The Boy By Burton Lane

It was dawn when Clayton went out to the farm. His first job of the day was waking the chickens. This was one of the easier things he had to do. Clayton opened the chicken coop and picked up the fresh eggs the hens laid.

He put the eggs in a handmade basket his mom made.They didn’t have a lot of money, they had a farm-if you could call it that.

The farm Clayton and his family lived on was very run down. It had been in his family ever since his grandfather had been given the land and animals from inheritance. And the land was passed down from generation and generation.

Clayton hopped on his bike and headed back home. Although it was a walking distance, he couldn't risk being late. If his sisters hogged the bathroom, like they usually did, he would be running late for school.

It was already a blessing he could go. Most black kids he knew didn't have enough money or trust in the school system.

But that's just the way things were. What could a 11 year old boy do about it?

Clayton headed to the bathroom to wash up. With little time to spare he decided to skip showering.

Once he got done he got ready to leave with his sisters. His youngest sister, Claretha, was holding his hand. His middle sister was holding his other and oldest sister's hand.

His sisters were 5 to 10. Claretha being the youngest at 5. Everline being middle one at 8. And the devil herself Aldonia at 10.

Clayton and Aldonia never got along. That's also why he avoided holding her hand that morning. She was old enough to walk by herself or walk her sisters.

"Bye you guys have fun, learn something!"

"Mama, we know!" Yelled Everline

His mom have her a death glare right before Aldonia took Everlines hand and ran out the door

Clayton followed the girls as they skipped to school

Eventually, they got tired of skipping and decided on regular walking

Their school was around 3 miles away from their house and they had to get up early to leave the house.

Although they could've biked, there was only one to share and it was old and rusty.

"Clayton! Carry me!" Yelled Everline

"Just keep walking, we're almost there"

And he was right. Their school was just over the hill.

The "school" building itself looked like a run down shack. It had a smell of musty mold.

Although he and his sister's were all did ages they were in the same class. There were no grade levels either. He had classnates as young as six.

There was only one class. It's run by Mrs. Geraldine. She's this old short lady with a bot of a temper. But she was the only teacher, so he was used to it.

Kayden, his best friend, was sitting by the window.

"Hey" says Clayton

He looks at Kayden closer. He was crying.

"What's wrong?" He asks

"Yesterday my dad wanted to buy mama a gift. He went to the white part of town. Y'know they have those fancy jewlery stores. He was walking into a store when the police attacked him. They beat him to death!"

Clayton's jaw was on the floor. "I hate this. Why did they kill him? He ain't do nothing!" He yelled

Aldonia walked behind the two boys and mutters "They'd kill him for being on the black side of town too."

He didn't want to admit it but she was right. They, even as children weren't safe.

Clayton goes back to trying to focus on his lesson. "Those white folk surley have it better" says Clayton.

Kayden nods in response.

He got out of the car "bye" he said to Lydia before running inside his house.

"James, James stop. Your father and I would like to speak with you."

James turned around as his mom led him to the living room.

His father sat there with his head in his hands, frustrated.

James sat down as far from his father as possible. "What's going on?"

His mom spoke first. "We're just not happy with our relationship anymore."

He looked confused. So she tried to rephrase it "We're splitting up"

His eyes widen. "Splitting up? Like a divorce?"

His mom said something else but he couldn't hear it. He ran out of the house and hopped on his bike. He starts pedaling. "James! Get back here!" His father yelled. But he doesn't stop. Instead he goes faster.

His parents are long gone so he finally hit the breaks.

He realized he is in no place for a little white boy. He is now in Burton Lane.

Chapter 3: Clayton

"Hey man, what'ya doin on this side of town whitie" Says Mclacken the neighborhood's bully. Mclacken was picking on a thin white boy on his bike.

"Hey! Mclacken, I saw your wife with another man downtown" he said. It was the the truth after all. "What?!" He yelled and immediately ran torwards downtown.

"Dumb bird" says Clayton. He turns to the white boy. "You okay man?"

"Y-yes. Thank you" The boy slowly gets off his bike. "So uh what's your name? I'm Clayton"

"I am James" Clayton looks from James to the raggedy area. "So why are you here?" James looks down tears welling up in his eyes."No reason" he finally says before looking back up at Clayton.

"Do you live over here?" James asked

Clayton shook his head. "Nah I live over there (points to some farm land out far) but I come here often with my sister's"

"Is that one of your sister's?" Asked James as Aldonia approached them.

She stopped in her tracks from the fact of seeing Clayton with a white boy. "What's going on? Is he gonna shoot you? Are you getting arrested? You can not end up like Kayden's dad!"

"What? Nah this is my new friend, James"

Clayton sees James eyeing Aldonia up and down biting his lips. "Oh okay. In that case, nice too meet you James I'm Aldonia."

