The First Love Of Alipang Havens

The Tisdales' own dogs, Dumpy the Bassett and Esmeralda the Airedale, were familiar enough with Alipang that they welcomed being on leashes held by him. This left Kim free to handle three smaller but noisier guest dogs--a Pug, a Pomeranian, and a Yorkie--as they walked along the recreational trail which passed right by the Tisdale property.

"On the morning when you taught the Tai Chi teacher to respect Escrima," Kim was saying, "you may remember that she had one of her two girl students keep time for your contest. But did you notice the _other_ girl?"

"Not especially," Alipang said truthfully. "At the time, my fingers were passionately lusting for Curving Breeze's shoulders."

Kim smiled. "_That_ much lust for her is okay. But her second student, the Tai Chi girl who _wasn't_ keeping time, and who by the way seemed the younger of the two, was watching _your_ shoulders, and the rest of you, with more than a martial artist's interest."

"That's too bad for her; I'm already taken."

"Yes, I hear that you fell for an indie girl."

"Fell beyond recovery." Alipang worked his way over to where he could collect a hasty kiss, before both of them had to refocus on dog-navigation.

"I don't doubt your loyalty," Kim continued. "And I'm not afraid to let you do that mixed-martial-arts project at the community college. I just wanted you to realize that you might have a different kind of 'attacker' there. That girl was really eating you up with her eyes."

"Then maybe I'll ask Gilberto to come with me the first few times we have the new mixed sessions. So it isn't so much only about me. Not that I even know yet how soon Curving Breeze will actually be able to begin joint activity; I don't know if the college administration is making her jump through hoops."

Kim changed the subject. "Speaking of education: since you're unemployed for the moment, are you getting ahead on the new homeschool courses?" She was referring to Alipang's deal with East High, by means of which he would be able to finish high school in one year instead of two, thus shortening the time in which he and Kim would bear the stigma of a highschool boy dating a college girl.

"Yes, I am. Although Mom's busy with Terrance on top of Melody and Harmony, she still is nominally being my teacher while I do my own courses. One subject I've got is so nice and multicultural, it made Mrs. Lewiston almost forgive me for being a Christian. It's a course titled Native American History. Right now, I'm reading about the Shawnee."

"Sounds interesting; maybe sometime I can sit in with you as you do your homework."

"Anytime you want, Kim, anytime."
 
Last edited:
"You know that short as your hair is, it's going to be sheared still farther, don't you?"

"Yes, Gunny, I know," replied Brendan Hyland to his recruiter, Gunnery Sergeant Trivizas, who was here with Brendan's mother and friends to see the young man off to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. "Let them have that satisfaction; MY satisfaction will come when I walk out of Parris Island as a Marine."

"And you will," Trivizas asserted. "You're one of the best recruits I ever sent them. Try to remember everything the SEAL and I have told you."

"I intend to, Gunny." Brendan looked toward Wilson Kramer, who stood nearby with Quinn on his left, and Lorraine clinging to his right arm as if she never intended to let him out of her sight again. The couple's second wedding, mere days ago, had been an extremely private ceremony; but it was extremely public knowledge that both of them had looked outrageously happy since then. Their son was rather more guarded, but clearly was giving his mother a fair chance to prove herself sincere.

"You won't take it personally when you run into group discipline, right?" Wilson asked Brendan.

"No, sir! I'll just see to it that I'm never the cause of it being inflicted on my company."

The Navy veteran gravely nodded. "Maintain that attitude, and your quality will be recognized individually in time. Now, here's something to take with you;" and he handed Brendan a small bottle. "This is a vitamin-rich energy drink, perfectly legal. I want you to drink it when you're within minutes of reaching Parris Island, to give you a boost for those first hours of in-processing. Sometimes the first impression you make on someone right at the start, makes a difference for how your whole basic-training course turns out."

When Alipang got his turn to say goodbye, he hugged Brendan, something he didn't often do with males outside his family. "My prayers go with you, brother. I'll never forget just how much of a hero you looked like, the day you saved my butt at Longstreet Park."

