Aziza climbed the stairs slowly, she had no intention of getting her there on time. She had to show the white boy her irritation in using her favourite coat as bait to make her come to some stupid meeting. She still couldn’t believe that he actually called her a racist as if she was capable of being one. She opened the door to the conference room, intentionally banged the door and took a seat near the exit. Steve noticed her the moment she walked in. She was wearing black suit that fitted her perfectly. The peach silk top underneath her coat complemented her flawless skin. Her hair was neatly tied in conrows, he could see the precision of the straight lines on her head. Thank you Advocate Grey for finally joining us. I would appreciate you being on time on our next sessions. He said with a smile. The rest of the guest turned to look at her, clearly disapproving of her being late.
Aziza glared at him, she did not want to be here nor will she be coming to his next sessions. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind but stopped halfway after noticing something strapped on his chest.
Noticing her staring at his chest, he moved to the front desk, picked up a bottle of milk and fed the baby that was strapped to his chest. This is my goddaughter Naomi. She is 1 year old and the cutest. She was born free, she will not discriminate anyone because of the colour of their skin. She will play with anyone as long as they are friendly. She and every other child in this country will not find anything peculiar about anyones skin colour until we, the adults teach them to. Imagine the height she would reach, the amazing things she could accomplish if instead of hate and resentment she grows up around love, nurture and encouragement. Imagine how this country would be if all the children were raised that way. A non racial society is the vision that drives me, it’s what I want to see for the future generation and for my children. This is what I need all your help with, I believe that if we all come together in this room, we could achieve this. He took a deep breath, hoping everyone got his message. I will stop here and hear your comments before we go for a tea break.
Aziza looked around and saw Seth who made her blood boil. He was the leader of the bikers who were notorious for targeting blacks. His gang of bikers had been in and out of prison for racial crimes. Great, talk about non racial society, she thought. She was surprised to see her uncle John among the guests. The room had a mixture of leaders from different sectors, prominent business and sports personnel of all racial groups. Four women including Dolly were so touched by Steve’s speech they were even teary. She rolled her eyes, people actually get touched by this crap. She needed to get her coat and get out of there.
Dolly Payne stood up, wiping her tears away. Thank you Steve. Your godchild is truly the cutest. As a mother, grandmother and the Mayor of Palmvile, I would love to live in the country you envision. I pledge my full support.John stood up after Dolly. He thanked Steve for the invitation and also pledged his support. Everyone in the room followed pledging their support except for Seth and Aziza who just sat there wishing the whole process be faster so they could leave and never come back.Steve was grateful for the enthusiasm the rest of the guests showed but he still wanted to get Aziza and Seth on board. Aziza and Seth can I count on your support as well on this? he asked.
Nope, she said, uninterested looking at her phone.
Why not? He asked walking to her desk.Are you being serious right now? Do you actually believe all that crap about non racial society? Are you really that naive? You think carrying, feeding and claiming to be a godfather to a black baby achieves anything? Yes, she does not know anything now but it does not help sugar coating and pretending. Sooner or later she will know that she is black and you will try to suppress her so you can feel superior until she decides not to take that crap anymore, then we will be back here. So tell me, what’s use of all this?
She’s right, this is stupid, Seth said with a grin, revealing rows of gold and silver teeth. Who would have thought that one day I would agree with blacky.
Aziza is the name,dumb ass, she snapped at him.
A 70 kilograms of musculine body covered with tattoos only sparing the face sneered, walking towards Aziza’s desk. Watch your tone with me bitch or I will teach you a lesson.Her heart raced, eyes blazing as she got off her seat striding towards and staring at him. I would love to see you try, dummy. I will be out of here in 10 minutes, why don’t you in invite your boys. I hear they have more balls than you. Steve rushed in, pushing the two apart. Can we just calm down and talk about this.
Seth looked at the woman in front of him who showed no signs of fear, something he was not familiar with and it made his blood boil. He wanted to rip her throat out that very moment. I will see you in 10 bitch, he said striding out and banging the door.
Great, just great. Steve said throwing his arms up. Do you just pick a fight with everyone, he asked. Not everyone, just racist. She said shrugging her shoulders. You do realise that he really called his boys, Steve said irritated at Aziza’s display of indifference as motorbike noises were heard with shouting coming from outside.
Do I look scared to you? Excuse me, my dates just arrived. She said looking at her watch heading for the door.Aziza wait! he shouted as she got off the door.It’s no use son, you can’t stop her now. Just call the police and hope for the best. John said looking at Steve.