"Nice to meet you too." James said.

"Well, it's getting late, my parents are probably concered." Says James

"No problem. Im gonna be here again sometime tomorrow evening. You can stop by if you want and meet my other two sisters and my bestfriend."

James nodded before turning around to head back to his part of town.

Chapter 4: James

James got up the next day abd got ready for school. He decided to take the bus. It wasn't a school bus but it let out near his school. As he got out of the bus he saw Lydia at the school gates.

"James, oh you look so cute today!"

He looked away feeling weirded out. "Uh thanks...have you seen Will anywhere?" Lydia rolls her eyes "In the cafeteria."

James can't go there faster. He ran up to tell Will all about the day before.

"Will! I made a new friend." Will's eyes grow wide. "Really? Im suprised but that's good." James only had one best friend in the whole school and that was Will. He had plenty of other friends but he never made one on his own without Will.

"So when can I meet him?" Asks Will

"Soon, very soon. It might be a bit of a drive though. He lives out by Burton Lane."

Wills face looked confused. "Oh so he's black?"

James nods. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah are you crazy he's black. A crook, a criminal." Will crossed his arms.

"Just because he's dark skinned doesn't make him a bad person!" James yells.

The boys go silent. "I just feel you need to watch your back..." says Will before leaving.

James continues the day and his glasses feeling distracted.

Later that day he hops on his bike and rides to Burton Lane in hopes of seeing Clayton.

He parks his bike and begins to walk torwards a shop. Suddenly a hand is on his shoulder. "Hey man!" Says Clayton.

"Hey!" He sees a few other people with Clayton. He reconizes Aldonia but the other three are unfamiliar.

"This is Eveline, Claretha, and Kayden"

"Nice to meet you all I'm James."

Kayden and Eveline exchange looks. "When Clay said he made a new friend I wasn't expecting some white boy" Kayden says.

"Yeah Clayton. Why you hangin out with him?"

James sees Clayton's eyes grow angrier.

"Why do I have to explain myself. He's my friend whether you like it or not. Come on" he says grabbing Aldonia and James's hand.

Chapter 5: Clayton

Aldonia lets go of his hand. "Just because I support you with this does not make us closer, understand?"

"Jeez I get it sis."

He looks at James who is staring intently at Aldonia.

He shakes James a bit. "Uh man, I'm sorry 'bout them"

"Oh its okay." He says his attention finally coming back to the present.

Why is James looking at his sister like that. Aldonia looked a bit weirded out too.

"Come on,let's go into the fashion shop" says Aldonia

It was run by a old lady names Mrs. Jenkins. There she hand made everything herself.

Clayton looked at James who's eyes went wide. "This is so pretty.Did you do this?" He asked Mrs. Jenkins. "Why, yes I did" she smiles at James

"Fabulous"

"Mhm sure is" says Clayton

"Hey guys look!" Aldonia put on the clothes of a dummy on the display.

"How do I look?" She asked

"Nice dear." Mrs. Jenkins nods approvingly

"Oh get over yourself Aldonia" Clayton says while rolling his eyes.

Aldonia focuses her attention on James. "What do you think?"

Chapter 5: James

He feels hos face turn a bit red.

"You look great" he sees Clayton eyeing him carefully.

"You don't like her? Do you?" Asks Clayton.

"What? Oh no, she's just a friend."

He said. But why is it that when he looked at her his heart beated faster.

Gosh she was beautiful. "I'll be right back" Clayton says as he sees his sisters fighting outside

Now James is left alone with Aldonia. Mrs. Jenkins goes to the back to start sewing.

"Y'know your pretty cute for a white boy" Aldonia winks at him

"T-thanks, your not so bad yourself..."

She puts a hand on her hip. "Not so bad?" His face turns pink

"I meant your hot" he whispers.

It was her turn to blush

"I um-" Before she could say more Clayton came back in.

"Come on, we need to go." He grabbed James's hand and started pushing him outside.

"Why? What's the-" His words are interrupted when he see's black protesters led by a man.

"Mama said not to go near the protester's, it always ends badly." Says Aldonia

"Go home James, we don't wanna get you in trouble" Clayton says before turning around with Aldonia

Chapter 6:

"Clay, did you see those protesters yesterday?" Asked Kayden

"Yeah man. What was that all about?,

Kayden shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know, but my sister said it was led by a man named Martin Luther King."

Clayton's eyebrow raises up. "Who?"

"Apparently this really influential guy. He's fighting for our rights."

Finally. It was about time someone spoke about this injustice.

"I should head home." Said Clayton.

As he walked home he wondered what would possibly happen. Either the rules for black people would become much stricter or... he could experience real freedom

When he walked inside the house his mom looked angry.

