93 - Protests

*Just like everything else, it requires that you pay attention to what’s going on. If it’s starting to burn, turn the heat down. If you’re starting to burn in a situation, you have to turn the heat down. - Shadow*

Classes for the Spring 2020 semester were through and since Camille was not going home for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, she had registered for two summer classes. Was she crazy for taking two of her classes in a condensed five-week course? Probably. Was it going to stop her from doing it again during the second summer session? Probably not.

this afternoon, Camille sat in her little home office with Tink curled up on his bed in the far corner. The walls were a light gray with black trim. The desk, daybed, shelves and even Tink’s dog bed were all black lacquer. The bedding was red and matched the geometric pattern on the rug in red, gray and black.

She sat in her custom oversized office chair lip synching to the Fall Out Boys that played on the small speaker. She had her playlist on shuffle while taking notes over what they would cover in Principles of Marketing. So far, it was everything that she was expecting.

Adjusting how she sat in the chair, she tucked her feet up as she crossed her bare legs on the red cushions. Since she had been sown here, her shorts had shrunk in self-defense against the heat and humidity. Tank tops had replaced her T-shirts and even inside, with the air conditioner running, the cotton material still clung slightly to her skin.

Her dirty blonde hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she wore her black wire-rimmed reading glasses. The purple flip flops from so many weeks ago, sat under her desk along with a pair of running shoes. No one had ever claimed the now famous purple shoes and they became hers.

The professor on her computer screen called the afternoon class to a close and Camille logged out of the program. Stretching out her legs, she slipped her feet into the purple flip flops and stood to stretch the rest of her body. As she walked out of the little room, Tink moved down the hall and into the nearby living room.

Camille went into the bathroom and emptied her bladder. She made a mental note to toss the towels in the washer after dinner and put them in to dry overnight. Never before had she thought about the daily chores of housecleaning being scheduled to keep the house cool. After her first summer, she understood why so many houses had the washer and dryer on the back porch or in the garage.

Hers was in the kitchen, and she had learned to wash in the evenings and dry overnight. She would then fold and put the laundry away in the mornings. It was mundane, but doing it this way, she maintained the temperature and her days were never overrun by laundry.

It was less than an hour until Darkness would be home, and then they would cook dinner together. While shopping over the weekend, they had decided on having chicken and spinach pasta for dinner. Entering her small kitchen, which she absolutely loved, she pulled the chicken out of the fridge and placed it on a plate on the counter to warm up.

Grabbing the leash by the front door, she called for Tink who was curled up on the blanket on the couch. With the light jingle of the leash, he was already moving and when she asked if he wanted to go for a walk, the Doberman pinscher was jumping onto the floor. He sat on his haunches and waited for the lead to be attached.

It had become the daily routine for her and Tink to go for a walk before Darkness got home and the three of them would then go again after dinner. Her cooking lessons were coming along nicely, but she still did not feel comfortable cooking without him there. Or to tell anyone back home that she was learning to cook.

With the door locked and the keys hooked onto the leash, she called her mom and let Tink lead the way on their usual route. When her mom picked up, her ear bud chirped letting Camille know that the call transferred from the phone to the device in her ear.

“Hey, baby,” Sid greeted her youngest. Her voice was not her usual cheerfulness. It was filled with tears and sadness.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, baby,” she sniffled. “It’s just something on the news.”

“Everything okay back home?” Her steps slowed and Tink moved to her side sensing the change in her demeanor.

“It’s nothing here,” Sid assured her. “There was a guy over in Minneapolis that was killed by the cops. It’s been all over the news.”

“Oh, I haven’t had the news on today,” Camille admitted as they passed the house that David and his family lived in. Jenna was outside with the kids playing in the yard and the two women waved at each other on opposite sides of the street..

“That’s right, your summer classes started today. Think you’re going to be able to handle them?”

“Oh yeah. One is marketing and the other is history. Evie said that she would help me if I needed anything with history.”

“And you’ve been doing marketing for five years.”

“Exactly,” Camille chuckled as they crossed the street and went towards the walking trail.

They talked for a little bit longer as Camille walked down to her regular spot and she and Tink turned around. Sid told her of Claire’s youngest learning to crawl. Camille spoke of how she and Darkness had figured out how to live together. There had been a few hiccups along the way, but nothing to call it quits over.

“I remember when your father and I were first married and he was in the Marines,” Sid laughed. “That man did not know how to put his socks in the dirty clothes.”

“How did you get him to stop?” Camille asked with a laugh of her own.

“If they weren’t in the basket, they did not get washed.”

Camille laughed as she imagined how that went over with the Marines. “I’m thinking that it changed real fucking quick once he ran out of socks.”

“Sure as hell did.”

Laughing, Camille crossed the street back into her neighborhood and then her street to the side that David and Jenna lived on. “Hey mom, I’m going to talk with Jenna.”

“Ok, baby, love you, little girl.”

“Love you too, big momma.” Pulling her phone out of her shorts back pocket, she ended the call as she reached the gate to the yard with the two kids playing outside. “Hey, Jenna.”

“Hi,” she said nervously and motioned for the younger woman to let Tink into the yard.

“You okay?”

The woman inside the fenced in front yard made sure that her two children were safe and entertained before moving away from her children and towards her new friend.

“I’m just worried about David and the protests.”

“Protests? I guess I’ve been under the rock all day. What happened?”

The older woman explained how a man in custody died at the hands of several police officers. The entire nation was slowly erupting in protests. Most were peaceful protests. Some were anything but peaceful.

Laura, Jenna’s baby girl, squealed in warning that she was about to start fussing. The two women said their farewells and Camille called Tink over to go with her. This time, she did not bother with the leash, just ordered her dog to go home.

Once inside the little cottage, Camille filled Tink’s water bowl and grabbed a bottle of water for herself. She then turned on the TV for the first time all day and was bombarded with information about the killing.

By the time that Darkness walked through the door, Camille had convinced herself that he was going to be hurt, or killed, by the cops. By a stranger. By anyone who only saw the large black man.

He sat down on the couch and pulled her into his lap. Taking the remote from her hand, he turned the TV to an Australian cartoon about a family of dogs and the adventures that the two sisters went on.

“Tell me that’s not going to happen to you,” Camille begged softly.

“I can promise you that no more than you could promise that it won’t happen to you either,” he told her softly. “I can control other people’s thoughts and actions no more than you can. But,” he placed a finger over her mouth when she started to object, “I can do everything in my power to prevent it.”

She nodded, “I just want to stay right here with you. I don’t want to cook.”

“Then we’ll sit right here and order pizza.”