Noah Adir (Part 1)

"Headline news this hour. An eight-year-old boy, allegedly accused of sexually offending a woman, is being executed next Monday at the Jorge's Memorial Center."

Laney sat watching the news on the couch while ironing her clothes she planned on wearing to work the following day. It was night, the first night she had been home, in a long while. 

Her back was sore from bending over her stout desk at her work. She leaned back, trying to straighten her posture, as she rubbed her shoulders.

The television was playing softly in the background. She didn't want to wake up her son, who was snoring loudly in his room. 

The news reports had been running crazy all morning about this little boy. His name was Noah Adir. He was an African-American kid who just so happened to be walking down the street when a white lady called the police on him. He was coming home from his walk to the candy store downtown when the police scooped him up in their squad car and left; of course not before they made a scene. 

They roughed him up real good. They showed a picture of what he looked like before the incident, next to the picture of what happened after, and you could barely recognize him. His mother was in the news screaming for them to let her little boy out. 

He didn't do nothin' wrong! Let my Noah go! Her demands have been heard all over the world. Even people in Europe tried to make things right by broadcasting a special tv event. They'd never know that what they did only made it worse. 

It got so bad that people marched right up to the police station and protested to let him go. It didn't work. So far, five people are dead and more than 50 people are injured.

Laney couldn't believe that they were doing all of this for just one little boy. She looked up to face her staircase and starting thinking about her own son, Jordan.

Jordan was only nine years old, one year older than Noah. She wondered what she would do if Jordan were in the same predicament as Noah. She didn't think she could live with herself. 

She closed her eyes and sighed. As she let her breath out in slow motions, moments with Jordan flashed behind her closed eyelids. 

Jordan's first basketball game. He was so happy his coach decided to take him off the bench and even happier that he shot the ball, even if he missed. Laney remembered the smile Jordan gave her when the game was over. The moment was irreplaceable. 

Or the time Jordan lost his first tooth. It was the one right in the front. He cried when he saw blood pouring out of his mouth. Laney had wrapped her arms around him and explained what it was, why it happened, and that it would keep happening until he had all of his adult teeth.

And the time when she gave birth to him. He was so tiny and full of hope. For the first few weeks, she called him Burrito because of how he looked when she wrapped his favorite blankie around him.

Laney didn't want to let go of the feeling so she kept her eyes close, but she still heard the news report softly going in the background, so she turned it up a little, careful not to wake up Jordan. 

"What do you have to say about Noah Adir's fate?"

A news reporter, white herself, was now asking a black man what he thought about Noah. She was stationed at a protest that was going on downtown. The man didn't look happy. He looked disgusted; as if he didn't want to be apart of the news report. Maybe he didn't like the way she said fate as if this was inevitable.

He spoke in a loud manner: "What happened to Noah, ain't no fate. This was the devil! That white lady got a devil in her! She know ain't nobody wink at her! He just a little boy!"

The news reporter tried to take the microphone away from him but he held a firm grip on it. 

"These white folks wanna throw us out of here and this is their way of doing it. By using an eight-year-old boy against us. You know what, lady? You are apart of the problem. Talkin' about fate. This ain't no fate!"

The news lady was struggling with the man, trying to get his hands from around the mic, but the man wouldn't budge.

"Do you hear what these people are saying? They sayin' we want change. Let Noah go! We want change. Let Noah go! And we won't stop saying it until we get justice. That boy should not be being executed. And all of you are going to hell if you think he should. Some devils!"

The news lady finally managed to get a grip around the mic and grabbed it from the man's hands. Or maybe he was done talking and let it go himself.

Laney put her head in her hands as she said: Carl, back to you with the Sports Section.

Laney changed the channel to the next news station. On their feed, the riots were getting worse. Buildings were burning, people were looting, and the police were beating people in the street.

She changed the channel again to a medical show called "Cabinet of Medicine". She binge-watched shows like this all the time and she figured she should catch up. Right when Ryan was about to kiss Sophia, the station was interrupted. 

"We interrupt this program to feature a special news broadcasting report. The story of Noah Adir is heavily spreading all across the globe. Women in Budar, India are sewing quilts saying WE WANT CHANGE. LET NOAH GO! Kids in Africa are sending voice messages over to America with warm messages to the family. People in Paris, France are starting to protest and riot. All of this for a little boy named Noah Adir, who is being executed on Monday for allegedly winking at a woman. 

Some sources say that this is all a fluke. That he never winked at the lady and everyone is blowing this out of proportion. Others say that this is fate for the little boy. No one has spoken up in the trial and the judge has already ruled his final verdict. So I ask anyone seeing this now, what are you going to do to stop this motion? Have a nice night everyone."

Laney looked from the tv to the staircase; where she saw Jordan sitting on one of the stairs.

"Come here, baby."

Jordan walked over to his mom with his arms out wide and asked: "What's going on, Mommy?"

"Nothing, honey. Something bad happened and people are trying to mellow it out, that's all."

Laney didn't know how to tell Jordan that she was scared. She was scared to send her only black son out into the mean world ahead of them. But she knew that there was no way around it. So she kept her mouth shut, wrapped her arms around Jordan, and closed her eyes to let out a long sigh.