Commencement

  Allen didn’t really want to go to the Election Night party for a number of reasons. First, he didn’t really think Obama would win and could wait until the morning for the disappointment to set in. Second, he had to get up early the next day for work and didn’t want to be up late at a party. Third, despite his talk with Jim the day before, he was still a little self-conscious about being among the social climbing scene that Leandra was a part of. The only reason Allen was even headed toward Leandra’s was because he had kind of promised Jim he would go. In addition, Allen had already invited Holly who was expecting to be introduced to some of Allen’s friends. He and Holly had already had dinner before the party at Emily Ann’s and Allen was having a pretty good time so far. Allen and Holly had really been hitting it off. They talked for so long that before they realized it, it was time for the party to start. By the time they arrived at Leandra’s house it was almost 11:00.

  Leandra lived in the posh Lenox Terrace over on 132nd Street and Lenox Avenue. The building had all the amenities of a luxury high rise including landscaped front walks, and a doorman. It sort of depressed Allen because it reminded him of all the things he’d hoped for, but so far, had eluded him. But he didn’t want to be burdened down with all of that right now, especially since he was actually having fun for a change. So Allen swept aside all his fears and misgivings and just thought of hanging out with his friends. He just hoped that there would be no arguments or drama, which was becoming the usual, whenever there were more than two of them together at one time.

  “So, is Leandra a friend of yours?” asked Holly as they entered the elevator.

  “She’s my friend Richard’s new girlfriend. He met her while he was campaigning for Obama.”

  “Wow! Your friend was on the road with Obama? Is he into politics?”

  “You could say Richard is into a lot of things.”

  “You seem to hang with a lot of interesting people.”

  “You could say that. You’ll meet most of them tonight.”

  “Can’t wait.”

  They got off the elevator and headed down to Leandra’s apartment, which was the third door down, where all the music was coming from. He knocked on the door, hoping that the sound would be heard over he music. After a moment, the door opened and Richard appeared, flashing his trademark million dollar smile.

  “Hey, big Al! Whas’sup man?” blared Richard greeting him with the pound.

  “I’m ready to get my party on, know what I mean?”

  “I feel that, yo! And who dis? You got you a shorty, now?”

  “I guess you could say that”, blushed Allen. “Richard, this is my date Holly. Holly, this is Richard.”

  “S’all good.”

  “Nice to meet you, too”, said Holly, looking at Allen. She was a little puzzled and shocked by the difference between the Richard she saw before her and the one she had imagined.

  “Do you think Leandra will mind that I brought Holly?”

  “No problem, man. C’mon in yall, get your groove on. Everybody’s here”, said Richard taking their coats.

  Allen felt a little self-conscious as he entered the room. Leandra’s apartment was amazing. It was tastefully furnished in art deco style with an African theme. It was definitely a high-class party with Leandra circulating around with a tray of fancy hor’devores. There was even an open bar. Lots of nicely dressed people were standing around drinking champagne, or sitting on the couch in front of the large screen plasma TV watching the results come in. Allen wondered if he was dressed appropriately enough. Leandra said the affair was going to be kind of dress casual but Allen wondered if he should have worn a tie with his Navy suit jacket, grey poplin shirt, khakis and grey oxford buc shoes. His date, Holly, looked absolutely gorgeous in her little black long sleeved jersey dress and high heels. There weren’t as many people as Allen had expected, but there were quite a few none-the-less, and the small apartment was a bit crowded. Allen looked around to see if he could find any familiar faces when he heard a familiar voice.

  “Hey, Allen!” said Callie grabbing him for a hug. “It’s about time you got here! For a minute I didn’t think you were going to come.”

  Callie paused for a second when she noticed the young woman standing next to Allen who was giving her a very unwelcoming look to say the least. Then she looked inquiringly at Allen.

  “Callie, I want you to meet someone. This is Holly. We met at the job fair the other day.”

  “Really!” said Callie, a little surprised and embarrassed. “Well, how do you do?” she asked extending her hand.

  “I’m good, thank you. Nice to meet you.”

