The Onyx Child

This random memory just popped in my head.

Back in high school I went on a ski trip to Killington, Vermont. I'm proud to say that I'm one of the Snowy Seventeen. That's the name I just made up for the me and the other sixteen Black people in America that can ski. So anyway, our bus stopped at Walmart one night on our way back to the lodge.

I was excited, I'd never been to a Walmart before. DC didn't have one yet so I wanted to see if the store lived up to the hype from all those whistling smiley face commercials. "Wow, they have a seven hundred ounce box of Froot Loops for three dollars. This place is amazing." I started making my way back to the front with my wheelbarrow of cereal when I had a horror movie moment. There before me at the end of the aisle was this little six year old White girl in a ballerina outfit.

I don't know where she came from, she kinda just appeared out of thin air like an apparition or something. She was standing completely still and staring at me, like the possessed kids in horror movies always do. There was no one else on the aisle, just me and her. I walked by her, said in my nice nonthreatening voice, "Hello" and kept it moving. She got really wide eyed and took off running to the next aisle. As I was walking I heard her yell, "Mommy, mommy! Guess what, a BLACK man spoke to me!"

The mother saw me walking by and said, "Be quiet Emily!" "No mommy, I saw one for real. He spoke to me. A BLACK MAN spoke to me! What language do they speak?" The mother looked totally embarrassed and even though I tried to look upset like a racism PSA, I was actually laughing inside. I thought it was funny. I couldn't blame that little girl. I was in Killington, Vermont. There weren't any other Black people there…or so I thought.

The next day we went to the movies after the slopes closed. A couple of us hit up the bathroom first and while I was washing my hands, I heard a toilet flush in one of the stalls and I looked up in the mirror just as the stall door was opening. You know how people freeze when they see a loose dog or a bear or something in the woods? This Black dude came out the stall and just froze when he saw us. He didn't say anything for a good five seconds. The next thing I know he just got excited as hell.

"Oh my God! Where are y'all from? Where y'all live at? My girl is not gonna believe this! I haven't seen any other Black people since I moved up here man! Y'all trying to hang out or something?" I got all of that in about ten seconds. He was so excited to see us you would've thought we'd rescued him off an island or something. His excitement was equally matched by his disappointment when we told him we were just visiting. He said he'd been there for six months and wished he'd seen us sooner as we could've all hung out. I've never seen someone that desperate before. It wasn't even creepy. I could tell he generally felt out of place.