Our evening run, well his run Im taking pics, but managed brisk walking even to the point of swinging my arms fast when he looks back lol.
Hammond kinda has a Minnesota suburbs feel, Im thinking it’s because of the trees, a few street lights and no side walk. It feels so good to be able to hear the crickets, feel the wind blow and just feel at peace with nature. Total opposite of being in New Orleans; where the crickets are police or ambulance sirens.
As the sun went down, I noticed the roads were a mixture of rocks and that red Mississippi clay dirt with this crunchy hard noise under my feet. The big old tall pine trees looked like their branches touched the sky and its trucks poked out like a proud man.
Hammond has a settled in life, relaxing, mature appeal, like sitting on the porch drinking leomande and the faint smell of jasmine or magnolia scent in the air, but that feeling didnt last long before I was reminded I was in the South..
The beautiful house Kelvin wanted me to see looked like a planation house, there was even a lil house behind it where the slaves where housed, I’m thinking….. Then I envisioned my people hanging from the branchy oak trees and the pine trees looked like big tall men. The crunchy road with tall bushes aligning it had the scent of freedom and fear… It all just brought to mind all my people endured for us. I couldn’t imagine how they survived.
It got dark so fast after Kelvin and I split up so he could run. The plan was once I went around the college one time, we where to meet up where we started. He wasn’t there, I waited for 15 mins, noticed I was the only black person walking and the only woman at that, there where a few college students running and a man with a big dog. I kept seeing the same white GMC truck, then what really messed with my nerves was a truck with some white young boys riding in the back of it….I reached for my phone which was at 2%, I was cussing myself out for using it to take these damn pics and buying mace but never bringing it out my house…
I tried to call Kelvin but he would leave it at home… I decided to walk where the blue emergency light/phone was and wait, but after 30 minutes I would pick up the phone. A few minutes passed and I saw a man in the distance, but he had something on his head that was flapping as he walked towards me.. I like that look like a KKK mask, so I pulled my dead phone out to pretend to make a call and started to cross the street, but there was construction going on and no side walk. I decided to walk in the street, slipped but didnt fall on the red clay dirt and jumped in the grass.
Then I heard Kelvin say “Didn’t I tell you to stay on the side walk and where were you?” He had his white towel on his head. I busted out laughing trying to tell him how I was feeling overwhelmed about my surroundings, but all he wanted to know is where I was at. Did I walk the whole college and he was worried was his only words spoken to me as if he where in charge of my well-being. I said, yeah I walked it almost twice, but he’s claiming there was no way I could have because, he did, sat on a bench to wait for me and walked back to find me. I kept saying yes, but that wasn’t good enough.
“Did you see the store and fire station” he asked me as he grabbed my hand, turned back in the area he came and started walking. I really didn’t remember because, I was worried about being black at the wrong time and place; especially with all that is going on in this world. This man, Kelvin had both of us walking the college again and walking as he calls it fast pace to make sweat?…. Actually, as we where walking I realized that I did not walk the Whole Entire College Campus, just the main building and stadium.
Yes, he had us walking again after I walked at least 1.5miles and he walked almost 4…. He tortured Us just to prove he was right about me not walking the Whole Entire almost 4 mile college campus and its dorms… We didn’t even have a bet or nothing…Now, we all have energy to do is eat and go to bed, but he just as content as he can be, because he was right…Men…
Dat NOLA Chic 