Taste of Reality by Kimberla Lawson Roby Read Free Book Online Page B

as much time as she spends smiling in his face.”
    “You think they’re messing around?”
    “Who’s to say, but Kelli is barely one cubic centimeter from being poor white trash, so I really don’t think so.”
    I smiled because it always amazed me when I heard Lorna and some of my other white friends label someone as poor white trash, and I was equally amazed when we as black people called certain African-Americans the word nigger. The latter was even more interesting, because we’d fought for more than a century trying to prevent all other nationalities from calling us that. But with everything I could think of, there were always unwritten laws and tiny exceptions to every rule.
    “I still don’t see how they could just give it to her, because it says right on the job posting that nondegreed applicants must have five years of solid HR experience. And I don’t see where two years of clerical work can be counted as solid anything when we’re talking about a managerial position. Plus, she’s only been with the company four years.”
    Lorna reached across the pure white linen tablecloth and covered my hand with her own. “Anise? Honey? We could go on and on about this for the rest of the evening, but it’s not going to change anything. I’m not in a position to make any waves, but what I do know is that you have to start planning your recourse. You can’t dwell on Kelli Jacobson or that job. You’ve got to figure out a way to bypass the emotional aspects of this and start speaking with an attorney.”
    “I just can’t do that. Not yet, anyway, because I really feel like I have to give them the benefit of the doubt until they make their decision. And it’s not like I’m overly anxious to go to court anyhow. As a matter of fact, I’ve never had to go to court for anything except a traffic ticket,” I said, sighing with much grief.
    The waiter refilled our water glasses and removed our almost empty salad plates.
    “More rolls?” he asked in a deep voice that reminded me of a guy I went to college with.
    “No, not for me,” I answered.
    “I’m fine as well,” Lorna added.
    “Just let me know if you need anything, and your dinners will be out shortly.”
    “Thank you,” Lorna told him with a flirtatious look on her face.
    He smiled and walked away.
    “Wouldn’t you like to get wild on a Saturday night with him?” she asked me, laughing.
    “Please. I guess he looks good enough, but I’m a married woman, remember?”
    “Too bad for you. Because I’d love to teach him a few things or two.”
    We both cracked up.
    “He looks like he just stopped nursing from his mother, if you ask me,” I teased.
    “Yeah, and that’s why it would be so easy to train him. You can make them do all the right things in all the right places when they haven’t been out in the world for too long.”
    “Train them to your own liking, huh?” I said, encouraging her.
    “That’s right.”
    “You’re a mess,” I said, but I wondered how Lorna could be so outgoing and so open when it came to desiring certain men—well, actually a lot of them—but seemed terrified when she’d told me about her run-in with Jim. I understood how she might have been afraid when the incident actually occurred, but I just couldn’t see her keeping quiet about it. But maybe I really didn’t understand as well as I thought I did and had no right judging her, since I’d never been sexually harassed myself.
    We finished our meals and discussed everything from herfourteen-year-old daughter to the fact that she really hadn’t been happy for a good number of years. She talked about wanting to find a man who loved her and her daughter and one who would be committed for life. She’d dated a ton of no-goods, and was starting to believe that there wasn’t much else to choose from. I insisted there was, and tried to make her realize that timing had a lot to do with everything. Some people were happier early in their lives and miserable