American History X: The Way It Should Have Ended
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This is for everyone who thought the horrible ending to AHX totally tainted an otherwise fantastic movie. This fic basically picks up the action as Derek and Danny are leaving that little café, after Derek has talked to Dr. Sweeney. Derek is planning on dropping Danny at school and then going to get a job or something.
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"C'mon Danny, let's go."
Derek headed towards the door, Danny in step with him a few feet behind.
He pushed on the glass door that would spill them out into the early morning sunshine of Venice Beach, and as he did he caught sight of a car idling in front. He vaguely recognized the two guys in it as members of one of the gangs of blacks that frequented the area. A few short years ago he would have been filled with revulsion just laying his eyes on them, but now he felt nothing.
That was until the one in the driver's seat saw Danny. He raised his arm and pointed something out the window.
"Shit!" For one panicky moment Derek thought the kid had a gun. He raised his arm roughly and shoved Danny back inside..
The kid in the car laughed, only his hand pointed out the window, cocked in the shape. He mimed pulling the trigger, and then he and his buddy sped off, laughing loudly, music blaring.
Derek shut his eyes for a moment, consciously unclenching his muscles and struggling to breath at a normal pace. He turned.
"What the hell, Dare? You almost made me spill."
"Just a minute Danny. Sit down and eat."
"Dare, I'm gonna be lat-."
"Danny, Just sit down!" Derek hissed, giving him a look and pointing to the nearest table. Danny shrugged and did as he was told.
Derek walked over to Sweeney, who was still talking in hushed tones to the police officer he had brought with him.
"Dr. Sweeney?" Derek talked quietly, wanting to avoid Danny hearing what he had to say.
"Yes?"
"I don't think it's a good idea for Danny to go to school today. Or back at all".
Sweeney stared at him questioningly. The look on Derek's face said it all.
"Alright, Derek, if that's what you think is best."
"I think I need to get my family out of Venice Beach, away from all the shit that went down this last while." Derek looked at him, a strange, pleading expression on his face.
"Go home, Derek. I'll make some calls." Sweeney nodded to enforce his point.
Derek stared at him for a moment, and a thin smile broke his face.
"Thank you."
"Just be careful."
Derek nodded and turned, walking over to Danny.
"Danny, we're going home. You don't have to go to school today."
Danny looked up at him quizzically and shrugged.
They walked home quickly in silence, Derek checking around every corner and looking into every car.
***************** The day passed slowly, the small apartment was quiet and stuffy. Mom was at work, Davina at school, Allie at daycare. Danny sprawled on the couch and watched asinine daytime TV, and Derek paced, always ending up back at the living room window without thinking about it.
****************
The phone rang around three thirty, making Derek jump almost out of his skin, upon which Danny sniggered behind his hand and went back to his talk- show.
Derek slipped into the small room that he and Danny shared, its walls now curiously blank. He grabbed the phone on it's fourth ring and brought it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Derek? It's Dr. Sweeney. I've found you a job, if you care to take it."
"Really? I don't know how to thank you. Where is it?"
"Charlotte."
"Charlotte?" Derek's brow furrowed. "Where in the hell is that? Upstate somewhere?"
"North Carolina."
"Dr. Sweeney, you expect me to move to Carolina? For a job?"
"I thought you needed to get out of Venice Beach." Sweeney, always the voice of reason.
"Yes, but.". Derek stopped, finding that no coherent argument came to his mind. He sat in thought for a minute. On the other end of the line Sweeney was silent, letting him ponder.
"Dr. Sweeney, are you still there?"
"I am indeed, Derek."
"Well, I guess you could tell me about the job."
"It's with a facility called Ash Meadows" Sweeney was obviously choosing his words carefully. "It's a detention facility for juvenile offenders." "I don't have any qualifications and whatever for that," Derek broke in.
"You didn't let me finish. It's for juvenile offfenders who have been incarcerated for racially-motivated crimes. These kids are from all over the country. They are looking for someone with life experience, not someone who has spent the last five years in musty University libraries and such."
