White Oblivion

by Amirah Bellamy

  “You’re absolutely right about that,” Doran agreed.

  “So now what? I mean what happens now?” J asked as if directing his question toward all of us.

  “Hmmm… Good question J and at the moment that is the million dollar question,” Doran responded.

  “Well for now I’d say we need to eat something so I’m gonna make my way into the kitchen to whip us up something. What about your favorite breakfast J?” I asked smiling at my sorely missed son.

  “Oh wow! That sounds perfect Ma,” J gleamed.

  I got up to give J another big hug. I missed him so much! Having him back home was the only answer I needed for now. Ina seemingly felt the same way. She sat cuddled close to J interlocking her arm with his as if to make sure he wouldn’t get away.

  Looking up at him she smiled and said, “I missed you too J! I’m glad you’re home.”

  Smiling back at her J said, “I missed you too lil sis!”

  It was great to have our family together again even with all that was going on. Beaming ear to ear I skipped into the kitchen to whip up J’s favorite breakfast which consisted of veggie sausage patties, biscuits, home fried potatoes with a side of fried apples. He always loved a big breakfast. Usually I only fixed all of that when I was in the mood to do so because there was so much to prepare, but that time I was eager to do so. Having J home was definitely a special enough occasion.

  As the scent of J’s favorite breakfast began to fill the air they all started to make their way into the kitchen to check on the status of things.

  “Ummm mmph baby! Smelling good in here. What are we looking like? Do you need for me to do anything? I can get the plates if you like,” Doran offered.

  With a chuckle I responded, “Yes sure babe you can do that. Can you also pour us each something to drink. Except you can skip mine because I’m having tea.”

  “Sure thing my love,” Doran replied smiling back.

  You could tell that he was so happy to have J back at home. The two of them had been talking non-stop since I got to the kitchen. It seemed they had so much to catch each other up on.

  “You know J just said the most profound thing. He was telling me some more about this great search for Connie Murphy. He told me that the last sighting of her was reported to be 6 months ago. So I was telling him that that couldn’t be true because we just saw her at the event the other night. I just thought that was very weird though. I guess no one from the event disclosed her whereabouts. My guess is that she doesn’t want to be found. I’m glad we got to see her though and that she gave us the heads up on what was to come. Though I had no idea that it would actually happen this way and especially not this fast,” Doran filled me in.

  “Yeah that is weird,” I said looking perplexed.

  When Doran left back out of the kitchen to return to the living room with the others I was deep in thought wondering about Connie. That was very weird. I also thought that she was acting rather weird on the day of the event. First of all, that was the shortest lecture ever. I and I’m sure several others was expecting more. Also, I thought that it was strange that she hadn’t really even covered her prepared presentation. I guess ultimately she ended up doing exactly what she was supposed to do so I left it at that.

  Finally, breakfast was ready so I called the family to come into the kitchen to eat. Doran had taken the liberty of setting the table while he was in the kitchen so all I had to do was furnish the table with the food.

  I had just put the final dish on the table and before I could blink twice everyone was there. Doran sat on one side of me and Ina on the other leaving a space for J to sit on the side adjacent to me.

  “Ummmm smells like black people food up in here Ma just like I remember. Man have I missed this!” J exclaimed taking in a forkful of potatoes.

  “Yeah I’m sure you don’t get food like this in Colorado,” I joked.

  We all sat down and moments later everyone was digging in.

  Then shortly after the grubbing down silence Doran broke the silence and said, “So son tell me more about what it’s like out there in the world right now. Did the white people seem to know anything?”

  “That’s just it dad you can’t tell who ‘the white people’ are versus the blacks. Only in situations like this where you were expecting me would you know who was who,” J replied.

  “Hmmmm that is just what I thought. My how the tables have turned,” Doran answered shaking his head.

  I knew just what he meant too and he was absolutely right. The tables had indeed turned and I couldn’t help but wonder just what the implications of that would be. I was sure that we’d all find out sooner rather than later.

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  20

  The rest of the day of J’s homecoming was a joy. We were all so happy to have him back that for a moment we hadn’t even dealt with the matter at hand. However, the next morning was a different story.

  When I woke up Doran appeared to be deep in contemplation.

  With a look of concern as I open my eyes from what was actually a very good night’s sleep I asked, “Wow what’s so heavy on your mind this early in the morning babe?”

  “What’s not on my mind? With everything that’s happened I can’t stop thinking about it all. What this means for us? How this changes things? What our next steps need to be? What our choices are now? I mean the list could go on. We all have a lot to think about,” he replied.

  “Yeah I understand that. I’ve wondered the same thing. I don’t think we’ll really know until we go out and see for ourselves how things are now. We’ve kind of been in here since it all happened so we don’t really know the state of affairs just yet,” I answered.

  “Exactly and I’m itching to find out. I was actually planning to do just that today,” Doran continued.

