The Last Mile of the Way<\/a>.
\n<\/p>\nEvery face Aidan saw in Provo, Utah was fearful. Some of the women tried to look inconspicuous as they clutched their purses until he had passed them. The tension between everyone else and him was thick as gruel. His next task was to find a place to stay. For the first time since leaving Colorado Springs, he realized this would be no simple matter. It took many hours and a good supply of luck to find the Hotel Roberts, an old building that put up railway and Forest Service workers, and just about any other somebody who was pinching\u00a0pennies.<\/p>\n
About all Aidan had was pennies, and they\u2019d soon be gone.<\/p>\n
He bought a newspaper and began calling the numbers in the \u201cHelp Wanted\u201d ads. Over the next days, the same thing repeated itself over and over again: He\u2019d call about a job and get told it was still available. When he\u2019d arrive to make his application, though, the employer would stiffen and say the job had been claimed.<\/p>\n
More than once, he protested. \u201cBut I just talked to you fifteen minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everybody must\u2019ve memorized the same script: \u201cI was mistaken. I thought it was available, but I found out one of the managers promised it to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took over a week, but at last someone did give him a job. It wasn\u2019t a job you\u2019d choose except in desperation, but desperation was Aidan\u2019s casual companion at this point. Any job meant some money and independence. He would work alongside nine other young men, several Hispanic and several white, to tear down houses so a hotel could be built in their place.<\/p>\n
He knew full well that if Elsie saw him on one of those ancient roofs without a lick of safety equipment between him and gravity, she\u2019d die on the spot and belt him good on her way to heaven. She\u2019d likely say something he\u2019d heard before: \u201cI ought to slap you so hard, your lips will make a natural turtleneck.\u201d<\/p>\n
How he longed to hear her say that or anything else, for he did miss her. But he also enjoyed being independent and earning his own keep. What he did not enjoy was being perched on one of those steep roofs like a bird without a single feather, let alone a set of wings except what God might provide should Aidan fall to his death. Such was his job, though, and the job of those other nine men.<\/p>\n
In the beating summer sun, they\u2019d hack through shingles and rafters using crowbars, hoes, and sledge and claw hammers. With every hit, the dust would rise all around them in a gritty, blinding cloud. Aidan could hardly take a breath without his throat getting scratched. Dirt and dust was so thick, he couldn\u2019t see where he was stepping, and he prayed God to keep him safe. Elsie had always told him God preserved him for a purpose. He doubted that purpose was tearing apart a Utah roof.<\/p>\n
The foreman\u2019s name was Don, but Don wasn\u2019t the boss. Bossman was Coz, a ruddy fellow who wore striped overalls and a railroad cap to cover his shiny, pink head.<\/p>\n
After a few days on the job, Aidan asked Coz when his first pay- check would arrive, as he wanted to pay his bill at the Hotel Roberts. Coz flicked him a glance and said the paperwork hadn\u2019t gone through, then he gave him a ten to tide him over.<\/p>\n
The next week, Aidan asked again. The answer was the same. This time, Coz gave him a five and told him to keep on working.<\/p>\n
The answer didn\u2019t change the following week, nor the one after that, and finally the foreman noticed and asked Aidan if he\u2019d got his pay yet.<\/p>\n
Now, this foreman was a hulking, sunburned returned missionary. He had served in Texas and later married a Mexican woman, and he would not abide prejudice. He had seen enough of it, and he recognized it straight off. When Aidan told him what Coz had been doing, Don announced that they\u2019d talk to him\u2014immediately.<\/p>\n
Now Aidan hesitated. He felt all the conflicts of his blood. Louis Gray, his great grandfather, had lived most his life as a slave, and at the moment, Aidan was experiencing something like slavery. Derrus\u2019s temper flared in him, but so did Elsie\u2019s concern. He could almost hear her pray, \u201cDear Lord, don\u2019t let anybody get hurt.\u201d He saw every risk in what Don was suggesting, and those risks were bad as climbing tall buildings without a safety net. He did not want to lose his job; it had been hard enough to come by. Besides that, Aidan was the only Negro in ten miles. He knew anything could happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s just some delay,\u201d he said, imitating Elsie\u2019s way of soothing tension. \u201cNo need to raise trouble. Let\u2019s give it some time, Don.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, we\u2019re settling this right now. You should\u2019ve gotten your pay same as the rest of us.\u201d Don motioned to the other workers.<\/p>\n
This was the moment of choice, and Derrus\u2019s example stood silent and calm in Aidan\u2019s mind. Yes, it was time to stand up before his dad, before Coz, before himself. He took a deep breath and felt ready. Then all of those men\u2014Aidan smack in the middle\u2014walked out of the heat and into Coz\u2019s air-conditioned office.<\/p>\n
Coz looked up from his plate of potato salad. \u201cBoys?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCoz, do you intend to pay this man?\u201d Don asked. The others made a path for Aidan. He felt himself getting pushed to the front. Coz stood up, looked his foreman direct in the eyes, then glared long at Aidan. Seemed Coz intended to shrink him with his eyes, but Aidan just felt taller and prouder. He knew who he was and\u00a0what he had earned.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you?\u201d Don repeated.<\/p>\n
A full five seconds passed before Coz answered, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foreman had twice the shoulder width Coz did, and he moved a step closer to prove it. \u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard me. I\u2019ve been catching it from all my friends for hiring a night fighter anyway. This boy should be grateful for any kind of a\u00a0job, and he shouldn\u2019t be trying to set you all up for a riot. We don\u2019t need that around here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Aidan felt tall and capable and sensed the strength of his heritage every whit, he was wearing the harmless half-smile he had practiced all his life. He would continue to wear it most of his days in Provo. Only his closest friends would see what lay behind it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it, then,\u201d said Don. \u201cMen, we\u2019re dragging up here. Coz is going to have to find some new workers. There are one or two conditions I won\u2019t tolerate and one or two lines I won\u2019t see crossed. Aidan, you get in my car. We\u2019re all of us heading up to Salt Lake. I believe you have some papers to fill out at the Labor Relations Board.\u201d He turned one last time to Coz. \u201cCongratulations,\u201d he said, \u201cyou just landed a claim on your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
All nine of those workers went with Aidan to that bureau in Salt Lake, and he filed his claim, feeling satisfied and justified. Derrus would have been proud of him.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is from the book Darius Aidan Gray and I wrote, The Last Mile of the Way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1301,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>