"Are you sure they'd want me?" Derek sounded less than confident.
"I've told them all about you. They are very interested in hearing from you. Apparently they had someone quit on them very suddenly."
"You still haven't told me what the job is." Derek was obviously not sold on the idea.
"Give them a call." Sweeney gave him a phone number, which Derek scrawled down.
After he hung up with Sweeney, he sat staring at the number indecisively. He shrugged. What the hell.
He dialed, and after telling a woman who sounded like the world's most stereotypical secretary who he was, he was put through immediately to a Mr. Wiley, apparently the boss of the operation.
"Mr. Vinyard! So glad to hear from you so promptly!" Wiley had a boisterous voice, laced with a thick Carolina accent.
"Yes. Dr. Sweeney told me you might have a job for me."
"Ah, yes, Sweeney, my old pal from school. He spoke very highly of you and told me that you would damn near be perfect for the position we have open."
"What exactly is this job?"
"Our technical term for it is 'consulting counselor'. Very hokey term. Basically, you talk to our kids, lead discussions and the like. Did Sweeney explain to you what Ashcroft is?"
"Yes.but I'm not sure I'm qualified for the job you explained. I have no experience working with kids."
"I'm sure you are. Sweeney is never wrong. Anyways, I hate the phone, I'd much rather you'd come out to Charlotte and take a look at the place, see what it's about, before you decide. Sometime in the next few days, maybe? I'd love to meet you. We'll fly you out here."
"Ok." he answered
"Great. You'll also need to start looking for a place to live and all that. There are some nice new tract houses in the suburbs, reasonable rent. I can e-mail you some real estate stuff, brochures and the like."
Derek's head swam with the speed that this was progressing.
"Um, sir, I don't even have the job yet."
"There's no harm in looking, now is there?"
"I guess not." They exchanged information and made arrangements. Derek was to fly out to Charlotte in two days. Wiley promised to have a ticket waiting for him at the airport, and to have the real-estate stuff in his inbox within minutes.
Derek hung up and sat on the edge of the bed for quite awhile, blinking and trying to convince himself that all of this was actually happening. He checked his e-mail, and sure enough, there was information on the Ashcroft facility as well as some pictures and information on houses. He printed the whole batch out and waited for his mother to arrive home.
*************
She walked through the door, carrying Allie under one arm and groceries and her purse under the other.
Derek accosted her the minute she was in the door.
"Mom, I need to talk to you in the other room."
"Derek, I don't have tim-." Something in his face stopped her. She set Allie down.
"Danny, take the groceries and Allie into the kitchen."
"OK, Dare." Danny hauled himself up from the couch, and grabbed the groceries from his mother, kissing her on the cheek as he did so. "C'mon Allie, I'll give you a cookie."
"Yaay!" She trotted after him into the small kitchen.
Derek took her arm and pulled her into his bedroom. They sat on the bed side-by-side, and Derek deposited the mound of paper he had printed out into her lap.
His explanation of the day's events took almost ten minutes, and during the course of it he didn't even glance at his mother, staring at his hands, his lap, the floor, anywhere to keep from seeing her reaction.
"So." He said, finally glancing up at her.
A smile spread across her worry-lined face, making her look ten times prettier and ten years younger.
"Yes!" was all she said.
"Don't you want to talk this over with Davina and Danny?"
She waved this away with her hand.
"We need to get out of here, Derek. To anywhere."
He nodded.
*************
Later, he explained it all again with the whole family sitting around the table. There were no objections, not even from Danny.
************* Two days later he boarded the plane to North Carolina. He was picked up at the airport in a nice car, and taken to Ashcroft. The facility itself was only one building, a sprawling, one-story, grey brick structure. It could have been a school, save for the fence tipped in coils of barbed wire that surrounded it.
Derek had to show ID at a small guard house, and then was led inside.
The front door of the building opened into an open lobby, clean and modern, furnished with couches and a few wispy-looking potted plants. Against the far wall was a large receiving desk. A man was leaning against it, chatting with the blonde woman behind it. He turned as Derek entered. "Mr. Vinyard? Ah yes, we've been waiting for you. I'm Bob Wiley, we spoke on the phone."
