The Black Belle of Louisville

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jwhouk
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The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

AN: This is a slight aside to the incident with Kath and Al over in the Baby Sphinx thread. It does touch on some subjects that might be offensive, but please remember - Daisy is a product of her time, as were her parents.

---

Breakfast was quiet that morning.

Al had finally recovered from the dressing-down by his daughter-in-law a few weeks prior, and things were seemingly back to normal in the Alexander household.

Silence reigned that morning, except for a few grunts and requests of Rosalita and her crew.

Al's crisis of conscience had been on Daisy's mind constantly in the intervening weeks. Yes, he'd solved a problem – the wrong way, but solved it he had.

This made her think about her own problem… and how to solve it. And, as much as it hurt her to talk about it, she needed to tell him.

"Al?" she said quietly.

"Sorry, love, what?"

"Al: you've talked to Cal about things, right?"

"Yes – but mostly about cars and such. " He hesitated a bit. Was she going to tell him something about how Rock died? "Why?"

"Did he tell you about how I met Rock?"

Al paused. "It had never come up, to be honest." He took a long drink from his mug of tea with cream. "Why?"

"We… we met up here, in college. It was a paranormal society social, and I was a frosh at Augsburg College. He was a second-year engineering student at the U." She paused, measuring her words. "His family accepted me as one of their own, right from the beginning. First time I met Crowbar and Ginger, they were accepting and wonderful and I knew immediately I wanted to be a part of their family."

She paused. "Unlike my own family."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

---

"It wasn't all To Kill A Mockingbird, mind you, but I could definitely see myself in Scout's shoes."

Daisy idly looked down at her tea.

"Her name was Rochelle. I met her at Derby Day in 1966. I was twelve, and it was the first time I was going to be allowed to go to the Derby."

"Wait – you grew up in Louisville?" Al asked.

"I thought you knew," Daisy said. "My maiden name is Churchill, dear. The Louisville Jockey Club was built on my family's home estate back in the 1870's."

"An honorable bloodline, of course," Al stated. "I knew Winston had relations in America, but I didn't know…

She snorted for a moment.

"Not that Churchill. No relation. Granted, that damned Clark fellow nearly blew the whole lot of it trying to be a ladies man in Europe, but they were no relation to Winston. Only good thing Clark did was start the Derby back in 1875."

"Wait – centaurs started the Kentucky Derby?" Al asked quizzically.

"Merriweather Lewis Clark – yes, he was his grandson – was human. But the land on which the Derby is run was owned by centaurs. And some centaurs can configure themselves to look completely horselike, dear," she sniffed. "In fact, there are some who can't fully transform to human beyond their voicebox. You thought Mr. Ed was fiction?"

This got a raised eyebrow from Al.

"Anyways – Rochelle was a sweet little girl, who I met at a social function in Jeffersonville. She was also a centaur, and she and I got along famously. We were the best of friends…" Daisy paused for a moment. "Until the riots of 1968."

"I'm not following," Al inquired. "What riots? I'm afraid I'm not as up on American history as I should be."

"You do at least know what happened in April of 1968, correct?" Daisy looked at him with a slightly irritated stare.

"Well, yes – Martin Luther King, but that was in Memphis?"

"Over the next month or two, there were a great deal of demonstrations and riots around the nation. Louisville's happened in late 1968. Tension was thick because – and stop me if you've heard this before – a white police officer had been reinstated after beating a black man a few weeks earlier. The crowds were not happy."

"History repeats itself," Al commented quietly.

"Sadly, I'd have to agree." Daisy stared down into her tea. "Rochelle was right in the middle of it all – as were her parents. Their home was ransacked, and they ended up having to leave the city." She paused.

"I never saw her again. And Daddy wouldn't let me even say goodbye." A tear formed on her cheek.

"All because she was black."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

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---

"Her paddock name, as it was, was 'Black Belle' – which her family just shortened to 'Belle'. Her father operated a shoe repair business, and her mother was … a maid, I think? With the Marshall family, at their home, in Old Louisville. That was how I got to know her; the Marshalls had provided Belle with a scholarship to attend the same middle school as me – now that the Day Law had been rendered moot by Brown v. Board of Education.

