Count It All Joy, by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
(The following chapter was taken from "Part II: The Valley of Decision, 1986.)
It took two days for Gruber and Dupree to feel the effects of the boycott, or at least, until Quiana, Victoria, Raena, and I were called out of our first hour class into Dr. Drapeau's office.
She had a very friendly smile and a soft manner about herself. I always thought of her as birdlike. But we all knew that it was a front. The upperclass girls didn't call her "Dr. Dragon" for nothing. Now she was offering us donuts, and juice, and asking us to sit down at her conference table.
"Well, girls. I hear that you all are sitting on the council of a new coed club."
"The Prentis Gruber Prep and Alice Dupree Academy Interschool Black Awareness Congress for Social Change," Quiana told her, "is the official name."
"Well," she said again. "That's a mouthful for such a young organization." She laughed. We didn't.
"We have over one hundred and fifty members," Raena informed her. "That's more than fifteen percent of Gruber and Dupree's student bodies combined."
"We are well-organized and follow parliamentary procedure at every meeting," Victoria added. "Every issue is put to a vote, except for what the council considers emergencies."
"Emergencies?"
"We consider what has happened in the past week an emergency, Dr. Drapeau," Quiana told her.
"And that is why you've organized this foolish boycott. Oh, dear."
"How can you trivialize racial slurs, not only by a student, but by a faculty member?" Quiana persisted.
"Mr. Linden's conduct is irrelevant. Vincent Ryder was being insubordinate."
"I don't see how taking Nicole Ferguson to the dance is insubordination," I snapped.
Dr. Drapeau gave me that fake smile. "I'm going to excuse that, Josephine," she began, using my real name, "because of your age and relationship to that girl. However, Dr. Trenton and I are going to put a stop to this. Mrs. Hasty and Mr. Williams have been fired, and your BAC is dissolved by order of the administration of both PGP and Dupree."
We stared at her as she continued to grin and sugar-coat the issue. "Oh, come on, girls. Although you all may think that I don't understand, I do remember what it's like to be young. It's exciting for us as young ladies to participate in things with young men. But when you think about all the… unfortunate incidents that have happened in the past year, they have been PGP’s affairs, not ours. It is my duty as your dean to remind you that you are first and foremost young women of substance, not supporters of... troublemakers."
"It's so unfair!" I told Peach while we were washing the dishes that night. "How can they dissolve us? We haven't done anything wrong! It's them!"
He laughed. "They ain't dissolved nothing, `Rie. Not only are Mr. Williams and Mrs. Hasty taking them straight to court, this is the last straw for us."
My heart pounded. I remembered the council meeting that we'd had right after school at Quiana's house. We discussed what had happened, and decided to tell all of our parents what was going on. We agreed that Raena and Al would call all of the BAC members. They were going to tell everybody to explain to their parents what had happened, and either stay home or prepare for a rally on the school lawn. Al had called his dad, who was a reporter at channel 7, at work and guaranteed us news coverage.
We still hadn’t let Aynie and Unc know what was going on. They'd stayed late after work, and Quiana and Angelo's parents weren't home. The four of us ate a quick dinner of pizza, then Quiana and Angelo went next door while we cleaned up.
"So, do you want to tell Aynie and Unc or should I?" I wanted to know.
"It don't matter. Whatever comes out, comes out."
I had something else on my mind.
"Peach, what's going on between you and Quiana?"
His head jerked up and turned towards me. "What you talking about?"
"I saw you kiss her at Homecoming. I see the way you look at her when she's not paying attention."
Instead of getting mad, he let out a huge breath. "Is it all that obvious?" he laughed.
"Not very. But I know you pretty well. Do you like her?"
Long pause. "Yeah, `Rie. I like her a whole lot."
"Does she like you?"
He laughed again. "Finally."
"But Angelo's your best friend. And she’s his girlfriend!"
"That's the problem."
"Well, y'all children certainly went and got yourselves smack dab in the middle of all this," Aynie said. "I wish I'd-a known that teacher had called you a mistake, Cherie-girl."
"After we finish with him, he'll feel like a mistake, that's for sure," Unc grumbled.
