Newark 2001

The stranger waved the limousine driver away as he approached a large tear in the chain link fence. Curling one slim tan hand around the intricately woven steel, he shook the barrier twice, as his advisors had instructed him. A small boy quickly appeared. His blue-black skin had been coated in a fine layer of dust, making the boy appear as if a shade, or perhaps the apparition of a lost ancestor warning him not to proceed.

"Shay." The young boy's drawl was soft and solemn as he whispered into a walkie-talkie held gingerly in his hands. "Sandman here for you."

"Boy, what did I tell you 'bout spillin' people's names? You need to learn when to talk and when to keep your mouth shut." A woman's voice emanated from the receiver. Strong. Earthy. Sexual.

The stranger smiled softly. The young boy fixed his eyes upon him; his pupils rapidly dilated as if to absorb the rare act of kindness. His full lips curled into an innocent grin as he leaned casually against the fence. "She ain't in a good mood today," he confided to his new companion.

A crackle and a hiss from the walkie-talkie. "Boy, you there?"

"Yeah."

"You bring him in, but run him past Nani first."

"'Kay." The child nodded to the stranger. "You gotta give me your shirt 'fore you go in."

"Pardon?"

"You heard me. I ain't gonna steal it!" He sucked his teeth forcefully. "Shit, just gimme some clothes."

The stranger shook his head sadly as he removed his jacket. "Where I come from, children would never speak to their elders that way."

The young boy pulled the expensive fabric through the tear in the fence. "Here we ain't got no elders."

He vanished as quickly as he had appeared.

*******

"Nani says you can go in."

The stranger's eyebrows arched incredulously as he folded his arms across his chest.

"What?"

"You have yet to return my jacket to me."

The young boy smiled sheepishly. "I forgot."

"I'm sure." The stranger chuckled as he removed his linen jacket from the small child's grasp. White fibers snagged on large black scabs of dead skin. His laughter halted. "Your hands…"

The young boy glanced at the two gnarled digits that still remained on his right hand. "Oh yeah. I wouldn't touch nothin' in there if I were you."

"Duly noted."

*******

They passed abandoned cars, unidentifiable scraps of metal, and a mammoth beast of canine origin that the stranger assumed to be Nani as they ventured towards a large garage in the distance. The Rottweiler acknowledged them only briefly with a wagging stub before tearing into the rat it held captive with a tick-encrusted paw. The stranger shuddered.

"Nani must like the way you smell. She only wags her tail at Shay."

"Perhaps she admires my taste in jackets."

"Or maybe the bitch just likes having the son of one in the garage." The musical voice resonated from the four thin sheets of corrugated tin that had been welded together to form the ramshackle workshop. Shay wandered from the depths of the structure. "As-salam 'aleykum, Khonsu." She rolled a grenade thoughtfully in her palm. "Welcome to my humble abode."

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The Meeting was a short scene created for the Digital Evolution web project Crookz.