“He doesn’t know I’m alive,” I tell her. It’s the easiest thing.

Auntie eyes me in the mirror. “Mm-hmm. Looking like that, he knows.”

My face flushes. “Stop.”

“Girl, you got it going on. Don’t let no one tell you different.” She flips the magazine page. “Mm-hmm. He knows.”

ZEKE

“SCORE, how can I help you?”

A pleasant woman’s voice says, “Ezekiel Jacobs, please.”

“This is Zeke. Who’s calling?”

“I have Senator Alabaster Sloan for you, Mr. Jacobs.”

“You’re kidding.”

Her laugh is warm. “Hold, please.”

Reverend Alabaster Sloan? Now Senator. My palms tingle. I dry them on my thighs. This man marched in Birmingham as a child. Up against dogs and fire hoses.

I stand up at my desk. It feels right, to take a call like this standing up.

“Ezekiel?” I’d know his voice anywhere, even if he hadn’t been announced.

“Zeke. You can call me Zeke, sir. Hello.”

“Talk to me about the situation on the ground.”

I shift my grip on the receiver. “We’re basically on lockdown, sir. Last night’s protests brought significant backlash from law enforcement. Tear gas. Rumor is, they’ll be enforcing a curfew tonight.”

“I’ve heard that, too.”

That confirms it, I guess, if the news has reached DC. “People are pretty upset.”

“Rightly so,” the senator agrees.

“The situation was mishandled, and the cops are escalating. But we’ll get blamed for it.”

“I agree. The coverage is … problematic.”

That’s an understatement. “They have tanks, sir. Just parked around the neighborhood. They’re putting up barricades.”

“It doesn’t help that Wes Steele is all over the internet with his videos.”

“The ‘war on cops’ guy? I can’t even stand to watch him.”

“His following is growing,” Senator Sloan says. “Shae’s story has gone national, in a bad way.”

“What are you saying, sir?” It settles into me, the reality that this is not a pure condolence call, not merely a show of support. It’s a warning.

“Steele’s been ranting nonstop on his shows. You don’t have to watch, but you need to know about it.”

“I know about it. They’re all over our social media feeds spewing their racist rhetoric.”

“Henderson is Steele’s latest cause célèbre. He’s rallying the troops.”

“That’s so messed up.” I should have better, smarter things to say. “Why does anybody even listen to him?”

“He plays their deepest fears like a banjo. It’s all too easy for white America to believe we’re out to get them. Much easier than examining their own biases and complicity.”

That’s how I want to sound. Formal and intellectual. “Yeah, I get that.”

“Steele runs toward the spotlight, wherever it is. This story started out with increased attention, because…”

“Because of Tariq Johnson. No one has forgotten his murder, or the media firestorm that followed.”