The Conductor {Black Lightning}{Wattys2018}

Ch. 8: The Sound of Approaching Thunder

Eugene never did come up with a good lie to tell her mother about why she couldn't go to LaWanda's funeral. She was a decent liar, but she wasn't perfect. And sometimes not getting tangled in a web of lies at all was better than trying to weave a perfect one.

So while Anissa went to the local junkyard, Eugene sat next to her mother at church as they listened to Reverend Holt's sermon. In the row in front of them, Jennifer quietly asked where Anissa was only to be hushed by Ms. Stewart. Jennifer turned around to face Eugene with raised eyebrows.

"Do you know where Anissa is?" she asked in American Sign Language.

Before Eugene's mother became a teacher at Garfield, she used to be an ASL Interpreter and had talked to Eugene in ASL as a child. Then Eugene had taught Anissa and Jennifer some as well. It was a great way to practice and in places like a church where you had to be quiet but still wanted to talk, ASL was incredibly useful.

"No," Eugene signed back, shaking her head. "No idea."

"She didn't tell you anything?" Jennifer signed, mouth hanging open skeptically.

"No. Anyway, pay attention," Eugene told her, signing in Reverend Holt's direction

Jennifer pursed her lips and turned back around while Eugene puffed out her cheeks in frustration. Having a nosy mother was bad enough, but by befriending the Pierces, she had also acquired a nosy little sister.

"I need one hundred God-fearing to march with me!" Reverend Holt shouted as Eugene turned her attention back to him. "I said I need one hundred God-fearing people to march with me!"

From that point onward, Eugene mostly tuned him out as he continued preaching. Protesting did nothing. Riots attracted the police and peaceful protests attracted the One Hundred themselves, who knew they could prey on defenseless people.

"Stand up!" Reverend Holt went on. "March with me! Stand up if you want to march with me!"

Eugene stayed seated. Smiling eagerly, Jennifer turned around and offered Eugene a hand to help her up.

"I don't want to stand," Eugene signed, not wanting to shout over the enthusiastic congregation. "Or march," she added. "Too tired."

Even though standing and marching in protests did make Eugene more tired than the average person, she was more scared than tired. Reverend Holt said they needed to "follow LaWanda's example." And even though that sounded inspiring, the only way Eugene saw it ending was people getting killed.

***

After LaWanda's funeral, Anissa sent Eugene a video captioned, Look what I did!

The thumbnail was Anissa kicking something in the junkyard they had planned to go to. Excited to see what Anissa had done, Eugene hurried to her room so she could watch it in private.

Upon looking closer, Eugene realized that Anissa was trying to kick a washer machine. Anissa's first attempt to kick it ended in her clutching her foot in pain.

Eugene pinched her nose; if Anissa wanted to be a superhero, she needed to not break her foot with her awful kicking form.

Thankfully, the following attempts didn't involve Anissa hurting her foot, but they didn't make anything unusual or particularly super. All it did was make Anissa frustrated and out of breath.

"Dammit!" she said, turning on the washer machine and punching the glass door.

Eugene snickered. She was so impulsive.

"It's my breathing," Anissa told herself. "Okay."

That made sense. Breathing was irregular during panic attacks. It wasn't surprising that having a panic attack triggered Anissa's powers and made her break the sink.