Over Alipang's shoulder, Brendan's girlfriend Jennifer said, "I was there too, and yes, he was a hero."

"Now you'll be still more of one," Alipang continued. "You know the handicaps you'll be working under--trying to protect America IN SPITE OF its leadership."

Brendan tousled the shorter boy's relatively long hair. "We jarheads will need good civilians in our corner, ones who understand the times. That's where you come in, Al. Keep the faith on the home front. I know you will; you're ahead of me in being under fire."

"I'm sorry to say that you'll soon catch up," Trivizas told Brendan.

With an understanding glance at the recruiter, Alipang turned to praying with Brendan for the safety of all Americans in uniform. When this was done, Alipang and others made way for Jennifer and for Brendan's mother. They had the right to the final farewells.
 
Last edited:
Alipang and Chilena did not get to have much of a summer vacation. Chilena found a part-time sales job at In Step With Your Instep, where she joked that she was seeing more of Summer Heron's mother than she saw of summer weather--not that she had anything against Mrs. Heron. Mr. Heron, meanwhile, had by now regained the ability to walk with a cane, and Summer sometimes brought him on visits to the shoe store. When Chilena wasn't at the store, she was helping her mother to take care of _three_ younger siblings. A side benefit was that she came to feel more closeness than ever to Melody and Harmony, and they to her.

As for Alipang, he made the space of time "between jobs" profitable by plowing through his additional homeschool courses; and Kim did make it to the Havens house--or he to her house--so she could follow his progress writing reports about Native American nations. Kim's residual coolness, and Alipang's dedication to learning, prevented any of these visits from turning into makeout sessions.


""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""


It wasn't until mid-July that Rafael and Carmen Imada finally managed to get some action for their planned catering service. A family which was unfamiliar to Alipang, but which reported having eaten more than once at The Pansit Paradise, requested Filipino catering for a wedding reception. A young man from Shilohsville was getting married to a Thai girl he had met while attending college in Richmond. Her parents would be flying over from Thailand for the wedding, but were leaving most of the planning to the groom's parents. Thai restaurants being non-existent in the Shilohsville-Smoky Lake area, Filipino food was judged to be the next best thing.

To Alipang's disappointment, Kim was not in on the planning meetings at Pansit Paradise, since her family's animal-boarding business was continuing to prosper and keep the Tisdale women busy. The dependable Maria Ramos was counted on, with just Alipang's help, to handle serving out the food which would be cooked at the restaurant. Meanwhile, it was arranged that the wedding photographer would shoot a couple of pictures of Alipang and Maria at work, to help gain attention for the new catering enterprise.

The wedding took place on the second Saturday in August of 2009, at the All Directions Unitarian Universalist Church in Shilohsville. Where Alipang and Maria were standing by in the fellowship hall, speakers allowed them to hear the progress of the wedding ceremony....if it even was that. The presiding minister managed never to make the slightest reference to any kind of Deity, but spent most of his talking time extolling autonomy and self-love and choice and more self-love. The vows exchanged between Webster Delany and Songboon Pratan amounted to saying that they would stay together until one of them got tired of the other one.

Noticing Alipang's distaste for what he was hearing, Maria gave him a side hug and said quietly, "We've only been hired to feed them, not to agree with them."

Alipang sighed. "I can't believe that they actually intend to split as soon as either one gets tired of being together. Why are they even bothering with a ceremony?"

"Probably Songboon's parents are traditional enough to insist that being married still is better than being unmarried. And maybe the couple themselves think there's an even chance of their being permanent."

"You're just an irrepressible optimist, aren't you, Maria?"
 
When the reception got underway, Alipang soon realized that a light-brown-haired bridesmaid standing among the groom's family was looking at him almost constantly; but he wasn't sure whether he had met her before or not. If he had ever met her, she could not possibly have been so stunningly dressed, made up and styled as she was now. He was none the wiser when he heard her being referred to as Webster Delany's younger sister Yvonne.

When the head-table party, including Yvonne, filed past the serving trays, the young beauty spoke to Alipang with an air of recognition: "I'm so glad that it was _your_ catering service we hired; I call that good karma!" Even hearing her voice told him nothing about how she could know him. Neither did Maria have any idea what the answer was.

