Chapter 1 #2
Devon entered the kitchen for breakfast and nodded good morning at his sixteen-year-old brother Amari already seated at the table.
Their parents Lily and Trent were slow dancing by the stove again, and Devon cringed with embarrassment.
The tune was an old-school one. “Reunited,” by Peaches & Herb.
He knew the title because they danced to the song a lot.
Back in the day, they’d been high school sweethearts.
When they graduated, she went away to college and broke his heart.
During Devon and Amari’s first summer in Henry Adams, the two reunited, buried the drama, and got married.
Thus, the song. Devon knew they loved each other but wanted them to act like normal parents.
When he had kids, no way would he be dancing with one arm around his wife’s waist while holding a long fork in his free hand to tend to the sausages in the skillet on the stove.
“Eww,” Devon called out to announce his entrance.
His brother rolled his eyes. “Quit hating.”
The dancers turned and smiled. “Good morning, Devon.”
Luckily, the song’s last notes faded away and they parted, but not before his dad placed a kiss on his mom’s forehead.
On Mondays, Dad cooked breakfast. The usual menu was eggs, grits, toast, and sausage.
He was a great cook, but his sons secretly enjoyed breakfast more when it was their mom’s turn, because that meant soft, fluffy waffles, bacon, and lots of syrup.
It was probably the only thing the two of them agreed on.
As Devon took his seat, he saw Amari disdainfully eye his wig, but he was used to the hate, so he ignored it.
Dad set the plate of sausages on the table and took his seat. “Devon, would you say grace, please?”
Devon lowered his head and offered up a short verse of thanks. After the amens were said, they helped themselves to the food.
“Anything special going on today?”
Devon looked at his mom. “The band’s rehearsing after school for the Franklin town birthday party. It’s next month, but we’re starting practice early because Zoey wants us to be perfect.”
“You all played great at the library’s talent contest last week,” his dad replied.
“But they should’ve come in first, instead of behind the Taylor Swift–singing girl, and the kid that tried to cover ‘Fast Car,’” Amari pointed out while putting salt and pepper on his scrambled eggs.
Devon agreed. “I know. Zoey was really mad.”
“She should’ve been. I think the Swiftie girl is the library director’s niece. She sang okay, but not good enough to win.”
“Thanks, Amari.”
“Anytime.”
Devon liked it when his big brother offered up praise. “I want Zoey to change our name.”
“What name?”
“The band’s name. I want us to be called Devon the Anointed and the Exodusters.”
Everyone paused.
Amari chuckled. “Excuse me, what?”
“Devon the Anointed and the Exodusters. I’m the star.”
Amari laughed.
Their mom stared Amari into silence before asking, “Have you run this by Zoey?”
Devon forked up another sausage and placed it on his plate. “Not yet. Going to do it today. It makes sense, though.”
“Why?”
“People come to hear me, so my name should be out front.”
Amari said, “Way too early in the morning for you to be drunk, Devon.”
“I’m not drunk.”
“You must be if you think Zoey’s going to change the name to that. Might as well call it Delulu Devon and the Exodusters.”
“I’m not delulu!”
“Sounds like it to me.”
“Shut up!”
“And that’s what Zoey’s going to say.”
“Time out,” their dad said. “And delulu means?”
“Delusional,” Amari replied, taking a sip of his orange juice and watching Devon with amusement.
Their mom studied Devon. “But it’s her band, honey.”
“She’s just playing the guitar.”
Amari added, “And the piano, and writes the songs, and is so good at songwriting, she writes for people who win Grammys.”
“Yeah, well. I’m going to win Grammys, too, when I get older.”
“But right now, you’re just a kid in a bad wig in Smallville.”
“Stop talking about my hair!”
“What hair? You have hair? Show me.”
“Amari,” their dad warned.
“I’m sorry, Dad. It was just lying there, I couldn’t resist.”
The angry Devon resumed eating. He hated it when Amari made fun of him, but he was certain Zoey could be convinced.
People always talked about how good he was on the stage.
Zoey and the rest of the band were more like his backups.
Without him there probably wouldn’t even be a band.
Devon looked up from his plate to see his mom’s concern, but he didn’t respond.
