Iron Balloons by Channer Colin

Author:Channer, Colin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2012-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

ALL AH WE IS ONE

by Elizabeth Nunez

On a steaming hot day on a Caribbean island that shall not be named, an African American couple, Joseph and Anita Streeter, a husband and wife in their forties, walked into the Paradise Country Club with their teenage daughter, Linda. They paused briefly at the reception desk, but finding no one there, headed straight for the changing rooms next to the swimming pool. Ten minutes later they emerged.

Joseph, his black skin gleaming in the brilliant sun, was wearing light blue swimming trunks, his wife, whose skin was not much lighter, had on a red halter-top bathing suit, and his daughter, neither as dark as her father nor as light as her mother, her hair in braids to her shoulders, wore a white bikini that showed off her perky bosom, slim hips, and long, shapely legs. Joseph climbed the steps to the diving board, and looking to his right and left, apparently to make certain no one was in his way, bounced twice on the board and dove into the water, barely making a splash. His wife and his daughter, who were standing at the edge of the pool looking at him, applauded.

“That was fantastic, Joseph,” Anita said when he surfaced.

“Your turn,” Joseph countered.

Anita climbed the ladder. When she reached the top, she turned her head to the right and to the left as Joseph had done, and noticed something extraordinary. The pool, which minutes before was crowded when she, her husband, and her daughter had arrived, was now completely empty.

Moira McShine, who was lying on a plastic chaise under the shade of an umbrella, as her mother had advised her, since her skin tended to tan faster and darker than her lighter-skinned friends, had witnessed the retreat from the pool. She had not seen when Joseph Streeter dove into the water, but she was aroused from her daydream by Mrs. Forester’s querulous voice as she passed in front of her, dragging her two protesting children: “A big black man like that! He doesn’t care who’s in his way. He just dived in. Didn’t care if the children were there. He could have killed them. That’s why we don’t want their kind here. Why we have rules.”

Moira sat up in time to see Anita Streeter poised on the diving board. Below her, mothers and fathers clapped their hands and called to their children to come out of the pool. Barbara and Helen, Moira’s best friends, who had invited her to join them at the Paradise Country Club, were sitting at the edge of the pool dangling their feet in the water. When Mrs. Streeter dove in, they got up, wrapped their towels around their waists, and walked toward Moira.

“You see that?” Barbara said, and rolled her eyes.

“What?” Moira asked, genuinely puzzled.

“That big black woman. They always spoil everything.”

And the Streeters did spoil everything. Children were whimpering petulantly, some shrieking, as parents pulled them to the changing rooms. Sunbathers grumbled as they slipped on dresses, pants,

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