Copyright © 2008-2020 Rae White
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BROOKLYN, NY - June 5th, 2014
One should be so blessed to reach such a ripe old age and be so content. Such is the close of Nathan's life.
There are aches and pains of course and frequent trips to the bathroom. Patience is a necessity, as movement is a slow careful process.
Still, all things being equal, he has lived a life rich in courage, friendship, and love.
The things he has witnessed and lived through...
They have not just changed his life but the lives of every man, woman, and child in this country.
It astounds him.
Young people these days have no idea. So much of what they now have is taken for granted.
As he thinks on this, he dry swallows his nightly pill with a cough, and the elderly woman laying beside him scrunches her face and sighs, involuntarily drawing the covers under her chin.
Nathan lay a weathered hand atop her own and she grips slightly before relaxing, the audible drawing of breath indicating that she is deeply asleep, once more.
He reaches across to the night-stand, where a small rectangular electronic reader sits. It alights, softly illuminating the title of the work currently onscreen, In the Arms of Equity.
He smiles, as feelings of pride and heavy nostalgia take over his being and he begins to read the words upon the screen.
The memories are so clear he can smell the fall leaves, feel them crunch beneath his feet, hear the young voices chattering while The Platters sing on a transistor radio.
He has lived and loved well and the text on the screen is a written account of just how that happened. She had previously written two modest bestsellers, which supplements their retirement and garners the occasional fluff piece interview from a reporter or two, when February, the anniversary of Brown, or MLK's birthday rolls around.
This one, however, was to be her most personal book.
He chuckles to himself as he thinks of Dickens' famous words, so apt for what he's feeling for his past as a naive young boy on the precipice of life-altering events...
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
YOU ARE READING
ASHWOOD ACADEMY
Historical Fiction[EDITORS' CHOICE, June 2020][#1 History June 2020] -- Five black students make history as the first to integrate a prestigious school for gifted students in 1950's Vermont. One student, Anita Prescott, is a young girl whose strength and leadership...
