September 6, 1826 ~ On this day in history, it is widely accepted that John Brown Russwurm was the first Black to graduate college in America from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. However, just 14 days before then, Edward Jones, also a Black man, graduated Amherst College in Massachusetts.
Kendra sat at her desk and stared miserably at the clock. 2:15! Thirty more minutes until I am freed from this prison that they call school, she thought. Kendra glanced over at Lamar who was writing in his notebook.
"Psst!" Kendra called to Lamar as discreetly as she could. Lamar looked up at Kendra and rolled his eyes towards Ms. Hawthorne, who was going on and on about the short story that they read last night for homework.
"Weren't you scared for Rainsford as he ran through the woods running from Zaroff's game? How would you have felt if you were Rainsford, Lamar?"
"Well, Ms. Hawthorne if I were Rainsford, I would have, umm . . . well . . . you know, Ms. H, I like what the author did for Rainsford in the story so I would just keep on keeping on," Lamar replied in his typical fashion.
"Mr. Adams, have you ever been in a situation where you were being pursued and there was no escape?"
"Is fat meat greasy? When I was younger, my mom used to always encourage me to draw and color. I used to draw a picture for her everyday. Well one day I was bored so I decided to do something a little different. I got my crayons and started drawing for my mom. The picture was the bomb, Ms. H. I went and found my mom to show her my masterpiece. When she saw it, she clocked! She kept saying, 'I can't believe you did this! Why, Lamar why? What made you draw on my white walls? Let me get my belt!' Ms. H, I heard the word belt and ran. I ran faster than Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, OJ, and Kunta Kinte put together! I ran all the way to Kendra's house. I had her hide me in her basement for hours."
The English class and Ms. Hawthorne exploded in feverish laughter at the end of Lamar's recollection.
"Ms. Hawthorne, Lamar needs to tell you what happened later that evening," Kendra commented.
"Go on, Lamar," Ms. Hawthorne conceded.
"It was a few hours later and I was really hungry and bored more than I was earlier. Sitting in Kendra's basement was boring with no toys to play with. Kendra was upstairs with her family eating and laughing while I sat in the basement miserable. All of a sudden, the basement door was flung open and my mom stood at the top of the stairs and said, 'Lamar, honey, dinner is ready. Come on home to eat.' I heard her walk away and thought that everything was all good with my mom and me. I get home and ate my mom's chicken with this pasta. After dinner, I went to my bedroom and was about to shut the door when my mom busted in Ninja style and started flinging that belt all over my butt. After that day, Ms. Hawthorne, I have never been the same. Whenever I see walls, I get sad at how they did me wrong."
There were tears rolling down Ms. Hawthorne's face as she listened to her class comedian tell yet another tale of his childhood. She quickly composed herself enough to make a parallel between Lamar and the plot of "The Most Dangerous Game."
"Well Lamar, you are indeed like Rainsford. You had a chase between you and your mother that at the time seemed like a life and death situation. You thought the hunt was over when she invited you back home. However, once your guard was down she was able to attack you even better than before."
"Man, Ms. H., you take this literature thing a little too far. Can we move on?"
"Well sure, Lamar. Let us end the class with a focused writing assignment."
Immediately the class began to groan in typical student angst. Ms. Hawthorne grinned at her class as she wrote the prompt on the board. Kendra saw that Ms. Hawthorne was serious about the writing assignment and pulled out some paper. She handed two sheets to Lamar and waited to see the prompt that Ms. Hawthorne would inflict on the class today.
Write about a time that you experienced a significant conflict with one of your parents. What was the conflict? How did it begin? How did it end? Who was the winner of the conflict? What was the ultimate lesson learned as a result of the conflict?
"Ms. Hawthorne, I can't think of anything to write," Destiny shouted from the back of the room.
"Destiny, do you mean to tell me that you have never found yourself in conflict with your parents?" Ms. Hawthorne inquired.
"No ma'am. My parents give me everything I want."
"Well class, seems like we need to help Destiny brainstorm an idea for her focused writing because I am sure there has been at least one time that you and your parents were in conflict with each other."
