The Circle: Rain's Story (20 page)

Remy was shaking on the inside, but she held her composure and nodded. The elder Banks, extended his hand out towards Remy, welcoming her to the front seat and closed it behind her. She smiled and saw where David got his chivalries from. They packed the car, and drove off. Remy sat still in caution, holding her breath while in his family’s presence. She was at least happy that neither of his parents showed any signs of indifference because of her race, she was relieved to know, at least on the surface.

As they pulled up in front of Le Paradou, an exclusive French restaurant
, located on Indiana Ave, near the White House, the parking attendants raced to the car and opened each and every car door for the family to exit.

Inside the restaurant, Remy was in awe. It was hard not to coming where she was from. Everything was silver, with candelabras and rose centerpieces on each table, and the go for hip and trendy bold color scheme and modern furnishings. Music was playing subtly in the background, reflecting its theme of classical for a traditional fine dining restaurant. Lighting
accentuated the submersed setting just right for clandestine power meetings. Tuxedo dressed waiters and bus boys, stood looming over tables, on hand for any patron’s beck and call. They were seated and greeted immediately at the sight of the elder Banks, by anyone of importance.

At their table, the
conversations were cordial and relaxed. Remy put on her best table etiquette and manners, but she still felt she was failing miserably and so wish she could leave and hide. She couldn’t help but feel small and out of place, but she braved it for David, who held her hand under the table all the while. But then came the moment she feared when his father asked her.

“S
o, Remy, tell us about yourself. Where you are from? And your plans for the future?”

“Dad, she is not here
for a job interview. She’s here as my guest.” David said, sparing Remy any embarrassment or scrutiny.

“I’m not prying.” He bellowed lightly, “I’m just trying to get to know her a little better, I’m sure she doesn’t mind.” Just as David was about to thwart his meddlesome inquires, Remy interrupted him and put on a bold smile and said, “No,
it’s okay, David. I don’t mind.”

Remy placed her napkin in her lap, and took a second to gather her thoughts
. “I live with my mother in Baltimore County, I have a younger sister named Rachel, and I’m nineteen years old, graduated from high school last year. I decided to take one year off to work to help my mother out, but I’m about to enroll back to school and was just accepted by a few colleges. I’m just debating on which one now.” When she finished, both mother and father nodded encouragingly while smiling.

Beaming at Remy, her father added. “That’s good, very good. Education is the key to success.” He turned his attention towards his son while patting him on the back. “Right, son?”

After dinner, they decided to take a walk in the nearby park to end the evening. As David walked and was engaged in conversation with his mother, it gave the elder Banks to spend some time with Remy, as they strolled slowly behind them.

They were exchanging general pleasantries, when the elder Banks ma
n took off the gloves and became blunt with the little black girl.

“Remy, I’m going to be as frank and as candid as I can, so I hope you can appreciate where I’m coming from.” Remy stared in his eyes and the nice, pleasant man that she met only hours earlier, no longer exist or was reco
gnizable. His eyes turned beady, his voice turned cold.

“David is my only son, and as a parent we want the very best for our child. It’s only natural. We brought him up
right, taught him to respect others and above all, be an honest person. In other words, we were too effective, we spoiled the boy.”

Remy said nothing, still unsure where he was going with the conversation.

“We sent him to one of the best schools in the nation, so he can have a secure future, and we cannot risk him deviating from his goal.” He stopped walking and stared down at her and stated grimly. “Especially any kind of juvenile relationship, I will not allow it.”

He then revealed to her just how serious it was and informed her. “Your mother has been working a permanent job
as a nurse’s assistant, for the past 3 years. Before that she was on welfare and doing little odd jobs, never earning over fifteen thousand dollars a year. Your father is deceased from an apparent heroin overdose when you were six years old. You live in the city of Baltimore, not the county all of your life and you were an average student in high school, just barely graduating.”

When he finished, Remy felt like the lowest scum on the earth and remained t
oo speechless and shaken to even respond. The man stopped,

“I know more things about you than you know about yourself, and even more powerful than your black Jesus. Do yourself and your family a big favor and just walk away and never look back.”

Remy looked up into his cold, now sullen dark eyes and was deathly afraid.

“My son is a good boy, and I thank you for allowing him to finally satisfy his curiosity for the dark meat, so for your own good, just let it go and get yourself a fine black boy and settle down with him.”

In an instant, his demeanor changed and he was smiling again. “I’ve arranged for your mother Eleanor, a nice paying clerical job with the department of motor vehicles paying $26,000 a year to start and a scholarship of your choice to attend any local community college to get your degree in whatever field of your choice.” He paused again and said, “Do you and your family a huge favor. I suggest you take my offer and never look back.”

RAIN AND HER FATHER

             
Rain couldn’t believe what she had just heard and was enthralled by the now known missing pieces and facts about her parents’ beginnings – her and her brother’s beginnings. She watched as her father sat appearing exhausted and drained as if he just completed a 12 round boxing match. His passion for his mother was real a real one. His eyes were blank and stoic as he continued.

“Right after that day, I would wait for her to call again, but she never did.” He finally looked up at his daughter and said with sad sincerity. “I looked and searched for her everywhere and couldn’t find her. It was as if she just vanished of
f the face of the earth.” He spewed desperately, more so trying to convince Rain. “I searched all the high schools in Baltimore county trying to get some leads and none of them had listings of her attending any of the schools. It took me two years to track her down and when I did, I found out that she was now Mrs. Remy Porter with children, so I just let it go and moved on with my life.” He hung his head low, and looked as if he was going to break down in tears at any moment.