Derek nodded plastered on his most friendly small, trying to hide the nerves which were threatening to make him turn tail and run.
The two shook hands.
"Let me give you the royal tour." Wiley gestured towards a strong-looking door next to the desk. "This door leads into what we call 'the Secure Zone'. It can only be opened from the outside by the keypad," he gestured to the console on the wall beside the door, "or by the lovely Sheila, who has a button that will open it." He nodded at the woman behind the desk, and she pressed it, emitting a quick buzz. Wiley turned the handle on the door, and they walked through.
As the door shut behind them, Wiley turned and pointed to a button on the wall. "If you want out, press that, and Sheila will buzz you out. The whole place in monitored by closed-circuit camera, and she can see the video console from her desk."
"Let me tell you a little bit more about our place," Wiley said, as they walked down a long hallway, "this corridor is all rooms for kids. We have twenty-five rooms, two kids each. That's a max of fifty kids, and we have forty three right now, thirty boys and thirteen girls. Most of them are here because of racially-motivated violent acts. They are sent here to serve out their sentences, but Ashcroft is not technically a prison. It's a rehab centre."
Derek nodded the whole way, looking around him. The rooms mostly looked clean, neat, cozy even.
They turned a corner, and Wiley stopped and gestured to a framed map on the wall.
"The place is like a big square, you can't get lost. We came along this way." he traced their route with his index finger.
"This stretch of hallway is the cafeteria, the lounge, and the administrative offices." He gestured as they passed each room "We have normally have five counselors, which is the position that we are trying to get you for, six tutors, a team of ten security officers, a nurse, a cafeteria worker, a couple janitors, and me of course. I oversee the whole thing. Everything is paid for by a trust, established by R.J. Ashcroft, who was a prominent civil rights activist."
"It looks great so far", was all Derek could think to say.
Wiley smiled as they rounded the next corner. "The next two sides of the square are the ones that really matter. We have a small auditorium, seats one hundred, and the rest is classrooms and counseling rooms, which is where you would be working. Let me explain how this works. The kids are split up into groups of about ten, and every morning for two hours each group is assigned to a counselor, who leads discussions and the like. Every few weeks we mix up the groups so that the kids some diversity. In the afternoons, they spend time with the tutors, and one-on-one counseling as well. Do you have any questions?"
"Uh, do you really think I'm qualified for this job. I mean-."
"Dr. Sweeney told me so much about you. I think you'll fit right in."
Derek smiled.
"So, are you interested in the job?"
Derek answered without thinking, "Yes".
Wiley smiled, and the two shook hands for the second time that day.
"Let's go back to my office and talk formalities."
They spent the next hour and a half in his office, negotiating contracts and salaries, and when Derek left he had agreed to be back in two weeks to start his new job.
Wiley also took him out to the suburbs to look at the tract-houses he had suggested. Derek took one look at them and nodded, glancing inside fleetingly before signing the lease.
He called his mother and told her to start packing.
****************** The next two weeks were a flurry of action for the Vinyards, packing, loading, tying up loose ends, but they managed.
******************
Derek was doing the dishes. His first day at his new job had gone surprisingly well. Everything was falling into place in the new life for his family. His mom had a job, working as a waitress in a classy restaurant. Davina was taking courses at a local college, training to be a nurse. Allie and Danny had started school.
The house was quiet, Mom and Davina off somewhere, Allie playing outside with the little black girl from next door. No, the little girl from next door, he corrected himself. He could see the two of them from the window above the sink, playing hopscotch on the sidewalk in the gathering twilight. Danny sat on the grass, watching them and leafing through a magazine.
As Derek watched, Allie's little friend tripped, fell, began to cry. Danny tossed aside his magazine and crouched in front of her, examining her scraped knee. Words were exchanged, and Danny picked her up, carrying her towards the house with Allie tagging along behind them.
Derek heard them come in and they appeared in the kitchen, the little girl in Danny's arm still sniffling. He set her down on the edge of a chair.
