When the officers who shot three teens in
South Bronx faces no charges, protest break out. Two months had past and no one knew about the incident that left two dead and one alive.
Faith Sojourner Williams wants nothing more than to forget that nigh...
I did my jog and run thing to the house of the Glendales. Glendale expects me to find my own means of transportation to his house and that I don't mind. Sure, it does reduce the amount of time to work on the project, but it calms my nerves.
He actually greets me at the door today. His manners seems to be improving. "I would appreciate it if you would warn me about not being free."
"Well good afternoon." He rolls his eyes.
"Pleasantries are a waste of time we don't have." I tell him.
"Do you ever get sick of talking like that?" He asks.
"What exactly is 'that'?" I ask him
"As if we aren't the same age. As if we this is a job interview."
"My use of diction is appropriate for all audiences. There's a very thin line between formal and informal in english."
"Whatever." He says and I shrug.
He leads me to their in home study room. It has a round table booth area facing the trees in their yard. It's great to put books or laptops. There's also a library in this room. The books in there are surprising. Who ever collects and places them there has an interest for reading about many topics.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I may have an idea for our project." I open my bag and pull out my notebook and folder. I open the book and slide closer to him with my own chair.
"Which we probably won't use." He mutters.
I ignore his outburst. I take out the pictures I took that day where I meant his other siblings. The picture of pool. "There's about 10.4 million residential and 309,000 public pools was in the US. In my opinion that's a lot of pools."
"So? People like pools. I don't see how this pertains to anything."
"You didn't let me finish. Normally pools see ¼ to ½ inch loss of water per day due to evaporation. This is around 2 to 4 inches per week. For a normal sized pool you will loose 25,000 to 50,000 gallons of water per year due to evaporation. When you think about the number of pools, how much water they are using it's crazy. There's so many states that are basically in drought. California for one. There was point where San Francisco had a water limit. Majority of these pools aren't green swimming pools which means they are chemically treated with Chlorine. When I was looking into it, there's this whole thing where pools contributing to greenhouse gases. Not to mention continuous exposure to pools is bad for the human health." I finish my state.
"You are serious?"
"You shot down my other ideas because of race or it being controversial. This isn't controversial and I am sure we'll be the only ones doing it. It's simply enough where we can be done in a week and you'll never have to interact with me until time to present and I return the collateral I have."
"But pools? It just seems like you are trying to attack people with higher lifestyles."
"I am not attacking the rich. There are also public pools. Pools are exclusive to higher and middle class earning folks. People of lower class status can buy houses with pools."
"It seems like you have a vendetta." I take a deep breath.
"I don't. You are just taking all of the ideas I present the wrong way. It's as if you are guilty or something."
"Why would I be guilty? I didn't grow up rich. I have nothing to be guilt of." He brushes off.
"Hence why I said as if you are." I pause. I need to revisit my wording in a way that would make him feel less attack. "My idea isn't based on eradicating pools, but making them greener." He doesn't say anything. "I think this is an adequate focus." I pack my books up. "I'll give you time to think about it and suggest anything. Should I come by tomorrow?"
"Whatever." He's detached. I assume he thought I was attacking his race or social class when I wasn't.
"Good day." I say.
"Pleasantries are time consuming." I smile lightly. He gets up and leaves before I go through the door.
I am all packed and I am on my way out when I step on my laces. I stumble. I catch my myself and look down. My black derby shoes are untied. Sure, I can wear an all back sneaker like most of the other kids. You know one of the popular brands, but I think derby shoes more neat and are more efficiently paired with a uniform. These kids wear sneakers because it's trendy and cool. That's not me.
When my eyes land on my laces, I realize they are both untied. I sigh and kneel to tie them. "See? Just like now. You show no emotion. Do you know what it's like to have a boyfriend who reacts to nothing I do? Normal boyfriends get mad or little jealous when other males surround their girl." I hear from a female voice coming up the stairs.
This isn't going to work well. A more lower voice answers. "So your excuse for cheating is my temperament? Do you realize how unhealthy your description sounds."
"It's not Luke. We were together for almost three years and it seems like I love you more than you love me. You don't show me off. You barely wanted to be associated with me in public." The voice says. They are closer now.
As I am about to get up and try to his or something, I try to get up, I trip on my the left side of my untied laces. I didn't finish. I groan. I see the surprise in both of their faces when they see me. I really did a number with this fall. I actually fell all the way back and hit my head. Sitting up, I make eye contact with him. Glendale number two. It's a long awkward eye contact.
"I must apologize. I am taking my leave now." It breaks the tension. Our eye contact was met by her stares. I attempted to get up again and I manage to get up this time. I almost trip over my laces shuffling away.
"Your laces are untied." I hear her call before I escape.
I was sure I would be able to avoid him. As I am outside, my phone rings. I am so phased I don't even check the caller ID.
"Hello?"
I immediately regret it. "Titus and Christopher can't speak for themselves. You can. You can speak for them and your self. Use your voice Faith."
This can't be happening. My fear seems to be coming true. It was bad when they were texting me. Now they are calling. Soon, they'll release my name. Then everyone will know. "You have the wrong number." I end the call and block the number. It's the eighth one I've blocked so far.
My heart heat is racing. I start waking. I need to clear my mind.
