They were both eager that evening to go to the performance. B.B. King himself was in town, and he was going to be sharing the concert with Koko. So, it was THE ticket in Memphis that night. By the time that Jax and Dara got to the club, an hour before the concert, there was already a line stretched down the block, waiting for the doors to open. As Jax and Dara stepped in line, they were met with subtle and not so subtle stares.

“ So, are you ready Ms. Jensen?”

“ Yes. This should be fun. “

Dara noticed the stares by a couple of guys, near them, in particular. They weren’t in line for the concert. They were just observing the crowd. And, she didn’t like it.

One of them spoke up. “ You know Tom, things are sure different around here.”

“ What do you mean?”

“ There was a time, when folks could come to a concert, and just get right in. They didn’t have to worry about ‘certain people’ coming in.”

“ You don’t say.”

” I don’t say. And, they certainly never had to worry about being completely insulted by the likes of this.”

” What do you mean this?”

” Well, standing around and acting like a Ni #$er B@##h was good enough to be treated above what she is.”

” And, what’s that? “

“ Well, you know. They’re good enough to lay down with, because, that’s all they’re good for. But, if you go around treating them like ladies, well, they get ideas in their head.”

“ Yeah. Like they can do anything other than serve.”

During this time, Jax is becoming more livid.

” Jax. Please. Let’s go. NOW!”, Dara pleads.

Jax turns to leave, when they guy grabs his arm.

“ Hey, buddy, tell me, how good is she, in the sack? I bet she really sets your world on fire.”

“ Get your bloody hand off me.”

” Bloody hand? Oh, man, we’ve got ourselves a foreigner here. No wonder he’s bringing the dark one out and about. He doesn’t know any better. You see boy , down here, THIS sort of thing just doesn’t happen.”

“ What? Two people who enjoy each other’s company don’t go to a concert?”

” We just don’t mix. Our kind and their kind.”

“ And, what is your kind? Idiot savants?”

“Jax, please, let’s just leave.”

“ Better listen to the Ni@#er. She knows what she’s talking about. She knows her place.”

” And what place would that be?”, Jax asks.

“ Well, out of my way. At least, you’ve got her in the only place a colored woman is best: PRONE. So, is she a B#$@ch in heat, or what? I’ve been with a couple of whores like her. Does she..”

At this point, Jax decks the guy. His friend jumps Jax, and the three of them begin to fight. Dara tries to jump in, but is knocked down. This continues, until the police come and take all three men in the car. Dara follows the police in the cab to the station. Once there, Jax and the other men are taken down to holding, and Dara spends the better part of an hour trying to get some answers.

“ Excuse me”, Dara says to the officer at the desk. “ Will you PLEASE tell me what is happening down there with those gentlemen. Particularly , Mr. Jacks.”

“ Sorry, Ma’am. Can’t let out  that information to anyone other than an attorney.”

” I AM AN ATTORNEY!”, Dara barks at the man. At this point, a Black Officer comes over to the desk. “ May I help you?”

” Yes. My name is Dara Jensen. I have a client that I believe is in your custody. His name is Jasper Jacks. I would like to see him, and know what the charges are against him.”

The officer looks on his list. “ Ah, yes, Jasper Jacks. Well, he’s been charged with being a public nuisance.”

“ So, when can he make bail.”

” Not until the morning. So, come back then.”

“ May I see him?”

“ Sorry. Not until the morning.”

“ Fine. I will be here at dawn.”

Dara takes a cab back to the hotel. She realizes once she gets there, that she doesn’t have a key. She had left hers in the room, because Jax had one. She goes up to the desk and asks, “ May I have the key to Room 845?”

“ I’m sorry. Do you have any identification?”, the clerk inquired.

Dara looked into her purse and realized that she had left her wallet upstairs.

“ No, I don’t. I am staying in Room 845 with Jasper Jacks. The name is Dara Jensen. It should be in your computer.”

The clerk checks the computer. “ Sorry, no one with that name is registered in the room with Jasper Jacks.”

“ I AM in the room. Now, give me a key. You can go upstairs with me, and check out my identification once we get to the room.”

