The Emerald Virus

by Patrick Shea

  While this was happening Maiya had dropped the empty clip and slammed a new one home. She now fired again and George saw this shot hit the driver in the side of the chest. George didn’t think the driver could have survived this hit.

  George quickly dropped the barrel and fired at the back tire of the car. That tire was about five yards from the back of their pickup and like the other tires, was smoking badly. George’s last shot decimated the tire and the wheel dug into pavement slowing the back of the car down and allowing the front of the car to swing towards the pickup. The front bumper of the car brushed the back bumper of the pickup as it whipped to the right and spun out of control, off the road and into the ditch, where it landed hard, front first against the far side of the ditch.

  And as fast as it started it was over. Andy was hopping up and down in his seat and banging his fist on the steering wheel; Maiya started crying and threw herself at George who held her tightly as he fought to get his own shaking under control. As he held her he took the hand gun from her and made sure the safety was on.

  Finally Maiya reached out with her left hand and grabbed Andy’s shoulder from behind and started saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” over and over again.

  George rocked her back and forth and said, “Maiya, Maiya, slow down, what in the world are you sorry for, you didn’t do anything wrong. In fact you were perfect through this whole thing. We couldn’t have survived without you working with us.”

  “No! If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have been attacked. I almost got you killed.”

  George had to interrupt Andy to say, “No, you’re wrong. This wasn’t your fault; you had nothing to do with this. What we said earlier just wasn’t true. These weren’t kids looking for trouble, the two I saw clearly were in the mid or late thirties, and they had the virus. Their faces were splotchy. They were mad at the world and wanted to hurt someone, anyone. I’d bet money we weren’t the first ones they fired on today, and all we did was defend ourselves. You didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t do anything wrong. The world just went crazy on us.”

  Andy said, “Maiya, you were great. I’m glad I was driving because I couldn’t do as well as you did. You shouldn’t feel guilty, what George said was right, you should feel proud of yourself.”

  Maiya leaned back a little and said, “You guys are great. All I could think of was that it was my fault and you would hate me. I can’t believe it’s over. I was so scared and so excited and now I can’t stop crying, or talking. I’m so glad I’m with the two of you. If I was by myself I would be dead by now.”

  They drove quietly for a few minutes and George told Maiya to crawl over the front seat and he then followed her. He told her that after what the three of them had just been through he didn’t want any of them sitting alone. George sat on the passenger side with his arm around Maiya and she held Andy’s right hand as tight as she could. After they had calmed down they came to an exit with a truck stop and Andy said, “I don’t know about you two but I need to stretch my legs and go to the bathroom, and we should get gas if this place is open.”

  George replied, “I agree, but let’s get in and out as fast as we can, were still too close to that car back there.”

  As they pulled into the truck stop Maiya said, “There’s a police car over there with people around it. Should we report what happened?”

  George said, “No, let’s not do that. We could end up being here for a long time if we file a report, and I don’t see anything to be gained by talking to the police. In a couple of weeks this will all be meaningless anyway. Andy, how do you feel?”

  “I agree. Let’s not ask for trouble, all we did was defend ourselves.”

  Maiya said, “Okay, we all agree on that. George, it’s your turn to pump the gas. If I can stop shaking and if I can walk I’m going to the bathroom.”

  The pump was still taking credit cards, which George thought was strange, but he started the nozzle and joined the crowd by the police cruiser. George whispered to one of the crowd and asked what was going on. The man told him that a couple of cars had been fired on by a black car on an overpass and they wanted the police to go and arrest whoever was doing the shooting. George thanked the man and quietly walked back towards his car.

  One man from the group walked back with him. The man said he was a trucker and had been listening to truckers talk on the CB radio about the shootings. He had just heard that the black car had been in a shootout with a pickup truck and the car had crashed hard. The trucker didn’t offer any information about the occupants of the car.

  George said, “Thanks for the information, but I was just curious. I think we’ll get back on the road now.”

  The trucker looked at George and said, “Word on the road is that the shootout was between that car and a pickup truck that looks a lot like that one over there.” He smiled as he said, “Glad you don’t know anything about it, although it seems the folks in the pickup did us all a favor. Good luck on the rest of your trip.”

  George said, “Thanks” as he arrived at the pickup. When the gas finished pumping, and Andy and Maiya returned, George took time to visit the bathroom and then took over the driving. Maiya started to get in the back and Andy said, “No you don’t, you get in the front with George, that’s where you belong.

  Maiya smiled but didn’t say anything as she climbed in the front seat.

  George described his talk with the trucker and then said, “Also, I’m going to drive a little slower, maybe 75 or so. I think if we’re careful we won’t have to stop for gas until we get to Dallas. I think the fewer stops we make the better off we’ll be. I’m glad that trucker spoke up, it sounds like we probably saved not only our own lives but some others as well.”