  “Callie is an old friend of mine from high school.”

  “Yes, we go way back”, responded Callie as she narrowed her eyes at Holly.

  Allen noticed a little tension starting to brew and tried to engage them in banter to defuse it.

  “We would have been here earlier, but we decided to stop and have dinner first. I didn’t think it would matter since the polls don’t’ close until nine and the results usually don’t start to come in until later.”

  “Some of the precincts are already starting to report and Obama has some states in the northeast, but so far they’re just the ones we’ve expected, like New York. So far it’s too close to call in North Carolina and Virginia, but were hoping they turn out to be true blue.”

  “Let’s keep our fingers crossed”, said Holly.

  “Where’s Jim?” asked Allen.

  “Under the circumstances, I don’t think you want to know”, answered Callie.

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  Just before Callie had a chance to explain…

  “Hey, Allen! Where you been man?!” blared Jim louder than usual. He staggered up to Allen unexpectedly and nearly knocked him over. He was arm and arm with another unexpected guest who was even more inebriated.

  “Oh…my…gosh”, was all Allen could muster.

  “Yo, Al! You came at the right time. Obama is winnin’ yo’! You know what this means? It’s time for brothers to get paid! Yo, you know me and Tim here, we – we – we – gonna go down there and we gonna try to get a few spots in the cabinet. You down?”

  “Secretary of the inferior’s already taken, tha’s mine. And I call dibs on edmucation secretary for Miko, cause she’s not here and I got her back”, slurred Tim.

  “Allen are you sure you want to introduce Holly to them right now. They’re not even making sense anymore. And this one can barely stand up”, said Callie pointing to Tim.

  “What you talkin’ bout ‘I’m not makin’ sense’. I makin’ a lot of sense. It’s so much sense, it’s too hot to handle baby. Too hot to handle”, Jim insisted. “And who’s Holly?”

  “This is Holly. Holly I’m afraid to say these are my two best buds Jim Reid and Tim Russell.”

  “Nice to meet you, Jim. And you, too, Tim”, Holly said nervously.

  “Sleased to meet you, Happy”, slurred Tim.

  “Same here, sweet thang” laughed Jim. “Yo Allen, I didn’t know you had a woman. You met her on yo’ job or somethin’.”

  Allen shot Jim a look that said “Shut up!”

  “So you were able to find a job?” said Holly enthusiastically.

  “What job?” asked Callie.

  “You know, the wack one he don’t really want cause he think it’s dirty.”

  Callie was taken off guard and threw a look of astonishment Allen’s way. This was the last thing Allen needed. He didn’t want to go into the details about his job at a very public event.

  “Yes, I did get a position, but it’s not worth talking about because it’s only temporary.”

  “It was worth talking about to Jim and Tim”, snapped Callie.

  “Don’t get mad, Callie, don’t get mad. He don’t want nobody to know cause it’s a secret job. He a secret agent. Yeah, he work for the gov’ment, like CIA”, chuckled Jim.

  Allen put the palm of his hand to his face. The night just couldn
’t get worse.

  “Aw c’mon, Al. It’s not like he told her you’re a janitor”, blurted Tim.

  “Well he won’t have to be no janitor no more cause he’s goin with us to the cabinet”, continued Jim.

  “I think you two have had enough from the cabinet for one night. Why don’t we go in the kitchen and I’ll get you two some coffee.”

  “If it ain’t Corona coffee, I ain’t interested”, Jim grumbled.

  “Corona makes coffee now?! Awesome!” exclaimed Tim.

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll make you a Corona coffee”, said Callie rolling her eyes.

  “Thanks, Callie”, breathed Allen.

  “Don’t thank me just yet”, she glared back.

  As Callie led Tim and Jim into the kitchen, Allen didn’t know whether to feel relieved or not. While Jim and Tim couldn’t embarrass him any further, they had still spilled the beans about his job to Holly. He was hoping Holly would think they were too drunk to take seriously so he wouldn’t have to explain anything to her.

  “They’re not always like that. And Jim usually doesn’t even drink during the week.”