"She skinned her knee" he said, grabbing a tissue from the box on the table and pressing it to her leg. Allie looked on, her eyes as big as saucers, looking worried with an intensity that only children her age can muster.
Derek nodded, "I saw."
Danny crouched again in front of her, "I'll be back in a minute, sweetie. I'll get you a bandaid. Hold the kleenex OK?" She did.
He walked out of the room. Derek crossed the kitchen to the fridge, and opened the freezer. He rustled around and pulled out a popsicle in a shocking shade of pink. He pressed it against the edge of the counter, splitting it in two.
"C'mere, Allie," he said as he tore open the wrapper. He handed her the two halves, and she carried one back to her friend. She dragged another chair over, and the two sat in silent friendship, eating their hard-won treats.
Danny reentered, carrying a square of gauze and a roll of medical tape.
"Hey, look what you guys got!". He knelt and went about patching the little girl up. "There you go, all fixed up. Do you think you can walk home?"
She looked up at him and shook her head, eyes threatening to spill over again.
"Hey, that's OK. You want a piggy-back?"
She smiled and nodded. Danny knelt in front of her chair and she slithered onto his back. He grabbed the popsicle from her precarious grip and stood up.
"I'll be back in a minute," he said, and he was out the door, sticky pink juice dripping onto his hand. Derek turned to Allie, who was chewing on the wooden stick of her popsicle.
"I think it's time for someone to go to bed." He took the stick from her hand and tossed it in the garbage. He grabbed Allie around her tiny waist and lifted her. He carried her writhing and giggling to the bathroom, where he mopped off her face and hands with a washcloth, and helped her brush her teeth.
They padded upstairs, and Derek settled her into bed. As he did , he heard the door open and close; Danny was home.
"Night night Allie, love you." He kissed her on the forehead.
"I wuv you too."
He tucked a ragged stuffed bear under her arm, and made to leave.
"Derry?" He was halfway out the door.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"I want Danny to come and tuck me in too."
"OK, I'll tell him to come up in a little bit, love".
He shut off the light, leaving the room lit only by a nightlight in the shape of a red balloon. He closed the door carefully behind him.
He saw Danny sitting in the semi-darkness, on the fourth stair up, his elbows on his knees, chin cupped in his hands. Derek sat down beside him, the step almost too narrow to hold both of them.
When he looked over at Danny, he was surprised to see tears streaming down his face.
"Oh, hey, Danny, what's wrong?" He slipped an arm around his younger brother's shoulders.
"That girl.she's not white. And I carried her, and her popsicle dripped all over my hand. She hugged me Derek, and so did her mother, and her father shook my hand. And their house is just like ours inside."
Danny clenched his eyes shut, trying to put his jumbled thoughts into words.
"And it was alright, it was OK. It didn't hurt me, it.it made me feel good, to have helped her. How did we ever buy into any of Cameron's bullshit? Why?"
He stared into Derek's face, willing some revelation to emerge. Derek could only shake his head, tears pricking his eyes as well.
Danny looked down at his arms, and caught sight of his tattoo, the white power one. He rubbed at it for a minute with his thumb, and then without warning, raked his fingernails across it as hard as he could, leaving a red weal behind.
Derek caught his hand as Danny dissolved into more tears.
"It makes me feel so stupid, you know? Like I was dumb enough to believe in something that made no sense at all, just because it was the easiest thing to do. Easier to blame all my problems on one stupid thing than to look at the bigger picture."
"I know, I know" Derek pulled him into a hug.
"Danny, what's wong?" They both turned to see Allie standing at the top of the stairs, her tiny form angelic in silhouette. "Nothing, Allie, nothing." Danny scrubbed at his eyes with his fists, wiping away the tears. He stood up, and leaned in low, his mouth close to Derek's ear.
"Thanks for listening, man," he whispered into his brother's ear. He climbed the stairs and led Allie back to bed.
Derek watched them go and felt a tear of joy slip down his cheek.
