“You sure have a lot of pictures of Nevaeh in here,” he said, smiling in admiration.
“Yeah, I live for that little girl.”
“Who are those people?” he probed, nodding towards pictures of my family.
“That’s my mom and dad,” I said, pointing to a picture of them that was taken before he was killed. “And those are my brothers,” I picked up their picture. “This is my oldest brother Tony and these are my two younger brothers, Jason, and Terrance.”
“Where do they live?”
“My mom lives in Lemay with my baby brother Terrance, and my other two brothers live in South County.”
“Why does your mom live with your brother? Where’s your dad?”
“That was one of the things I’ve wanted to talk to you about,” I said looking at my coffee mug. “My family doesn’t like white people. My dad was killed by a crooked white cop.”
“That’s terrible. What happened?”
I looked at him for a moment as I tried to gather my emotions to form the right words. It was so tragic even though it had been a little over 10 years since the accident.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. I understand.”
“No, it’s okay,” I said looking at my late father’s picture. “I guess it was more of a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some guy, close to my dad’s age, had robbed a convenience store. The police were on a look-out for a subject wearing dark jeans and a gray hoodie.”
“Let me guess, your dad was wearing something similar?” he interrupted.
I nodded. “Yeah, and he was in the general vicinity where the crime occurred. As he was walking down the street, the cops tried to stop him. Obviously, he resisted because he didn’t know what was going on. That’s when things got nasty,” I stopped. I had to try to collect myself before I could continue.
“I do not like the sound of this story,” Dale said.
“When he resisted, the police automatically assumed he was the perp they were looking for. My dad tried reaching for his wallet, to show his ID to prove who he was and that’s when the cop emptied his 9mm into my father,” I began to sob.
“Jesus fucking Christ! I remember that story. It made national headlines. Kimberly, I’m so sorry,” he said sympathetically.
“My pops never made it home that night. I can still remember my mom calling everyone to see if anyone had seen him. We didn’t know what happened to him until the next afternoon. They waited a whole fucking day to call our family.”
“Is that why you didn’t want me coming over? Because your family hates white people because of what happened to your dad?”
“Yeah. I’ve never been a racist person, but my family became very prejudiced since the incident. If they knew that you were here, my brothers would come stomp a hole in your ass.”
“What if I talked to them? Let them see I’m not an evil white guy?”
“That won’t work, Dale. They won’t see it like that.” I didn’t want to say what came out next, but I figured it was the only decent thing to do. “If you don’t wish to continue a relationship with me, I understand. I’m not even sure it’ll work.”
“Kimberly,” he cupped my chin in his large hands. “I will never give up on you. You have no idea what kind of effect you have on me.”
“You’re so sweet,” I replied as a tear ran down my cheek.
“Kimberly, I’m so sorry that you suffered through that. I can’t even imagine.” Dale said at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Yep, it sucks. My mom is an incredible woman. She’s always had my back, stood up for me and has helped me in any way she could. I’m just not sure that she’ll be so accepting of you.”
“At least you have good memories of your dad. No one will ever be able to take those away from you. I bet I could work my charm on your mom, and your brothers.”
“Yeah,” Kimberly agreed, looking at the stand with her parent’s pictures on it.
“Since my dad’s death, my mom’s been bitter. You can tell she’s sad and lonely. I think the only time she smiles is when she sees Nevaeh or my nephew Marcus. She loves her grandbabies,” I smiled.
“Wow, Kimberly. You’ve gone through so much, no wonder you’re such a strong woman. I admire you.” He sipped his coffee for a moment, “I bet your dad watches you from heaven and sees what an outstanding mother you’ve become. I’m sure he’s proud.”