Long Division(81)

Even though I was saved, I reckon I react like a demon when a grown white man head-butts LaVander Peeler in the face. I gripped Long Division and started smacking Pot Belly in his face as hard as I could, when, all of a sudden, Grandma burst in the door of the shed breathing loud as hell. “What is wrong with you?” she asked me. I didn’t say a word. I just handed her Long Division. She wiped blood off the book and handed it back.

Pot Belly was calling Grandma all kinds of “black bitches” and “niggers” and he kept saying, “I ain’t do it! I ain’t do it!,” when Grandma said to me, “Gimme my keys.”

I gave her the keys and watched her pull out the butterfly blade. “Leave, City. Both of y’all both go get in the car. And lock the doors!”

Pot Belly’s angry yells of “I ain’t do it!” slid into screams, which slid into gurgly moans by the time I got to the car. LaVander Peeler was already in the backseat, covering his ears. I’d never heard anything like the moans coming out of that work shed.

And then the moans stopped.



…





Passing Tests…


I couldn’t tell where I was because the air was as thin as it had been in 1964 and the forest was only a little less lime green than it had been in 2013. Before heading to the Freedom School, I looked across the road where the Co-op and Mama Lara’s house were. There were sidewalks where the ditches were and lots of black folks and Mexican folks of all ages walking down the sidewalks talking and laughing out loud. Across the road were these cool-looking trailers on wheels. Each trailer had a different shape and a huge garden in the front yard. Down the road was a huge grocery store called Shephard’s Co-op.

I looked toward the Community Center and there was a woman out in front. She motioned for me to come in the building, then disappeared in the door.

The building had changed. It wasn’t a church and it wasn’t a community center. It was actually a museum. At least that’s what the sign said. It read, “The Lerthon Coldson Civil Rights Museum.” It made me kind of mad that the museum was named after a grimy drunk dude who called a girl “baby,” but I figured lots of museums were named for part-time losers.

In the middle of the room were two desks that were bolted to the ground. All around the walls of the room were glass cases holding sheets, rifles, and books, between doors that went to other rooms. The bird’s nest at the top was still there, too.

I walked right to the middle of the room and sat in one of the desks. On the desk was a sheet of paper. It looked like a test that had already been taken. It didn’t make sense to me, though, because the name on the test was mine and it was actually written in my handwriting. Only the year was blank.


Name City Coldson Year _____ True/False —Underline one

1. Desperation will make a villain out of you.

True/False

2. Only fools would not travel through time and change their past if they could.

True/False

3. You were brought to this country with the expectation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

True/False

4. If you push yourself hard in the direction of freedom, compassion, and excellence, you will recover.

True/False

5. Loving someone and loving how someone makes you feel are the same thing.

True/False

6. Only those who can read, write, and love can move back or forward through time.

True/False

7. There are undergrounds to the past and future for every human being on earth.

True/False

8. If you haven’t read or written or listened to something at least three times, you have never really read, written, or listened.

True/False

9. Past, present, and future exist within you and you change them by changing the way you live your life.

True/False

10. You are special.

True/False

Bonus

11. You are innocent.

True/False

Score: 80%


I put the test back on the desk. When did I even take this test? It was super annoying to see a test you don’t remember taking, but it was even more annoying when you missed some of the answers and whoever was grading the test didn’t tell you which you missed. I knew there were more important questions on the test, but right that second I wanted the answer to the easiest one. And the easiest one to me, right there, was, “Loving someone and loving how someone makes you feel are the same thing.”

Mama Lara walked out from one of the rooms while I was thinking. She looked exactly like she looked back in 1985.

“You’re a witch, ain’t you?” I asked her. “You watched it all happen, didn’t you, just like the sky? Please just tell me what’s going on. Is any of this real?”

“Do I look like a witch to you? Even after all you been through today, does my baby still believe in witches and magic?”

I didn’t answer her question. All I said was, “I’m not a baby.” I held my head right there in that desk and tried to listen to my heartbeat. “I don’t understand, Mama Lara. If we changed the future, how come I’m still here? How come you look the same in 2013 that you did in 1985? Say something. Why would my mama and daddy still have me if we changed the future? It just doesn’t make sense.”

Mama Lara had what looked like Baize’s laptop computer in her hand.