Rain felt her father
’s pain and spoke for the first time and revealed.

“You couldn’t find her because she never attended school in Baltimore
County. She went to school and lived in the city all her life, up until she married my dad and had us.” Stunned, her father asked.

“She never attended school there?
” he repeated. “What reason would she have to tell me differently?”

“She probably wanted to impress you.” Rain said flatly

“Impress me? What reason would she have to want to impress me?” He asked with astonishment. Rain contorted her lips and answered truthfully.

“She didn’t want you to look down on her because she was poor and from the ghetto, and you come from a good rich family.”
He jerked his head back in amazement.

“That is certainly not true at all. I loved
her for who she was. Where she lived and where she from made no difference to me.” What Rain revealed next, rendered him speechless.

“Maybe it didn’t matter to you, but it did to your father.” Rain watched her father stare at her with utter perplexity. She could see that he was fighting to offset and challenge her assessment, but he
gasped bowling over. He jumped to his feet and began pacing the floor, back and forth. He paused, and raked his well-cut shiny brown hair to the back, away from his sad blue eyes, then looked towards Rain and asked. “What makes you come to that conclusion?” Rain shrugged her shoulders back.

“You said the day she met your parents for the first time, that it was the last time you saw her, right?” Distressed and hanging on to his daughter’s every word, he nodded. “Well, after y’all left that fancy restaurant, she spent some time alone with your father. How do you know he didn’t threaten her to stay away from you or something like that?” It was as if he was hit by a bolt of lightning, and all at once his face went flush. The more he thought back, the more
it made sense. His eyes seemed moist and his face seemed pinched, actually transformed by grief and an epiphany. The more he thought back, the more his jaw muscles began to grind as his face turned crimson red, and then it finally hit him and let out a loud piercing shrill.

“Fuck me!” he cursed
. He shook his head over and over and thought out loud. “I knew it. I knew it.” They exchanged startled looks as he admitted. “I thought about that and asked my dad a couple of days later when she didn’t call. I asked him did he say anything to her, and he said he didn’t and I believed him.”  He shook his head and with a sadistic grin and repeated with sarcasm. “I believed a man that started his career as a lawyer, a man who lied for a living. A man that was used to having his way, people looking up to him because he was a judge… was I that naïve and blind? ” He gazed at Rain with a distraught look, hoping she could offer him some solace or answers. She had none and remained silent.

CHAPTER 31

After he
snapped out of it and became calmer and settled, opting to put all the sadness behind him for now, he got down to his immediate concern, his children. He grew very serious and laid everything in the open, with each disconcerting news as he thumbed through the folder, his eyes grew even huger.

“
It’s very disturbing to learn about the cynical and violent profession and the things you and your brother and sisters have been up to for the past ten years.” He opened his folder and read off charges. “55 counts of armed bank robberies, murder of law enforcement officials, attempted murder, and grand larceny. Now terrorism against the United States….” He continued reading as the list went on and on. He shook his head at Rain with displeasure.

“These are charge that could get all of you the death penalty or if you lucky, life behind bars without the possibility of parole.” Rain was a
bout to speak, but he waved her off for her to be silent.

“
I am going to help you but I don’t want you to speak. I just want you to listen from this point on. Do you understand Rain?” Rain wanted so badly to lash out and rebel, but she thought of her brother and held herself in check so she nodded.

“You and your brother Dayvid are my children. I would have never known this information if it wasn’t for your mother’s friend
Miss Brown. Up until four days ago, I was oblivious to this whole episode. I am clueless to how this woman found me; I was walking out of my office when I heard over my shoulder someone says,
‘Mr. Banks, Remy wants me to deliver a message to you.’
Of course the mentioning of your mother’s name stopped me in my tracks, and then I turned around and saw Miss Brown.”  He started speaking quickly. “She began telling me the story from the beginning and I really thought it was preposterous. I took her back to my office and checked her and her story out.” His lined face was somber, “It was then did I come across you, your brother and the rest of your siblings and who was your mother – Remy.” He began pacing the floor again and shot back. “Then I started calculating you and your brother birth records and they all added up like Miss Brown said. I wanted to shake it off, but when she began explaining why she came, the story became like a horrible movie, but I had to figure out a way to get to you first and not in other agencies hands. When I finally decided to get involved, we were already watching you and knew where you were the whole while. But I needed the FBI, ATF and US Marshalls out of the way first and have my agency in charge…Homeland Security, that way we could call all the shots and coordinate your arrest since we deal with homeland terrorism.” Rain watched him stare at her grimly.

“The person in the thick Middle Eastern accent that sold you the explosives was with us and the explosive was only props
. That’s when we kidnapped you and brought you here, so I could get a blood and saliva sample to find out the real truth.” He paused, rubbed the nape of his neck and continued. “Your only way out was to be erased, and as you saw from the news broadcast, Rain Porter died in a standoff then an explosion.” He turned towards her dramatically and informed her. “With the help of some of my connections, Rain Porter no longer exists anywhere and you will have a totally brand new identity free to go anywhere you decide.”