  “You don’t have to explain to me, it’s a party. Some people get like that at parties.”

  “I can’t believe my manners. Do you want anything to eat or drink?”

  “No, I’m still full from dinner”, said Holly who seemed to be losing interest in everything. “So you got a part-time job as a janitor?”

  “Full time. But it’s only temporary, until something better comes up. I just needed the cash, is all”, explained Allen.

  “I guess the job market really must be pretty tight if a Harvard guy can’t get a job.”

  “Maybe. It’s just…”

  “And we have California, Oregon, and Washington!” Allen heard a voice bellow from nearby. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we have a winner! Whoo Hoo!” One of the men in front of the television was jumping up and down in excitement.

  Allen was thankful for this interruption so that he could find an escape from the awkward conversation he was having with Holly.

  In all of the commotion, Callie, Tim and Jim raced back out to the living room.

  “Oh my gosh! He won?! He won?!” Callie couldn’t help screaming, as she clutched the pearls about her neck. Jim and Tim were stunned silent.

  “Hold on, everybody. We don’t know for sure”, cautioned Leandra nervously. “Richard, turn it up.”

  Everyone gathered around the television. Richard turned off the music and turned up the volume on the TV so everyone could hear what channel 4’s Brian Williams had to say.

  “With 358 electoral votes, they are projecting Mr. Obama to be the president elect of the United States.”

  A unanimous roar of exultation rose from the audience. No one present could miss the significance of this moment. There was hugging, group hugging, dancing, jumping, screaming, praising, and crying. Some of the guests were reassuring each other that the unthinkable had indeed happened. Richard and Tim were even shouting out the windows. As Allen went to join them, he could see that they were not the only ones. There were others who were hanging out of their windows to join the chorus of jubilee. Others stopped their cars in the middle of the street, honking their horns, and some got out for a moment to give a fist pump or a victory dance. Within moments a wave of euphoria swept the neighborhood into a frenzy of celebration. In a nation where a black man’s life seemed to be worth less than nothing, a black man had indeed become the President. It was not just one man’s victory, but a victory for a whole nation of people who had struggled and toiled for years under oppression. For many it meant the dawn of a new era, a new hope. For others, it was something even more significant.

  Soon everyone calmed down as word began to spread that the president elect would soon be making his speech. Everyone stayed close to the television waiting for him to appear on the screen. Allen, Holly, and the others grabbed a place on the sofa vacated by others and waited.

  “Oh my gosh! We are all a part of living history now!” breathed Callie.

  “I definitely want to remember everything about this moment for as long as I live”, said Leandra, who was choked up with emotion.

  “Too bad he won’t”, joked Richard pointing to Tim who had just passed out on the couch.

  “I just hope the new Prez got a good body guard”, snarked Jim.

  “Jim, don’t even go there!” warned Callie sternly.

  “I never thought I would live to see this day. If this isn’t the hand of God, I don’t know what is.”

  Holly’s words echoed through Allen’s head even when Obama was making his speech. Logically speaking, Obama shouldn’t have made it. He had everything stacked against him. A man with a humble background, very little political experience or exposure, and he belonged to the most disparaged ethnic group in America. According to the way the world works, he should not have had a chance at all. It should have been impossible. Some would attribute Obama’s success to the smart way he ran his campaign. Others would give the credit to the disillusioned masses that were desperate for change. But there was something inside Allen that told him it was none of these things. Then Allen heard something or someone.

  “With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible”, a quiet voice spoke to Allen’s heart.1

  So it was God that brought this man to the white house. Allen didn’t know the reason, but this was somehow in God’s plan. If God had an eye on Obama, Allen knew that God had to be looking out for him, too. Allen knew that he would have to learn to trust God. All at once, he finally began to feel a peace about his life that he hadn’t felt before. Even though it had just been a few days since Allen had given his life to the Lord, he could tell that something was happening to him. There was a new awareness that was beginning to take hold of him. Allen knew he had no control over it and he was willing to let it take him where it may. It was the beginning of a new life for Allen, and with God in control, endless possibilities.

  Twenty-Nine