THE END
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If you took the time to read this story and you have a minute, I would really appreciate any comments or criticisms (constructive of course XD). Leave me a review or drop me an e-mail ([email protected]) Thanks!
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This is for everyone who thought the horrible ending to AHX totally tainted an otherwise fantastic movie. This fic basically picks up the action as Derek and Danny are leaving that little café, after Derek has talked to Dr. Sweeney. Derek is planning on dropping Danny at school and then going to get a job or something.
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"C'mon Danny, let's go."
Derek headed towards the door, Danny in step with him a few feet behind.
He pushed on the glass door that would spill them out into the early morning sunshine of Venice Beach, and as he did he caught sight of a car idling in front. He vaguely recognized the two guys in it as members of one of the gangs of blacks that frequented the area. A few short years ago he would have been filled with revulsion just laying his eyes on them, but now he felt nothing.
That was until the one in the driver's seat saw Danny. He raised his arm and pointed something out the window.
"Shit!" For one panicky moment Derek thought the kid had a gun. He raised his arm roughly and shoved Danny back inside..
The kid in the car laughed, only his hand pointed out the window, cocked in the shape. He mimed pulling the trigger, and then he and his buddy sped off, laughing loudly, music blaring.
Derek shut his eyes for a moment, consciously unclenching his muscles and struggling to breath at a normal pace. He turned.
"What the hell, Dare? You almost made me spill."
"Just a minute Danny. Sit down and eat."
"Dare, I'm gonna be lat-."
"Danny, Just sit down!" Derek hissed, giving him a look and pointing to the nearest table. Danny shrugged and did as he was told.
Derek walked over to Sweeney, who was still talking in hushed tones to the police officer he had brought with him.
"Dr. Sweeney?" Derek talked quietly, wanting to avoid Danny hearing what he had to say.
"Yes?"
"I don't think it's a good idea for Danny to go to school today. Or back at all".
Sweeney stared at him questioningly. The look on Derek's face said it all.
"Alright, Derek, if that's what you think is best."
"I think I need to get my family out of Venice Beach, away from all the shit that went down this last while." Derek looked at him, a strange, pleading expression on his face.
"Go home, Derek. I'll make some calls." Sweeney nodded to enforce his point.
Derek stared at him for a moment, and a thin smile broke his face.
"Thank you."
"Just be careful."
Derek nodded and turned, walking over to Danny.
"Danny, we're going home. You don't have to go to school today."
Danny looked up at him quizzically and shrugged.
They walked home quickly in silence, Derek checking around every corner and looking into every car.
***************** The day passed slowly, the small apartment was quiet and stuffy. Mom was at work, Davina at school, Allie at daycare. Danny sprawled on the couch and watched asinine daytime TV, and Derek paced, always ending up back at the living room window without thinking about it.
****************
The phone rang around three thirty, making Derek jump almost out of his skin, upon which Danny sniggered behind his hand and went back to his talk- show.
Derek slipped into the small room that he and Danny shared, its walls now curiously blank. He grabbed the phone on it's fourth ring and brought it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Derek? It's Dr. Sweeney. I've found you a job, if you care to take it."
"Really? I don't know how to thank you. Where is it?"
"Charlotte."
"Charlotte?" Derek's brow furrowed. "Where in the hell is that? Upstate somewhere?"
"North Carolina."
"Dr. Sweeney, you expect me to move to Carolina? For a job?"
"I thought you needed to get out of Venice Beach." Sweeney, always the voice of reason.
"Yes, but.". Derek stopped, finding that no coherent argument came to his mind. He sat in thought for a minute. On the other end of the line Sweeney was silent, letting him ponder.
"Dr. Sweeney, are you still there?"
"I am indeed, Derek."
"Well, I guess you could tell me about the job."
"It's with a facility called Ash Meadows" Sweeney was obviously choosing his words carefully. "It's a detention facility for juvenile offenders." "I don't have any qualifications and whatever for that," Derek broke in.
"You didn't let me finish. It's for juvenile offfenders who have been incarcerated for racially-motivated crimes. These kids are from all over the country. They are looking for someone with life experience, not someone who has spent the last five years in musty University libraries and such."
