Chapter Four

The boys swept the victory, not by much, but they were still the winners, and you could see the pride on their faces. Cheers and shouts were filling the space as the loud crowd showed their appreciation.

“I need to congratulate the winners.” It was a small olive branch.

“I’ll be here when you’re done.” She nodded and walked off. It was strange, but she believed him.

He watched her walk off before the young female on the court caught his attention. She threw the ball at the hoop, but it was the anger within her that reached out to him.

“We would have won if I made that last shot. Is the problem me or is it that girls aren’t as good as boys?” She asked who ever walked up behind her.

“Why do you say that?”

“They’re taller, stronger, faster. Isn’t that how it goes?”

“What about smarter?”

She shook her head. “I can’t get behind that one.”

“Then you can win.”

“What?”

She turned around and looked at him. He was huge. “Um, you're big.”

“I am, but people and things that are big go down every day.” He held out his hand, and she placed the ball in it. He aimed at the basket and made it.

“Sure, they do.” She didn’t try to hide the anger in her voice. She caught the ball.

“You can make that shot too.”

“No, I can’t.”

“You can’t make it, yet.” He emphasized the last word. “Come stand right here. Now make your shot.” She moved over to the spot he showed her and shot for the basket but missed it.

“I never seem to be able to make it from here.”

“There are two reasons. One because you’ve told yourself, you can’t do it. Two because you haven’t trained.”

“What do you know about training? I saw your ride. We all did. You’re just another rich white man.” She shifted to her other foot, she didn’t mean to say what she was thinking.

“I know you have a choice, I never had one. Around the age of five, my brothers and I were kicked out and told to learn to survive. We hunted food to eat. If we killed the wrong animal, we suffered the consequences. Learning to clean one after it was killed didn’t come as naturally as we would have liked. We were told that we were animals. I’ve since learned that no one should be on their own at such an early age. No matter what their species is.”

“Where were your parents?”

“I don’t have any.”

“Me either, I’m an orphan. I’m too old to adopt. Most people want babies, not teens.” She shrugged at this point it wasn’t a big deal. “How do I make that shot?”

He moved her body around until she got used to the unnatural stance. She threw and missed and then did it again. It took her ten tries before the first ball went in.

“I never did that before.” She tried again and missed but made it the third time. “This is what you mean by practice.”

“It is. The more you do, the better you will get.”

“Does that work for everything?”

“Most things. Sometimes we want to practice things we were never meant to do.”

“That’s easy for you to say because you’re a man. When you’re a woman, no one wants you to succeed, even other women.”

“Do you know who Brandi?”

She shook her head. “We all know Miss Brandi.”

“She reminds me of the females on Rios IV. They are defenders. Everyone there is born into a caste system. The defenders do what the name implies. They defend the planet.”

“Like the military?”

“Yes.”

“What about the men?”

“There are very few male defenders.”

“Huh?”

“The women have protected that planet from the dawn of time. They don’t do it by wishing they could or hoping to make the basket. They practice every day making themselves stronger. The males on that planet are strong, but no one fights with the determination and the skill of a defender. You’re gender may make a difference to others, but it should only remind you of how capable you are.”

“Are you real?”

“Yes.”

“You can leave now.” She looked down then peeked up. “You’re still here.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“I don’t know. Don’t you want to leave? Most adults don’t hang around me.”

“Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders and scuffed her shoes on the floor.

“I’m not smart, and I’m not strong.”

He laughed making her flinch. She turned to walk off.

“Wait.”

“You laughed.”

“Because they underestimate you.”

“What do you mean?”

He took a seat on the court and stretched out his long legs waiting for her to sit. She moved away from him and then sat.

“They think since you are quiet and angry that you don’t know what’s happening around you. They also believe because your form is slight that you’re not strong.

“When I was younger I was the weakest, the thinnest and the hungriest of all my brothers. When food was allocated, the Scientists gave me very little. I was expected to die.”

“Every day my brothers and I were physically challenged. Their genetics gave them natural strength. Mines did not. I was always behind, but I had a talent they did not. I recovered from whatever was done to me. There was one test where we had to climb a wall while we were being shot at with… It is a long object that looks like a sword, but it has no hilt.

“If we were hit just right, it would pin us to the wall. Then they would wait for our bodies to do the rest. The object would cut through our shoulder blades until we fell.”

