“What if those people deserved it?” Sam wondered aloud.
“What could possibly make someone deserve to die?”
“Oh, I don’t know… abusing or terrorizing women?”
Miss Posey sighed and shook her head. “You have no idea how good you modern girls have it, Samantha. You women these days are so fragile. The slightest breeze and you break. You know, when I got married I nearly lost my citizenship over it and could have been deported. But you didn’t hear me moan and groan about it.”
“How on earth did you almost lose your citizenship? Did you marry a treasonous enemy?”
“Close. I married a Thai man. Back then, a woman lost her United States citizenship if she married a foreigner, since they saw it as a woman assuming the citizenship of her husband. But lo and behold, that law did not apply to citizen men who married foreign women. Yet another double standard against women.”
Obviously Miss Posey didn’t lose her US status, unless she was an illegal alien in hiding. “So what happened?”
“Luckily, shortly after we married a new law changed that—but it was touch-and-go for a while trying to duck the US Government during our honeymoon to Niagara Falls.”
“Considering what you went through, don’t you think women should be treated as equals? You sound like you think we should just suck it up and accept it.”
Miss Posey shrugged and leaned against Sam’s fence, her hair curlers slowly slipping. “I don’t know, dear. That’s a big change. Once we embrace equality in the workforce and politics and everywhere else, we lose chivalry. I liked being a homemaker and having a husband who took care of me. I don’t want that to change.”
“That’s the whole point, though. Women should get to choose that life, not be forced into it. Because of male chauvinism, I lost my job. How is that fair?”
“You weren’t fired for wearing pants, were you? Because I heard that’s illegal now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how I got fired from my first job for wearing pants.”
“Are you jive-talking me?”
“I kid you not.” Miss Posey adjusted a pink roller that bumped against her forehead. “There was an actual law that allowed employers to fire women for wearing pants. It was only maybe a decade ago when they passed a new law that forbade employers from terminations related to wearing pants… but most employers still enforce that rule.”
By now a whole row of curlers were blocking Miss Posey’s vision as she fidgeted to push them back in place.
“Anyway, welcome to womanhood, Samantha. You’re lucky to be young in this era of free love and free pants, or whatever you want to call it. Discrimination is nothing like it used to be.”
But the universe was at it again. As if to make its point, it was that exact moment when Bernadette waved from the other side of Sam’s yard carrying her daughter, another month older and a onesie size bigger, while Alonzo Jr. carried a carrot for Fido.
“I hope you don’t mind if Alonzo Jr. gives Fido a snack.”
While Bernadette fiddled with the gate lock, Miss Posey leaned over the fence with a conspiratorial whisper. “I see you’ve met the,” Miss Posey cleared her throat, “neighbors.” She shook her head woefully. “You might as well invite them to rob you, giving them full access to your property.”
By now Miss Posey’s whisper was loud enough to draw a glare from Bernadette, who hung back while Alonzo Jr. climbed on Fido’s bare back. Fido, happy to have a rider, lifted his head high and his tail even higher as he pranced around the yard while Alonzo Jr. gripped his mane like a rodeo master.
“You really should be careful hanging around them. The neighborhood is liable to find out.”
Sam propped her hands on her hips. “I thought you just said discrimination isn’t what it used to be, Miss Posey.”
“Well… sometimes it’s warranted, Samantha.”
“On what basis?”
Miss Posey gasped. “On the basis of them…”
“Having more melanin than you?” Sam stepped back angrily, tired of the nonsense that made people do nonsensical things. “Or do they deserve it because they enjoy soul food? Or have an afro? Or enjoy the music of Roberta Flack?”
“Hey there, I enjoy ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ as much as anyone else.”
“Then why did half the neighborhood disappear when a Black family moved in?”
By now Sam’s face was pink with indignation and Miss Posey’s face was pink with humiliation.
“Honestly…” Miss Posey hesitated, then stuttered, “I really don’t know.”
“Shame on you all for making Bernadette Breedlove and her family feel unwelcome! You’re no better than men like Thomas Cook who use their power to hold back women.”
The name rang a bell as Miss Posey grabbed Sam’s wrist. “Did you say Breedlove?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Remember the story I told you about the policeman who saved me when I almost died in that horrific accident that almost cost me my fur coat?”
“Yes, I recall the story of when your tire blew.”
“Strange. That was the name printed on his uniform name tag: Breedlove.”
By now Bernadette was determined to confront the leader of the gang that was making her family’s life a living hell. If she couldn’t set this woman straight, maybe she could at least ask for a cease-fire.
“Hi, I’m Bernadette Breedlove.” Bernadette extended her hand coolly as a peace offering, which Miss Posey hesitantly shook. “And they boy riding the pony is my son Alonzo Jr.”
