Miles kept on pacing in his office holding an envelope, he paused and started hitting the office desk with his fist. Bom, bom..then he stopped.
"How?.." he asked himself then stopped. He threw the envelope on the desk and loosen his tie."
"Ok.. so she's pregnant. What's now?" he asked again raking his fingers in his curly hair.
"I have to let Dave know about this and I should do that quickly" he decided.
" Hello.." he said waiting for a reply from the other side of the telephone... Thirty minutes later, Dave came rushing to the hospital.
"Good afternoon Selena. How are you doing?" He asked and smiled at the nurse politely waiting for her reply.
"Hello, ". Mr waves..oh He's in" Selena told him without asking him since it had become their usual conversation.
" Thank you" he thanked her without knocking on the office door.
"what's wrong Miles?" Dave asked looking worried since his friend asked him to rush to the hospital. Miles kept quiet for a few seconds without saying a word. He stood up from his chair and walked towards Dave.
"I'm so sorry buddy.." he said pointing out the envelope to Dave, who then snatched the envelope from his hand.
"Miles!" Dave exclaimed and lifted his friend from the floor.
Struggling to get out of his grip.." what? Do you mean you're okay with this? I thought.." Miles said confusingly.
"Why would I?" Dave asked chucking.
"I am about to be a father! Thank God!" He rejoiced.
"Okay, I know you're still in contact with your mom and not your Dad. So tell me, how's she going to react when she gets to know about this, even her." Miles asked sounding concerned.
"Come on, you know my mom is so cool. Ermm.. she's gonna freak out about how the rest of the family would accept this" Dave answered sounding a bit sad.
"You know, it wasn't easy convincing her about you loving and wanting to marry your slave." Milles shipped in but stopped when his friend looked at him furiously.
" Sorry I mean Page. Your Page." He apologized still not getting used to addressing her by her name.
"Thank you" Dave replied. He believes psychologically if you say thank you to someone who offends you, they would never repeat it.
"But hey! Who cares? We're married, I know this is strange in California but"..Dave could have gone on talking about how much he loves Page but Miles interrupted him.
"Congratulations man," Miles said hugging his friend.
"Now you're talking. Thanks" he replied happily.
"You know I don't know when racism will come to an end in this part of the world". Dave asked bitterly. He looked at Miles who didn't care like always when he raised this topic.
Smiling at his friend, he said"It will surely come to an end, we are still praying" Dave said hopefully.
Dave's Pov
The weather itself added to up nervousness, and I was wondering about how I could break the news to my family. It isn't like my father disowned me but rather I cut off ties with him and for my little sister, I haven't seen her in a long time or even heard from her. Rumors had it that she's now a big woman and a lawyer as well. Frankly speaking, my mom is the only person apart from Miles who knows me where about.
In the busy town of Los Angeles, I kept on sweating outside. I could hardly find a place to rest and catch some fresh air. The air was barely breathable, and the landscape represented extremes of juxtaposition. Homes apartments are directly contiguous to industrial areas such as refineries and freeways.
I thought of going to the coffee shop nearby to get a cup of coffee. At the coffee shop, I could feel someone staring at me. C'mon, we all know that feeling. I raised my head and saw Isabella and I couldn't believe my eyes. Maybe it was my thought of home that was giving me hallucinations. All these years, she hasn't changed a bit. She still has her sense of fashion and is still elegant as before. She modeled me, taking each step with grace. She was my girlfriend back in school and is Miles's twin sister.
" Hey bad boy .." she said smiling showing her dimples.
"Isabella ! oh my goodness" I reacted but couldn't finish. She grabbed my coat's collar and pulled me into a hug. After that, she moved her fingers on my broad chest seductively. Feeling weird, I frown and pulled out of the hug.
" Married," I said, pointing to the ring on my finger.
"You haven't changed a bit, Dave". She complained aimed. I nodded looking straight into her eyes.
" You're too stiff, I mean too serious, relax," I replied putting the envelope, I'd been holding into my pocket. I could see her eyes following my environment.
"Miles told me "she started.
" Told you what? " I asked worried about her finding out. Everyone could know about it but not Isabella and oh not my Dad too. She took her seat and crossed her legs. She sat on the chair next to me, I stood there looking at her.
" Sit down Bad boy" she offered.
" Point of correction, the name is Dave like you know," I said getting pissed off.
"Aww.." she said rubbing her fingers through my beard but I threw her hand away as soon as he got there.
" So you married the..", She paused and adjusted her short skirt.
"Let's not start, respect my wife please". I pleaded since the last time she did, she pushed me to overreact. The three of us were friends since childhood but Miles and Isa have never liked Page. They kept on complaining about how I treated her.
"She's your slave, Dave. Let her in the pen" Isabella could say.
"What were you thinking, asking your slave to come and sleep in your room" Miles could add.
"Eww.. can you imagine that black thing. Just look at her hair, dies it even grow? She could ask disgustingly, brushing her hand on her beautiful blonde hair. I must admit I liked Isabella way too much when we were young, she was my crush and I ended up dating her at the university. All these memories rushed into my head and I gave in a sign which caused her to giggle making me hiss looking away from her.
I wonder why we all went to the same university and graduated with the same degree and still they didn't have a change in attitude. They say,' knowledge is power, but what is the use of knowledge if you don't use it or how does it become power if you don't put the knowledge you acquire into action? What do they do with all that we learned in school? Not to talk about Christian values, Miles' dad was a reverence father then. Hmm, the irony of life. Isabella who is his twin, she's not to be talked about. She's the opposite of everything though in the church.
My mind went back to the lecture room. Even though the slave trade ended in 1850, when California became a free state, there was a slave trade going underground and racism remained in the state. Slavery was, for the most part, abolished in all states under the constitution, which took effect on 18 December 1865. There's this unequal treatment merited out to blacks. Ahhh.. it is started under the law that, "Marriage between a white person and a person of color shall be illegal and void". However, in 1967, the supreme court decision, Loving V. Virginia decreed all state's anti-miscegenation Laws unconstitutional.
Well, marriage between the why and the blacks have indeed been made legal, but my family and friends couldn't get to understand it. And to top it all, there is something about my dad since childhood. I can't fathom what's it. I know he owned an empire and other minor business companies and when it comes to the topic on my mind, he was still buying slaves until 1990. Page was...oh.
"She's pregnant " I broke the silence but she immediately stood up and grabbed her purse.
"You know our agreement " she warned and walked out on me.
"Isa!" before I could say anything, she had left the coffee shop. I looked at the ring on my hand and back at the door through which...
"I can't," I said. I looked at my watch and it was twenty minutes before my meeting. I had left my car a bit far from town. It has broken down. It could be because I was rushing to the hospital. Miles sounded something that scared me, I thought something was wrong with Page. I took the cup and sip some coffee into my throat and rush out of the shop. On my way home that day, I bought some roses for my dear wife.