Not until the eating and toasting were finished, and Alipang and Maria were assisting members of the wedding party to pack up the fairly small quantity of unused food for later, was the explanation forthcoming. It was preceded, however, by two slim hands covering his eyes from behind, and Yvonne's voice giggling, "Guess who?" Although he knew perfectly well whose voice he was hearing, he obeyed an impulse which told him to reply, "Kim?"

"No, silly!" She released his face, and he turned toward her as she went on: "Don't you know--? I'm sorry, I guess you don't; we weren't really introduced that morning. I was one of the Tai Chi students who came to your Escrima class with Curving Breeze! I was the one who _wasn't_ keeping time, which meant I was the one who _could_ see clearly what a hunk you are, Mr. Havens."

Alipang's complexion was too swarthy to blush conspicuously, but he certainly _felt_ a blush. "Um, uh, thank you, but I, um, you see, I'm already, that is, I have--"

Maria helped him out: "Miss Delany, Alipang is trying to tell you that he already has a girlfriend."

Yvonne shot a slightly venomous glance at the thirty-something woman. "I know. Kim Tisdale, who has _graduated_ from Smoky Lake East and will be at the same community college where the martial-arts club will be meeting. Alipang, I'm not saying you're not good enough to deserve any girl you want; but with you still in high school another two years--"

"Only one more year," Alipang corrected. "A curriculum deal has been made because of my homeschooling advantage."

The girl moved closer to him. Work prevented Maria from helping him any further, but she reckoned Alipang could take care of himself. "Impressive," Yvonne purred. "But even one year apart is more than a dating relationship can survive. I know, I had a boyfriend graduate ahead of me this spring, and I stopped existing for him one week later, before he even _went_ to his new university. Kim Tisdale's probably a very nice girl, but it's a natural process: your relationship simply _won't_ last. Boys her own age will distract her; I know you could kill them physically, but that's not who you are. So why not anticipate the change? I'll be switching to casual clothes before long; why not have a few dances with me here when your work's finished, then come to a club with me?"

Alipang sighed. "I'm sorry, Miss Delany. You're a fine-looking girl, but what Kim and I have isn't about what's on the outside; and I _won't_ assume that she's going to break up with me until I see her doing it."

Yvonne sighed back. "I guess you really mean it. Well, when Kim _does_ drop you, if I'm still available at the time, look me up. Of course, you'll be able to find me at the martial-arts club. Later, Fireball."

When Yvonne had withdrawn, and as Alipang was resuming his duty, Maria whispered, "She even knew your old nickname; she must have done some research on you."

Alipang shrugged. "She won't win a degree for it. But now I'll have to avoid ever going to the Tai Chi group alone. I really don't want girls competing over me; one is enough."
 
Last edited:
*growls* That bothers me! Lol. I can't stand when girls do that. I've had people tell me that about the relationship with Rip..."He's so far away. You wouldn't know if he is cheating on you,"..."How can the distance work? You won't make it." It all just aggitates me. Obviously a good piece of writing if you fired me up like this. Lol.
 
That night, Alipang contrived to call a meeting on short notice. Chilena was out on a date with Dan Salisbury; but Alipang was able to persuade Kim and her mother to come over to the Havens residence. While awaiting the Tisdales, he explained to his father what had happened during the reception at "All Directions."

Eric Havens gazed at his son's earnest face. "One question comes to mind, Al: do you feel attracted to Miss Delany? Let me put it this way: _would_ you be interested, if you didn't have a relationship with Kim?"

"No, sir. Yvonne's good-looking, but not Kim's equal; more to the point, she is _very_ obviously not a Christian. Her being an unbeliever cancels out any advantage that would come from her being my own age."

"So you're not asking for justification to break up with Kim. Not that I thought you were; but it's true that not many young men end up marrying their _first_ sweetheart. So this is really about how to handle the martial-arts-club situation, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir. For the honor of the Escrima school, I do still want the cooperative project with the Tai Chi class to happen; but I don't want Kim to have to worry for one minute that I would leave her for another girl. So what do you think I should do, sir?"

