11/11/2025
From jonvier
50 Years for love? 😳
“He’s Black. And a man. Are you crazy?” my father said. I met James in my first week at college in North Carolina in 1965. He was tutoring algebra in the student lounge, calm and confident, the only Black man in the room. I offered to help him stack books, and somehow we talked till midnight. He taught me math. I taught him guitar chords. We skipped class to drive to the lake, where no one knew us. Once, a friend saw us together and warned, “People talk.” I didn’t care. James did. He said we had to be careful. A month later, my father found a note James wrote me. He drove three hours, stormed into my dorm, and dragged me out. James was fired from his job. I never saw him again. Fifty-five years later, I went back for a reunion. James was sitting on that same bench. He grinned and said, “Took you long enough.” I sat beside him and said, “Not leaving this time.” ❤️