"Destiny, have you ever wanted anything that your parents said no to?" Kendra interjected quickly.
"No Kendra. My parents have enough money to give me whatever I want," Destiny replied haughtily.
Kendra rolled her eyes in reply and began to work on her own writing because there were tons of conflicts that she could write about. If there was one thing she knew about, it was conflict. Her parents were cool most of the time, but growing up with her brother and sister had taught her plenty about conflicts. Then throw in Lamar's family and that doubled her conflict quota.
"Hey Ms. H, why don't you call Destiny's parents? I am sure they have some examples of conflict that involve Destiny. She must be repressing memories like those folks on Oprah do," Lamar offered.
Again the class laughed at Lamar's commentary. Ms. Hawthorne attempted to repress her laughter, but it was difficult to do when it involved her most comical student offering commentary about her most obnoxious student.
"Ms. Hawthorne," Destiny called out, "I have an announcement to make. My fourteenth birthday is in sixty-seven more days. Don't forget. Oh, and please no cheap presents this year. If anyone gets me a cheap present, you best believe I will throw it away. I won't be having a party this year, instead my parents are taking me to New York for a weekend shopping spree."
"Dang, Destiny. Girl, for your birthday I was just going to go to the dollar store and get you some diapers for that shi. . ."
"Lamar Adams!" Ms. Hawthorne yelled quickly. "Don't you dare!"
The class laughed hysterically as Destiny quietly sat down while mean mugging Lamar for his rude remarks.
"Class, there are approximately five minutes left to this class session. How many of you finished the focused writing assignment?" Ms. Hawthorne inquired of her last period English class.
No one's hand was raised. Everyone had been too busy listening to Lamar and Destiny and laughing at their antics.
"Very well then. This is now your homework assignment that is due the next time that we convene. I expect this essay to be at least five paragraphs and contain dialogue as well as precise verbs."
"Man, Ms. Hawthorne, why do you always use big words when you talk to us? What does convene even mean?" whined Steven.
"Hmmm, it appears we need a vocabulary lesson for next week. Steven, thank you for your unintentional reminder. A strong vocabulary opens many doors, students."
Groans resonated throughout the classroom as Ms. Hawthorne began to speak passionately about vocabulary, reading, expanding minds, college entrance exams, and everything else that she could cram in during the last five minutes of the class.
"Finally class now that I have less than one minute left, can anyone tell Steven what convene means?" Ms. Hawthorne surveyed her students.
"It means come together," answered Kendra.
"Excellent Kendra!" Ms. Hawthorne praised Kendra. "Have a good weekend everyone. Expect a quiz on "The Most Dangerous Game" when we reconvene next week."
The class was still groaning when the bell rang kicking off the weekend.
* * * * *
"So what do you have planned this weekend?" Kendra asked Lamar as they walked home from the bus stop.
"I don't know. I need to read that story Ms. Hawthorne was talking about in English class today."
"You didn't read it? It was actually a good story. Remember that movie Surviving The Game with Ice-T?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that movie is based on the short story we had to read except the story just has Zaroff hunting Rainsford."
"That movie was shell! Maybe I should just watch it again to refresh my memory."
"No, because you know what Ms. Hawthorne always says, 'The book is more detailed than the movie and the book is always better than the movie.' Plus, you know there are going to be questions about the conflict and the story's vocabulary."
"True. Plus if I bring home a bad progress report, my mom and James will trip. My mom told me I have to do my best in high school to get into college and get scholarships." "Don't forget we have to be eligible for basketball season."
"Speaking of basketball, you wanna shoot a few until we head back up to the school to see the game?"
"Yeah, that's cool. Is your family coming to the game tonight? You can ride with us if you want to."
"They probably will go. They love to see your brother play too. I will have to listen to James talk about Malcolm's stats and what this season can mean for him with the college scouts."
"Well, you know, once basketball season starts, it will be your time to shine on the courts."
"You know it! I'm going to be shaking fools. I am going to be so good that the coach will want me to play on varsity too," Lamar bragged confidently. They arrived at Lamar's house and decided to sit on his porch and wait for Cameron and Mali to get home.
