Chapter 24

Amazing Grace

It had started with music.

They had all been united by music. Mr. Kim with his 45's, Michael Burns and his strange synthesizer mixes, the church ladies and their gospel choir, they all shared that commonality despite their backgrounds. Music wasn't just about skin color, though each preferred a different genre.

Mr. Kim and his wife listened to the dulcet tones of their faraway homeland, though the shopkeeper liked to indulge in the Beatles now and then. Blues was always a favorite with the soldier, Anderson Walker, to his rap loving grandson's embarrassment. No one knew what to think of Michael's music. Dr. Serena Hall critiqued when she could, mostly to the man's embarrassment, but there was a flirtatious attitude under the bite.

There had always been something between them since their first meeting when she chastised him on the state of the neighborhood's boiler. Michael did have to admit the area was in a deplorable state. He may have come here against his will, but now that he knew the truth he'd certainly bring everything up to code. It was unfortunate that his kind hearted deed led to the death of a woman who was a pillar in the community.

The group was galvanized in their efforts to retake the community from violence, and they were making progress. The gangs had only killed each other before. This was the first case where they actually targeted an innocent, and the city was prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law. A confident woman who wasn't a stranger to unjustified death named Mrs. Monfort was taking the case, pro bono. It would be a fitting tribute to Mary Harding, the loving grandmother whose death was so grieved by the neighborhood.

TBAATBAATBAATBAATBAA

It had started with flowers.

Dr. Serena laid a bouquet at the murder scene where Walker was wounded, Josh blinded, and where Mary died. Michael, frowning slightly, saw her blooms under the hot May sun. He disappeared into his office. Now it was the woman's turn to frown. Was he so offended that she could offer some tribute to the dead, did he think them such monsters that they did not mourn?

The man came back with a filled vase of water. The woman instantly regretted her cruel thoughts as he placed her flowers in them. The neighborhood had made her think of her skin and the world as being out to get her. The dark skinned tenants had always had prejudices thrown against them, but now she realized she could dish them out with deadly accuracy too. She gave Michael a genuine smile as a peace offering.

A week later, the boiler had finally been fixed and was running smoothly. The neighborhood association decided to celebrate by going to Mary's for joyous meal. Michael and Walker played an impromptu chess tournament while Serena built blocks with Chenise. The man from Beverly Hills got in contact with a charity to donate a hearing aid to the little girl, so she would never be isolated from the world again. They already were segregated by the location of their neighborhood. The church women sang gospel hymns, and Michael and Serena chatted over late coffee until Walker shoed them out personally to lock up for the night.

"You've gone native!" his friends complained, as the landlord explained his decision to stay in his position for good. "There must be a girl involved."

No, that wasn't the truth at all. There was still so much that needed to be done, roofs that needed fixing, streets to be cleaned up. The children's smiles made it worth being away from the glamour of Beverly Hills. If a beautiful doctor was there to keep him on his toes the whole time, well that was an additional bonus.

TBAATBAATBAATBAATBAA

It had started with panic.

Serena came into the beauty shop all in a state of agitation.

"Ooh, what's got a bee in her bonnet?" Queenie snarked to the other women gabbing good naturally around her.

The doctor was pacing around the tiled floor, muttering to herself like a madwoman.

She bit her lip before blurting out her dilemma, "Michael asked me to dinner."

"So? You and he go out all the time."

The younger woman's eyes were wide, "He asked me out on a date."

The perfectly coiffed gossipers eyed each other. This was new!

Sympathetic Tonya Hawkins took Serena's arm to sit her down in an empty chair. "Sweetheart, ya'll have been dancing around each other like bees to honey for months now. Aren't you happy?"

"Oh I am," Serena exclaimed, "but there's so much to think about. What would people say seeing a black woman and a white man together? They'd think I'm too good for my own kind or I'm some kind of a golddigger!"

"Hmph, never seen a doctor as a gold-digger," Queenie laughed. Seeing her distraught face, the woman quickly amended her comment, "Ain't no one going to think that. Ya'll are just two people getting to know each other, that's it. Love is love. It doesn't matter what people's skin color are, as long as they care about each other. You do care about him, don't ya?"

Serena took a deep breath. As an African-American female doctor, she had to put up personal buffers to make her not crumble to the taunts of outsiders. Her first meeting with Michael certainly showed her armor. Now that he was making her way past her defenses, she was making excuses as to why she shouldn't let him in.

"Yes, yes, you're right. I love him, that's all that matters." She glanced at the clock. "I better tell him yes!" and with that said she dashed out of the local boutique.

"Hallelujah, and the blind shall see!" Charmaine rejoiced. She glanced at the eager women gathered around her. "Okay, who had today's date in the book?"

The woman crowded around the betting book to see who won the pot as to when the blushing pair would finally realize their feelings for each other.

I hate... hate...hate the Promised Land crossover episodes. They're much more heavy handed than the other episodes. This one I only liked because of the other characters besides the Greene family. I kind of took the bickering between Michael and Serena as attraction and ran with it. The ending was very touching with good singing. The synthesizer music was awful. I like seeing Kieu Chinh. She's a great actress in very small roles so it's nice seeing her.

Grignard