The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones

Chapter Four

        Ethan had never liked NBC News. John Cameron Swayze had a funny way of talking where he pursed his lips but never properly opened his mouth and ended up sounding incurably congested. He'd always sort of reminded Ethan of an unhappy fish. Back home, his family always watched See It Nowon CBS, even though Edward Murrow's ratings had been dropping since '54. The Harper household was very anti-Swayze.

        Uncle Robert, on the other hand, was NBC's biggest fan. He reclined on the couch every evening with a pack of Camel cigarettes and smiled in self-satisfaction as the logo flashed onto the screen and the white letters spelling out Camel News Caravan switched to John Cameron Swayze's fishy face. Ethan and Aunt Cara would sit dutifully in the living room, each staring at different points on the wall and pretending to be actively engaged in the monotonous news report as cigarette smoke strutted boisterously about the room and invaded their noses and eyes.

        That night, Friday the 17th, there was breaking news.

        The pre-recorded intro came on as usual, reminded households across the nation to "sit back, light up a Camel, and be an eyewitness to the happenings that made history in the last twenty-four hours."

        "Today's news, today," Uncle Robert muttered in time with the recording, a cigarette tucked into the corner of his mouth. He rearranged himself in his chair.

        The image on screen became one of Swayze, leaning against his desk with a map of the world as his backdrop. "Ladies and gentlemen, good evening to you," he began in his nasally voice. Ethan suppressed a groan. "Controversy has risen in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, as a law set years ago was broken by a young girl. Erica Spencer, a fifteen year old schoolgirl from Hope Hull, was arrested this afternoon while, quote, 'running errands for her mother.' Erica, a Negro girl, refused to give up her seat on the public bus when asked by the driver to move in order to make room for a white woman. This story is reported for us now by David Brinkley, NBC News, Montgomery."

        Ethan frowned, leaning forward in his seat as Brinkley, the other, less frequently aired anchor of Camel News Caravan, appeared on the screen. He opened with a short greeting, then the picture cut to a slightly blurry school photograph of smiling, dark-skinned girl. Footage of Montgomery buses rolled across the screen, and Brinkley spoke.

        "As per the law in Montgomery, colored passengers must sit at the back of the vehicle, leaving the front seats open for white passengers. Today, fifteen-year-old Erica Spencer defied this law. When asked by the driver to relinquish her seat to a white woman who had just boarded, she refused, stating that there were other people standing, and the woman would not be alone. Police officials were called to the scene, and Ms. Spencer was taken into custody."

        Swayze returned, his lips pursed. "This event follows in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in the Brown v. Board of Education case last year, in which the 1896 ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned in relation to public education. Ms. Spencer's defiance raises an important question for all Americans to consider: is a full expulsion of the Plessy v. Ferguson case on its way?"

        Ethan gaped at the television screen, the image of Erica Spencer burned onto the back of his eyelids. He blinked.

        "Robert," his aunt said harshly, casting her husband a frantic glare. He scrambled to his feet and dove for the set, turning the dial before Swayze could move on to the next story. Now it was on CBS, where Murrow was conducting an interview with Groucho Marx. Usually, the Person to Person program was Ethan's favorite; tonight, he just wanted Swayze to come back on and tell him more.