"The Marshalls were a wonderful family. I always kept in touch with Delilah, and her parents were two staunch Democrats – something nearly unheard of in Kentucky at the time. And, they also believed in racial equality. Delilah was going to be part of my bridal party, but she ended up moving to Tel Aviv. Haven't heard from her in a while…"

Daisy shrugged her head for a moment, then continued.

"Anyways – I'd go over to visit with Delilah, and end up visiting with Belle. She was really good with numbers, and she got me hooked on accounting. Strange, hey? Someone I knew for only a couple of years got me into business administration."

"Was that what you studied at Augsburg?"

"Yep. Graduated with a 3.9 GPA. You do know I'm not only a CPA, but for many years Buck had me supervising the financials of AHI, right?"

"I guess you're going to be doing our taxes this year, then," Al retorted with a smirk.

"Too late, already done – and the rebate went into paying for the repairs to the house," she said with a smile.

"So – your parents didn't like you associating with a black centaur." Al made that a statement, though it was more or less a query.

"Their attitude changed in the years after the riots," she continued. "And when I got that scholarship to Augsburg, they were adamant that I shouldn't accept it. They wanted their little girl to go to the U of L, find a good man and get my 'MRS' degree."

"Wait, an MRS degree… oh."

"Mr. Marshall had a talk with daddy about it one night. He told him that if he didn't let me go to Augsburg, he'd go to court and adopt me as his own daughter – and physically help me move all my belongings up to Minnesota, even if it meant carrying it on his own back!" She smirked a bit. "I never saw daddy more intimidated before. Mr. Marshall did end up helping me move to Minneapolis, though, so it was all for the best.

"I didn't get a chance to attend his funeral, though. I was a bit busy."

"He died when you and Rock got married?" Al asked.

"No." She sighed. "Cal didn't say anything to you about the wedding?" Al shook his head.

"Cal was the one who walked me down the aisle," she said after a beat. "And not because I didn't want them to be there. Hell, Rock and I had talked several times about just eloping, but he wanted a nice ceremony, here at the homestead. My parents weren't interested in coming up here to see their little girl married – even if it was to the heir to the Alexander Harvester fortune."

"Is there something I don't know about Rock's background?" Al replied.

"Oh, pshaw, it was silly," Daisy replied. "They found out that Ginger's maiden name was Berkewitz. They were afraid I was going to be marrying a Jew – even though Rock's entire family was Presbyterian. Mom was the worst about it. She'd called me one night, right as I was working on a paper for class that was due the next day, and asked me if Rock had given me any Matzoh ball soup." She motioned toward the kitchen area. "Rosalita can confirm – the family cookbook here has never contained any such recipe."

Al got a small chuckle out of that.

"I have several from my time serving in Israel. Along with that schwarma recipe that Rosalita has refused to…"

"That was the last time I talked to my mother," she added suddenly. "I was in class the next afternoon. When I got back to the dorm, I was told to call my dad, something about the weather down in Kentucky."

Al noticed the distinct change in Daisy's tone – and the single tear that was running down the corner of her hazel-rimmed eye.

"I tried the home phone; I got an 'all circuits are busy' reply. It wasn't until about nine o'clock that night that I got a call from the minister of our church."

Daisy bit her lip.

"A huge series of tornadoes had hit the southern US, and Louisville had a particularly bad one take out a good chunk of downtown.

"Including our house."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by FreeFlier »

Ouch!




Oh, and I'm surprised they got much of a tax rebate, unless it was due to changes in status/tax liability during the year . . . most accountants I know don't see any point in loaning Uncle Sam their money interest-free. (I don't either.)

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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by Warrl »

My only gripe about this is the notion of a person who advocates legal equality for all races being a "staunch Democrat" in or before the 1960s. It's not impossible, but it's a stretch. Much of the leadership of the Democrat Party tried their best to block every bit of civil-rights legislation from the 13th Amendment up to and including the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Once out of the Reconstruction era (when Republicans could steamroller over them and enact practically anything - including the 13th through 15th amendments, the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1871, and 1875, and other legislation) the Democrats were almost invariably successful at, minimum, removing any enforcement provisions, until President Johnson - who had been one of the Senate leaders in the gutting of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 - endorsed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and then they still had to do some unusual maneuvering to get the bill past Democrat committee chairmen.

