Page 7 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

Work had beenuneventful for my two-day shift. Besides talking to Kyrie, I mostly slept. There was literally nothing else to do. Micah and I always had the same schedule to assure neither of us felt alone on our shifts. I appreciated the chief for making that happen. He didn’t want either of us feeling uncomfortable in a firehouse full of men. That didn’t bother me, since I grew up having more male friends than female ones.

I had a flight to catch to New York tomorrow, and I was nervous as hell. There was a memorial for those killed happening at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I hadn’t been to New York since we’d left because I never wanted to revisit the place where my dad was taken away from me. However, I thought it was important to go this year and possibly feel one with him again. My mother and brother were also going along with me.

I wanted to go out with Kyrie before I left, but he had to go out of town today. We’d talked the past three days for hours at a time. I didn’t understand how he could be on the phone with me until one in the morning and still function at work. I had to get at least eight hours, or I would be hell to deal with. My attitude would be on ten thousand, and the people around me would definitely form new opinions of who I was.

I enjoyed our conversations, though, and he promised we would be able to go out Friday evening, before I had to go back to work. I was only spending one night in New York. It wasn’t a trip to have fun. It was to pay tribute to my father and those who lost their lives that day. I prayed we never had to endure another attack like that in this country. That day would forever be cemented in history.

As I packed my carry-on, my phone rang. I knew it was probably Kyrie, since we hadn’t talked yet today. He’d only sent a good morning text before his six-a.m. flight. I was still in la-la land at that time of morning, especially since we didn’t get off the phone until close to eleven. I didn’t understand how he did it. He had to leave home by two a.m. to get to Houston for his flight. After our conversation, I still had to shower and settle down. It was after midnight when I finally got in bed.

“Hello?”

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, his voice low and soft like he’d just woken up.

“Hey. You sound like you’ve been asleep.”

“I have. I didn’t go straight to sleep when I landed. I slept two of three hours on the flight. By the time we landed, I had to find something to eat. I was starving.”

I giggled a bit as I heard him moving around. “What time is your flight tomorrow again?”

“It’s at six thirty. There’s no way I will be up at eleven, like you. I’m going to bed early, since I’ll have to wake up at two to beat the airport in a sufficient amount of time. I wish I could have left today now.”

“Why couldn’t you?”

“My brother couldn’t, so I opted to wait for him so we could all be on the same flight. The memorial is at noon, so hopefully, I won’t have any flight delays.”

“Hopefully, you won’t. Your father would be proud that you followed in his footsteps, willing to sacrifice your life for your fellow man.”

“I’m sure your father would be proud of you too.”

He remained quiet. We hadn’t really discussed his father, other than the fact that he was deceased. I could sense that was intentional, even through phone conversation. His voice had changed when I asked about his father when he’d asked me what made me want to become a fireman. I didn’t even ask how he’d died. He said that his father died when he was ten years old, then changed the subject.

“He probably would be,” he finally said. “I wish we could have gone out before I left. I’m dying to see you again, especially in normal circumstances.”

“Yeah. I would like to see you again too.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t have an iPhone, so we couldn’t FaceTime each other. He wasn’t on Facebook, so we couldn’t video chat through Messenger either. I huffed as I closed my carry-on. I’d packed everything I would need for the overnight trip, doing my best to only do the bare minimum. I could moisturize my hair and all that foolishness when I got back. I was thinking of cutting it anyway. I wanted to start over. My locs were a mess. I was in desperate need of a retwist, but my stylist had moved. Finding a new stylist could be hell.

I was spoiled and wanted my hair done a certain way, using certain products that I’d grown to love. As I looked in the mirror, I fingered it. Thankfully, I had nice hair to where the locs didn’tlook too bad. One little girl actually thought I wasThe Little Mermaid. I chuckled when she compared me to Halle Bailey. My hair wasn’t red, but it had some red hues when the sun hit it just right.

“So, where will we go Friday night?” I asked.

“Wherever you wanna go, gorgeous, but I do have a place in mind.”

“I don’t know where I want to go. I’m not picky.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll just make reservations and surprise you. I have to go, Genesis. I have a meeting to get to. I’ll call you this evening before you go to bed.”

“Okay. Talk to you later.”

“Okay. Bye.”

I ended the call and took a deep breath. I couldn’t wait to get this trip over with so I could spend time with him when I came back. We would both be back in town on Friday, but he would be arriving before me. He apparently liked early flights. I only took an early flight so I could get to the memorial on time.

After pulling my hair up, I got dressed so I could go and meet my mother for lunch. I couldn’t allow the day to get by me, so I got a move on.

“New York is just as busy as I remember it being. I don’t miss it one bit,” my mother said.

This was a nightmare. Our flight was on time, but the traffic was going to have us late to the memorial. I was nervously bouncing my leg, anxious to get to the memorial site. I needed to see my father’s name amongst the fallen heroes. Glancing at myphone again, I saw it was eleven thirty. We were only two miles away, and I was almost to the point where I wanted to get out of this car and just walk.

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