Juke Jam

Chapter Five

Charlie woke up from the slight sound of knocking on his door. He sighed, wiping the drool off his cheek and sitting up as the door opened. Annabelle walked into his room without asking and placed her hands on her hips.

"Mom and dad said it's time to eat dinner." She said with a sassy tone.

"I thought I told you to not come in my room. Get out." Charlie threw a pillow at her and she dodged it.

"Stop being mean, or I'll tell mom." She raised her eyebrows.

"Whatever." He said, getting off his bed.

Annabelle left the pillow on the ground—not even bothering to throw it back—and started to walk out the room.

"Wait." Charlie said and her head turned around. "What's your tale, nightingale?"

"Tale about what?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"About the niggers coming to school today, you goof." He rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Oh!" She shrugged her shoulders. "They're all freams if you ask me and I don't want to be there with them."

"Annabelle, you know we have to go to school to get a good education." The over protective, good big brother role was coming out of him.

"Why do they have to go put niggers in our school? Don't they have their own school for that?" She frowned.

"Oh, kiddo." He walked towards his sister and ruffled her hair. "What happened today will be history in a few years. You'll know all about it, then."

It was ironic because he still couldn't wrap his head around the idea of niggers being able to come to school with white kids.

"I'm gonna go eat. Dinner will be cold waiting around on you." Annabelle skipped out of his bedroom, completely ignoring what her older brother had said to her.

Charlie knew she was young and didn't understand what it meant for school to be integrated. She didn't really know why this was so important to colored people; Charlie only knew because he was older. All Annabelle knew was that being around colored people was wrong, and that she didn't want to be around them for that simple fact. With her parents being the biggest influences in her life, she was bound to take after their beliefs. As Charlie got older, he started drifting towards his own beliefs. It was something that came with maturation.

The small conversation with his little sister lead Charlie to the thought of what Peter did to Gladys today. He knew it shouldn't have bothered him the way it did because she was a nigger and Peter was right—niggers didn't matter. However, Charlie just couldn't get the incident out of his head. Gladys was minding her own business; she didn't deserve to get groped on like she wasn't a person with feelings. Charlie sighed, shaking his head and walking out of his bedroom to the kitchen. Martha never liked having dinner in the dining room unless it was a formal occasion, like a birthday or a dinner party.

Charlie walked into the kitchen, where his family was already seated. His mouth started to water when he noticed his mother made broiled chicken and baked sweet potatoes for dinner. Baked sweet potatoes were his favorite food ever; he could eat them all day. He took a seat at the table and tried to ignore the glare his father sent him as he did so.

He figured his father was still angry at him for going to school today. Charlie felt like he was old enough to make his own choices, and his choice was to go to school. He had important work that needed to be done and tests that needed to be taken. He was only a little worried about what his father thought of his decision, but he figured he would get over it soon enough.