Until My Heart Stops Beating by Tonya M Barber Page A

promise I’ll call you in the morning. Give me tonight. Please.”
                  Reluctantly, he closed his door and nodded his head.
                  “Ok.”
                  She exited the car and ran up the stairs unlocking the door to her house. Without looking back she entered, closing the door behind her.
                  “Makeba, is that you,” she heard her mother call from the kitchen.
                  Swallowing hard then taking a deep breath before she spoke. “Yes mama. It’s me.”
                  Hoping she’d be upstairs before her mother came out, she increased her speed but she was not fast enough.
                  “How was your date?”
                  Lowering her head to conceal the tears which came bursting forth, she held onto the banister for support. With concern for what was bothering her daughter, Mrs. Jones dried her hands on her apron and rushed up the stairs to her side.
                  “C’mon,” she said as she helped her daughter up the remainder of the steps.
                  Once inside her bedroom. Makeba allowed her mother to escort her to the bed. Sitting on the very edge, she glanced up through teary eyes at her mom.
                  “Tell mama what happened honey!” She wiped Makeba’s face with the bottom of her apron.
                  After pulling herself together Makeba began to speak. “Mama, it was not a good night.”
                  “Why not?’
                  “For the first time in my life, I was personally introduced to bigotry.”
                  “What?” Mrs. Jones was enraged.
                  “We went out to dinner with one of Declan’s longtime friends and potential investor. Well, turns out he was the biggest racist I could have ever imagined. From the initial introduction I knew sitting at that table with him wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience and boy was I right. He wouldn’t even shake my hand properly and what little handshake we did do he wiped his hand off on his suit jacket afterwards as if I had some sort of plague.”
                  “Oh honey, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
                  “I’m not.”
                  Looking up they noticed her father standing under the frame of the door.
                  “Oh daddy!”
                  “Barry!”
                  “Well, I’m not. This is not the only time you are going to encounter an experience like this if you continue seeing this man. It will only get worse. I don’t give a damn how dark the first family is. It does nothing for race relations. Listen, baby,” he continued as he closed the gap between them, “I’m trying to save you from a shitload of heartache and pain. End it. End it now and find you a good young black man. They’re out there, just be patient.”
                  “Get out Barry. Now! she doesn’t need this from you right now. She’s been through enough already tonight.”
                  Throwing up his hands, he left.
                  Makeba buried her head in her mother’s chest. Mrs. Jones lifted her chin so that they would be eye level.
                  “Baby, I have never sugar coated anything for you and I’m not going to start now. Your father is not completely wrong. He has every right to be concerned but I think we’ve come a long way. I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as he proclaims it to be but there are still some people out there who feel like you should stick with your own kind.”
                  “Do you feel that way?”
                  She chuckled. “Honey, you can’t help who you fall in love with. If that was true I would have saved myself a lot of heartache with the