Reba Finding Freedom

Racist white teen getting sexually assaulted by two whites gets rescued by a black guy and blames him for the crime, then gets him out of jail and falls in love with him.

UNITED WE STAND PRESENTS
REBA FINDING FREEDOM
by Katherine Lynn


**PROLOGUE **
** SATURDAY DECEMBER 16th 2017 2:10 P.M. **

Inside of a Texas prison, an African American inmate strolls down the visitation corridor. At his designated window sits a white blonde.

She stands and they each grab a phone. He holds his to his ear. She presses hers to her heart, wipes away tears then puts the phone to her ear.

"Who you here for?" he asks, showing no sign of recognition.

"David?" she asks, receiving a nod. "You. We've got two hours so I'll tell you everything."

** FRIDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2007 at 2:58 P.M. **

Eight year old Reba Fairbanks sits in the backseat with her head down, playing with a barbie. "There's a girl named n****r in my class," she says without looking up.

From the passenger seat, Connie glances at her husband, Bill, then asks Reba if the girl is white like her.

"No. She's n****r." She jerks her head up and red curls dangle. "Like the people you and dad always talk about."

Connie leans in and threatens Bill with her eyes. He keeps his eyes on the road, pretends not to see her.

"Private, all girls and no blacks is what you told me," she leans closer and adds, "Turn this darn car around."

** 3:22 P.M. **

The principal does paper work at his desk. The door flies open and Connie storms in. He stands and stares at her.

"I thought that this was an all-white school?"

"Ma'am, it's 2007."

"Doves and crows don't fly together."

He takes off his glasses, squints and shoves them back on.

"Martin Luther ain't no king to me."
He frowns and stutters, "I don't--"

“Take her off your damn enrollment,” she barks before turning away, storming out and slamming the door.


** 10 YEARS LATER **
** THURSDAY JUNE 1, 2017 at 4:06 P.M. **

"O.M.G., the redhead's gotten a red Mustang," shouts Becky.

Reba smirks and drives off. Becky fills her in on how her boyfriend's getting his own place and has asked her to move in. She then brings up her boyfriend's best friend and how he has a crush on Reba. Reba turns up the radio and sings with Tim McGraw.

Muting the radio, Becky say, "It's so not typical to be a virgin at eighteen."

"Now that I've a car, we can hang out more."

"I'm telling you, boys are so in style."

"I wish that you were still my neighbor."

"I wouldn't have been able to change what your parents have done to you."

Reba smacks and unmutes the radio.

Becky slides in a C.D. and throws her head around like a fan at a Metallica concert, singing, "I whip my hair back and forth..."

Reba giggles and watches her, then starts singing along. The song ends. Reba laughs, asks who it was and tells her to play it again. Becky tells her Willow, Will Smith's daughter.

"The black guy?"

"Yep. Hot a*s Will."

Reba ejects the C.D. and throws it into Becky's lap.

"You hate people for no reason. One day you're gonna change."

Reba ignores her. Becky smacks her lips and asks her what she's wearing to the party. Reba says she'll go as she's dressed.

Becky checks out Reba's black cotton dress and black flip- flops and chuckles, then says, "Today you're going to change."

"Stop talking about--"

"I'm talking about you're clothes. Take me home so I can change."

** 4:53 **

From the kitchen, Connie hears the front door close. She peeps out the window at Bill's 2004 Jaguar, then puts the top over the food, situates herself against the counter and stares at the entrance. She knows that Bill's probably kicked back on the couch with no knowledge of what she's done, but him walking in and confronting her is a marathon in her mind.

Bill lays on the couch with his eyes closed, his arms crossed at his chest. He gazes at a photo of him and his father on his family's farm and it takes him back.

Born and raised in the small town of Jasper, Texas, Bill's a descendant of a long line of share-croppers. The only notable thing about Jasper is the murder of an African-American man named James Byrd.

Mr. Byrd had been beaten, bondaged and a victim of a noose. However, the mentally malfunctioned caucasians had neglected tradition, skipped the tree and tied the rope to the bed of a truck, then they'd dragged James down a dirt road, decapitating and killing him.

The hate crime had been so sickening that the state of Texas had sympathized and named one of its prisons after James Bryd; it had been so big that people in other countries could google James Bryd and read about it.

Bill hadn't been part of the crime but the celebration that had ensued, he'd left his foot prints on.

"Dinner's ready," Connie announces from the doorway.

He smiles at her. Her face stays vague as she studies his and takes calculated steps toward him. He stands and inquires about Reba. Her approach turns into a retreat.

"I've bought her a car, a used car."

He gawks at her like she's just confessed to a marital sin and she takes on the expression of someone who just has. She notes the hurt and disappointment in his face as he walks past her She follows him and fixes his supper, then sits it before him and whispers his name. Knowing that they'll soon have to talk about it, and not wanting to do it in front Reba's ears, she initiates it telling him that she's a great child and deserves a vehicle.