He moved his t-shirt to the side and showed her a dark mark on each shoulder.

“We were forbidden to take the blades out. My brothers were strong enough to keep climbing even if they were pinned. I wasn’t. Each time it happened, I was ripped to pieces. I kept trying. This happened for years, but I never gave up. The last time I endure that torture I was pinned against the wall.”

He stopped to look at her allowing her to see the pain in his eyes. It was more than the pain of having his body torn apart time after time. It was the realization that he was the weakest link the reason that one day is brothers would die. Then there were the taunts of the Scientists that he wasn’t fit to call himself Created.

“I still remember raising my hand over my head and reaching for the next set of hand holds. I dragged my body upwards forcing the blades further down into my shoulders. I could stop, but I knew I wouldn’t. I refused to look down, not even to see if the blades were coming out of the wall. That’s when I reached for the next handhold. Then I was on the top of the wall, and my brothers were pulling those blades out of my shoulders. We never endured that test again.”

“How do you know you will be successful?”

“You don’t. That's why they call it life.”

“My name is Lisa.”

“Hi Lisa, my name is Jabari.”

“Why did you come over here? Most people stay away from me; they act like I’m trouble.”

“I liked what I saw. If you ever want to be trained as an assassin let me know.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “No really, you could be talking to them.”

“I told him he had nothing to contribute to the youth here. In reality, I was protecting myself at his expense.”

“Hi, Ms. Derry.” Brandi stared her down. “Hi, Ms. Brandi.”

“Hi Lisa, how’s school going?”

“It’s going.” She shrugged and picked up her ball. “I got to go, they are looking for me.”

They watched as she ran across the gym towards the side door.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” He stood and walked closer to her.

“I’ve been trying to get through to her for over two years. You got her to talk in a few minutes.”

“Human’s share traits that are universal.”

She looked at him. There were times he made her feel like he was different. Maybe he was born in a different country, but this feeling was more than that.

“Why did you follow me? Wait don’t answer that.” She never pegged herself as a coward. There had never been a male she wanted to get to know as much as she wanted to get to know him.

“The doctors think I’m dying, you should know that.”

“I know.”

She lifted her head and pointed her chin. Her light brown eyes looked him over judging him. He took his hand and ran it through her braids. The unfamiliar texture ticked the palm of his hand relaxing him for a moment. The thought of her laid out on his bed with her hair spread around her head and her brown skin shining with the pleasure he was giving her played in front of his eyes before he killed the dream.

She licked her bottom lip. He curled his hands into his palms to keep his fingers from tracing her bow-shaped lips.

“Brandi, we’re going out back for a picnic. Come watch your money at work.”

“Ignore Leona. That was her way of saying they will always watch over me.”

“I think she and I will get along.” He held out his hand.

She stared at it for a long time before she finally placed hers in it. Don’t do this Brandi. Her sense of reason and fair play told her. It was stupid, dumb, and she knew it. It was also her last chance to maybe love or get her heart broken. Her life wasn’t over yet, and she refused to live like it was. She snuck a look at Jabari. He was a lot of male, but she was up to the challenge. A laugh echoed around her head. She was lying to herself but so what.

They walked through the back door of the gym. It yard was filled with people who hadn’t come to the game but were there for the picnic. Her eyes lit up as she watched the community she grew up in, come together to have fun.

“Ms. Brandi, what do you want?” One of the kids called out to her.

“I would love a drink.”

“We don’t have anything good like beer, but I’ll bring you a soda.” Male laughter surrounded her as he went to get her the drink.

“I love these kids. Some of them aren’t friendly, and others have lived a hard life, but if you sit back and watch them, they will amaze you.” They found a seat on the bleachers.

Her purse shifted almost falling to the ground.

“What the heck?”

“What’s in your purse?”

“Nothing. Wait, there was a gift outside my door.” She pulled it out. The brightly lit paper attracting her.

She opened the box to find a delicate creature in her purse.

“Oh, how cute.” She took a finger to rub its head.

“Don’t touch it!”

It grabbed her finger and bit. She screamed and shook her hand flinging it and forth before it lost its grip.

Jabari stood up and grabbed her hauling her over his shoulder as he ran.

Screams from the kids echoed in her ears. She didn’t know if they were screaming at him, or if they were screaming at the cute little creature that was growing into a monster.