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Title: The Shadows Grow Long 5/18
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Monday, 9:57 p.m., Stephanie's car, just inside the Beltway, Virginia
�Did you? Did you shoot the President?� Steph yelled again over the laughter.
As abruptly as he had started, he stopped laughing and yelled back. �Shut up! Shut up! No, we didn�t shoot the President! We shot that black bastard screwing his daughter!� He wasn�t laughing any longer� now he was just angry again.
�They�re saying you shot the President!�
�Well, they�re wrong! And shut up!� And he hit her - hard - right across the face with the hand holding the gun. He hit her so hard she saw stars, and it hurt so bad that she automatically just let go of the steering wheel to hold her face. Without a driver the car started to swerve across traffic.
From the passenger seat he grabbed the steering wheel, turned it until the car was back in the lane, and yelled, "Drive! Drive, or I'm gonna kill you now!"
Well, that got her attention back. She grabbed the steering wheel again and held on. Steph had to shake her head a time or two to clear it. She tasted blood and quietly licked her tongue across her sore mouth; apparently he had busted her lip, too.
They drove in silence for what seemed like forever, crossing the beltway. She didn't know what to do, or what to say now� the guy was obviously crazy. How was she supposed to handle a crazy guy with a gun? She tried to sneak a look or two at the gun, but didn't know a thing about them... no help there.
She had a cell phone with her but it was in her coat in the backseat. Not an option.
Keep him talking. What to say�?
�Ummm. My name's Stephanie... what's yours?" she asked. He turned his head towards her, with a look on his face like she was the one who was insane.
Oookay, she thought. Bad start.
Well, if she was gonna die, she'd be damned if she didn't get her last real interview. Last, first... semantics. And although they had just discussed "on/off the record" in class, she didn't even feel the need to tell him that he was being interviewed by a journalist "on the record"... so there.
"So... why'd you shoot the Pres... whoever you shot?"
�Cause he�s a black bastard and he�s screwing the President�s daughter." His voice had gotten quieter, and he said almost in a growl. "And I have to save the future for white people. Didn�t you hear me before?� He said as he got louder and louder, yelling in her face.
Steph flinched at the volume and his nearness, but replied quietly hoping he'd lower his volume and back off, "Okay. Got that in one. Loud and clear."
�Don�t you get it?" he backed away but continued to yell. "YOU should get it, you of all people!�
And Steph was totally stumped. "I should get it? What should I get? And why should I get it?� She continued to speak quietly.
�That we had to show them� had to show them what happens to a MRC!�
An MRC? What�s a MRC?, Stephanie thought.
�We had to show them what happens to a mixed race couple! We must secure the existence of white people and the future for white children. You should understand! You�re it! You�re the future, the mother of the white children!�
Damn. In that moment the situation became both more clear and more dangerous. Now she knew what �sort� of crazy she was dealing with. But it left Stephanie that much more pissed off. And she knew she had to be a part of stopping this hate-filled man on his killing path.
email Teresa
mercier_beaucoup at yahoo.com
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