"She does," he replies. "But we couldn't afford it."

She backs away and lectures him on why she just had to buy it for her. Halfway through and realizing that she's getting nowhere, she hushes.

Thoughts of the status of their bank account makes him frown, but a hug from her wipes away his emerging anger. He wraps his arms around her in a loving way. The sound of an engine pulls him to the window where he sees Reba exiting her car. He moves back to Connie's side, tells her to calm down and that they'll work through it. She sniffs through a promise to get a job.

Reba steps into the kitchen and alters their moods. She hugs them, calls them the parents of a lifetime and thanks them for her car.

Connie smirks at Bill. He smiles back.

** 7:35 P.M. **

Standing in her bedroom mirror, Reba runs a comb through her hair. She's shredded the black cotton dress and flip-flops only to throw on a white cotton dress and white flip-flops.

Connie slips in and straightens the straps on Reba's dress, strands of her hair. She asks who else is going to be at the party. Reba tells her Becky and others who've graduated. Connie reminds her that she hadn't attended school with any of the students.

Bill pokes his head in and tells Reba to be safe and enjoy. Connie tells him that she'll probably not go. He tells her to let Reba see the world for one night. Connie runs him off.

"Mom, the world is probably not that bad."

"Those n*****s make it bad. What if some of them are there?"

Reba turns away and blinks at herself in the mirror, wondering why she hadn't thought to ask Becky that.

** 8:15 P.M. **

A full moon and a billion stars hover over the Houston sky- scraper. A class of 2017 banner flaps above a two-story building. Vehicles and party people fill the ground.

Becky hops out of Reba's car swaying like a stripper. Her apparel is in accord with her swaying. Reba eases from the car and gazes around, pausing every time she sees a black person.

Becky bounces over and smacks Reba's rear, shouting, "Party time, poo-poo," and dancing like she's drunk on a dance floor.

Reba gasps and spins around, stunned. She tells Becky that she's probably going to leave. Becky tells her that she'll hate her and dances toward the entrance.

Spotting two black guys walking her way, Reba quickly catches up with Becky and holds her hand.

Becky flirts with a big, black and bald bouncer. Reba posts up behind Becky like a shadow and secretly watches the bouncer. As they go in Reba shoots the bouncer a chin-down, eyes-up gaze.

The venue is crowded. Hip-hop music blares in Reba's ears. She covers them and keeps up with Becky. Becky flashes her an I.D. and shouts that she's 21. Reba shakes her head and tells her she's 18. Becky blurts that bartenders are dumb.

At the bar, Becky flashes a bartender the I D. and a flirty smile. She twirls it in his hand before letting him have it.

They walk away with drinks. Becky drinks like she's dehydrated. Reba sniffs hers, then laps at it like a kitten drinking milk.

"Drink it. It'll make you do this," Becky gyrates her hips and shakes to a table.

Reba takes a gulp and follows her. Becky slams her drink back, shoves the glass away and jumps up with a party yell.

Reba watches her careen onto the dance floor. Losing sight of her, she slumps into her seat, then slurps and frowns at her drink.

A shaggy-haired, ivory-skinned guy sits beside her. She tilts her head away and watches him out of her peripheral vision. He asks if he can buy her a drink and gets ignored. He follows up with a dance request. She walks away.

The alcohol and crowd make her head spin and her skin warm, itchy and moist. Seeing a lonely corner, she creeps into it and searches for Becky.

She and a passing black guy lock eyes and she lowers her head. She looks back up and they're face to face. He smiles. She pushes herself against the wall and stares at the top button of his shirt.

He introduces himself and she mumbles something silly. He asks if she's got a boyfriend and she shakes her head vehemently.

"Cool, I'm single too. Wanna dance?"

She stares at his chin and stutters, "I've got... got... got a boyfriend."

He steps closer. She flinches and tenses up. He asks if she's single, in a relationship or just doesn't want to talk. She says she doesn't want to talk.

"Say that than, stuck up b***h."

She gasps, throws her hands over her face and stares at him through her fingers until he's out of sight, then pulls out her phone and rushes toward the restroom on the verge of tears.

** 8:49 P.M. **

Becky rushes into the restroom and looks around. Hearing sniffs from a stall, she calls Reba's name.

Reba runs out, hugs her and whines, "A nig--"

"No!" Becky screams in her ear.

"A black boy called me a bad b-word because I wouldn't talk to him."

"Black boy, white boy, brown boy," with emphasis,

"Alien boy-- any boy will call you a b***h if you don't talk to him."

Two black females walk in. Becky gets Reba together and realizes she needs to help her to unwound.

Author's Note

No notes.