27
“Mrs. Perkins, thank you for agreeing to see me,” Rachel said as the hotel room door closed behind them. She and Regan had driven to Henderson, NC to talk with Mrs. Perkins. The woman said, dafter picking her son up, she had driven to the nearest border she could get to and checked into a hotel room. She wanted her son out of Virginia. And Rachel couldn’t blame her. They had agreed to meet Chad wherever he felt the most comfortable talking. “This is my sister Regan Fontaine. I mentioned her on the phone.”
“Yes, I remember.” Mrs. Perkins shook Regan’s hand.
“Hello, Chad, I’m Rachel Fontaine a friend of your cousin Nisey. She asked me to look into this situation on your behalf.”
“Are you the reason they let me go?” said Chad, a slim, brown skin, young man, who appeared to be a lot older than his years.
“I don’t know. I can tell you that I am the person who approached Judge Reid about your sentence.”
“I will never forget the look that woman gave me in that courtroom. It was as if I had done something to her personally. I had never seen that woman before that day. When they took me out, it was as if I was living somebody else’s life. You know. It was so crazy.”
“Before we go any further,” Mrs. Perkins started. “I’m not sure this is the best thing for Chad. According to the documents he received, they can lock him back up at any time if he violates the terms of their agreement.”
“That’s why I’m here, Mrs. Perkins. As Chad’s attorney, I cannot disclose any information shared between us. Before we start, I have a document here for Chad’s signature.” Regan pulled the document from her briefcase along with a pen and placed them on the table. “It is a legal services agreement. Once you sign and I sign, I become your legal counsel in all matters. Anything shared between us cannot be discussed with anyone without your permission.”
“Even the judge?”
“Not even the judge.” Regan nodded.
Chad hesitated, glanced at his mother, then signed the document. “It’s just me and my mom. Has been that way all my life. The whole time I was in that place I kept wondering what was happening to her. If she was worrying herself sick over me like she always did. I stayed away from anything that could put that kind of worry on my mom, then this happened.”
“Before you start, I need to take a snap shot of this and have my secretary file it with the court as soon as possible. That way no one can come near you without going through me.”
“What about the police?”
“Not even the police. Once I have this on record they will all have to come through me.”
“I’ve lived with her all my life.” Rachel smiled. “That’s not an easy thing to do.”
Regan sent the document to her secretary.
“As soon as she texts me back that the document has been received, we are free to talk.”
“Chad, I have to disclose to you that unlike my sister, I am a reporter. I am not bound by the same confidentiality as she. However, if you to tell me something is off the record, then it is. I will not disclose that to anyone. Do you understand the difference?”
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
“Would you like for me to leave while you talk with Regan?”
“No, ma’am, you can stay. I’m afraid they will lock me back up if I talk. But I’m more afraid that they can lock me back up for any reason.” He shrugged. “I really don’t see the difference. At least right now, if I have to clean some old woman’s crap up it will be my mom’s.”
“Chad.”
The boy laughed at his mother’s reaction. “You know what I’m saying.”
“Explain it to me, Chad.” Rachel pulled out her recorder. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“We are on record,” Regan advised. “May I see those documents you mentioned, Mrs. Perkins?” Regan took the documents then began reading.
“Hold on.” Rachel held her hand up. “Chad, what did you mean when you said you had to clean up behind a woman?”
“As part of my incarceration, I was assigned to a family by the name of Brighton. Mrs. Brighton’s mother is immobile. She is unable to walk. My job was to clean her bathroom, bedroom and the hallway between the two.”
“Hold up.” Rachel smirked. “Are you telling me you were assigned to clean somebody’s house while you were supposed to be in jail?”
“Yes, ma’am. Each morning those of us who they deemed trustworthy were taken to different homes to work. It was part of our repayment to the facility for housing and feeding us. There are no free tickets here, was what one of the guards would always say.”
Rachel glanced at Regan in disbelief. “Okay, Chad. I’m going to sit back and listen. You start from the beginning of your stay with Peace Reliance.”
Rachel listened as Chad told them of the processing procedure upon his arrival at Peace Reliance, the minimum security level facility. The stripping of all personal belongings, the strip search and the issuance of uniforms were all the usual steps upon entering a correctional facility. It was what happened next that changed Rachel’s take on this story.
