Excerpt – Sundown
“Coffee?” the young pretty waitress asked,
holding a pot of coffee.
“Oh, yes, thank you, Shelby,” Jay said
and she turned his cup over for her to fill.
“Do you want your usual?” Shelby asked,
smiling brightly.
“Please,” Jay said, smiling back.
Shelby turned and looked towards Shea, and
without smiling at her, said, “And you?”
Just coffee please,” Shea said, feeling
a little uncomfortable. “Uncle Jeb made me eat a big breakfast before I left.”
“Shelby, you remember my sister, Shea?”
Jay said.
“Your sister?” Shelby said, finally
looking at the young woman sitting in the booth across from Jay. “Oh my God!
Shea! Honey, I didn’t recognize you. Get up here and give me a hug.” Shea stood
up and hugged her.
“Hi, Shelby,” Shea said. “It’s good to
see you.”
“It’s good to see you. How long are you
back for?”
“Till tomorrow. I will be leaving after
the funeral,” Shea replied.
“Oh, yes, I am so sorry about your
brother. Everyone loved Donovan,” Shelby said. “He truly was a good man.”
“Thank you,” Shea said, then Jay cleared
his throat intentionally.
“Ok, Mr. Mayor, I hear ya. Let me go
and put this order in and I’ll let you guys visit.
We’ll talk later,” Shelby said and
walked away.
“You know, I think she has a crush on
you,” Shea said slyly.
“You think? I hope so since we have
been dating for the past year,” Jay said, laughing.
“Really!? That’s wonderful. I always
liked her,” she said.
“She always liked you too,” Jay said.
“So, do you see this going somewhere? I
mean, you’re getting a little long in the tooth, don’t ya think?” she said
jokingly.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said, smiling. Then
his smile faded. “But we’re not here to talk about my love life. We’re here to
talk about your husband and kids.”
“Oh, so your love life is off the table
but mine is the topic of conversation?” Shea asked sternly, looking at him with
a hardened look.
“Don’t look at me like that, Shea. I am
just trying to say that maybe it’s not the best idea for them to come to the
funeral,” he said.
“Why? Because my husband is white and
my kids are mixed?” she asked coldly.
“Yes,” he stated bluntly. He had never
approved of her marrying a white guy. Daniel was nice enough but he was white
and Jay could not let that go, especially after who killed their parents and
now who killed Donovan.
“Uh-huh, I see,” she said. “You have
hated Daniel since the very first time you saw him.”
“I didn’t hate him, but you have to
understand how wrong it is,” Jay said, trying to reason with her. It was
difficult to reason with her when she got mad and, even after all these years,
he could tell she was getting angry.
“Oh, you’re so full of shit. I had been
dating Daniel for almost a year. I never brought him home because I knew how
you would react to him, and then one day, you and Marcus show up at my school
unannounced. You yell at me and get in my face because you caught me kissing a
white man, and Marcus gets in Daniel’s face and threatens him. You embarrassed
yourself, me, this family, and this whole damn town that day. I never forgave
either of you for that and I hoped that maybe because of Donovan, we could get
past that and become family again, but I guess not.”
“Well, we wouldn’t have had to come to
your school to find out what or who you were hiding if you would have just told
us,” Jay said. “I still can’t believe you would even consider dating a white
guy after what happened to Mom and Dad.”
“Told you? Why, so you could come up
there and threaten to kick his ass if he didn’t leave me alone? Oh, wait, you
did that anyways. Besides, what happened to Mom and Dad was an accident. It
could have been anybody driving that other car drunk, it just happened to be a
white guy. You can’t hold Daniel responsible for that,” Shea said.
“A white guy that got what… two years’
probation and a stint in a rehab?” Jay said, getting angry himself now. “And
every white person is responsible for that.”
“The white guy didn’t pick his
punishment, that was the system and the system is broken. We all know that,”
Shea said.
“And who set up the broken system?
White guys.”
“And we are trying to fix it. Daniel
and Donovan were—are—trying to fix and change the system and ya know Donovan
liked Daniel and loved those kids. He would want them there, and maybe if you
got over your racist bullshit, you’d see how wonderful they are.” She stood,
getting ready to leave.
“It ain’t about that. You know how this
town is and you know what could happen,” he said.
“I know what could happen, huh?” she
said. “I know what should happen. This town you so dearly love should join the
rest of us in the 21st motherfucking century. That’s what should fucking
happen!” Shea said, turning to head for the door.
“Shea!” Jay tried to say.
“Nah, fuck you. You don’t get to
threaten my family and try to justify it,” Shea said. “Fuck you and fuck this
town. This kind of shit is why I stayed away for so long, and after tomorrow, I
ain’t never coming back again.” She turned and walked away.
“Shea! Shea!” he called after her as
she left the diner.
“I don’t know what happened, but I am
pretty sure you need to apologize,” Shelby said
“Yeah, I know, and I will after she gets back home. I
promise,” Jay said as he sat back down. Everyone in the diner had stopped to
watch them and now they turned their attention back to their food and their
conversations.