” Sorry, Miss. I can’t do that.”

” WHY NOT? You didn’t ask the previous two people in line for identification when THEY asked for their keys. WHY did you ask me? Do you have the guts to say it?”

” There’s no need for you to take that tone with me.”

” I’ll take any tone I please. Get your Manager out here NOW.”

” Our Manager is gone for the evening. So, you’ll have to deal with me. And, I say that you don’t belong here. So, if you won’t leave, I’ll have you escorted out by Security.”

Just then, Dara heard a familiar voice. “ Ms. Jensen?”

Dara turns around to see Cletus. “ Cletus. Am I glad to see you.”

” Is there a problem?”

” Yes. THIS woman won’t let me up to my room.”

” Betty, is there a problem here?”

” Yes. She has NO identification, and she’s not on the computer, and she wants a key.”

” To Room 845, right?”

Bette hesitantly, “ Right.”

“ Well, that’s Ms. Jensen’s room. She’s staying there, with Ms. Jacks. So, why don’t you give my friend here, the key to her room?”

Bette studies Dara and Cletus for a moment. Then, she gives the key to Dara. “ You should keep up with your key, from now on.”

” Oh, make no mistake, I WILL.”

“ Thank you Bette.” Dara and Cletus walk towards the elevator.

“ Thank you Cletus.”

“ It’s my pleasure, Ms. Jensen.”

“ What are you doing at the hotel this late at night?”

” Oh, me and the wife just finished the Koko Taylor concert, and I had something that I had to pick up in the office. The wife’s waiting for me in the car.”

” Oh, I’m sorry. Please go. And Cletus?”

“ Yes, Ms. Jensen?”

” Thank you, for everything.”

“ You’re quite welcome.”

Dara makes it back up to the room. Once there, she packs up both hers and Jax’s belongings, leaving out one outfit for both of them. She looks in Jax’s appointment book, and calls the pilot to inform them that they will be leaving as soon as possible in the morning.

She then takes a long, hot shower and begins to cry. She falls asleep in the bed, within minutes, with nothing but a towel on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Dara promised, she was there, at dawn. No one pressed charges, so, Jax wasn’t charged and he was promptly released. They drove back to the hotel, he showered and changed into the clothes Dara had laid out for him. Dara said nothing to him. She went over, to his wallet, and pulled out a wad of cash, and placed it in an envelope with Cletus’ name on it. Jax could tell that Dara was upset, yet he also knew that her only objective was to get out of Memphis as quickly as possible. They gathered their belongings and went downstairs.

Jax got the bags into the limo when Dara said, “ I’ll be right back.” Dara went and found Cletus in his office. “ Hi Cletus.”

” Ms. Jensen. How are you?”

“ Fine. Well, we’re going, and I just wanted to give this to you. As a token of all you did during our stay here. Goodbye.”

” Bye, Ms. Jensen. It was a pleasure.” Dara leaves and closes the door. Cletus opens the wallet, astonished. He counts the money, and there is over $ 4,000 in it. “ Thank you very much, Ms. Jensen.”, he says, smiling.

Jax and Dara board the plane. They have been in flight for a few minutes when Jax finally speaks up.

“ Dara, what is wrong?”

” You can dare ask me that?”

” Yes, I will.”

“ Don’t you know what’s wrong?”

” Quite frankly, no. All I know is that some idiots insulted you, and I defended you.”

” WHO said I needed defending?”

“ Well, why not? You didn’t seem to want to defend yourself. Which is so unlike you, Dara.”

” How in the HELL would YOU know what is like, and what isn’t like me. You treated me like a child last night.”

“ I thought I was treating you like a woman. That I was defending the honor of the woman I love.”

” But, it was stupid and unnecessary.”

“ How could I just stand around and let them insult you like that? “

“ You didn’t have to stand around. You could have just walked away.”

” Walked away? And, why would I do that? Dara, what’s wrong with you?”

” Wrong with me? No, Jax. What’s wrong with you. Tell me Jax, how long have you been Black?”

” What? What nonsense is this?”