“We were separated along racial lines. The browns in one group, and blacks in another. Amongst the blacks we were separated along skin tone, light skin and dark skinned. Later I learned they did the same with the Latinos and Mexicans. I fell into the light skin category.” He smirked. “Thank God for the brown paper bag test. The dark skin brothers were assigned to families with farms. One guy told me they were sometimes bussed as far away as Texas to work in the fields. I guess I was lucky, I was taken to an estate in Goochland County. Even though we couldn’t have visitors, at least I knew I wasn’t far from my mom, you know.” He glanced towards his mother. “We were told the families we were assigned to, were responsible for our room and board. Therefore, once our sentence was done, we still had to work for that family until the debt they incurred was repaid. One of the guys who worked in the fields, told me that was a new rule. He said when he arrived they only had to work for the family until their time was up, then they were free to go. But when the new administration was voted in, the company felt like they didn’t have to let people go. They could keep you in service to the families forever if they wanted. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last six months. Working from sun up to sun down at the Brighton’s estate doing whatever I was instructed to do.”
Rachel and Regan sat in silence for a long time. Regan couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Rachel was outraged.
She turned off her recorder then stood. “Regan, let’s go.”
Mrs. Perkins stood, somewhat alarmed. “You don’t believe him?”
“On the contrary, Mrs. Perkins. I believe every word he said. I need to go so that I can put a stop to this.”
“This is nothing but legalized servitude,” Regan added.
“No, Regan, let’s call this what it is. This is slavery, pure and simple. The only thing they are not doing is checking their teeth and the size of their dicks to see if they would be good studs.” She glanced at Chad. “They used to do that back in the day. If you had a big dick, they figured you could make good strong bucks to continue to work the fields for them. See, now it’s different. They don’t want a lot of us around. They want to control our population. You see, they learned from their mistakes. If there are too many of us, we will rise up against their asses and take them out.”
“Rachel,” Regan tried to calm her. “Oh, militant one, bring it down a notch. You’re not wrong, but you are scaring them.”
“They should be scared, Regan. They are doing this under the guise of justice. We should all be scared.”
“How is this going to impact my son? For the rest of his life, will he be indebted to these people?”
“No, don’t you worry, Mrs. Perkins. My sister will never let them come anywhere near your son again,” Rachel continued on, ignoring Regan’s signals to stop. “Not only that, she is going to sue their asses. You” -she looked at Chad- “are going to own them and their damn estate.”
“Mrs. Perkins.” Regan pulled out a card. “I want you to take Chad to this address. This is one of my cabins I use when I’m working on a big case and I need to concentrate. You two can stay there.”
“This is in Virginia,” Mrs. Perkins stated. “I’m not taking him back there.”
“You have to. According to these documents, he is in violation of the terms of his discharge by being across state lines. Go to that address. Don’t contact anyone to let them know where you are. I will be in touch soon. Don’t you worry.” She turned to her sister. “Rachel, let’s go. We are going to be in the car while you check out. We are going to make sure you make it back across the line safely.”
Once they were in the car Regan glanced at Rachel. “Why did you say all those things to the Perkins?”
“What things?”
“My sister is going to hang them by the balls speech.”
“Because……..”
“Because what?” Regan asked
Rachel turned in the seat to face her sister. “Your name is Regan Melody Fontaine. You can do all things legal. And you will. Right?”
“I’m going to flip their asses up and fry them in a pan.”
“Damn, right.” They gave each other a high five. “That’s what I’m talking about. Ray-Ray going to hit them with the Nay-Nay.”
“What in the hell is a Nay-Nay?”
“I don’t know, but it sounds good,” Rachel said. “But on the real, Regan, how many brown and black males do they have in those facilities? How many lives have they ruined with this bullshit? How many families are out there using these boys to clean their shit up? To me, the families benefiting from this are just as guilty as the assholes that are running the place. And speaking of them, they are getting rich off of this. They are getting paid by the state and charging people for these boys.”
“What do you think they are doing with the girls?”
Rachel and Regan held eyes for a long moment. “We have to get them, Regan,” Rachel said. “We have to take them down.”
“We will, Rachel.” Regan squeezed her hand. “We will.”