"Hi ma, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is you over here friends with a white boy." Your sister told me all about it."

He looked at Aldonia "really?"

"Don't 'really' your sister, she's just tellin the truth. You know how dangerous it is to even look at a whote person, just look at what happened to Kayden's dad."

"Ma, this is different. Even Aldonia likes him. Trust me I'll stay away if anything seens weird, okay?"

"Uh huh you better"

Clayton pulls his Aldonia to the side. "Now why would you tell mama about James?" He crossed his arms expectantly

"I don't know I thought we were supposed to tell mama everything?"

She pauses before saying

"Im sorry Clayton"

For the first time he isn't upset with his her. They walk back out to the kitchen.

"Did y'all hear about Mrs. Geraldine being killed?" Asked Everline

"She got killed?" Asked Claretha. "How...when?" Clayton put his hands on his baby sisters back.

"Tell us Everline what happened?"

Everline starts to tell the story. "It was this Friday two days ago she just got done teaching. She was walking down the street when a police car drove up to her. He asked her "are you Cynthia Geraldine?" She said "yes, what's the problem?" He told her she was under arrest. For some odd reason he thought she was resisting and shot her in the head."

Claretha was crying now. Aldonia and Clayton exchanged scared looks.

"God, that is terrible poor lady." Saod Clayton's ma.

"Maybe these protests aren't so bad. They may be dangerous but it's a shot for freedom." Said Aldonia

Freedom. The word rang in Clayton's ear. "Yeah maybe."

"I'm gonna call my friend. Aldonia, you can say hi if you want."

Ma looked at him. "Don't stay on it to long. Also, tomorrow your staying over at Kayden's church with him and his mom."

Clayton nodded. Aldonia and him walk out the door to go call James.

He dials the number.

It starts to call. As they wait Aldonia doesn't seem herself. She is tapping the her knee and looking away at something.

"You good?" He asked

"Yep fine." She starts to fidget with her hair.

"You sure?"

"What should I say when he answers?" She looked at him pleading for an answer.

"I don't know. Hi, hello, how you doing? The normal"

A voice came from the other line. "Hello?"

"Hey James! It's me." Clayton smiles

"Oh hi. Is Aldonia there too or just you...?"

Clayton takes an awkward glance at his sister. "Um she's here too"

"Nice"

"What are you up to right now?"

"Trying to zone out my parents screaming"

Oh right he had forgotten the whole divorce thing.

"You know, you and your sister should come over sometime. My house is right by Drewberry hills. Its the red and white one."

Clayton nods. "Yeah good idea. I gotta go now but I'll call ya back when I can."

"Bye" there's a long beep before the phone hangs up. "I'm gonna go wash up." He yells to the family.

"Sis!" Everline whispers to Aldonia

"What?"

"I have a plan. Its a very fun one"

"Well what is it? Better be good." Aldonia crosses her arms

"I overheard James say his location. And wouldn' it be a fun prank to cut some of his clothes." Everline smiled

"Im in."

Chapter 7: James

Breaking dishes and screaming is the sound James wakes up to. He covers his ears.

He throws on an outfit. Brushes his teeth and run downstairs.

He doesn't even stop to say goodbye. God all this fighting was so annoying. Since it was a Saturday he decided to go over to the park.

He see's a couple with a young girl. They're holding hands and singing nursery rhymes. It was childish, but cute.

In the close distance he see's Will.

It looks like Will see's him too. They walk torwards each other. "Hey" says James.

"Hey. I just want to apologize for the way I behaved. I know you're going through a tough time."

With that Will gave his friend a hug.

James face lit up with a smile. His best bud was back.

As they walked and talked about how crazy Lydia was and the newest songs on the radio, it started getting late. Before theu knew it, it was time to head home.

As James walks up to his housr he see's his room light on. That's strange he swears he thought he switched it off.

Yelling. He walked inside. More yelling. Screaming.

It's like he didn't even exist anymore. The paperwork is what was causing all the arguments. Neither of his parents wanted to give up the house

James walks in his room to see all his clothes cut up. Like sonebody was trying to make a Halloween costume of a mummy.

He hears giggles coming fron his closet. As he pulls it open he is shocked to see Aldonia and Eveline with scissors.

His breathing gets heavier. The screaming from his parents gets louder. He drops to his knees and begins to cry.

Everline rolls her eyes. "Little white boy sad? Pathetic. Right sis?"

She looks at Aldonia for approval.

"No...no what did we do? This is terrible." She looked so guilty

"Yeah whatever. Im gonna go outside. I'll see ya later I guess." Everline climbed down from the window.

"Hey James I'm sorry..." Aldonia says softly.

"Why? Why? What did I do?" He looks up at her begging for a response.