"Oh, really? Mr. Big Shot on the court. So what do you have planned for tomorrow?"
"Man, nothing is playing at the movies that I really want to see. Barbershop comes out next weekend. Labor Day weekend is over. There is nothing for me to do," Lamar complained.
"You could always do your homework for Ms. Hawthorne," Kendra suggested.
"You know I do not touch school on Saturday. I wait until Sunday before The Simpsons come on to do any homework."
"So what are you going to do tomorrow then?"
"I don't know. What do you have planned?"
"Beats me. Maybe I will go see my grandparents."
"Sounds like a winner. Maybe she can make me another sweet potato pie."
"That is all you ever think about – your stomach!"
"That's not true! I think about basketball and girls too," Lamar kidded.
"I wonder what Steven and Cidney are doing tomorrow. Maybe the four of us could hook up and go to the mall or meet at my house to watch videos and play ball."
"Now, you're talking."
"Then we could have a stimulating book club discussion about "The Most Dangerous Game."
"Kendra! We will not talk about school or assignments on the Sabbath. Thou shall not study on the Sabbath!"
"You are being blasphemous! I ought to tell your grandmother," Kendra threatened.
"Man, my bad. Dang, don't bring Granny Washington up into this conversation. She will want to lay hands on me. She will pour oil all in my room. She will call her Prayer Warriors on me. Them Prayer Warriors are worse than the police."
Kendra laughed at Lamar's description of his grandmother and her spiritual actions. Lamar's grandmother was no joke when it came to church and serving God. She went to church almost everyday. Some days she was there from morning until after the sun went down. She was the sweetest woman in the world and loved her family and friends, but do not play with God around her or you would hear a sermon.
Kendra could see her sister and Cameron walking up the street talking as she and Lamar continued to sit on the porch. "Lamar, let me use your phone to call and check in with my mom at the restaurant."
Lamar handed Kendra his house keys. "Bring the phone out here when you are done because my mom should be calling soon to check on us. Oh, and grab me some Kool Aid out of the refrigerator because I am thirsty. Grab the bag of chips off of the counter too."
"Lamar, it is 2002 not 1802. Get up and get all of that for yourself. Got a sista acting like Kizzy Kinte with all your bring me this and grab me that. Brotha, please!"
Mali and Cameron laughed at Kendra and Lamar's spirited conversation as Kendra came back out on the porch and called her mother. Lamar came back on the porch with his glass and bag of chips. "Lamar, where's mine?" Mali asked.
"You want some? Go in there and pour you a glass."
"Any time you come over to our house, don't I serve you if you ask me?"
"Yeah."
"Well, how come you cannot do the same for me?"
"Mali, I am tired, baby sis. I have been at school all day being the intellectual young man that I am and right now I just want to sit here and relax."
"Lamar, you are so full of it. Cameron, can you go get something to drink?"
"Yeah, I'll get it for you," Cameron replied.
"Way to go, Mali! I knew you would get what you wanted eventually," Lamar commented as Kendra got off of the phone with her mother.
"What's up, y'all?" called out Alexis Jackson who lived down the street. She went to Woodson with Malcolm, Kendra, and Lamar but she was a junior. They had not seen much of her at school since it started, but they saw her on the bus ride to and from school. She walked up Lamar's driveway and stood at the bottom of the porch.
"Hey, Alexis," the kids greeted her.
"Hey, Kendra, can I talk to you for a minute privately?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Listen, I am going to have a little get-together at my house on Sunday and wanted to invite you and Cidney to come over."
"A get-together? Who all will be there?"
"Some of my girlfriends from Woodson. Each of us has invited a few others, mainly freshmen and sophomores from Woodson."
"What time on Sunday?"
"Two o'clock. After church basically."
"Oh, okay. Well, I will call Cidney and let her know."
"Great, then I will see you two on Sunday. Take care," Alexis waved goodbye as she walked down the driveway and headed back to her house.
Copyright © 2004 by Carla R. Sarratt