“Oh, it does. Been teaching and coaching for twenty years, won too many championships to count. And all of a sudden, they don’t wanna renew my contract. Trying get a favor in for a family member, I think. Fucking politics.”

Sipping his coffee, trying to clear the fog from his brain, Hunter asks, “Can they even do that?”

“Not legally. But they’re damn sure trying. Got a board meeting about it tonight. Taking a vote.”

“Thought you had to go to the city to get bad politics.” Hunter chuckles.

“Right. I don’t get it. Nobody seems to understand any of this shit. I mean, this is a small town. A rural area. Democrat, Republican—makes me no difference. I’m a middle-of-the-road guy. Married, go to church on Sundays, no kids. I’m a person of color. My wife is white. Never been an issue. I’m not playing the race card, either. I knew when I moved here that this was once a sundown town.”

Itch says, “Come again? A ‘sundown town’?”

Nugget says, “A town where people of color best be gone by sundown.”

“That’s bullshit,” Nugget said. “In this day and age, that mindset should be obsolete.”

Rod made a sad grin and shook his head slowly. “Preachin’ to the choir, my man. And I’ve never had any racial issues or tensions since I got here. In my opinion, ninety-nine point nine percent of the folks around here aren’t racist. I haven’t met that point one percent yet, though I’m sure they’re out there. But all the folks I know are good hardworking folks. And I don’t wear my skin color as a chip on my shoulder. Only thing that counts is values and moral fiber. Bringing up race is petty. You bring it up, then I guess you got the problem. I know my history. Where I came from, what my folks and their folks suffered through, and what they overcame and what they accomplished.”

Hunter sips his coffee, then says what his father had always told him. “This country wasn’t built on good—only fought for with good intentions. Took a lot of blood and sacrifice for what was right and just. I’m with you. Big problem for most people these days is no one knows their history or where they come from or what their ancestors struggled and fought for.”

“I agree,” says Rod. “It’s taught less and less. But enough of all that. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and praying the good Lord is looking out for me.”

Hunter says, “My father always believed that regardless of how bad things got for a good person, eventually the good would come back around to them. That the rough patches were just a test. What goes around comes around.”