She sits down next to him and put her hand on his face, wiping away the tears. "Shhh...I'm sorry. I just thought it was for the best. I thought you were a bad influence on my brother...but you're not. It's okay please don't cry..."

He looks up at her. This was wrong. She just ruined his clothes. But why was he melting at her touch.

"It's okay, I know you don't like me. Nobody really does..." he whispers.

"What? No. I like you."

"Boom crash" Sounds came from the kitchen. James and Aldonia heard sirens and soon enough the police was downstairs.

"James, what's going on?"

He grabbed her hand and leads her to his closet. "They probably think I'm still out. So we'll hide here."

"But why are the police here?" She wonders

"I don't know..." he was so scared. What if his parents fighting caused something insane to happen.

He looked at Aldonia who was shaking a bit.

"What's wrong?" He asked

"I'm just...really sorry about what I did. We shouldn't have done that."

"Its okay"

James gently gave her a hug. Although he couldn't find himself letting go.

"This is wrong. You'll get in trouble if you're seen with me" She whispered

"I don't care. I don't care." He muttered. He let go of her.

"You need to get home. Please be careful when you go out."

She nods and climbs down his window.

Chapter 8: Clayton

Church was awful. It was so boring.

Not that he didn't believe in Jesus. He has a whole bible at home. But who needs 6 hours to say how much you love god.

Holding his nose and being bored was the worst feeling. It smelt of old sweat.

Next to him Kayden was fanning himself. "Just me or its hot in here?"

"It is" Clayton takes out his water and drinks it.

"We thank god for this opportunity that we are living a good life, away from crime and violence. We hope that the young children that come after us will have a great future" The pastor says while the choir sings in the background.

They start to sing a song about Jesus. Suddenly their is a loud slam as the door opens. A few white people enter.

"This church is being taken away due to hazardous behavior. Everyone out now."

"Come on" Kayden's mom grabs the boys hands and leads them out of the church.

"What just happend? Their is no way they just took the church away" Kayden says.

"This is so unfair" says Clayton

Kayden's mom turns to Clayton. "You better get home sweetheart, go straight home"

"Yes ma'am" he says before waving bye and walking away.

Before he goes inside the house, he makes sure the cows are milked. No need for ma to fuss over it.

As he went inside Ma asked how church was. He lied and said it was good.

Heading to his room, he saw his Aldonia on his bed. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Just wating for my dear brother." She replied.

He looked at her suspiciously. Not once has she ever considered him a 'dear brother.'

Aldonia stood up. "I want to protest in the square." She said

He was taken aback. "Why? You know Ma would flip if she found out, right?"

She nodded knowingly. "I still want to. And you're gonna do it with me."

"Fine. But if we get caught or something bad happens at the protest, I'm blaming you."

"Got it."

Chapter 9: James

"Honey, make sure to get the morning paper before going out!" Said his mother.

James nodded as he left the house.

To his surprise, loud shouts could be heard from the center of the city. A protest. And up ok that podium was his best friend, Clayton.

He listened in awe at the words Clayton said. He spoke with such confidence, the truth in his voice was surreal.

His parents told him to avoid these types of events because those “blackies don’t know how to behave” his parents would say.

So, he stepped closer, trying to blend in with the crowd. He heard his friend speak and what he said shook him.

Chapter 10: Clayton

”I stand here today, in a crowd full of mixed faces with opposite views on each other. Listen to what I say. For those who don’t are the who abuse, they are the one’s who use. The ones who listen are those who change our future, to join in hands united. To build an opportunity to rise up together! We stand here divided. But we need to be united.”

As Clayton looked in to the crowd. People were crying. White people included. He saw James as gave him a small smile.

Clayton stepped off the podium to let his sister speak.

Aldonia held her head high and began speaking.

”I see you.” She pointed to a bald white officer holding a gun.

“I know you want to shoot me. I know you would if that wouldn’t just prove our point about y’all killing us black folks over nothing. Over nothing. Because what? We speak our mind? Because we’re humans? I have had friends who lost their mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers to this crap. And all for what? The harsh truth is that you don’t care. But y’al need to. The next time a black person dies just remember that they’re human too.”

She stepped off the stage and gave Clayton a her a hug. “You did so good.”

”I spoke from my heart, that’s what I did.”

Behind his little sister he saw James walking up.

”You two are so brave. If I were you I wouldn’t know how to handle being treated like that. It’s so infuriating!” James said.

”Yeah, but we know a few people, like you, at least support us. And that support is all we need.” Clayton interlocked his arm with Aldonia’s.

”Well, we gotta get going, it’s nearly sundown and we still haven’t completed our chores.”

“Oh, I’ll see you later, right? Said James

”Yeah catch ya later!”

Chapter 11. James