"Are you sure they'd want me?" Derek sounded less than confident.
"I've told them all about you. They are very interested in hearing from you. Apparently they had someone quit on them very suddenly."
"You still haven't told me what the job is." Derek was obviously not sold on the idea.
"Give them a call." Sweeney gave him a phone number, which Derek scrawled down.
After he hung up with Sweeney, he sat staring at the number indecisively. He shrugged. What the hell.
He dialed, and after telling a woman who sounded like the world's most stereotypical secretary who he was, he was put through immediately to a Mr. Wiley, apparently the boss of the operation.
"Mr. Vinyard! So glad to hear from you so promptly!" Wiley had a boisterous voice, laced with a thick Carolina accent.
"Yes. Dr. Sweeney told me you might have a job for me."
"Ah, yes, Sweeney, my old pal from school. He spoke very highly of you and told me that you would damn near be perfect for the position we have open."
"What exactly is this job?"
"Our technical term for it is 'consulting counselor'. Very hokey term. Basically, you talk to our kids, lead discussions and the like. Did Sweeney explain to you what Ashcroft is?"
"Yes.but I'm not sure I'm qualified for the job you explained. I have no experience working with kids."
"I'm sure you are. Sweeney is never wrong. Anyways, I hate the phone, I'd much rather you'd come out to Charlotte and take a look at the place, see what it's about, before you decide. Sometime in the next few days, maybe? I'd love to meet you. We'll fly you out here."
"Ok." he answered
"Great. You'll also need to start looking for a place to live and all that. There are some nice new tract houses in the suburbs, reasonable rent. I can e-mail you some real estate stuff, brochures and the like."
Derek's head swam with the speed that this was progressing.
"Um, sir, I don't even have the job yet."
"There's no harm in looking, now is there?"
"I guess not." They exchanged information and made arrangements. Derek was to fly out to Charlotte in two days. Wiley promised to have a ticket waiting for him at the airport, and to have the real-estate stuff in his inbox within minutes.
Derek hung up and sat on the edge of the bed for quite awhile, blinking and trying to convince himself that all of this was actually happening. He checked his e-mail, and sure enough, there was information on the Ashcroft facility as well as some pictures and information on houses. He printed the whole batch out and waited for his mother to arrive home.
*************
She walked through the door, carrying Allie under one arm and groceries and her purse under the other.
Derek accosted her the minute she was in the door.
"Mom, I need to talk to you in the other room."
"Derek, I don't have tim-." Something in his face stopped her. She set Allie down.
"Danny, take the groceries and Allie into the kitchen."
"OK, Dare." Danny hauled himself up from the couch, and grabbed the groceries from his mother, kissing her on the cheek as he did so. "C'mon Allie, I'll give you a cookie."
"Yaay!" She trotted after him into the small kitchen.
Derek took her arm and pulled her into his bedroom. They sat on the bed side-by-side, and Derek deposited the mound of paper he had printed out into her lap.
His explanation of the day's events took almost ten minutes, and during the course of it he didn't even glance at his mother, staring at his hands, his lap, the floor, anywhere to keep from seeing her reaction.
"So." He said, finally glancing up at her.
A smile spread across her worry-lined face, making her look ten times prettier and ten years younger.
"Yes!" was all she said.
"Don't you want to talk this over with Davina and Danny?"
She waved this away with her hand.
"We need to get out of here, Derek. To anywhere."
He nodded.
*************
Later, he explained it all again with the whole family sitting around the table. There were no objections, not even from Danny.
************* Two days later he boarded the plane to North Carolina. He was picked up at the airport in a nice car, and taken to Ashcroft. The facility itself was only one building, a sprawling, one-story, grey brick structure. It could have been a school, save for the fence tipped in coils of barbed wire that surrounded it.
Derek had to show ID at a small guard house, and then was led inside.
The front door of the building opened into an open lobby, clean and modern, furnished with couches and a few wispy-looking potted plants. Against the far wall was a large receiving desk. A man was leaning against it, chatting with the blonde woman behind it. He turned as Derek entered. "Mr. Vinyard? Ah yes, we've been waiting for you. I'm Bob Wiley, we spoke on the phone."