Even then, on the Senate floor the bill that the House had passed was filibustered for 54 days by a bloc of 17 Democrats and 1 Republican, before a slightly-weaker bill was introduced; the weaker bill passed with the support of 82% of Republican Senators and 69% of Democrat Senators. The voting percentages in the House of Representatives were similar.

In short, at that time (carefully not saying anything about what has happened since, because it isn't relevant to this story) if you opposed racism you were substantially more aligned with the Republicans than with the Democrats. And if you were yourself a racist who thought racism should be acceptable or even legally mandated, and lived in "the South", you could easily find friends among Democrat legislators.
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by Just Old Al »

Carefully not going into political discussion here, but ut is possible to be of a certain political party and not embrace all of their tenets. There is usually a spectrum of candidates.
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

An aside: yes, there was the Dixiecrats who were pro-discrimination laws. However, the time frame I'm speaking from is the late 1960's, when the Dems started to swing toward Civil Rights.

And it's neither here nor there, since her parents are no longer around....
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

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---

Daisy drooped her head down over the remnants of her breakfast.

"I was more broken up over the death of the Marshalls than I was my own father. And momma… well, you already know she was my stepmother."

"But she was the only mother you knew," Al added quietly.

"Daddy was such a damned pushover," Daisy continued, her tears streaking down the side of her face. "He never held a job for more than a few years, because momma would always find something wrong with his workplace. Pay's not good enough. Too many 'darkies'. The boss looks Jewish. Yes, seriously," she said, noticing Al's surprise.

She sighed. "I never really did find out what he saw in her. Only thing I can think is that she was a neighbor."

Dabbing her face, she noticed some smears on the napkin. "Damnation, I'm going to have to redo my makeup," she said with a sniffle.

"It's okay, love," Al replied. "It's good to get things like this out."

"There was nothing left of the house. And the Marshalls' place was flattened, too. Ginger and Rock helped me gather up what I could from the wreckage, and I moved in with them up here in Minnesota." She made one last dab with her napkin, then motioned out to the house. "And this has been my home ever since."

Al took this all in. He knew that it had hurt her to tell all this to him. There was one thing he wasn't sure about, but he had to know – and, hopefully, it wouldn't produce more tears.

"You don't have any relatives left on your father's side?"

Daisy shook her head.

"Daddy was an only child. Grampa and gramma died shortly after I was born. All the genealogy records were destroyed with the house. Hell," she sniffed, "I had to reapply at Augsburg for the fall because I'd lost my birth certificate. They wouldn't let me graduate. I spent my last semester of school taking a basket weaving course and spending most of my time across the river on the U of M campus with Rock." She smirked.

"He proposed to me during the Homecoming game against Iowa. We started planning for the wedding the next summer. I think I was a complete 'Bridezilla' that entire time. I remember telling him afterward that there was no way in Hades that I was going to go through that again."

She raised her lidded eyes, smiling at Al. "Which is why I set up how we got married."

Al couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Buck, Rowdy and Cinny all grew up knowing only the Alexander clan as their family," she stated after a bit. "Cinny bonded with her gram Ginger; Buck turned into a legal mind who loved company history – he's the reason for the AHI museum, by the way – and Rowdy took after his uncle Cal." She paused. "Maybe a bit too much, considering what happened to Charise."

"Cal told me about that," Al said. "I'm sorry."

"Char was a flighty sort – pun intended. We tried to pin the paddock name 'Pegasus' on her, but she insisted on just being called Char. Cal was a wreck after she died, but he devoted himself to his work at R&D. He and Rock did a great job, pulling AHI out of the doldrums."

"Did the whole business with DeLorean really nearly sink the company?"

"No, no – it was the general economic situation around the Gulf War. We never let the books get in the red, but from the outside it looked more dire than it was. Buck can tell you – our products were quality, and people have always gone for quality." She gave Al a half smile.

"You know the old Maytag repair man advertising?" Al nodded slightly. "Well, you could say the same for AHI equipment. We've had all sorts of awards for longest running and highest quality for decades."

She looked back down at her napkin.

"Oh, fudge, I am really going to have to go redo my makeup," she said with light frustration.
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by Just Old Al »

As she looked down, Al thought of what he'd just heard. So much pain, so much nonsense over things as silly as the color of skin and where people lived in a town - or whose gods they worshiped. He'd seen too much of that over the years, and hated it all.

