A few days later, Joey discovered that there were twins about his age living a couple of houses away. He asked if he could go play with them.
“Sure,” said both uncles in unison, while at the same moment, Charlie exclaimed, “No!”
Joey looked at the men and at Charlie and then ran down the beach to the twins’ house.
“Charlie, why did you say no?” asked Ben.
“Well, they’re Nig…” and he stopped, knowing he had put his foot in it.
He looked at Rodney, who laughed and said, “Don’t tell me you forgot that I was too, Charlie? And I’ll ask that you not use that word around here. We’re African Americans or Blacks, but the ‘N’ word isn’t very popular.”
Charlie was terribly embarrassed. His face grew red, and he tried to stammer a reply before deciding he should think first. At last he said, “I’m sorry. I know I screwed up. The thing is, when we lived in Waco, the automatic answer would be ‘No’. Dad would have a fit if he learned that Joey was playing with… Black children.”
“And I think you would too, wouldn’t you?” asked Rodney.
Again Charlie blushed. “Yeah, and to tell you the truth, I’m having one now but I’m trying to control it.”
“Charlie,” Ben asked, “just what is it that you have against Black people?”
“Can I say it without you getting mad at me, Rodney?”
“Go ahead. I imagine I’ve heard everything you can say and probably some things you can’t even think of.”
“I was taught that Black people are dirty, dishonest, and dangerous to be around,” said Charlie.
Rodney nodded. “Did you also learn that we are hyper-sexed and wanting to get into the pants of every white boy or girl we see?”
Embarrassed, Charlie admitted that he had.
“Well, the only way I can think of to convince you that’s all bullshit is to introduce you to some Black folks. Come with me.”
Charlie reluctantly followed Rodney down the beach with Ben bringing up the rear. When they got to the twins’ house, they saw that Joey was playing happily with the two Black children. Rodney went up the steps and knocked on the door. A woman opened the door and invited them in. She poured iced tea for them and suggested they sit in the living room.
Charlie looked around, stunned. There was none of the squalor that he automatically associated with Black people. There was no offensive odor. The furniture in the living room had seen a few years but was still whole. No stuffing had fallen out of the chairs, and they were clean and well cared for. He sat down tentatively on the couch while the lady and the men found seats for themselves.
“I’m glad you came,” said the lady. “I’m Janet Conrad.” The three visitors introduced themselves, and she went on, “I’m so happy that Joey came today. We’ve only been here a few days and the twins were getting sick of each other.” Her laugh was light and relaxed.
“Did you just come over to introduce yourselves?” she asked.
“Yes,” Ben replied. “Joey and Charlie are my nephews who have recently come to live with me and Rodney, and I thought it would be good for Joey to have some friends.”
“I’m happy they found each other,” Janet answered.
Hearing her accent, Charlie asked hesitantly, “Where are you from?”
“Charleston, South Carolina. My husband is still there finishing up emptying and selling the house. He’ll be joining us in about a week.”
Mrs. Conrad told the men to call her Janet, as they chatted for a while more, and then Charlie and the men took their leave.
Walking back to their house, Rodney asked, “So what did you think, Charlie?”
“It wasn’t what I expected at all. I thought the house would be dirty and smelly. It wasn’t. It was clean and comfortable. But,” he went on, “she’s only one example. You should have seen some of the homes of the Ni… Blacks living in Waco. They weren’t much more than tarpaper shacks, and some of them were almost falling apart.”
“Why do think that was, Charlie?”
“I don’t know.”
“Just keep thinking about it,” said Rodney, and they went into the house for lunch.
“Should I get Joey?” Charlie asked.
“No, if he gets hungry, he knows where to come, but I suspect that Janet will feed him with her own kids.”
The boys’ belongings arrived that afternoon, and Charlie began finding places for his. Afterwards, he lay on the beach. Despite his tan he had gotten a little sunburn early on, but now he was just tanning darker. He was bored, and he realized he missed having Joey around.
At last he stood up, and went into the house to find something to read. He was an avid reader, unlike many of his classmates in Waco, and he hoped he could find something he’d never read.
The walls of the living room were filled with bookshelves. As he looked them over, he realized that they were organized, just like the books in a library. There was an American history section and a nature section which was subdivided into sections about birds, animals, plants, geology, and astronomy. He found the fiction section and browsed through it. He found a book, To Kill a Mockingbird, which he had heard of but never read.
Going out on the front porch and sitting in a rocking chair, he opened the book. Then he decided that he wanted to put his feet up on the railing and thought he’d better remove his shoes.
Two hours later when they returned to the house to start cooking supper, the uncles found him there, feet propped up on the railing. He didn’t even look up he was so absorbed in the book.
Joey came home a few minutes later and went out back to use the outdoor shower and wash off the sand he’d managed to accumulate.
As they ate supper, Joey talked a lot about his new friends, who he said were Rory and Debbie. He had learned a lot about them ─ the house they had lived in, what they liked to do, the books they liked, and the TV shows they watched.
