Chapter 13

Stella didn‘t set out to hurt the feelings of these men but they soon learned that she could care less about their good looks, money or the number of notches they had on their belts. After the first disagreement, she would take a physical step back and bid them farewell. And don‘t play games like try to make her jealous or God-forbid cheat. She just shrugged and went about her business. Stella Burton was tragedy to a man‘s ego.

Little men were attracted to the idea of being dominated by her, good-looking men liked that she had a blasé attitude about them and they believed that there would come a time when they would control her completely. Fragile men thought to gain strength from her, white men were just a flat no-go and for everyone else she was to be their trophy.

Within an hour she had almost forgotten about Evan all together.

~*~

That evening when she picked up her son from day camp she gave him the news.

"Guess what baby. We‘re going to the mountains after-all."

Adam smiled while pulling his seatbelt across his lap. He was holding onto a drawing, being careful not to wrinkle it. "Are we going to see bears like that time in Gatlinburg?"

"Uh, I hope not." She took the drawing from him and examined it. It was on blue construction paper with pipe cleaners glued to it that looked suspiciously like a boy and his mother. A lopsided yellow sun sat high in the corner and real grass was glued to the ground.

"Is this me?" She asked.

He nodded. "And that one is me."

"I‘m very tall," She commented.

"Just like in real-life," he concurred.

"I wish I was this skinny."

He laughed, his crystal grey eyes sparkling in merriment. "Mom, if you were that skinny you wouldn‘t be able to find any clothes!"

"Well thank you for making me a dress." He had shaped leaves into a fashionable skirt and top.

Adam nodded.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

"Yeah. We had grilled cheese and tater tots for lunch but I‘m still hungry. Can we have chicken curry? They probably won‘t have good Indian food in the mountains."

"You‘re probably right," she said as they began driving. She didn‘t find it strange that her five-year old had a diverse taste in food. From the moment that she‘d called him son, Stella knew that she would open the world up for his choosing, and that included exposing him to various tastes and experiences.

He even attended an alternative school that began with toddlers. They were immersed in studies of different cultures, the arts and specifically music. He was no musical virtuoso but he played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star much better than she ever could, and he often dotted his words with Japanese phrases.

She listened intently as he described the day‘s adventures at day camp while she drove them to their favorite Indian restaurant. Once comfortable in their booth she asked what he wanted to order, as if she didn‘t already know.

"Chicken curry, spicy three. Aloo-nan and Keema Samosa with extra red chili chutney." She nodded and added Saag Paneer and the two split the meal, finishing it up with no leftovers.

Adam was a robust boy. Some would call him chunky. But he was also tall which meant hat he didn‘t look like the average five-year old. It was her opinion that his chubby cheeks just added to his cuteness but she knew that one day it might be a problem so she limited his access to sweets and tried to encourage more physical activity. But Adam liked computers and reading and playing video games. There weren‘t many children his age in their neighborhood and it wasn‘t as if she could just send him outside to play like in the good old days when she had been a child. Children these days seldom played stickball in the street or hoops against an old building. Or maybe they did, but just not in the suburban neighborhood that she and Adam lived.

It was the prime reason that she wanted to actively do something with him each summer and winter break. Last summer they had gone to Gatlinburg, spending much of it on the Parkway. They usually spent a few days at Christmas with her mom and dad and then off for a week some place warm. They had been to Disney Land, Sea World and even to Washington DC to do a Whitehouse tour.

Some places he might not remember because he was so young, but that didn‘t matter because she intended to expose and enlighten him to as many experiences that she could.

It went without saying that she loved her son, and he saw not one ounce of the cold disregard that she felt for the adult males of his sex.

"When are we going to the mountains?" Adam asked when they were back in the car.

"You might as well finish out day camp for the week. We‘ll drive up Saturday morning. She glanced at him, seeing a boy with skin that was nearly as brown as hers but with grey eyes and curly hair that marked him as multi-racial. She was raising a black man, though. Despite those eyes and that hair, America would see a black man. And Stella Burton meant to arm her son with as much knowledge as she could in order for him to navigate this world.

~*~

Riley heard back from Stella Burton on Friday. He stood by his mailbox and read the short letter, which thanked him and advised that she and her son would arrive Saturday—tomorrow.

Since he wasn‘t currently employed, he had spent the week making small repairs and getting the place spic and span. He‘d been raised by people that didn‘t scrimp when it came to cleaning. Floors had to be scrubbed, walls wiped down, the stove stripped of every ounce of grease and the tub left gleaming.