Author/Uploaded by Brian G. Buckmire
BLINK Come Home Safe Copyright © 2023 by Brian G. Buckmire Requests for information should be addressed to: Blink, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ISBN 978-0-310-14218-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-310-14223-2 (audio download) ISBN 978-0-310-14222-5 (ebook) Epub Edition JANUARY 2023 9780310142225 Publisher’s Not...
BLINK Come Home Safe Copyright © 2023 by Brian G. Buckmire Requests for information should be addressed to: Blink, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ISBN 978-0-310-14218-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-310-14223-2 (audio download) ISBN 978-0-310-14222-5 (ebook) Epub Edition JANUARY 2023 9780310142225 Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover Design: Micah Kandros Interior Design: Denise Froehlich Printed in the United States of America 23 24 25 26 27 / LSC / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook Please note that the endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication IN MEMORY OF OLIVE REID May these words help keep children safe, as your words continue to keep your children safe, and their children, and theirs. Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Part 1: Come Home Safe: From the Subway Chapter 1: It’s Easier to Build Than Repair Chapter 2: A Mutual Network You Can’t Escape Chapter 3: When You Make Up Your Mind, Fear Diminishes Chapter 4: These Men Ask for Fairness and Only Fairness Chapter 5: It’s Not Your Inferiority, It’s Their Inhumanity Chapter 6: Ignorance Allied With Power Is the Most Ferocious Enemy of Justice Chapter 7: Where You See Wrong or Injustice, Speak Out Because This Is Your Country Chapter 8: It Must Be Faced to Be Changed Chapter 9: Decide Not to Be Reduced Part 2: Come Home Safe: From the Café Chapter 1: If They Don’t Give You a Seat at the Table . . . Bring a Folding Chair Chapter 2: The Highest Appreciation Is Not to Utter Words But to Live By Them Chapter 3: A Wise Woman Will Not Be a Victim Chapter 4: I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired Chapter 5: No One Can Degrade My Soul Within Chapter 6: You Think Your Pain and Heartbreak Are Unprecedented . . . Then You Read Chapter 7: In a Rage Almost All the Time Chapter 8: What You Endure Does Not Testify to Your Inferiority but to Their Inhumanity Epilogue Author’s Note Acknowledgments Guide Cover Contents Part 1: Come Home Safe: From the Subway i ii iii iv v vi 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 PART 1 COME HOME SAFE: From the Subway CHAPTER 1 It’s Easier to Build Than Repair Frederick Douglass “Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen . . .” Reed counts out loud as he juggles his soccer ball from his knee to his head in the park. He’s always carried a soccer ball wherever he goes, but lately it’s been an almost constant presence. And the stakes of today’s practice are high because he’s determined to play for the Elijah McCoy High School varsity team. After he put his name on the tryout sheet, the coach smiled at him and said, “You know if you make the team, you’ll be the first freshman to make varsity? But no pressure, right?” Reed knows he has to be more than good enough to make the team because of that fact, so every little bit of practice counts—even if it’s just a few minutes of fooling around in the park across the street from Public Middle School 416 while he waits to pick up his little sister. Last year, Reed could just meet Olive at her locker after school, and their parents would drive them both home. But this year is different. Their parents still drop them off at Olive’s school in the morning, but it’s Reed’s responsibility to get Olive and himself home safe at the end of the day. He’d already done the easy part—walking the couple blocks from Elijah McCoy High School to Olive’s school—and now they simply had to take the train home together. “Getting your sister home from school each day is a big responsibility, but your mother and I trust you,” Reed’s dad had told him when he dropped them off at the beginning of the week. Reed felt proud that they trusted him to watch his little sister now.