Possibilities
Page 3
But it makes my hair feel alive, Jemory thought as she rinsed her greasy hands in the sink. She refused to weigh down her coils with the white B-9 Kreme that black women were required by law to use to permanently straighten their hair. She heard that the smelly stuff caused uterine tumors, that constant application caused the wearer to go mad. Indeed, she saw many blank-faced women stumbling through the streets of Los Angeles, their eyes as deadened as their long flowing locks.
I’ll have to take my chances. Jemory’s real hair was growing longer now--stronger--and soon it would be impossible to hide beneath her wig. Maybe that’s what gave away the stranger with the baby doll shoes. A woman who loved her unprocessed hair enough to risk public execution was dangerous indeed. Jemory knew of several black women who hid their fugitive locks beneath hairpieces and extensions to fool the Tuft Force or T4 as they were called. The enforcers were known to pick random women off the street, especially those wearing red bracelets, and yank their hair to see if they had submitted to the caustic silkiness of B-9 Kreme or if they dared defy the decree. Woe to the ones with woolly strands.
Jemory fingered her bracelet. It was locked and would emit radio waves alerting T4 if the wearer attempted to break it. The red wristbands were etched with serial numbers indicating women who once wore afros and kinky twisted styles and dreadlocks in public before the purges. She was serial number JF-28094579: an inmate who would never know the smell of true freedom, as smoky as raw shea butter, as yellow as baby doll shoes swaying in the wind.
Do you see?
Yes, I see.
Closing
Edward Austin Hall
We enter her once more, riding her mind, my hopes heightened by recent triumphs. Today I showed my apprentice an Atlanta again under the whip, held this time by Nazis who urged American hands of every hue to pluck cotton. He knows now how “bad peoples” can come in any color. We rode the mind of a man named Stackerly, lynched in 1959-Standard for the darkness of his skin. Only we knew of the many carved and otherwise violated corpses he made across Jim Crow country. And only I recognized her parents, my apprentice’s grandparents, in the crowd, grinning as they held her hands. Now I see.
How does that stupid song go? “There’s someone in my head, but it’s not me”? I’m never sure what’s real anymore. Like the mulatto from the park? Did he really stand at my door and say how glad he was that I was already a widow, so he didn’t have to make me one himself? Am I having some … episode? I remember withdrawing Cody months ago from Birchwood for home-schooling. Now he spends his days with that … man. Assuming he’s real, I mean. They wear a gold bracelet that fits them both, but sometimes he wears it alone--like right now--and it fits him perfectly, so it can’t be real. Right? No more real than Cody standing over him with that kitchen knife. Stabbing him. This is all in my head, like some long, bad dre--
Remarks from the Editor
Words cannot express the pride that I have putting together this amazing flash fiction anthology. I’d like to thank everyone involved with Possibilities. I am filled with gratitude to so many for their help and support with bringing the creative work of the State of Black Science Fiction 2012 into full publication. Thank you for taking the time to read these wonderful flash fiction short stories written by an awesome group of writers. Now that you’ve gotten your fill of the Possibilities, don’t hesitate to share, support and purchase other materials by these great authors and artists. Here’s to making a paradigm shift in Science Fiction.
With Gratitude,
Alicia McCalla
Contributors
Balogun is author of the steamfunk novel Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman and the fantasy novel Once Upon a Time in Afrika. He is screenwriter and director of the action film A Single Link and the steamfunk film Rite of Passage: Initiation. On his website, ChroniclesOfHarriet.com, he discusses steampunk and steamfunk.
Winston Blakely is a fine arts/comic book artist whose career spans twenty years. His achievements included working for Valiant Comics and Rich Buckler’s Visage Studio.
His self-published works include Little Miss Strange and Immortal Fantasy, a wide-ranging anthology featuring science fiction, sword and sorcery, and other genres. Visit him at BlakelyWorkStudio.weebly.com or BlakelyWorks.blogspot.com.
L.M. Davis has been writing fantasy fiction since the third grade. She is the author of the Shifters Novel series; the series’ first two books, Interlopers and Posers, are now available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Visit L.M. at www.ShiftersNovelSeries.com.
Milton Davis is author/publisher of MVmedia, LLC, a micropublisher specializing in science fiction and fantasy. He’s originally from Columbus, Georgia but has lived in the Atlanta metro area for the past twenty-eight years. Visit Milton: www.MVmediaatl.com/Wagadu.
Margaret Fieland’s poems and stories have appeared online and in print. She is the author of the novel “Relocated,” and of “Sand in the Desert,” a collection of poems that go with the novel. You may visit her website: www.MargaretFieland.com.
Edward Austin Hall writes journalism, poetry, and fiction. He serves as host of Eyedrum’s monthly literary forum, Writers Exchange, and as an organizer of Eyedrum’s annual eXperimental Writer Asylum (a part of the Decatur Book Festival). His writings about comics and comics creators have appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Code Z: Black Visual Culture Now, and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. His forthcoming first novel is titled Chimera Island. See more at EdwardAustinHall.com.
Thaddeus Howze is a military veteran, an I.T. consultant, and the author of the collection of sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary short stories called Hayward’s Reach. His first science-fiction novel, Insurrection, will be published in mid-2013. He publishes a web-fiction blog at HubCityBlues.com.
Valjeanne Jeffers is a graduate of Spelman College and the author of the Immortal series, The Switch II: Clockwork (books I and II), Grandmere’s Secret, and Colony. She has been published in numerous anthologies including: Steamfunk! and Genesis Science Fiction Magazine. Contact Valjeanne at www.VJeffersAndqveal.com.
Alan Jones is a native Atlantan, a former columnist for the Atlanta Tribune, and a Wall Street consultant. His brand of science fiction blends fanciful characters and scenarios with generous doses of philosophy and social commentary. His book, To Wrestle with Darkness, is available at most major retailers.
Alicia McCalla is a native of Detroit, Michigan who currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She works as a school librarian and enjoys spending time with her husband and son. Visit Alicia at www.AliciaMcCalla.com to sign up for e-updates, giveaways, and sneak peeks of her upcoming novels.
Wendy Raven McNair is the author of Asleep, Awake, and Ascend (WIP), a young adult fantasy trilogy about teen super-beings. Her stories celebrate African American teen girls. McNair has a B.A. in English from the University of Texas and is certified in Graphic Design (WendyRavenMcNair.com).
Rasheedah Phillips is a public interest attorney, the mother of Iyonna, and the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to release an experimental novel called Recurrence Plot in late 2012/early 2013. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog, www.Astromytholosophy.com.
Nicole Sconiers is an author and a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage. Visit her: NicoleSconiers.com.