Before I Black Pt. 4-Carmichael & Calloway, Page 2

call for crossing paths with the local street gang ‘GSG,’ or the Groveland Street Gangsters. Their reign extended to different locations across the entire Eastside of Groveland, but specifically the lower east. He’s never actually encountered them firsthand, aside from a few of their younger siblings that went about his school halls like full replicas of their brothers. Unfortunately Christian wasn’t as lucky on a foggy fall evening during his sophomore year at Langston. Coming home from the after school program, he was jumped and accordingly had his new pair of Jordan sneakers stolen. He had begged to get them all year long, when his mother had finally gave in. That day though he would enter the house sporting only a blackened eye and a busted lip, but not his new shoes. Ms. Blackman, not to be outdone, retrieved the shoes almost as fast as he had lost them, and right from the feet of the GSG perpetrator, who just so happened to be wearing them as the gang stood positioned out in front of the local grocery store. Of course they had added the gang’s letters to the bottom of them, but having them back was what was important. Despite his knowledge of the gang Kaleb responds, “they just sound like a bunch of letters to me.” Officer Carmichael almost looks disheartened by Kaleb’s answer, like she had lost grasp of something. “Sometimes in life(pausing)…sometimes in life, you’ll feel like your silence is the right thing; times when you want to protect the ones you love, to protect yourself. But your voice is all you have(crying softly).” Her words catch everyone’s attention in the room. Officer Calloway quickly shifts his focus away from Kenny and to his weeping partner. “Carmichael you may leave the room,” he says. She rises to her feet and leaves the room at once.

  “What did you say to her?” Officer Calloway’s intensity seems to have weakened at the sight of his partner like that. “I didn’t do nothing,” replies Kaleb. Kenny chimes in asking, “yeah what’s wrong with her?” Officer Calloway takes a moment but explains, “this isn’t just another case for her. The only reason she joined the force at the beginning of last year was for revenge. I’m the only one that she’s ever told that to, if anybody else would’ve found out there’s absolutely zero chance that she would’ve even made it past the evaluation period.” The mood continues to shift as he has began to delve into his partner’s personal history. Kenny asks, “what did she want revenge for?” Officer Calloway places both of his hands together on the table, taking a deep breath before revealing, “last year, right after her graduation, her and her grandfather were riding home when they were held at gun point sitting at a red light. What made it strange was they didn’t take anything.” “So what did they do?” asks Kenny who now even speaks with a tinge of excitement. Officer Calloway responds solemnly, “they shot her grandfather and left her covered in his blood.” The revelation drops Kenny back into his seat, nobody daring to speak. At a moments notice, Ms. Blackman intercedes, storming into the room to retrieve her son and his friend. “Ok that’s it, time to wrap it up!” she proclaims. Officer Calloway jumps to his feet and orders, “mam that’s not how we do things around here!” At this point Ms. Blackman refuses to hear anything but being with her son. She replies, “I started to come in when your little partner ran herself out of here crying her eyes out! Me and these boys are leaving, now!” “Mam!” he yells before moving around the table and grabbing her wrist. She starts to screams out, “you get your moth--,” but it’s Kenny who jumps in between them. “Angelo told me that the only way I wouldn’t get jumped for not going to Cleverdale was if I joined GSG!” Kaleb joins in, “there, you got what you wanted, now let us go.” Surprisingly Officer Calloway grants them their request. However suspicious, he signals toward the door and says, “as you wish.”

  As Ms. Blackman and the boys make their way to the exit, they spot Officer Carmichael in the main office area of the station. She sees them almost instantly as well, but for some reason keeps her head down as they pass by, offering no goodbyes to the boys. Kaleb, who didn’t speak through much of the process, was actually moved by her story and her loss. He lets her know as much when he walks by and acknowledges, “I’ll try to be better about being silent, and I’m sorry about your granddad, I’m sure he was a great dude.” She looks at him, how sincere he could be at such a young age, and only offers a smile. During his final step out of the door of the station, he looks back and sees the two officers embracing together. Officer Carmichael can faintly be heard asking, “what was he talking about(laughing)?”

  On Friday, the day before game day, the practice is the lightest of the entire week. It’s also the first day that Kenny actually looked ready or even capable of leading the team to a dramatic victory in less than 24 hours. For the first time in a long time, his defiance looked real, and Saturday’s championship would be dedicated to the memory of his deceased sibling. Kaleb was extra quiet, but flying around the field even more so than normal. Everyone could tell that he wanted to let his play do the talking, like he always wanted it. After practice he was informed by his mother to walk over to McGriffin’s Grocery Store where he was to grab a few ingredients for her championship party. Just when it seemed like things might be falling back into place for Saturday, sometimes it’s easy to forget how fast news travels through the Groveland neighborhoods. Practice was over for at least an hour before Kaleb made it to the last strip of parking lot that marked the end of GSG territory. The letters of the gang are spray painted on an old fallen billboard that was ripped down during the riots. Below the sign is a body that lies in a pool of what looks like blood. Kaleb of course walks over to check it out, and it’s Kenny.