Chapter 6 - Alvin and the Chipmunks - Part 2

Emotions rushed inside me catching me off guard. My memories drifted back to the time I felt ashamed of being black. I was 9 years old when Allen revealed that I was black and the town folk hated people with my skin. It came as a shock and I took it as good as any other kid in my neighborhood did.

I noticed lot more details. Vivid images of people like me slouching and refusing to make eye contact until the other party acknowledged. Things like, sir, mister and pardon us became trigger words for my hatred. I hated calling anyone sir or pardon me for something I didn’t do. It just didn’t make sense.

Arguments with papa and mama got me nowhere and I still had to attend school from Monday like none of this ever happened or everything is normal.

He had wallowed away the weekends with his new found wisdom that ‘He was black’. He was not ready to face his class the next day. It would be a shame. What would the kids say? What was he supposed to say to them? Nothing came out of racking his brains. At least he had Mr.Anderson with him. Hoping everything would work out by itself, he melted away in his quilt crying himself to sleep.

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School was the same. Nothing changed. No one seemed to bother he was black. They acted just as they did before he knew he was black and was different. May be they all knew and acted the same anyway.

Alvin was able to segregate the behaviors of his peers, teachers and even the school guard, all too timid to say black people didn’t deserve even their attention. The disparity grew more in class. He was just figuring out that the black students sat far away from the black board and the others were at the front of the class. Only exception was Allen and that was because Kidd forced him to sit here in the hopes of insulting Allen. Being black or being with black people was not an insult. Alvin had to prove it somehow, but he was not sure how.

“You are frowning too much. Was the class difficult to understand?” [Allen]

Allen asked Alvin about his class. Was he deliberately mocking him for being a slow learner? Why was Allen able to understand everything so easily?

“No. I am just thinking about …. “, he can’t be openly saying ‘how to make people treat black people normal’. So he continued, “..stuff. You know and maths. Yes, Math is tough”. He was not lying anyway. Math was really tough for him.

“It’s ok. If you practise hard enough, it will come to you” [Allen]

That’s all he said and he continued with a different book. This time, it was on some history. War of babylon or something like that. May be I can ask him about my problem. He is smart, he would probably help me. Probably.

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“Hi Allen. Hi Alvin. I heard what happened to you last friday. Are you alright?”, Olivia asked with care and concern. I heard my papa and mama talk to their friends. They might have finally realised I know who I am now.

“Yeah, my mom said you fainted. Are you alright?” [Andy]

Andy is sweet on olivia. He didn’t want to feel left out and followed in our conversation.

“Yeah guys, I am alright. Thanks for your concern” [Alvin]

Our conversations ended with exchanging pleasantries and none of spoke about how black we were. My mind was still racing looking at the situation now. We black kids were under scorching sun most of the year while the other kids enjoyed their lunch in shade. To add salt to the insult, Kidd took our jellies or milk or whatever he wanted that day. He even had more bullies with him to beat the crap out of anyone who dared to cross him.

“Alvin is fine guys. He only had a panic attack after finally realising he was black. Nothing was physically wrong with him “[Allen]

Allen can be a heartless jerk. He just threw the B bomb and continued as if our shocks and exasperations didn’t matter at all. Allen ignored everyone’s gawking and proceeded with his lunch.

“Allen, I think you should restrain from saying such things. I don’t want to get into trouble” [Alvin]. Yeah, the least I want now is to get into trouble especially because of a white kid. Everyone would just blame it on me and I would be the one getting dismissed. Papa and mama work so hard to keep me in this school. I am not letting this stupid bastard screw it for me.

“It’s ok. The politically correct term is African-American. You are all american and I doubt you even know where Africa is. Being black is not a crime. You simply have more pigment cells that fight UV rays than we have. If sun scorched the earth, you people will survive and I would either be hiding from the sun or died long ago due to cancer” [Allen]

Is this guy even a kid like us? How does he know all this stuff? UV rays? What are those? He said something about sun. Is that why Kidd puts us here? Because the other kids will die in sun?

“What are UV rays?”, Andy asked curiously.

“UV rays are sun rays with harmful properties to human. Did we not study this in our science? You were probably sleeping in the class”, Olivia with her smart remarks.

“True. UV rays are ultraviolet rays, one of the sun light spectrum. They are very harmful to all life on earth” [Allen]

“If that is true, why are all those kids fine? I seen them play in the ground after lunch”, some black kid, i guess his name was Justin answered.

“Earth has an atmosphere filled with gases and a layer of ozone to protect us from most of the sun radiation. Earth’s magnetic field also deflects lot of radiation from space. Some UV rays still pass through all our defenses and enter into our planet. Human skin has internal protection against UV rays due to our pigmentation. The darker you are, the higher your resistance against UV “, Allen answered in one breath and continued eating all the while glancing at his big book.

Everyone ate in silence not understanding any of what allen mentioned. To be honest, even Olivia didn’t understand most of it, which means he read it somewhere and this is not taught in our class.