Eric smiled. "First, you should go back to calling me Dad. Next, you should make use of the fact that you're on good terms with Curving Breeze. Write her an e-mail saying something like this: I had the pleasure of meeting your student Yvonne at her brother's wedding. She asked in a casual way whether I was committed to an exclusive relationship with Kim, and I told her I was. No harm was done by this; but to make sure no one's feelings get hurt, please help me in the future to keep my contact with Yvonne impersonal. This won't be accusing anyone of wrongdoing, but it will cause the Tai Chi teacher to understand why you're on your guard."

"Thanks, Dad. It sounds like a good idea, though I want to find out first what Kim thinks."
 
When Elizabeth and Kim arrived, Eric welcomed them, offered them tea, then excused himself. "I need to see if Cecilia is doing all right upstairs; she has got three children on her hands right now. What Alipang wants to tell you about, he already told me about. I'll probably be back with you in ten or fifteen minutes."

Elizabeth looked Eric in the eye. "I'm hardly going to criticize a married man who _does_ think about the welfare of his wife and children." As Eric trotted upstairs, she sipped her tea and turned her gaze toward Alipang. "So what's up, Al? Something to do with the coming school year, and the separate planets you and Kim will be inhabiting?"

Alipang pulled his own gaze away from the eyes which owned his eyes. "Yes, ma'am. As you know, I've been counting on the campus martial-arts club to be my beachhead, my bridge, my way to be a part of Kim's college world even _while_ I'm still in high school."

Kim didn't like the sound of the not-yet-uttered "But." She tried to intercept it. "Did something change? Are you getting hired back on at the Pansit, so your evenings will be full again?"

"I wish it were that good," Alipang told both women. "No, the food business is unchanged; in this economy, I'm grateful for Uncle Rafael's sake that he even still _has_ his business. What's come up is quite different. Someone AT the martial-arts club--or more accurately, in the original Tai Chi Chuan class--has just made it harder for me to be there."

Kim's eyebrows drifted upward. "What, does that Breezy Curves woman _actually_ have a crush on you? I thought that was all a joke."

"It was; it is--with her. But one of her _students_ came on to me today, the same student you mentioned to me on the walk with the dogs. You knew that Maria and I did a catering job for a wedding; but what we _didn't_ know till later was that the sister of the groom was the younger of the two girl students who came with Curving Breeze that Saturday...."

From this point, the discussion was similar to Alipang's talk with his father. When all the ground had been covered again, including the idea of enlisting Curving Breeze to keep Yvonne off of Alipang's neck, Elizabeth offered a speculation that Eric Havens hadn't thought of. "What if Curving Breeze, while not wanting you sexually for herself, _does_ want you for her favorite student? Either out of fondness for the student, or as a way to bind your loyalty AS a martial artist to her school, at Master Pitik's expense?"

Alipang half-laughed. "Have you been spending time with Erin Conrad's mother? You're sounding like a detective novel's plot now."

"Stranger things have happened," Elizabeth replied. "I mean, stranger than it would be for Miss Breeze to try to use that girl to make you a Tai Chi disciple instead of an Escrimador. It's not strange to visit with Mrs. Conrad."

"Well, Curving Breeze won't be able to hijack me, period. Neither will Yvonne, whether interested in me in her own right OR put up to it by her instructor. But I worry more about Kim's feelings in this matter than about Master Pitik's. Kim, how do you feel about my still going to the new joint martial-arts activity, now that I have Yvonne to fend off?"

"I feel that you should go at the start, then see if you need to avoid it. I know it was your hope to make this a way to keep us close; that was MY motive in encouraging the contact in the first place. But sometimes God makes us change direction."

"One change I _won't_ be making, Kim: I won't stop loving you."

"Nor I you, Al; but we may have to find other _ways_ to preserve what we have."

