When the Reckoning Comes

by LaTanya McQueen

A person moved through the world with no knowledge and no assurances, only hope and faith to guide them through the belief they were making the right decisions.

Mira knew what her mother meant, as if that was all it would take to alter her life’s trajectory, as if as long as she did these things—lived a life of yes and no ma’am pleasantries, of never speaking beyond the answer to a question, of being watchful of her tone, even when upset, of never asking, never challenging, of being polite, respectable—somehow, in some way, she would be saved.

Celine was joking, but when Mira was younger she didn’t understand the categories, why Celine was considered white and Mira and Jesse not. All three of them could be a mixture of anything, especially seeing them clustered together on her mother’s porch. Who was to say what any of them were?