  Maiya replied, “That’s a relief I guess. George do you think we killed anyone?”

  “I don’t think you did, I think I saw all of your hits and I didn’t see any wounds. I know I hit one of the passengers and maybe the driver but I have no idea how badly anyone was injured. One of the guys in the backseat shot one of his friends. I think that guy is dead for sure; there was a lot of blood.” While George felt a little bad about lying to Maiya he felt under the circumstances it was best. George thought she had enough to worry about in the short time any of them had left. He was also pretty sure she would disagree with him.

  George was driving in the center lane a couple of minutes later when an eighteen wheeler passed them on the right. As the truck drew even with them he recognized the trucker as the one he had talked with at the truck stop. The trucker blasted the air horn, gave them a thumbs up, smiled and drove on.

  Chapter 3

  Chapter Eleven: The Road Trip Continues

  Thursday evening: Dallas, Texas

  George, Maiya and Andy drove in silence for a while and Maiya couldn’t help but think how unfair life was. She finally met someone she really liked, from a good family, and it was too late.

  She thought George was amazing. Last night all he did was hold her and talk with her. She was pleased that he knew that was all she needed. Then today he had fought for her and had done so in a way she had never envisioned. She knew he had fought for himself and his brother as well, but that was negated by the fact that he had wanted to drive her to Dallas in case something like this happened. He wanted to be there for her. As the trip continued she realized that she was rapidly falling in love with him, and she didn’t know what to do about it. She thought again that life was being particularly unfair.

  She kept telling herself that right now life was unfair to just about everyone on the planet, but it didn’t seem to help. Then she wondered how her parents would accept George. She thought they would be okay, but the issue of her dating a white guy had simply never come up before and so she wasn’t sure. On the other hand her parents were great about almost everything and she had no reason to believe they’d be different because of George’s race.

  Last night he told her that he was pleased that her race didn’t seem to matt
er to his parents, but that on the drive from Atlanta he wasn’t sure that would be the case. While he was growing up he and Andy had been taught to be respectful and polite towards everyone. Their parents had not accepted derogatory or slang terms about any group of people. However, they had never talked much about the other races and George didn’t know why. He thought maybe it was because they didn’t know a lot about other races and didn’t know what to say.

  Maiya knew exactly what he meant. She had been raised a lot the same way. Her parents taught them to be polite to everyone and they expected the kids to comply all the time. However, her family had talked about race. She thought about George’s explanation of how his parents simply didn’t know what to say so they remained mostly quiet on the issue. She smiled when she thought of the irony. She didn’t think her folks were any more knowledgeable about whites, but they choose to talk about the issue. Then she thought of why they choose to talk and she stopped smiling. Her parents felt they had to explain to their children the threat that a black person was under in this world. There was always the danger and fear of what might happen; from within the black community, from the white community and even from the Asian and Hispanic communities.

  She decided that her folks may not have understood the white culture terribly well, but they did understand the threat, and from that they tried to protect their children. She now knew the threat was from a small minority of whites, but when you couldn’t tell who those people were you tended to regard everyone with caution.

  They also talked about whether the threats were due more to class differences or race differences, and they always came to the same conclusion. It was probably both. As the family progressed economically and moved to the suburbs and a mixed neighborhood, life became easier. The family was accepted as just another family trying to improve their plight. They had moved for the last time when Maiya was twelve years old. That move had been to an upper middle class neighborhood that while predominately white, was about forty percent minority and included Hispanics and Asians, as well as African Americans.

  Maiya and the family always felt at home in the neighborhood. Occasionally crime would rear its ugly head, but not often, and usually in the form of a burglary, or a car stolen from the street in the middle of the night. Violent crimes were rare. It was a comfortable existence and her parents were pleased with the life they had built for their children. The issues of race were still discussed but from a different perspective now. They still didn’t have any answers, but they were more secure now, and were more distant from the problems. Both were improvements.

  Looking back Maiya realized that she didn’t agree totally with her parents feelings about race. She didn’t worry as much about race as they had, and she knew that was because the world was better today for African Americans than when her folks were young.

  She also knew that she didn’t feel entirely safe as a black woman today, and that she was uncomfortable around some people, especially those she considered lower class whites. Thinking about that now, she realized that was as unfair as her white friends had been when they told her about being uncomfortable around lower class blacks. She realized that what it came down to often was a difference in class. Crime was high in all lower class neighborhoods and if you were raised in that environment it was extremely difficult to get out; for some it was simply not possible.

  There was still a lot of room for improvement, especially in the areas of education and jobs. Maiya knew the promise of the Constitution could not be reached until every citizen had the same opportunity to be a contributing member of society. That meant decent schools and a decent beginning for all citizens. That was a tall order, but the founders didn’t write lofty goals into the Constitution because they thought it would be easy, they thought those goals were achievable.