Derek nodded plastered on his most friendly small, trying to hide the nerves which were threatening to make him turn tail and run.
The two shook hands.
"Let me give you the royal tour." Wiley gestured towards a strong-looking door next to the desk. "This door leads into what we call 'the Secure Zone'. It can only be opened from the outside by the keypad," he gestured to the console on the wall beside the door, "or by the lovely Sheila, who has a button that will open it." He nodded at the woman behind the desk, and she pressed it, emitting a quick buzz. Wiley turned the handle on the door, and they walked through.
As the door shut behind them, Wiley turned and pointed to a button on the wall. "If you want out, press that, and Sheila will buzz you out. The whole place in monitored by closed-circuit camera, and she can see the video console from her desk."
"Let me tell you a little bit more about our place," Wiley said, as they walked down a long hallway, "this corridor is all rooms for kids. We have twenty-five rooms, two kids each. That's a max of fifty kids, and we have forty three right now, thirty boys and thirteen girls. Most of them are here because of racially-motivated violent acts. They are sent here to serve out their sentences, but Ashcroft is not technically a prison. It's a rehab centre."
Derek nodded the whole way, looking around him. The rooms mostly looked clean, neat, cozy even.
They turned a corner, and Wiley stopped and gestured to a framed map on the wall.
"The place is like a big square, you can't get lost. We came along this way." he traced their route with his index finger.
"This stretch of hallway is the cafeteria, the lounge, and the administrative offices." He gestured as they passed each room "We have normally have five counselors, which is the position that we are trying to get you for, six tutors, a team of ten security officers, a nurse, a cafeteria worker, a couple janitors, and me of course. I oversee the whole thing. Everything is paid for by a trust, established by R.J. Ashcroft, who was a prominent civil rights activist."
"It looks great so far", was all Derek could think to say.
Wiley smiled as they rounded the next corner. "The next two sides of the square are the ones that really matter. We have a small auditorium, seats one hundred, and the rest is classrooms and counseling rooms, which is where you would be working. Let me explain how this works. The kids are split up into groups of about ten, and every morning for two hours each group is assigned to a counselor, who leads discussions and the like. Every few weeks we mix up the groups so that the kids some diversity. In the afternoons, they spend time with the tutors, and one-on-one counseling as well. Do you have any questions?"
"Uh, do you really think I'm qualified for this job. I mean-."
"Dr. Sweeney told me so much about you. I think you'll fit right in."
Derek smiled.
"So, are you interested in the job?"
Derek answered without thinking, "Yes".
Wiley smiled, and the two shook hands for the second time that day.
"Let's go back to my office and talk formalities."
They spent the next hour and a half in his office, negotiating contracts and salaries, and when Derek left he had agreed to be back in two weeks to start his new job.
Wiley also took him out to the suburbs to look at the tract-houses he had suggested. Derek took one look at them and nodded, glancing inside fleetingly before signing the lease.
He called his mother and told her to start packing.
****************** The next two weeks were a flurry of action for the Vinyards, packing, loading, tying up loose ends, but they managed.
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Derek was doing the dishes. His first day at his new job had gone surprisingly well. Everything was falling into place in the new life for his family. His mom had a job, working as a waitress in a classy restaurant. Davina was taking courses at a local college, training to be a nurse. Allie and Danny had started school.
The house was quiet, Mom and Davina off somewhere, Allie playing outside with the little black girl from next door. No, the little girl from next door, he corrected himself. He could see the two of them from the window above the sink, playing hopscotch on the sidewalk in the gathering twilight. Danny sat on the grass, watching them and leafing through a magazine.
As Derek watched, Allie's little friend tripped, fell, began to cry. Danny tossed aside his magazine and crouched in front of her, examining her scraped knee. Words were exchanged, and Danny picked her up, carrying her towards the house with Allie tagging along behind them.