 
Last edited:
During August, Chilena went to spend a week with her biological brother Mike. Alipang helped his sister's boyfriend to fill some of the empty time. On the Friday evening of that week, while Kim was having some fun elsewhere with her sisters, Alipang went with Dan to a minor-league baseball game. In one of the quieter stretches of the game, Alipang asked a serious question:

"Have you and Chilena talked about your college plans yet?" In the very act of asking this question, he realized with a slight twinge how he and Chilena had grown away from each other. Time had been when anything like this would have been thoroughly digested between the siblings at a downstairs meeting. Not that he and Chilena were deliberately _hiding_ things from each other now--but it was no longer automatic for them to be exchanging every detail of their days while snuggling on the sofa. He almost didn't hear Dan's reply.

"--still only sophomores. Well, juniors as of this fall. But I don't see anything splitting us up in the next two years. Chilena and I fit together mentally and spiritually. So you're right, we do need to think about that. But she hasn't decided on a college major yet. She's not like you, with your determination to be a dentist."

"Yeah, you could call me a molar with a mission. But _where_ I'll go to college is up for grabs. I want to be wherever Kim goes; and I can certainly pick up some credits at Doverwood. But I don't know what will happen to us beyond that."

"I hear you. If Chilena and I don't end up attending the _same_ college, I'm hoping to be at colleges not too far apart--like, say, her in some part of this state, and me in West Virginia."

Alipang looked around the bleachers, as if he were about to disclose a dark and guilty secret. "I had an uneasy surprise awhile ago: a girl tried to steal me from Kim. I wasn't thrilled, just annoyed. So I feel more sure of myself, as to my commitment to Kim."

"That's no more than I would have expected of you; you're the straightest straight arrow I know."

"Thanks. But I can't help wondering: how far _should_ a boyfriend-girlfriend commitment go, when there's no marriage or engagement involved? If Kim and I, or you and Chilena, had to live completely apart, not seeing each other for _years,_ would it be right to expect our commitments to continue then?"

Dan shook his head pensively. "I suppose that's one of those things you can only know when you come to it. Right now, my _feeling_ is that I'll always love your sister, that I want to marry her when we're old enough, and that no one can possibly take her place. In the very worst case, I would never start dating another girl while still allowing Chilena to think I was committed to her, just as you'd never do that to Kim. But if the--"

A sudden roar from the crowd smothered what he was saying. An instant later, a high fly ball came soaring out and plunging down. Alipang caught it left-handed, almost without looking.

"I get a free ticket or something for this, don't I?"

By unspoken agreement, the two youths left their more serious discussion unfinished. They had already said enough, so that both of them knew that both of them knew they had to give serious and prayerful thought to the future of their respective love-relationships.
 
Last edited:
A fortyish man, who looked older than fifty because of a lifetime of unhealthy habits, came to the Beltway-area condo of public-radio propagandist Rhoda Gardner. This man was in fact a W.A.L.N.U.T. official, who had been involved in planning the campaign for forced labor-union membership in Smoky Lake, but who had so far escaped prosecution.

"Burt, you look tired. Have you had religious wackos harassing you at your office?"

"No, but I've had F.B.I. agents investigating my voter-registration activities. They actually keep remarking to me that undocumented immigrants don't _deserve_ to have a voice in legislation that affects them!"

Rhoda offered Burt Madsden a drink. "Are you surprised? We both know that the Ku Klux Klan is really running the F.B.I. There hasn't yet been nearly enough time to clear them out." She had been inventing accusations like this for so long that she had begun to believe them herself. Burt had never lost his full awareness that such accusations were agenda-driven lies; but he and his fellow oligarchs agreed that shills like Rhoda were more useful if they had successful self-delusion to make them sound sincere.

Accepting the drink, Burt leaned closer to his hostess. "Soon, Rhoda. With the power we now enjoy, it _won't_ take much longer to enforce progressive thinking everywhere on the federal level. But _local_ battles are still important. We still suffer some embarrassments in the smaller cities and towns--like our failure to bring down that fascist sheriff's deputy in Smoky Lake."

Rhoda's eyes gleamed with hatred. "Are you hinting at another attempt to discredit Wilson Kramer? I promise you, I'll _happily_ do my part in that."