He took her hand over the table. "Love, don't worry about your makeup - you look wonderful with or without it.

I'm really happy you told me this - obviously its bothered you for a long time, and I'm glad to have it out in the open. None of this affects in the slightest the madwoman I fell in love with in this house - well, actually the one next door, but that's just details."

She snickered quietly at his feeble play with words, but remained otherwise silent.

"Love turns to love - considering what you've told me here I'm not surprised that you were more upset over the Marshalls than you were over yer Dad and step-mum. I shudder to think what she'd have said about me - a human, and a Wiccan! "Oh, Heavens - a witch! That's worse than a darkie, or a Jew!""

"If the storm hadn't gotten her, the shock of our wedding would have.

All you can do is to remember the good in people - and realize the bad is there, and accept them for what they were. Now, admittedly yer stepmum was a piece of work, but if you'd met.." Al stopped - now was neither the time nor place for that revelation.

He began again. "Your Dad loved you, and always cared - but he was weak. Your biological mum would have been proud to see what you've done - and what you've become - the proud matriarch of a proud clan of centaurs. Your stepmum did was she thought was right by her lights - the fact that it was flat-out wrong enters into it but not to the motivations."

Al got up, went around, and held Daisy, still sitting. "Love them for what they were, mourn them, miss them...it's all right and proper. They were what they were, and they're gone. Let them go."

One standing, one sitting, the tableau stood against the light of morning.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

(With a little help from Al...)
---

The phone rang in the foyer of the apartment home. Delilah had just returned home from work at her coffee shop in downtown Tel Aviv, and wasn't quite expecting any calls.

The caller ID on her phone registered a US prefix; 763? I don't recognize that area code, she thought. Let the machine get it…

She sat back and unpacked her dinner – falafel and pita – when the machine beeped.

"Uh, hello, I'm looking for Delilah Marshall," came an immediately recognizable voice. "This is Rosalynd…" There was a pause. "…Churchill. Though nowadays I go by Alexander-Richer."

Delilah nearly dropped the box on the table.

"Just… wanted to chat, reconnect, if you wanted. Please call back when you can, number is…"

Delilah broke her personal land speed record grabbing the phone.

"DAISY!"

"LEELA! You're home! I wasn't sure of the time difference…"

"DAISY DAISY DAISY ohmiGOD I'd thought you'd fallen off the face of the EARTH!… Wait, did you say Alexander?"

"Uh, yes," Daisy replied tentatively. "I think I sent you an invitation to the wedding back in '75…"

"OhmiGAWD has it been THAT long? Well, geez, yes, but it doesn't SEEM like that… you finally bagged that nag Rock, hey?"

"Yes, but I'm remarried now…"

"I KNEW he was a no-good two-timing paddock pistol. I mean, how many times did I tell you…"

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Daisy wasn't sure whether or not to laugh or cry. "Leela, Rock passed on about 15 years ago now… I've got three wonderful kids, and I'm remarried to a wonderful British gentleman."

"Oh… oh, I'm sorry… Oh wait – a Brit? Oh, dearie, why in the world would you do that? You know how irritating it was when Rock pulled you to those damned Bond movies all the time…"

Daisy stifled a chuckle, but her bestie continued on.

"…and I can personally tell you they can be stubborn as mules. Why, I remember this one chap during the Gulf War, some sergeant-major who thought he knew it all about engineering, tried to build a SCUD-proof portable 'loo!"

"Wait, wait…" Daisy forgot how rapid-fire her high school bestie could be. "…you mean a bomb-proof porta-potty?"

"He had a point; the fiberglass things were worthless for any kind of shielding in an attack, but the practical application of the light armor was hellishly expensive and difficult. Not practical – but he went on and on about it. The man was insane, I tell you. But his real love was for this old Land Rover Defender he had. He was intent on trying to secret it out of the country after Kuwait was retaken. I think he succeeded, to tell the truth."

"Uh…" Daisy's head was swimming half a world away.

"…I mean, you had to see this thing. He'd fitted it out as a long-range travel vehicle – his officers had NO idea. No idea how he managed to steal the damn thing… but I think I saw it on the docks headed out about the time he left."

She finally took a breath.

"But – oh, how are you, hon? I've heard sooo much about Buck and everything he's done with AHI…"

"Wait – Hold on, dear. Did you say a Land Rover Defender?"