Charlie simply listened. His head was still in the book he’d been reading.
At one point, Ben asked him what he thought of the book.
At first he said nothing, but finally he replied, “It’s scary thinking about what could happen to someone who was innocent but was in danger of being lynched. Could that really happen?”
“Oh, yes,” said Rodney. “It not only could, it has happened many times, and although there are laws to protect people, it can still happen occasionally now.”
“I never knew,” said Charlie.
“Get on that computer of yours and type in ‘Jesse Washington, Waco’ and see what it says.
When they finished eating, Charlie went upstairs, turned on his computer, and typed in the words Rodney had said. He found an article and began to read. The more he read the more horrified he became. He learned that in 1916, Jesse had been accused of raping and killing a white woman. Whether or not he did, wasn’t clear, but he had eventually confessed to the crime. After a trial in which the all-white jury had only deliberated for three minutes before finding him guilty, Jesse had been dragged from the courthouse with a chain around his neck. As he was pulled towards a tree, he was beaten and stabbed. He was hung by the chain and then old boxes were placed under him and set afire.
Charlie felt sick. How could anyone do that to another human being he wondered. He was in tears, and he sobbed for several minutes.
Sobered, he went slowly down the stairs. The men and Joey were in the living room watching the national news.
Ben turned the sound off and looked at Charlie. “I have so much to learn,” the boy said.
“Yes,” said Rodney, “but you shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened. You had no part in it. I think what you should do is try to change your attitude and then, in any small way, try to change others around you. It’s not your fault, Charlie, and I’m hopeful that in time crimes against Blacks, including the current rash of police shooting Black men, can be stopped.”
Charlie nodded. Ben turned up the TV volume again, but Charlie couldn’t pay attention. He was too deep into his own thoughts.
He sat on his bed that night, quietly playing his guitar and thinking. He often used his guitar as background to his thinking, and at such times he played automatically while fears and ideas and sometimes love flashed through his head.
The next day, Charlie went with Joey to the Conrad house. He found the twins full of fun and delightful company. The four of them played for hours on the beach. At one point Charlie thought, my God, I’m playing with Black kids! That has to be a first!
Janet fed them all lunch, and they returned to their play, building an impressive castle with a moat. Later in the afternoon, high tide wiped out all their work, but they laughed as the castle began to crumble and fall into the surf.
On Saturday Ben told the boys they were going on a trip.
“Where?” asked Joey.
“You’ll see,” was the only answer he got.
They drove north and then west, as huge sand dunes loomed to their right. As they rode, Joey chatted away while Charlie sat silently in the back. He wasn’t about to let down his guard.
They came to a town and Rodney drove to a wharf where they could park their car.
“This is Provincetown,” said Ben to the boys. “There’s a lot of history here, but for today we’ll just wander around and poke into any store that interests us.”
As they walked, Charlie became aware of two things he hadn’t really experienced before. The first was the number of dogs on the walks and in the street. They were all on leashes and well behaved. When Joey asked if he could pet one, the man holding the leash told him he could.
Joey knelt and rubbed behind the dog’s ears. The dog almost seemed to smile before it licked Joey on the cheek. As they went on, they saw many more dogs, and they observed that some of the stores had bowls of water in front of them for the dogs.
The other thing Charlie noticed was the number of single sex couples who strolled along holding hands. Except for Ben and Rodney, he’d never seen two men or two women hold hands before. He turned and looked at Ben and Rodney, and sure enough they too were holding hands. Faggots! he thought before remembering he wasn’t supposed to use that word. Well, he thought, I can still think it, just not say it out loud.
They found a restaurant where they ate lunch before they continued their exploration. Charlie was sure the waiter was gay and realized he was quite cute in what he thought of as a gay kind of way. A chill went through him as he realized what he was thinking.
The entire business area seemed to be all along one street ─ Commercial Street ─ and there were some fascinating shops. There was one dedicated to all kinds of puzzles, and the boys spent a long time looking at them. There was another called Marine Specialties, which Ben said was a descendant of the old Army Navy store in that building. It was full of everything from ships’ clocks to little dime store toys and games. Before they returned to the car, the boys bought kites, one for each of them and for the twins.
As they climbed into their car, Joey asked, “What are the big white boats tied to the wharf?”
“They’re whale watch boats,” replied Ben.
“You can ride one out into the ocean and actually see whales?” asked Charlie, despite his sour disposition.
“Yup,” Ben said.
“Do you think we could do that for my birthday?” Joey asked.
“Sure. When’s your birthday?”
“August 24th,” Joey said.
“We’ll plan on it then,” said Ben.
The ride home was quiet. It had been a full day and the boys were tired. As usual, Charlie was thinking about what he had seen, especially the same-sex couples who seemed to be so comfortable walking hand in hand down the street and the waiter in the restaurant.