After school, everyone would owe him a big apology when he came home and told them Zoey agreed with his plan.
His late grandmother claimed he was anointed, and the anointed were always right.
After the ride to school with their mom, Devon and his brother entered the Marie Jefferson Academy with the rest of the arriving students, and his day immediately brightened.
He liked school. The one he’d attended down south before moving to Henry Adams had been as poor as the community it served.
There’s been no money for art classes, music, or laptops.
The teachers had been dedicated and loving but were forced to teach from old textbooks passed down from wealthier school districts, while doing their best to provide the classroom supplies struggling families could not.
The Academy didn’t have those problems. In addition to all the perks, they did dope things like having star nights where they gathered outside and used telescopes to see planets and comets.
There was also a large aquarium filled with all kinds of small, colorful fish that he and the students maintained.
Each kid was assigned a week to look after it, and this week was his.
He was proud to have earned a spot in the rotation.
Students had to be at least twelve years old and pass the class Mr. James gave on how to do all the things needed, like checking the gauges measuring the water temperature and oxygen levels.
Devon also knew when the filters needed changing, how much food to sprinkle in the water, and what to do if any fish turned up dead.
One of the final duties was to write all the gauge numbers into the aquarium’s ledger.
There was also a page for how many fish were alive each day.
When he finished all that, he took a final look through the glass at his charges, smiled, and went to his classroom.
Devon and the other kids his age were in the classroom taught by Ms. Clark.
She was new. Their old teacher, Mr. Abott, left after Christmas.
Ms. Clark was the stepmom of Tiffany Clark and her older sister Leah, who was in the class taught by Mr. James.
Amari and Amari’s best friend Preston were also in that class.
Devon and his crew would be moving to Mr. James’s room in the fall.
The first thing they did each morning was sing the Black National Anthem.
Next came the Mexican National Anthem, played on the piano by Maria Acosta.
Devon didn’t think she was very good, but he kept his mouth shut and listened politely because Zoey and the others would fuss at him if he didn’t.
He considered Zoey his best friend, and when they got older, he was sure they’d get married even though they had a sometimes rocky relationship.
She’d beaten him up twice in the past but had also helped him paint Ms. Marie’s fence that time he’d gotten in big trouble for stealing money so he could go down south and visit his grandmother’s grave.
Yet another reason why she’d say yes to changing the name of the band. She always had his back.
OVER AT THE Power Plant, Bernadine Brown sat at her desk poring over the lengthy prospectus detailing the terms of a potential partnership between Henry Adams and a data company called Dark Horse.
The group handled cybersecurity, network services, IT consulting, hacking recovery, and more in a very hush-hush way for major corporations and governments worldwide.
Bernadine had never heard of them until Mayor Sheila Payne brought the company to her attention, and according to Sheila, Dark Horse preferred it that way.
Operating under the radar allowed them to conduct business nearly anonymously, thereby protecting their clients and the firm from unwanted scrutiny.
Building a new facility in an out-of-the-way place like Henry Adams played into that anonymity as well.
Bernadine thought back on the FBI thinking along similar lines when they secretly embedded a married couple in Henry Adams as part of their witness protection plan and how well that went, but she set that debacle aside.
Partnering with Dark Horse would be her town’s first major step in its quest for growth.
Logically, she knew the move was needed.
Growth and expansion were necessary if Henry Adams wanted a future, but she didn’t have to like it.
She worried that an influx of new people would be detrimental to the town’s soul and spirit.
There was an old saying that men and babies didn’t like change. She added town owners to that.
“Morning, Bernadine.”
She looked up to see her admin, Lily Fontaine July, standing in the doorway. Lily was both a colleague and a sister of her heart. “Morning, Lil. How are you?”
“I’m good. Have you heard from the good reverend?”
The question pertained to town pastor Reverend Paula Grant, who was on a ten-day tour of Europe with her new beau, Chef Thornton Webb. “Yes, got an email earlier. They landed in Florence last night and are going to see the statue of David today. Wonder if she knows he’s seventeen feet tall?”
“I sure didn’t the first time I saw it in person. Blew me away.”
“Me too. I’m so glad she agreed to go with Thorn, though.”