  Maiya was brought out of her thoughts by a car blasting its horn as it passed them. It must have been doing a hundred miles an hour and had passed them on the shoulder. She realized that her thoughts had little meaning in today’s world, but she hoped the survivors could and would build something better.

  George had also been thinking about Maiya and his parents and how easily they had accepted her. As a young adult George had come to the conclusion that his parents didn’t have race discussions because they didn’t know what to say. They had acquaintances that were Black or Hispanic or Asian, but those people were either work or church related, they weren’t personal friends. His father mentioned cultural differences now and then but George thought he was referring mainly to the Hispanic population. He just wasn’t sure of actual differences between black and white America.

  George knew that he didn’t have a lot of knowledge of how black families lived and until yesterday he would have been self-conscience about that. But after Maiya had told him that she felt the same way about white families he felt a little more comfortable.

  Maybe it was time people started talking about race more openly. When that happened feelings would be hurt and people would be offended he was sure. But all in all that was a small price to be paid for progress. He knew there were a lot of people he would consider hypocritically sensitive and would be problematic. They would take offence at almost anything said about them, but would feel free to use harsh language themselves. There was no dearth of people like that in any culture. But still, if they could leave political correctness to the professional politicians, and have honest conversations amongst everyday people of all races they would probably all learn something. Usually learning meant progress, although George understood that progress might first come as a step back before the proverbial two steps forward. The problem would be surviving the one step back.

  George then came to his senses and realized that with the end of the world approaching quickly he should probably spend his time thinking about more pertinent issues. He shook his head and hugged Maiya a little more closely as he continued to drive.

  Andy was in his own world as well. He couldn’t believe that he had just been part of a gun battle and he was as pleased as he could be that he had kept his head, had held the truck steady, had watched the battle mostly through the mirrors and had accelerated when he needed to, although the black car had almost hit them despite his efforts. The most important thing was that he hadn’t panicked. He had wondered in the past how he would react in a life threatening situation. Now he knew.

  He also thought about George and Maiya. He had always loved George and they had always gotten along as well as two brothers could. While he would not have expected George to bring a woman of color home, he couldn’t say he was actually surprised, he just hadn’t thought of it before. He could see why George was smitten with Maiya. She looked great, she had a good sense of humor, she seemed to be down to earth and she seemed like the kind of person George would date. George had never been attracted to those on the fringe, or those who spent their days trying to make you pay attention to them, or those who looked at life as someone else’s responsibility. George was a participant in life.

  George and Maiya seemed to be a good fit. Andy wondered what her parents would be like, and if they would accept George as easily as his parents had accepted Maiya. Knowing Maiya a little bit, he would guess her parents were not much different from his parents. More importantly, given what was going on in the world Andy didn’t think race would make much of a difference to any rational person today, rational being the key word of course.

  Andy did a kind of mental double take with that thought. If race was meaningless now, why had it ever been so important? He was sure he would never understand that.

  Andy kept his gaze moving and he paid special attention to the overpasses. He was still skittish from their earlier encounter and he hoped they did not have another incident.

  Andy’s thoughts turned inward and he wondered how he was going to cope with what was coming. So far his salvation had been his parents. He thought he would be able to keep things together as long as he had a reason to do so, and he would not let his parents
down by falling apart.

  His parents had struggled to be able to send him to school and he owed them everything. They could have said no last year when he asked them if they could help him through graduate school, but they didn’t. They didn’t even hesitate, even though they would be financially pressed for longer than they had planned. Now he would never finish his graduate work or be able to use his skills as an engineer.

  Still, he thought he was better off than George, who was falling for a young woman he would not see again. What lousy and painful timing that was. Andy thought how funny life was, in an unfunny way. Six months ago when Amy had walked away from him after three years of dating, he was devastated. He now knew that had been a blessing in disguise. He had not been seeing anyone steadily since then and he was thankful for that.

  The three of them arrived at Maiya’s home in the Dallas suburbs late that afternoon. While they had continued to see strange things happen, it was mostly crazy driving.

  As they pulled into the driveway a large man walked out of the garage. Maiya said, “That’s Dad”. She jumped out of the truck and ran to him. He held her tightly and said, “We were so worried something might have happened to you”. The news people have been saying that cell traffic is so heavy that getting through to someone is very difficult, so we hoped for the best. Let’s go inside, your mother is anxious to see you.”

  Maiya turned and said, “First I want you to meet George and Andy. Without them I wouldn’t be here at all.”

  George stepped forward to shake hands and said, “it’s good to meet you sir” and then Andy did the same and said, “I can’t tell you how impressed I am by your daughter, George hasn’t always shown such good taste in the past.”