” This isn’t nonsense Jax. You completely dismiss me and MY assessment of this situation. I asked you to leave it alone. More than once. I know the score with guys like that. I’ve been dealing with them my whole life.”

” And, has your life’s strategy to tuck your tail between your legs and run?”

” Watch it. You have NO idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

“ Don’t I? These men are viciously insulting you, and your instinct is to run. I thought that the point of the museum yesterday was to teach you to stand up and fight.”

“ No, Jax. The point of the museum, asides from that point, was also to point out that you pick and choose your battles. Are you so naive that you think that’s the first time that something like that happened to me?”

“ No.”

” Well, your attitude says something else.”

” My attitude?”

” Yes. This, ‘I know better, and why don’t you stand up for yourself’ line. It’s condescending as all hell. Like I don’t know what it takes to be Black in America.”

“ Dara, what has this to do with being Black? Besides the obvious. This is a universal lesson about standing up for oneself.”

“ No, Jax, it has EVERYTHING about being Black in America. Surviving Jax. Knowing when to let go. Knowing when to not to. Picking and choosing your battles. Yet, knowing that every insult completely degrades you, no matter how strong the pride. On this entire trip, I’ve been dodging bullets.”

” Such as?”

“ Such as the clerk, who calls you Mr. Jacks, but feels Ok to disrespect me and call me by my first name. Or that we were left sitting there in that Lobby Bar. How about having to eat in a place called the ‘Plantation Grill’. Then, last night....”

“ What about last night.”

” I had forgotten my key and wallet upstairs. I see three White people, go before me, ask for their keys, and no questions asked. I get up there, and I have to show identification. The  woman was going to have me thrown out, if Cletus hadn ‘t showed up. “

” I didn’t know.”

“ No. You didn’t know, because you were to busy playing Macho Man, to see the big picture. What do you see Jax, when you look at me?”

” What do I see? I see a beautiful woman, Dara? What else am I supposed to see.”

” Jax, I’m Black.”

” I don’t see that.”

Dara sighs. “ Then, you don’t see me at all. What do you want from me, Jax? Were those idiots right? Is all you see from me, is a few tumbles in the hay?”

“ Don’t say that?”

” Why not? Do you see us together? Or, have I been completely in a delusional state that we have any chance at a future and the real thing? Because, I would include children in that. Children that would come from  a Black Mother, Jax. The minute you became involved with me, you crossed the color line. Maybe someone should have sat down with you and explained the consequences of that. You HAVE to see that I’m Black, and all the connotations and context that it means. Without it, Jax, you live in a world where illusions may be able to suffice it for you, but, for me, they are just plain dangerous. I can’t afford them. I pick and choose my battles, because, if I sat around and fought every ignorant instance that came my way, I’d have high blood pressure and would already be a candidate for a stroke. It’s the survival instinct. Maybe this trip was for the best. I finally am back to reality. It was nice while it lasted.”

” What are you saying?”

” That it was a great ride. And, totally fun. But, I think it’s obvious that we’ve come as far as we can go. So, I won’t bother you anymore when we get home, and hope that you will reciprocate.”

“ You can’t be serious.”

“ Completely.”

“ Fine.”

Jax and Dara rode the rest of the way in complete silence. He dropped her off at her apartment. He took her to the door and took her stuff in. He left her apartment without saying a word. Dara went to the window and watched as his car drove away. She then gathered her purse and went down into the garage and got in her car. She drove for several hours until she arrived at her destination. She took out her key and opened the door. She walked into the living room.

“ Dara?”, her Mother asked.

“ Sugarplum, what are you doing here?”, Dara’s father asked.

Dara said nothing, but turned and went upstairs to the bedroom that had been hers, since she was a child. She sat on it, in her coat, not really moving. After only a few minutes, Dara’s Mother came in quietly and sat next to her.

“ Dara honey, what’s wrong?”

Dara turns to her Mother, and bursts into tears, placing her head to her Mother’s busom.

” That’s alright, honey......Mama’s here.”

Dara and her Mother sat on the bed for a long time, while her Mother rocked her , in her arms.