"Yes, I think he had some pet name for it – Claire?"

"Clara?" Daisy stated flatly.

"Yes… wait, how would you know?"

"Because I think I married him."

"WHAT?"

"Yes. Sergeant-Major Alan Richer? That would be my hubby. And he's currently equipping said Defender for a long-distance trip to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia."

"You married 'Colonel Blimp'? Oh, sweetie… And he's leaving you home all alone?"

"Trust me – I love him but I'm glad to be rid of him for a while – he hasn't gotten any mellower. He didn't say I couldn't do some traveling if I wanted. Say – do you ever go to The Bibliothiki?..."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by FreeFlier »

:lol: :lol: :lol:

God is an iron.

:lol:


I've had experiences like that . . . When I was in college, I had a man attending a convention ask if I minded company at my table (I was eating lunch alone in the dining hall nearest the convention center) "No problem".

We talked a bit, then he asked where I was from . . . "Oh, a town you've never heard of, Blankton." (I knew he was from the opposite end to the state by then.)

"Oh! Do you know Fred Green?"

:o :? " . . . Not personally, but I know who he is . . ."

:roll: :lol:

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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by lake_wrangler »

♩♪♫♬ It's a small world, after all... ♬♫♪♩
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by FreeFlier »

That's what makes the six degrees of separation work . . . the random unpredictable connections.

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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

---

"Mmmm, Helga has always had fantastic pretzels since she set up shop here in the Library!" Leela stated between bites as they leisurely grazed on their purchased yummies.

"So – have you heard from anyone else from the old neighborhood at all?" Daisy asked.

"Well, there was Maverick Jones – he was the one who thought he could play football, remember? Got a scholarship to Tennessee, then promptly blew out his knee. Thank God that they didn't take him out back and shoot him," she said between sips of her sweet tea. "Most of the rest of the clan I didn't hear much from after moving to Israel with Mal…"

"You know, you never did tell me what possessed you to run off with that man," Daisy retorted. Trying to get a word in edgewise with her bestie was something she was used to in the past, but she was a bit rusty.

"Oh, sweetie, he was a complete HUNK! And he had all these connections to the royal lineage, and there was the private yacht and so much more – he made me feel like I was Jackie Onassis!"

"You actually bought that whole thing about the royal lineage?" Daisy snorted. "I always thought that was pure bunk, myself."

"No, no, Nicodemus actually showed me the records! The stables of Solomon were run by centaurs, who kept the horses strong by working out with them. And he had the full lineage all the way down to 1948!" She snorted a bit. "The first government of Israel thought that so important, they named his grandfather head of the Mossad's Special Intelligence Department! Of course, that's what Mal was doing when I met him in college. Lots of hush-hush work, but we did all right while we were on the IDF together…"

"Wait – you worked for the Israeli branch of MIB?"

"Why, of course – why wouldn't we? Mal and I were perfect for the job. He knew the ins and outs of intelligence gathering, and I just organized it and processed it. Of course, they really didn't start to pay attention to him until he had uncovered the whole Munich thing – three months before the Olympics. After that, well – Golda and Yitzhak both relied on him for his advice." She paused for a moment, pondering the last bite of her pretzel. "Damn shame the man never learned how to swim, though."

"I'm sorry about that, dearie," Daisy said in concern. "Only heard about it in the Paranormal Times. I wondered, though, why you never called or anything."

"I'd gone back to working with the IDF," she said after noshing her last piece of pretzel. "Immersed myself in the job. I was working with the engineering forces at the time of the invasion of Kuwait – which is where I met your Colonel Blimp of a hubby," she added with a snort.

"Yeah, he may be a pompous ass at times, but I still love him to bunches." Daisy paused. "Did… did you ever hear from Rochelle at all?"

"Rochelle?"

"Yeah, you remember – she was the daughter of your live-in maid?" Daisy's face showed some concern when Leela's face drew a complete blank.

"I'm… OH! You mean Belle! Oh, okay… oh. Hm. Well… Truth be told, I don't really recall where they went after the riots burned her parent's business down."

"They didn't leave any sort of forwarding address, or even mention where they were headed?" Daisy was a bit incredulous. Leela only shrugged.

