Out of the Ashes

He left his M-10 on the seat and walked up the stone walkway to the front door. He felt kind of silly knocking on his own front door. But as he raised his hand to tap on the door, the door swung open.

“Come on in, Ben Raines,” Salina said. “I've been waiting for you.”

“Hello, Salina.” Ben returned the smile. He revised his original appraisal of her: she was not just a good-looking woman. She was beautiful.

“I was about to invite you in, Ben, but that would be rather silly of me, wouldn't it? This is your house.” Her eyes found Juno. “What a beautiful dog! What's his name?”

“Juno.”

She squatted down and held out her hands. Juno shoved past Ben and came to her, almost knocking her down with his eagerness to be petted. Ben stepped past them and into the house. Not much had changed; the house was a great deal neater and cleaner than when he'd left it. He said as much.

“You're a bachelor—a man.” She smiled. “Most bachelors aren't much on housekeeping.” A mischievous light crept into her eyes. “'Sides,” she mush-mouthed, “us coons have been trained for centuries to take care of the master's house while he's away seein’ to matters of great import.”

“Knock it off, Salina,” he said; then saw the twinkle in her eyes and realized she'd been ribbing him. He gave back as much as he got. “You're only half-coon. So the house should be only half-clean.”

“O.K.” She laughed. “Call this match a draw. You hungry, Ben? Dinner's going to be at seven. Guests coming over. We knew you were coming.”

“How?”

“Tom-toms!”

Ben grimaced at her laughter. “I'll be hungry by seven, I assure you.”

The twinkle in her eyes became a flashing firestorm. “Well, got corn bread, fatback, and greens.”

“Salina, you're impossible!”

She laughed. “You think I'm kidding?”

She wasn't.

Ben sat in the den with Cecil and Lila, Pal and Valerie. “I'm beginning to get the feeling I'm a lone moonbeam on a dark night,” he said.

They did not take offense, as Ben knew they would not, but shared his laughter. It certainly was a dark night and the house was lit only by lamps and candles.

“Another month,” Cecil said, “and we'll have full power restored. So the engineers tell me.”

Pal laughed and leaned forward, looking at Ben. “The truth, Ben—what was the first thought that popped into your mind at Cecil's statement?”

“Nigger-riggin',” Ben said honestly.

“You're an honest man, Ben Raines,” Lila said. “O.K.—how do we combat that type of thinking. Not that you meant it; I don't believe you did. But that ... type of thinking is so ingrained in so many white minds, how do we overcome it?”

“By education and by trying harder. That's my opinion.”

“Education ...?” Salina let the question remain open-ended.

“On both sides, of course.”

“Let's be sociable this evening, people,” Valerie said. “Let the poor man alone about race. We're just six people, all full after a good meal, so let's relax some, huh?”

“I don't mind, Valerie,” Ben said. “Really, I don't. Had people in the country gotten together like this years ago—more than really did—so much could have been accomplished.”

Ben was silent for a moment, then asked, “Kasim?”

“He's around,” Cecil replied. “When he learned you were coming in he cursed and decided to skip Salina's invitation—which she felt forced to offer, I must add in her defense. Any other time he would have broken his neck getting over here. He has feelings for Salina that, unfortunately for Kasim, she does not share.”

“And never will,” Salina added. “He's a pig!”

“He is an uneducated man, Salina,” Lila said softly.

“He's a prick!” Salina said flatly.

Cecil shook his head and said, “Are you planning on staying, Ben?”

“No, I'm not. I'm heading over to north Mississippi first, then pulling out to the northwest.” He met Cecil's steady gaze. “Cecil, as long as you have Kasims in your society, it won't work.”

The man shrugged. “I feel you are correct; he has too much hate in him. But what would you have me do, Ben? Kill him? Drive him out?”

“I know what I would do, Cecil, but I don't walk in your shoes. He's your problem. If he ever becomes mine, he won't be a problem long.” Then he laid it out for the group, told them all he knew about the new government, what he had seen and heard. And it did not surprise Ben to learn they knew more about it than he.

“Yes,” Pal said. “We monitor the broadcasts. But perhaps Logan will leave us alone long enough ... well, until we are strong enough to resist his forces. All we want to do is live and let live.”

Ike's words, Ben thought.

“You're welcome to spend the night with us, Ben,” Lila said.

Ben smiled. “This is my house.”

She cut her eyes to Salina. “Then perhaps you'd better come with us, Salina.”

“I like it here,” Salina said. Ben could feel her eyes on him in the dim light.

Cecil shook his head, a frown on his lips. “You're making a mistake, girl; it'll only cause hard feelings. You must know that.”

“My decision.”

“You're half-black, half-white,” Lila said, a tinge of anger in her voice. “Are you making your choice? Is that it?”