The case was all about segregation, which was legal back then. In a big part of the country, white kids went to white schools, and Black kids went to Black schools that were supposed to be “separate but equal,” but of course there was nothing equal about them.

The Supreme Court unanimously decided that segregation was unconstitutional, and therefore illegal. It took a while for them to get to that decision unanimously, but they did, and the law changed.

There was pushback, of course, from people who liked things the way they were, and who resisted. The governor of Alabama stood in a school doorway to prevent two Black students from going in. A county in Virginia actually closed all of its public schools for five years rather than integrate them. Really. I’m not making this up—this crap went down in my reality. My original reality. But in spite of resistance, the Supreme Court decision that struck down segregation was an important victory in a never-ending battle.

So what happened here to screw that up?

I didn’t know it at the time, but in this new world, that Supreme Court decision wasn’t unanimous. In fact, it went the other way. Three to five. Five Supreme Court justices upheld segregation.

That decision changed everything.

History forked in a different direction. Segregation remained the law of the land. And that expression, “s’equal”? Turns out it’s a derogatory term for anyone from “those” schools in “those” neighborhoods. It’s short for “separate-but-equal.”

I’m a strong guy, but just thinking about it made me crumble. The America I knew was already battling a dark age where Miss Liberty’s light flickered like a bulb ready to be changed. But in this America, her torch had already been completely and utterly doused.

After the game, I went out to the Towne Centre like I always do, on autopilot. I was too stunned to be anything but habitual. I knew there’d be memories of who I was in this world. They were waiting for me if I dug too deep, and I wasn’t ready to know. So I did my best to skate on the surface until I had the courage to take the deep dive.

But even the Towne Centre had changed. Different restaurants, alternate-universe movies. And the seating area of the food court was divided. Here’s where I really started to get a sense of what this world was all about. Because the food court had a white side, and a nonwhite side.

“Over here, Ash!” called that redheaded receiver who had taken Leo’s place on the team. Josh Easley. A hint of a memory told me he was my best friend in this world. He was sitting with Norris and a few others, some of whom were there before, others who were specific to this world. Maybe they had existed before, but they certainly weren’t on the team.