"No, not Kramer. But another church-Nazi type you know should be trashed if we find an opening. He's a twofer: if we can Bork him, we can discredit both privately-run charitable clinics, and.....homeschoolers. We want to pull down that dentist, Eric Harlan."

"You mean Havens."

"Right, Eric Havens. As long as the Smoky Lake Free Clinic stays in operation, it makes people think they _don't_ need the federal government to manage their health. As a dentist, Havens is hardly the main feature of the clinic--"

Rhoda nodded. "But as a religious conservative, he is a rallying point for anti-progressives in the healthcare fields. He's the man to beat among non-officeholders in northern Virginia."
 
Last edited:
A few days after the meeting with Rhoda Gardner, Burt Madsden paid a late-evening visit to an African-American couple who suited W.A.L.N.U.T.'s purposes exactly. Malcolm and Ayeesha Paulson did have at least part-time jobs, and so would not be revealed as total welfare dependents when the media spotlight fell on their family; but they were low enough in income that they received food stamps--and were qualified to receive health care at the Smoky Lake Free Clinic, which they did. They were also passionate advocates of an unlimited welfare state...and had such a temperament as to be eager to imagine racial slurs and mistreatment where nothing of the kind was really happening.

It was they who had taught this chip-on-the-shoulder attitude to their son....Tyrone, the former friend and Escrima classmate of Alipang Havens.

Twelve-year-old Lacey, who had never absorbed her parents' reverse racism despite their hardest efforts, was ordered upstairs to bed as soon as Burt Madsden arrived; but fifteen-year-old Tyrone was included in the living-room conference. Burt guided the talk promptly to the subject of a man whom everyone in the room _knew_ to be absolutely devoid of racial prejudice, but whom they all wanted people to _think_ of as being a racist, because--

"As long as Dr. Havens is highly respected in this town," said Burt, "he will be a powerful obstacle against economic justice. He didn't create the Free Clinic; but his presence gives it a perceived legitimacy, which prevents people from seeing it as an arm of the fascist corporate system."

"Expletive expletive pigs, makin' us haveta act grateful for what's rightfully ours!" belched Malcolm Paulson. "So how we gonna bring Havens down?"

"Can't use his church," sulked Ayeesha. "It's fulla black people, an' everybody in town knows that Havens hangs with them the same as with anyone."

"So, so, so we gotta, gotta do, do, somethin' at the, at the Clinic, right?" stammered Tyrone.

"At the Clinic, yes," Burt assured them. "But not against Havens directly. Making him look racist has already been tried; but nothing seems to stick to him. Too many local citizens, even progressive ones, realize that he _isn't_ a racist; so merely repeating the attempt on him won't work. What we're going to do is make one or more of the _other_ care providers there look racist. That way, no one will be able to say that we're pushing a vendetta against Havens personally; we can even have someone toss off a casual remark that it's too bad all the doctors aren't like Havens."

"What? Make that expletive look GOOD?" objected Malcolm.

"Yes--for the short term. That way we can allow Havens, with his sense of loyalty, to make _himself_ look bad. We won't be attacking him, but we'll be attacking the Clinic he believes in, the friends he works with. He'll do all he can to clear the reputation of his colleagues--"

Ayeesha beamed. "So then he _will_ look racist, for _protectin'_ racists!"

"Not even that, Mrs. Paulson. All we need to do, and this will safeguard us from overreaching ourselves, is to make him look foolish, misguided, blind to the bigotry of his friends. As long as he is not taken seriously in his defense of the Clinic, he won't be able to prevent us from having it shut down indefinitely for investigation. This will infuriate him, and he'll try still harder to prove his friends innocent--so that by no obvious doing of ours, he will gradually discredit himself. You see, in the big picture, what matters is making persons like Eric Havens ineffective in their opposition to the spirit of redistribution...."

The living room in which this meeting was taking place had a window open to the summer-night breeze. Also open was a bedroom window directly above this one. And leaning dangerously far out that window, overhearing most of what was being said, was Lacey Paulson.
 
