while Josie was teaching."

What he said was so far from what she thought they'd be talking about. She felt faint. She wasn't prepared for a normal conversation and having to respond, normally. She had to think fast. "And, and you lived to talk about it?" She stifled a chuckle.

"They were amazing little ones," he said. "As cute as could be, and funny too. Katy was so little, Josie kept a pop-up play pen for her in her office."

Completely dumbfounded, her brain seemed to be in shock with no words to offer. She looked at her shoes before glancing back up to catch his eye. "She's bigger now. Out of the play pen." He laughed. Could he be for real? Genuine? A rich white man? Genuine? "The kids are well. Growing up, learning fast," she said. "Doing all kinds of things. I love spending time with them. Josie is lucky. She's got two really good kids."

"I love children. To me? It's like they're a connection to everything that's really real. They're good at helping you stay solidly grounded in reality. I'll tell a few of my Kyle and Katy stories one day."

"You promise?" She laughed, unable to believe how much more relaxed she started to feel. It felt strange, but she was beginning to feel like the two of them might actually be from the same planet. He knew her sister, and that alone made a lot of the distance she'd felt when she first met him disappear, like morning haze when the sun comes up. "Kate and Kyle are great. They're sort of like ... a beautiful little riot. That's what I always tell Josie. When I babysit. They're always into something and still a laugh every minute. Always funny, even when they're not trying to be."

"I guess all kids are like that. I have twin nephews who are three, a little toddler niece, and a two-month-old niece. They're a beautiful riot too. How old are Kyle and Kate now?"