She dusted the office and hummed a song her Momma used to sing when she was a baby. The feather duster danced between a gavel and the notebook that judge always wrote in. The letters meant nothing to her. She couldn’t read. But the judge had a pretty way of writing, like ribbons of light in the creek that ran behind her house. The writing looked nice, yes, very nice. With a happy step, she almost waltzed around the rich leather chair in front of the desk. She didn’t know what a waltz was, but she saw white folk doing something silly at that pretend “dance” they had when those two people got married. Their names escaped her. All white people looked the same, sounded the same.

A box sat on the judge’s desk. She wondered what was in it. But, she wouldn’t open it. No sir. Her Momma got this job for her. Her Momma cleaned the judge’s wife’s momma’s house, and she knew if she got in trouble, her Momma would beat her bloody. But the box was pretty, like many things in the judge’s office. He had big books laced with gold writing, a fat globe paperweight on the left hand corner of his desk, and a nice pair of man-slippers hidden in the far corner behind his desk. The judge treated her nice. He gave her some sugar pops for Christmas last year, and made her promise not to tell about the sounds in his office when no one else was about. He thought people didn’t know he snored. She giggled and agreed.
She finished cleaning the office. But the box sat on the desk, and before she left, she wanted to see what was inside. The box felt heavy for its size in her small, black hand. She turned it around, upside down, and around again. It didn’t look like much. She didn’t hear the judge’s door squeak open.

“Girl, what are you doin’ with that box?”

She felt her heart fall to her knees, and she dropped the box.

The box didn’t open.

I am studying for my Botany final, and finally realize that I am very much tired of this class. I just need to graduate, but I really wanted to graduate with honors. I’m going to school in a bit. Yes, it’s early, but there I will not be distracted by beagles and the internet. But for now, I’m going to eat my egg salad and read about the Pine family for the bazillionth time.

Oh and the response paper was for Knight’s Gambit. I hated that book and never finished it… shhh!