  “That’s a good idea. Ironically, I actually want to go out myself to see how things are. It’s funny though because when it first happened to me the last thing I wanted to do was go out and now it’s all that I can think about. Well I’m ready whenever you are babe. This is going to be something to see.” I gleamed.

  “It’s going to be more than just something to see. This is a total game changer! Life as we knew it is no more and I for one am anxious to see how my new life will unfold!” Doran explained.

  Just then there was a knock on our bedroom door.

  “Come on in,” Doran instructed.

  “Morning! Rise and shine!” J greeted seemingly gliding into the room as he first headed toward my side of the bed to kiss me on the cheek.

  “You’re sure in a good mood,” I observed leaning over to make my cheek available.

  “It is indeed. Hell this is the best day of all of our lives. The playing field is officially even and I can’t wait to see just how even it is!” J gleamed.

  “You got that right son!” Doran chimed in.

  “So what’s the plan Dad? Where we heading to first?” J asked.

  With a brief snicker, Doran replied, “Hmmm… I don’t know. There are just so many places I’d like to start with. It’s hard to pick.”

  Laughing along J replied, “Yeah exactly! I’d like to go to a bank and ask for a loan. Or maybe we should apply for housing or a high-paying job for an exec position that doesn’t do a damn thing all day but take all the credit for everyone else’s hard work!”

  We all laughed at that one.

  “Maybe I should be a groupie and go hang around the football and basketball players,” I added.

  Doran and J got quiet.

  “I’m just kidding guys. You gotta admit that black celebrities and athletes do kinda act like white women are the shit and whatnot. Guess it gives them a sense of accomplishment,” I said half jokingly.

  “Yeah well that’s how it is. It was all part of the programming that we bought into some time ago. Never thinking that we were good enough. I want to see how that plays out now,” Dor
an replied.

  “So when are we doing this dad? You ready to get into the mix and see how things are out there?” J asked.

  “Damn right. Was just about to get dressed now,” Doran responded getting up and heading toward our bathroom.

  A few minutes later anxious to check things out Doran and J had quickly gotten dressed and decided to take a walk around the neighborhood while Ina and I got ready for us to all go sightseeing together.

  21

  The cool, crisp Fall air swept through Doran and J like an ocean wave. “Wow that feels good!” Doran shouted taking in a deep breath just after stepping outside and shutting the door behind him.

  “Yeah, cold air is like an entirely different experience in this white skinsuit,” J said jokingly.

  “Guess we have to get used to this. You’re right though. Ordinarily I’d hate this cold weather, but now it feels almost refreshing,” Doran replied.

  “So where are we heading first J? Though from the looks of things we may not need to go far. Check that out,” Doran said pointing to a white couple dancing in the streets about a block away. “I guess it’s safe to say they’re happy about the change of events.”

  “Yeah, dad there’s a lot of that going on. It’s a whole new world out here now. A lot of happy people out there. Though there are a fair share of unhappy people out there also. We’re not all happy about this. In fact, I would say it’s pretty split down the middle,” J informed.

  “Yeah, I’m probably with that bunch. This is hardly something to be happy about. However, I can understand why some would think that it was. For so long we’ve been ostracized because of our dark skin. Now not having to deal with that is certainly a plus. However, I’m more interested in why this is happening, what’s to come and what we are all gonna do about it. There is obviously a bigger reason for this and we have to get focused on figuring out what that is,” Doran said.

  “I agree dad. That’s why I came home. I also know that sooner or later those among the real white folks will respond. We have to be ready for that. They’re a very arrogant people and I doubt they see this as a good thing. In fact, happy wasn’t at all the response that I observed on the trip here. The white folks were so irate over it that it’s actually what made them identifiable,” J explained.

  “So are you saying that you think things are gonna get ugly? Should we be preparing?” Doran asked.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying dad. I know what I saw in their eyes and in my opinion this white skinsuit is hardly anything to celebrate. Besides that the ones of us who aren’t happy are on the extreme end of the spectrum of unhappiness. That being the case, I really don’t know how this is gonna turn out,” J added.

  “Hmmm, that’s very interesting J,” Doran began before being interrupted by a loud crashing sound. Doran and J ran up the street toward the noise to see what happened.

  They arrived about 2 blocks away to see a blonde-haired guy standing outside of his car yelling furiously at the homeowners of a house that he had crashed his car into. The husband, a tall, dark-haired slender man who owned the home was pacing frantically trying with all that he had in him to calm down to keep from attacking the car owner. The wife was diligently attending to her husband pleading with him not to kill the driver.

  However, despite the wife’s efforts to keep her husband from attacking the man it seemed the driver was egged on by the husband’s restraint, which only worsened the situation. Feeling a false sense of security in his own arrogance the driver kept mouthing off and stomping around, though cautiously enough to remain near his car.

  Recognizing the house as that of a familiar neighbor and home of a good friend of Ina’s, Doran cautiously approached the couple saying, “Charles? Is that you?”

