“Gemini, don’t you feed into this shit. We both know what they are trying to do here,” I whispered it to him, and he nodded his head.
I didn’t care if the officers heard me, either. They needed to hear me, so that they could see that we were on to their game and wasn’t going to fall into their trap.
“What you hauling on this truck?” the officer asked.
“I transport vehicles,” Gemini was short in his response.
“Care if we take a look?” he wanted to know.
“Ay man, before we go any further, could you please tell me the reason for the stop? Again, you haven’t asked for my license or registration. Now, you’re asking to see what’s in the back of the truck? It’s nothing back there. I’m coming from Arkansas, where I just finished my final drop off. I have a pickup first thingin the morning, and I would like to make it to the truck stop, so that I could shower, and bring it in for the night,” I could tell Gemini was getting pissed now.
“And as soon as you show me what’s in the back of the truck, you can be on your way to do those things. Let’s go,” he said. Gemini sucked his teeth, and he took his seatbelt off. I took my seatbelt off as well.
“You can stay put. We just need him to show us what’s in the back,” the officer on my side stated to me.
“So ya’ll can get him to the back of the truck and fuckin kill him? No! I’m getting out too!” I spat, and Gemini shot me a look, and I knew that was his way of telling me to back down.
“Amina, chill out. Ain’t nothing going to happen to me. I’m cooperating,” he said.
I watched the officer flash the light in Gemini’s face, as he stepped out the truck, and then started patting him down, looking for weapons. Gemini had his gun stored. It was always stored whenever he was driving.
I was so angry that I started crying. It broke my heart seeing this. I’ve been on this truck with this man for the past couple of weeks, and I’ve grown to know who Gemini truly was. Not the asshole teenager that stuck the lizard down my shirt. Not the man that acted like it was the worst thing in the world for me to get on the truck with him. I wasn’t talking about that person.
I’m talking about a person that showed respect to everyone whenever he walked into a room. A man that always said please and thank you. A man that makes sure to tip our server plenty whenever we sat down somewhere to eat. A man that makes it his business to call and check up on his mother, his sister, and his grandmother every day, even on those days when I know he’s tired. A man that walked into a grocery store and went shopping for me all because my period came on, and he heard me say that I was cramping. A man that wouldn’t touch his food untilhe prayed. Gemini was out here making an honest living for himself, and to watch him get racially profiled like this, it broke my heart.
These cops didn’t see him for the son that he was. The big brother. The businessman. The college graduate. The man that built his company from the ground up. Instead, they saw him as a black man, that had no business pushing this expensive truck. That alone was already a crime in their eyes and was the reason they pulled him over in the first place.
I heard when the trailer for the truck went up. I was able to look out of the rearview mirror, and watch what was going on. It felt like the longest five minutes of my life, having to sit here, while Gemini was alone in those officers care. Like they didn’t do anything, like they didn’t just racially profile him, they eventually went back over to their cars, and Gemini made it back into the truck with me, getting in the driver’s seat. He didn’t say anything. He sat there, and it’s as if he was numb.
“Gemini, let me get their badge numbers, please. This shit isn’t fair for them to do that to you,” I was crying to him, looking him in his eyes, not liking what they just did to him.
They hadn’t pulled off yet. They were still sitting in their cars.
“Nah. It’s cool,” he said, leaning over, and even with what just happened to him, it was just like him to be the one to kiss my tears away. It shouldn’t even be about me in this moment, but he was making it that way.
“So, we’re just going to let them get away with this? Gemini, I want to report them,” I said, not wanting to let it go.
“Report them to who, baby? We going to report them to the same department that put them on this highway tonight? The department that they work for probably got them feeling like it’s okay for them to do this kind of shit. That department that you call not going to do shit! It’ll go in one ear and out the other. I’m still breathing, beautiful. I survived the stop. That’s the victoryright there. Not getting their badge numbers, and telling,” he said it in a way as if it was final, and he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
I sat back, and softly wept. I was truly heartbroken.
Hours Later
12:02 A.M.
We were safely parked at a truck stop. After the incident with the officers, me and Gemini really didn’t say much to each other. I think we were both still processing it. It took me awhile to calm down because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things that could have gone wrong.
When Gemini went to the back with those officers to show them the trailer, I felt like I had been holding my breath all that time. Because of the world that we lived in, where black men die behind white officers so often, it’s almost like I was sitting there, counting down the moment for the gun to go off. I was glad that things didn’t go that way though. All of that, and Gemini was never given a reason as to why he was pulled over in the first place.
You could tell that Gemini was still feeling down about it because he didn’t even eat tonight. This man always ate at night, even if it was something quick, like fixing a sandwich or putting a soup in the microwave. He didn’t have a taste for anything, and neither did I.
We had already taken our showers, changed into our pajamas, and while I was in the sleeping quarters, putting my things away in one of the cubbies, Gemini was sitting up front in the driver’s seat. I wanted to check on him. Just make sure thathe was okay, so after I put everything away, I stood, heading in his direction.
When I made it up front, he was sitting in the driver’s seat, zoned out, as if he was in his own little world. He heard me as I approached him, so he turned to look towards me. He gave me a small smile. He lifted his arms up, as if he was telling me to come over to him. I did just that, slowly walking over to him, and I was able to straddle his lap. There was a lot of space between him, and the steering wheel, so I was able to comfortably sit in his lap.
I think this was my first time straddling him like this. I don’t remember everything that I did with him the night that I got drunk, but I believe this was the first time. I was comfortable in his arms. I felt like I was where I was supposed to be, as I lifted my arms up, wrapping them around his neck, and his went for my waist. He moved his hands up and down my waist, causing the pajama top that I was wearing to rise.
“You okay?” I wanted to know. He smiled at that question, while leaning his head back into the head rest. He didn’t let go of me though.