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“Should I talk to Allen about it Mr.Anderson” [Alvin]

“He might help you alvin. He is your friend after all” [Alvin voicing for Mr.Anderson]

“You are right Mr.Anderson. He is my friend. Friends do help each other. Thank you Mr.Anderson, you are the best” [Alvin]

“I know. Alright Alvin, time to sleep. Full sleep for a fresh start” [Alvin voicing for Mr.Anderson]

I slept holding Mr.Anderson to my chest and slept. No dreams today.

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“Allen, I have something to talk to you. Do you have some time after Lunch?” [Alvin]

“Sure. I want to check out a book at the library. Its quiet. We can talk there” [Allen]

He might seem aloof and quiet. He however understands everything thats going on around him. He even felt that I needed to talk to him in private and suggested a meeting place. It was the right choice coming to him.

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We didn’t actually get to talk after lunch. Allen did something stupid and Kidd beat the shit out of him. Allen’s clothes were dirtied and he had to wash himself. All the other kids were simply ignoring what Kidd did. Kidd’s dad is the sheriff of the town. None of the town folk wanted to antagonize him. So they left Kidd to his activities, which more than often involved beating some poor kid.

After school ended, Allen and I decided to meet and talk in the library. Neither of us had anywhere important to go and the staff was more than happy to show us to the ‘black-people-read-here’ area.

I watched Allen stumble carrying some big book which was different from the one he was reading. Did he finish the book or just got fed up that he couldn’t understand it? Not sure which, but my instincts tell me that he moved on.

“Allen, do you despise me?”. I didn’t have any subtlety and blurted out my thoughts.

“No. Why would you think that?”, Allen answered without peeling his eyes from the book.

He is allen after all. Common sense & subtlety don’t apply to him.

“Kidd despises us. Not just me, but all black. Do you also do?” [Alvin]

“No. Like I said, you are darker because you have higher resistance to UV. I don’t. If anything I should be jealous” [Allen]

Little shit, saying he wanted to be black. Which part of me makes him jealous? He didn’t harbor any negative feelings. He genuinely didn’t care about my color.

“Do you think I can be like you? Like other kids? And get treated normal.” [Alvin]

“No. That is not possible. Because you are not like other kids. You are different” [Allen]

A dry lump formed around my throat and I gasped at my own stupidity for confiding my worries to Allen out of all the people.

“Why do you say that? How am I inferior to them?”, stupid pride of a 9 year black kid.

“Nothing. You are not inferior. You are just different. Everyone is.” [Allen]

Stupid bastard, at least answer clearly and give me a glance instead of looking at that stupid book.

“Allen, I am serious. Can you explain to me what you mean by that? I am not smart and I don’t understand what you meant”. There, I said it. Now spare me a little of your time.

Allen looked at me with disbelief and said, “You are plenty smart. I have seen how you react to situations. You are aware of everything that happens around you. Every one of us is different fundamentally due to our upbringing, thoughts and actions. We behave different. It makes no sense to call anyone different just based on color of their skin. Although, it might be a factor. For example, black people, correction, african-american people are inherently more talented in sports. Their body is molded to perform athletic activities at a level far higher than people of any other color”

May be because he saw my dumb expression or he genuinely felt pity at me, Allen continued, “What I am trying to say is, if you want to be like them, be like them. Nothing is stopping you. You can be whatever or whoever you want to be. You just need to put your effort towards that goal. Don’t feel down because you realised you were different. I knew it before, I know it know. It doesn’t change the way I look at you. You are still the slow-learner kid who is bad at math. People’s perception changes with how we act, not with how we look. True you may have made an impression at first, but your actions will change their minds. What else did you want to talk about? I got this book to finish this week.”

Is this what they call clarity? Mama and papa, I think I am in love with this kid. Mr.Anderson, I found us a new best buddy. You will like him. He may be quiet and rude, but he is my best friend. At least I hope.

“Do you want to be friends with me?”, I mustered myself to utter those words. My snot nose and teary eyes might repulse him, but I don’t care. I am Alvin Payne, son of Darvin Payne and Leila Payne. I am black and I am proud. I will do what I want to and no one can say otherwise.

“Ofcourse. We are best friends”, Allen took my hands, spared a glance and gave me a tissue.

I wish I was born a girl, I could have married him and be merry. The jerk, making me cry and giving me a tissue. I hope he stays friends with me forever.

“So, what are you reading? Can you show it to me?”, if he can understand it, may be I can too.

“It’s a book on astrophysics. Um, Star alignment. This book is called Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku. It’s about the tenth dimension and a scientific journey through it ……….”

Everything else blurred out as he became this shiny knight rambling over his conquests. Why can’t he just read books on sheep and dragons? They are always fun.

……………..

Camille came about for the second time after her abrupt fainting the first time. Her eyes wandered around the store before falling on me, searching for something or someone. Mostly Allen. Her one true love.

“Easy there tiger. You fainted from shock are in and out of consciousness. You are lucky to have no bruises. If you weren’t wearing that thing Allen gave you, your ribs might have shattered on impact. No external injuries, but we don’t know if you have any internal injuries”, I pointed towards the door and continued, “Allen went to help people and bring us some medical supplies”

We three are together and that is enough for me. For now.