"Peach, you really the president and the founder of this organization?" Aynie beamed.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "But Quiana Minter co-founded it. If it wasn't for her, it wouldn't be here."
"And my Cherie-girl's the treasurer?"
I giggled. "Aynie, we don't have any money yet."
"Well, that's all gonna change. I'm gonna organize a BAC parent group this weekend. And Leon, we are taking tomorrow off. We pay good money for these kids to go to school, and I don’t like what I’m hearing. I’m going to that rally!"
The march went better than we could have hoped. By noon, our parents and relatives were back at work or at home, we were back in school, Mrs. Hasty and Mr. Williams had their jobs back, Mr. Linden had packed and left, Zachary Blake was registering at University High School, the BAC was no longer illegal, and we had the promise of a new BAC lounge, to be housed in a multi-purpose room on the first floor of the new addition. In return, the New York news media didn't find out what idiots Dr. Trenton and Dr. Drapeau were.
Things settled into an uneasy quiet. There was a big house party for Peach's seventeenth birthday. We still had our BAC meetings every Wednesday, but now we were concetrating on our talent show, fixing up the lounge, and planning to celebrate Kwanzaa. Quiana had some books on it and said that she'd celebrated it all the time in California.
"It's a seven-day event that takes place from December 26 to January 1," she told us at a BAC meeting in the middle of November. "There are seven principles, the Nguzo Saba, which are celebrated one per day. The first day is Umoja, or unity. The second is Kujichagulia, or self-determination. The third, Ujima, is collective work and responsibility. Fourth is Ujamaa, cooperative economics. Then there's Nia, purpose, fifth. Sixth is Kuumba, creativity. The seventh and last day is Imani, or faith.
"Anybody of any religion can celebrate Kwanzaa. You do need several symbols. The most important is a kinara," she pointed to a wooden candleholder with green, red, and black candles. "Each mishuma represents one principle."
She told us all about the holiday. It seemed like a lot of fun. Raena raised her had to speak. "I move that we, the BAC, have a Kwanzaa celebration this year."
"Second," I said.
"All opposed?" Fred asked.
There wasn't a hand raised.
The first snowstorm of the season happened during the week of Thanksgiving. It closed down school for two days in a row, so we only went to school one day that week.
Peach prowled the house like a restless cat. Finally, the day before Thanksgiving, he asked me, "Day after tomorrow, I want to start fixing up the lounge. We already got it cleaned up, but LaKeisha and Sasquatch wanted to paint a mural. We got all that furniture and carpet piled up in the corner. And the rest of us need to work on the talent show."
"Will the school be heated and open?"
"Most likely. The storm ain't all that bad now. I think the basketball team started practicing. I'll call Mr. Williams and see."
Mr. Williams agreed. Peach called Raena so that she could make her phone rounds, and we got about twelve brave individuals to brave the twenty-five degree weather and tons of snow. Aynie didn't want Peach to drive, and Angelo didn't want to come, so she drove us both to school.
Quiana was already there, dressed in a red sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. I thought it was weird to be in school and out of uniform.
"Here's Quentin and Josephine, everybody! We're all here. We're doing everything at once, Q, and I'm so confused that I made myself dizzy. Take over, please."
"Why you got everybody moving furniture?" he laughed. "Let's just have Fred and Eddie and Vincent and Lorenzo move. Keisha and `Squatch can get started on the mural. Cherie, get some people and you can start working on the talent show with Raena. I forgot something upstairs, Quiana, and I need to talk to you anyway."
I saw that look pass between the two of them. Then Quiana remembered something. "Oh, Quentin, before you take off your coat, would you please go out to my car and get the paint for Keisha and Sas... I mean, Okoye out of my trunk?"
"I'll go get it," I volunteered. "Where's your car?"
"All the way back in the student lot... I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Here's my keys. You might have to jiggle the lock a little bit. The paint's not heavy. Thank you so much, Josephine."
I went back outside into the cold. I don't like being cold that much. I think that if you're born in a certain climate, you get used to it. If it wasn't for snow, I think I would hate winter.
I crunched my way around the new addition. As soon as I got around towards the PGP corner, I heard the voices. I slowed down and listened.
"...about fifteen of them in there now. If we throw this through the window, they'll get the message."