"I didn't see much of her after the city was placed on curfew that summer," Leela said. "And those KKK people weren't exactly friendly to my parents, either. I mean, you can imagine the idea of trying to go into downtown when you're wearing one of these," she pulled out her Star of David talisman, "to keep you from turning into Secretariat's sister."

"Point. But – well, I'd been talking a bit to Al about my background. Seemed silly that I never told him about Louisville, but you know what it was like…"

"Sweetie, you stepmother was a racist pig," she said without batting an eyelash. "I never knew what your dad saw in her, nor did my parents understand. And for the one millionth time, it was not your fault that you yelled at her after she made that insensitive remark."

The two looked at each other, both realizing the other had tears welling in the corner of their eyes.

"That tornado took a lot of lives that day," Leela said. "I was just lucky my mother was at the synagogue, where there was a basement."

"Rock's family really took me in after the funerals," Daisy said with a sniff. "I felt more at home with them than I ever did at home. That was kinda the reason why I never got back there. And I didn't have any other family down there, either, so I never had to do the family trip down there – even with my three kids."

"Heh – never had the urge to go down to the Derby at all?" Leela said with a grin.

"Well… only after American Pharaoh won the race last year, but that was because I think he might have been a distant relation." She chuckled a bit. "Found out that it was a horse with the same name. Anyways – you're sure you have no idea where they might have gone?"

"I'd have to check through mom's stuff, but I honestly don't know where they may have gone." She gave her a half-frown. "Sorry, dear."

"It's all right… at least I got a chance to reconnect with you."

The two girls smiled before they got back to catching up with each other's lives.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

...Why yes, it's the first Saturday in May. Why do you ask?

---

She quietly rose from her sleep. Dawn had only begun to crest the skies in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, but she knew that morning was in full swing at her destination.

Dressing in her best, understated outfit, she inspected herself in the mirror. The talisman she wore was satisfactorily invisible in her reflection. Thank the gods that Emerauld had reinforced that chain, she thought. It hadn't budged since that last time.

She momentarily looked down at the floor. The repairs to the house had been exceptional, and even though the old turret room had been remodeled, it essentially looked the same as when her love had first taken up residence there. Now, it was their bedroom.

She sighed for a moment. His side of the bed was empty. He had gone on that journey to Nova Scotia – to "clear his mind", so to speak. And though she neither blamed him nor obstructed him – hell, she'd pretty much kicked him out the door – it was moments like this that she missed him – incredibly.

Her mind went back to her routine – the usual things she did before heading down to face the world. Rosalita wouldn't be awake just yet, so she could make herself something simple before heading to her destination.

Upon descending to the new kitchen, she was surprised to find her head cook sitting there, waiting on her with a cup of hot coffee and cinnamon-sweetened oatmeal.

"Buenos dias, Senora," she greeted her. "I had heard that you would be leaving early."

"Rosalita, I will never understand how you know these things, but keep it up," she said with a slight whinny.

"Your hat purchase was a giveaway, Senora," she said with a smile.

"Yes, it is slightly ostentatious, isn't it?" She lifted the box she had carried down with her, setting it to the side on the table as she dug in to her meal. "Then again, it would be par for the course."

"There's a 'horses for courses' joke there that I'm not touching, mom." Her daughter, Cinnamon, entered the kitchen from the paddock entryway – reverted to human form, but wearing pajamas and slippers.

"Land sakes, how many people know about this?" she said, taking a sip of the coffee.

"I saw the paddock passes when they came in the mail, mom," Cinny stated as she had a seat. "Just wanted to see you off – and I hope you have a great time."

She continued to eat her oatmeal in silence as Rosalita went to prepare breakfast for Cinny.
"I… I know this is going to be hard," Cinny said quietly. "You told me how hard it had been the last time dad took you down there…"

"Oh, pish tosh," she replied. "That was only because I was carrying you at the time. It was no fun watching Real Quiet come down the stretch when you're tossing your cookies from morning sickness."

"I was thinking more about Auntie Leela," Cinny replied. "It's funny – I remember meeting her maybe that one time, in passing, at daddy's funeral. But that's it." She looked at her. "Are you going to be able to handle her? You've told me she's a bit… high strung…"

"It's like riding a bicycle, dear," she said, finishing her hot cereal. "Or so I hear. I only tried doing that one time."