Derek heard them come in and they appeared in the kitchen, the little girl in Danny's arm still sniffling. He set her down on the edge of a chair.
"She skinned her knee" he said, grabbing a tissue from the box on the table and pressing it to her leg. Allie looked on, her eyes as big as saucers, looking worried with an intensity that only children her age can muster.
Derek nodded, "I saw."
Danny crouched again in front of her, "I'll be back in a minute, sweetie. I'll get you a bandaid. Hold the kleenex OK?" She did.
He walked out of the room. Derek crossed the kitchen to the fridge, and opened the freezer. He rustled around and pulled out a popsicle in a shocking shade of pink. He pressed it against the edge of the counter, splitting it in two.
"C'mere, Allie," he said as he tore open the wrapper. He handed her the two halves, and she carried one back to her friend. She dragged another chair over, and the two sat in silent friendship, eating their hard-won treats.
Danny reentered, carrying a square of gauze and a roll of medical tape.
"Hey, look what you guys got!". He knelt and went about patching the little girl up. "There you go, all fixed up. Do you think you can walk home?"
She looked up at him and shook her head, eyes threatening to spill over again.
"Hey, that's OK. You want a piggy-back?"
She smiled and nodded. Danny knelt in front of her chair and she slithered onto his back. He grabbed the popsicle from her precarious grip and stood up.
"I'll be back in a minute," he said, and he was out the door, sticky pink juice dripping onto his hand. Derek turned to Allie, who was chewing on the wooden stick of her popsicle.
"I think it's time for someone to go to bed." He took the stick from her hand and tossed it in the garbage. He grabbed Allie around her tiny waist and lifted her. He carried her writhing and giggling to the bathroom, where he mopped off her face and hands with a washcloth, and helped her brush her teeth.
They padded upstairs, and Derek settled her into bed. As he did , he heard the door open and close; Danny was home.
"Night night Allie, love you." He kissed her on the forehead.
"I wuv you too."
He tucked a ragged stuffed bear under her arm, and made to leave.
"Derry?" He was halfway out the door.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"I want Danny to come and tuck me in too."
"OK, I'll tell him to come up in a little bit, love".
He shut off the light, leaving the room lit only by a nightlight in the shape of a red balloon. He closed the door carefully behind him.
He saw Danny sitting in the semi-darkness, on the fourth stair up, his elbows on his knees, chin cupped in his hands. Derek sat down beside him, the step almost too narrow to hold both of them.
When he looked over at Danny, he was surprised to see tears streaming down his face.
"Oh, hey, Danny, what's wrong?" He slipped an arm around his younger brother's shoulders.
"That girl.she's not white. And I carried her, and her popsicle dripped all over my hand. She hugged me Derek, and so did her mother, and her father shook my hand. And their house is just like ours inside."
Danny clenched his eyes shut, trying to put his jumbled thoughts into words.
"And it was alright, it was OK. It didn't hurt me, it.it made me feel good, to have helped her. How did we ever buy into any of Cameron's bullshit? Why?"
He stared into Derek's face, willing some revelation to emerge. Derek could only shake his head, tears pricking his eyes as well.
Danny looked down at his arms, and caught sight of his tattoo, the white power one. He rubbed at it for a minute with his thumb, and then without warning, raked his fingernails across it as hard as he could, leaving a red weal behind.
Derek caught his hand as Danny dissolved into more tears.
"It makes me feel so stupid, you know? Like I was dumb enough to believe in something that made no sense at all, just because it was the easiest thing to do. Easier to blame all my problems on one stupid thing than to look at the bigger picture."
"I know, I know" Derek pulled him into a hug.
"Danny, what's wong?" They both turned to see Allie standing at the top of the stairs, her tiny form angelic in silhouette. "Nothing, Allie, nothing." Danny scrubbed at his eyes with his fists, wiping away the tears. He stood up, and leaned in low, his mouth close to Derek's ear.
"Thanks for listening, man," he whispered into his brother's ear. He climbed the stairs and led Allie back to bed.
Derek watched them go and felt a tear of joy slip down his cheek.
THE END
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