"I don't like this, Don. Somebody could get hurt."
"Somebody will get hurt if we don't take action, Phil. You remembered the meeting we had at my house last week. It's either us or them. If the black kids can do so much with their monkey congress, think how much the white kids could do if they... what's that?"
I'd had the urge to go to the bathroom all of a sudden. I took a step to cross my legs and hold it, and they must have heard.
I ran as fast as I could back to the new addition. They were guys, however, and fast. Pretty soon I was being dragged down and the scarf was snatched off my face.
"It's that black Chinese girl," Don said, face chafed red from the wind. "Wasn't she the one who's friend went to Homecoming with Vincent Ryder? And the one who egged Mr. Linden into calling her a name?"
"Yeah, that's her. And she's Quentin Rice's cousin."
I was struggling during all of this, but I wasn’t strong enough to hold off both of them. "Leave me alone!"
"No, you should have left us alone. Nobody wanted you people in our school anyway!"
"You're the kind of people nobody wants around!" I said, raking his face with my nails.
Phil spat in my face. "B----!"
Don clucked his tongue. "Phil, leave her alone. I've thought of the perfect way to teach Josephine her lesson."
They dragged me, screaming, kicking, scratching, and biting, over to the student parking lot. When Don held me and Phil got a shovel out of his car and started tunneling through the tall snowdrift, I realized what they were going to do and screamed louder.
"Shut up!" Phil said, and socked me square in the face. My glasses fell off, broken, and the blood from my nose covered my mouth and dripped off my chin and onto my coat. It hurt, but I didn't think it was broken.
Once the hole was dug, they took off my coat and all my wraps, threw them in Phil's trunk, tossed me in and started covering me up. I tried to get out, but my strength was giving out. I was too small... it was so cold.
I knew that if I didn't get any air, I would be in serious trouble. So I concentrated on making an tiny airhole. Once I did that, I tried to free my arms. But all of a sudden, I was back on my island, six years old, and standing on the white-sanded beach of the bay. My grandmother, Nonie, had been dead for six months...
"It is past due time you learned to swim, petit Cherie," Tante said in Creole, clearing up the last of our picnic. We'd had Sunday afternoon off, and Mauricie was visiting with friends. She'd been very nice to me all day… almost too nice.
"But I do not have any time to learn nor any one to teach me, matante."
"This is true," she smiled sweetly. "But first, let me help you to get over your fear of the water. Come with me. I will race you in waist deep."
We ran into the azure water, laughing and sloshing through the depths. I beat her, but her waist deep was deeper than mine.
"Come, Cherie, why are you not playing with me?" she said, holding out her arms and pouting. "Do not worry. If you get scared, I am here."
I hesitated, then ran further in. Waist deep. Shoulder deep. Suddenly, the island shelf dropped out from under me and I plunged into the depths.
"Tante! Tante!" I screamed. But the last thing I heard and saw was her laugh and her lithe limbs pulling her back to shore.
I sank like a stone.
Dear God, I prayed, please help me. I will learn how to swim. I will be a very good swimmer... just help me! Help me! Help me!
I couldn't feel the arms that were pulling me out of the snow, but I was grateful to that person. I could barely see, I could barely hear. I was just very, very cold... and very tired.
Was that Quiana screaming at me? She sounded so far away. "Don't go to sleep, Cherie, please, please!"
She was so far away. I was so tired. They'd found me, so I couldn't understand why I couldn't sleep.
"No!" She shook me violently. "You'll die if you do!"
"She's purple," I heard someone else, I think it was Fred, shout urgently.
"Aw, sh--!" That was Peach. "Cherie! Damn!"
"EMS is coming. We got to get her inside. Q, help me pick her up."
I felt them elevate me and rush me back inside. Hands were wrapping me up in some blankets and others were questioning me.
"Who did this to you?" Peach demanded loudly. I tried to answer, but my teeth were chattering so much that I couldn't say a word. "Who the hell did this to you?"
Raena was more reasonable. "Q, leave her alone! Cherie, keep shivering. It keeps your circulation going..."
But I couldn't shiver or chatter or move anymore. I blacked out thankfully and hoped that everything would be all right when I woke up.