Last edited:
The next day, with no appearance of haste, Lacey told her mother that she wanted to go bicycling on one of the public recreational trails. This being nothing unusual for the active girl, Ayeesha Paulson had no objection. Lacey judiciously omitted the fact that Sammy Ashford, who shared Lacey's high opinion of the Havens family, was another frequent user of these trails. Lacey, in fact, knew exactly which sections the boy most favored.

Less than fifteen minutes passed from the time Lacey went out the door, to the moment she and Sammy sighted each other and brought their bicycles side by side. From this point, Lacey needed only another ten or so minutes to relay carefully to her friend everything she knew about the plot against the Smoky Lake Free Clinic.

===============

Alipang was at work on a history report for one of his summer homeschool courses, when Sammy Ashford was admitted to the house by Melody. Two minutes' worth of Sammy's news was enough to cause Alipang to call his mother into conference. Cecilia Havens drew out every least detail Sammy could provide about the scheme to bring fake racism accusations.

"But Lacey doesn't know how soon they plan to do this?"

"No, ma'am. As far as she could tell, a time hasn't been decided yet."

"Does she know if this W.A.L.N.U.T. man is recruiting more families to make the accusations?"

"No, ma'am, sorry, she doesn't know."

"I wish there were a safe way I could thank Lacey for this," Alipang interjected. "She's a good girl, better than that family deserves. But ANY new attention to her from me, from anyone in the Havens family, would risk exposing her as our source of information, which could get her in trouble."

"I see her often enough," replied Sammy. "I'll make sure she knows you're grateful for the warning. And she'll understand exactly why you don't thank her more openly."

"You're a good friend too, Sammy," said Cecilia. "Are you free to stay for lunch?"

Sammy grinned. "I'm sure my folks will let me if I call and ask. Then we can brainstorm on countermeasures against the slander strategy."
 
On the last Thursday before the new school year began, Ayeesha Paulson went with her son Tyrone to the Free Clinic. Ayeesha was going to see a lady speech therapist who had recently moved to Smoky Lake and joined the volunteer staff. Even though this woman was guilty of the crime of being white, Ayeesha didn't want her to come under the planned attack of trumped-up racism charges, just in case she might be able to help Tyrone overcome his stammering. She had made this known to Mr. Madsden and the other W.A.L.N.U.T. people. But Dr. Fleming, the general practicioner with whom Ayeesha had set an appointment for herself, was also white...and was fair game.

The plan was well thought out. Ayeesha would not make the accusation based on today's appointment; but the ailment she was claiming to have would enable her to request a return visit in a week or two. What she would do today would be to act as obnoxious and argumentative as she judged best, so as to make herself an unpleasant patient for Dr. Fleming without _quite_ inducing him to insist that another volunteer physician take over her case. Hopefully, he _would_ remark to colleagues in the interval that she had been rude to him. That would be setting the stage. Then, when she came the next time, she would choose an opportune moment to create an uproar by loudly claiming that Fleming had uttered a racial slur to her.

And the wrecking ball would be set in motion.

But Ayeesha was about to find out that something else had already been set in motion.

When she entered the examination room, a black woman older than herself was seated there. "Good mornin', Ayeesha, d'you remember me? From the waitin' line, the day Rhoda Gardner was interviewin'?"

Ayeesha peered closely at her. "You're Lylah, aren't you?"

The older woman beamed. "That's right, honey. Now I'm a volunteer. The Free Clinic's got a special new group'a volunteers now: equal-opportunity monitors. If racism in a place like this is a problem, why, best thing's to cut it short 'fore it can get started. So folks like me are gonna be here _every_ day the Clinic's open, watchin' the doctors an' all, so they can't do nothin' racist......and so no one can say they did when they didn't."

Ayeesha swallowed, then managed to force three words out of her mouth: "Hey, that's...great."

Two hours later, with Ayeesha and Tyrone gone again, a grinning Lylah had a chance to tell Dr. Fleming, and Rhett the security man, about her short conversation with Mrs. Paulson. "Danged if she didn't look just like the Coyote in the cartoons, when the Road Runner gets away from him again!"
 
Last edited:
Back
Top