  With a hint of relief in having heard a familiar voice the husband responded, “Yeah man I’m Charles. Is that you Doran?”

  “Yeah man it’s me,” Doran greeted going to dap Charles’ hand. “Hey what happened here? What’s going on?” he inquired.

  “Man this fool just ran his car into my house. I got my family in here and whatnot. We just happened to all be upstairs at the time so no one got hurt, but man this is my house and this cracker fool lost his damn mind! Then he still mouthing off! These crackers are gettin too comfortable! I mean man when they start just doin what they want like ain’t gone be no consequences I got a real problem with that. They getting way too comfortable man!”

  “Oh I know, I know man. They are. Why don’t you send the queen in the house while we deal with this out here,” Doran offered saying what wasn’t being said aloud with his eyes.

  Meanwhile, the driver was still stomping around shouting all types of obscenities while talking to someone on his cell phone.

  Charles said something privately to his wife and she turned, half-smiled, waved at Doran and J then went back into the house.

  “So do you know this dude?” Doran asked Charles.

  “Naw man, I don’t know him,” Charles answered calmly before abruptly and unexpectedly turning to charge the driver.

  Within about 5 seconds Charles had charged the driver. “Man ya’ll gettin way too comfortable! This is my house and I got my family in there! What the fuck is wrong with you fool,” Charles yelled in between blows. Charles was beating the man relentlessly.

  Doran and J ran up to stop Charles. It took all the strength that both of them had to pull Charles off of the man.

  “Come on man. He ain’t worth all that. Plus we got another way to handle this man. Not here. Not like this. Too much going on right now. Come off him man,” Doran pleaded looking around at the huge crowd of people that had formed.

  Just then Doran spotted me working my way through the crowd to get to him. “Doran what’s going on here?” I said panic-stricken trying to quickly assess the scene.

  “Baby it’s fine. We got it. Go back home. I don’t want you out here. Where is Ina? You need to get back to her,” Doran ordered.

  I knew not to question him so I quietly made eye contact with him to assure him that I understood and went back to the house.

  I’d gotten a frantic call from Kim, Charles’ wife, that she was afraid that Charles, Doran and J were going to do something terrible and that I needed to get to her house right away. I didn’t know was going on so I immediately headed down to her house. I had no idea that some man had rammed his car into their house. When I saw what had happened I knew, and apparently better than she did, that an act like that was gonna be dealt with through street justice and I wasn’t about to get in the way of that. I knew better to leave that to the brothahs, in white skinsuits and all. The skinsuits didn’t change who we were as black folks who stayed true to a certain code.

  About an hour later I heard Doran and J walk through the door. I was anxious to hear how things turned out and was just about to ask them about it. However, something came on the tv interrupting Ina’s cartoons that instantly caught my attention. It was unheard of for a news broadcast to interrupt a cable network channel, especially a children’s channel at that.

  I grabbed the remote from the tv stand just as Doran and J were walking into the family room both taking seats to see what was being reported.

  The news reporter was saying that the police and military forces were being called into the inner cities to barricade the borders for what they claimed were safety reasons. She went on to report that the CDC was going to be testing those of us who had transformed into white people to see what was going on. Thus, the government was urging everyone who was among those people to immediately report to the nearest CDC clinic for testing.

  Doran, J and I looked at one another knowing full well that the barricades and ‘testing’ had nothing to do with keeping anyone safe.

  Given the history between people of color and others there was no doubt in our minds that the barricades were more for identification purposes. They wanted to be still be able to identify who was who and because most of the residents of the inner cities were people
of color the barricades were their way of keeping us separate from them. They needed to stall while they figured out a way to maintain power.

  However, in their arrogance the parasites failed to see that we had been one in the same all along. The more time I spent in my white skinsuit the more I came to realize this. I wasn’t any less of who I’d always been because of the skin change. Soon we would all realize that.

  The immaturity of our oppressors to think any differently was a display of their own innate childish nature. Yet, we were an ancient people who knew better than to adopt such childish beliefs.

  As Doran and Connie had concluded we had adopted the ways of prey. We had convinced ourselves to trade places with those who were the true prey who later transformed into parasites. In doing so we strayed far from who we were inherently and so the barricades were put into place to protect them from us once we remembered this.

  I sat gazing at the tv screen after the news report had gone off swept away with my own thoughts.

  “So now we’re on lockdown. I guess that’s why the white guy rammed his car into Charles’ house. I’m sure there’s a lot of people going off. More than that I bet all the white people in the city are going off cause they ain’t used to being boxed in,” Doran said.

  Yeah and I bet they’re really petrified about being trapped in here with us!, “I added.

  “Well that’s what they get. They wanted to take DC back didn’t they. Now they got just what they wanted,” J said half-jokingly.

  “Well this certainly changes things. The world as we knew it is gone for sure and I see they’re using this whole situation to enforce martial law. However, as usual their response is counter-productive and with all their so-called intelligence they’re too dumb to see that,” Doran chimed in again.