I have to stop her, if she gets hurt, I won’t be able to live with myself because I insisted that she attended this meeting.
John shook his head at Steve’s ignorance. You clearly don’t know her at all. She’s not the one you should worry about.
What are you saying? Steve asked confused. Dolly had told him that John was like a father figure to Aziza but his lack of worry about her going to meet a group of angry bikers was puzzling.
Just go outside, John said dismissively.
Four years later Aziza watched the youth flooding in her house to celebrate her firstborn’s twenty first birthday. She could not help noticing the diversity and how happy and in harmony they all were in their different skins. Standing at the balcony, she watched everyone and took in the scenery. Her own twenty first birthday was marked with bruises, scars and hatred for the other race that wiped out her family and hunting her down. How everything was so different now. If anyone told her that one day she would host youths of different races, know each one of them personally and truly love and care about them like her own children, she would have had that person assessed for a mental illness. She smiled when she saw John, Joy and Steve’s parents basking in the sun and chatting happily. All four of them were so old now, they were the best parents she was granted after loosing her biological ones. They will all hold a very dear place in her heart. She laughed when she saw a group of tee
Twelve years later, Steve and Aziza finally got a chance to retire from politics and parliament. Even though Steve was no longer the president of Asherway, his ideals and the processes he worked very hard to develop were still in place and kept the country going. He did not achieve a non racial world as he had hoped but he spoke so loudly and widely against racism and got the rest of the world to listen, to acknowledge and work towards non racial societies. There were still isolated racial incidences around the world, some even in Asherway but there were more people speaking out against it than those condoning or making excuses for it. Happy and content that he gave the country and the world his best, Steve could finally be a full time husband and father. As if compensating for the time he spent away from them, the spoiled his children rotten but Lucy Unity Marlone was the most doted of all the children. Even though seventeen years later, Steve still could not forget how his little
In Asherway Presidential office, Steve pulled his wife to his arms and looked down at her “Aziza Gray Marlone, what did you do to President Clive?”he asked charmingly.Aziza looked away, avoiding his infatuating emerald eyes “Nothing,”she said softly.“Are you keeping secrets from me now?” he asked, sulking knowing she could not keep anything from him.“He came to hold you ransom with his secret nuclear weapon, I hijacked it” Aziza blurted out. She just could not keep secrets from Steve even when she tried.“What?” Steve asked, shocked. “No wonder Clive was so terrified,” he added.“He had no interest in non racial world Steve,&rdq
At the Asherway National Assembly, Aziza sat next to Steve and his Vice President with President Clive and his wife across them. At this point both Steve and his Vice President were so angry, they were ready to tear President Clive apart but Aziza had other plans. Her hand remained on Steve’s knee, keeping him seated. President Clive had asked her a question she was very glad to answer “I’m glad you asked me that, President Clive because I have asked myself that very question many times before” she said “You see it’s not about war alone, it can be anything. A racial incident for instance, which side would Steve take? which one would I take? and where would that leave our children?” she added.“That’s what I’m talking about. I am right, am I not?” President Clive beamed.“It depends on what stage of my
The Asherway airport was buzzing with activity, national and international journalists were there to capture the moment two very different Presidents with completely different ideologies meet. Everyone was curious to know how President Clive, a known racist would be received in Asherway, a country known to be very intolerant to racists with a President calling for a non racial world. At exactly 11 o’clock, President Clive’s presidential plane arrived at Asherway. He disembarked with his expected all white staff, something journalists did not forget to point out. Steve and Aziza were captured approaching the group.“President Clive, welcome to Asherway” Steve said shaking Clive’s hand before moving to shake his wife. Aziza followed behind Steve and offered her hand but it remained in the air, none of them willing to shake her hand. The journalists went crazy capturing the moment. Steve shook his hea
In the Marlone house, Aziza stood at the door watching her children play outside with a thankful heart and gratitude. Lorraine, Mike and Nick turned out to be a handful from the day they came out of the hospital and now three years later, they had too much energy for her to keep up with. Each day she noticed how each one of them was different, their unique ways of doing things and how they all thrived at creating chaos around the house. Lorraine was the tinniest of the triplets but pulled all the strings. She influenced her brothers on which games they played, got to choose the toys first and always got her way, especially with Steve. It did not help that she had Aziza’s eyes, Lorraine had her father around her little finger, Steve just could not reprimand Lucy no matter what she did. Mike and Nick on the other side were behaving like typical twins, even when following Lorraine they did it together. Mike was the least talkative but Aziza found to be the most stubborn while Nic