The two of them looked at each other, and laughed spontaneously.

"Rowdy couldn't believe that centaurs could ride bikes," Cinny said after catching her breath.

The clock in the kitchen sounded the half-hour.

"Looks like I better get a move-on," she said. "I told Leela that I'd meet her in the Library about now."

Cinny got up and hugged her mother.

"Have fun," she said, giving her a peck on the cheek. "Oh, and – " She reached into the pocket of her pajamas, and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Put this on Gun Runner to win."

She looked at her daughter with a quizzical glance before taking it.

"You take after your grand Aunt Petunia a bit too much, dear," she said with a laugh, picking up her hatbox and heading out the door.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

---

Two portals later (after collecting a similarly decked-out Leela in the Library), the two found themselves outside the gates of Churchill Downs in Louisville.

"Oooh, I love what they've done with the place," Leela said. "Last time I was here was back in the seventies!"

"Let me guess – Affirmed?" Daisy said, adjusting her hat – which was decked out in AHI blue and white pansies, with a white brim.

"Nope – Seattle Slew. Did you know he was…"

"…the only Triple Crown winner without a centaur bloodline, yes," she finished, sliding on her sunglasses as they made their way through the entry promenade. "I understand Gun Runner has Slew's lineage in him – which is probably why my daughter gave me this ten spot to put on him."

"Practically no Derby winner has ever not had a centaur bloodline," Leela stated as they reached the main entrance to Churchill Downs.

Their paddock passes got them in, and they immediately headed to an access door, just off of the main pari-mutuel betting windows . The door was guarded by a rather well-built gentleman with sunglasses, a badge, and an attitude. He looked at their passes, nodded and ushered them in.

Their passes gave them special access, to places where most people were not allowed – except for the jockeys, trainers, and owners. Oh, and a "certain" kind of paranormal.

The passageway under the stands was not as well populated at the moment; as it was morning, there weren't many people here. They could both hear the hum of activity in the stands above, and the buzz that generally exists on that first Saturday in May.

As talkative as Leela usually was, the two of them were unusually quiet as they made their way to the lower paddock area and stables. There was just something… awe inspiring… about the place.

An older gentleman with a white shock of hair appeared out of a door in the hallway ahead of them. Both ladies stopped in their tracks upon seeing him.

"Why, Robert!" Daisy smiled broadly. "Haven't seen you in forever! My stars, you look wonderful!"

The man stopped, looked at the pair, then nodded in recognition.

"Miss Alexander," he said warmly. "Yes, it's been a while. And you know damn well it's just 'Bob'."

"Oh, pshaw, you know me. I prefer to use formal names of my elders," she replied with a wink. "You're here with Mor Spirit, I understand?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Little worried about being all the way on the outside gates at the start, but I'm confident Gary will be able to pull him through." He turned to Leela. "Sorry, I don't think we've met before?"

Leela was speechless.

"Uh, buh, wah, duh…. you're Bob Baffert!"

Bob looked down at his paddock pass. "Yes, that's apparently what the pass says," he chuckled. "Any friend of Rosalynd is a friend of mine." He extended his hand to the tongue-tied centaur. "Charmed to meet you."

Leela was about ready to pass out, even as Daisy wished him good luck in the Derby. She had to elbow Leela back to reality after he left.

"Land sakes, girl, you get THAT tongue tied meeting the man?" she chided her bestie as the continued over to the main paddock.

"He… he's the trainer of all sorts of Derby winners!" she exclaimed. "He WON the freakin' TRIPLE CROWN last year! He's… he's like a rock star in the centaur community!"

"Yes – and he's just an old horse trainer from Arizona," Daisy said with a sigh. "Met him plenty of times over the years. Heh, he's part of the reason why Churchill Downs uses AHI tractors for the starting gates…"

They reached the gated entrance to the paddock area, where man, horse (and centaur) mingled together before the races. A rather disinterested older man in an usher's uniform sat with a hand-held scanner.

"Mornin' ladies," he said with that Kentucky drawl. "Y'all lookin' lovely today." His dark, weathered hands ran the scanner over Leela's pass, then Daisy's.

He stopped for a moment after seeing Daisy's pass. "Wait all a minute. You Rosalyn Alexander?"

Daisy eyed him unsteadily. "Yes?"

The old man chuckled. "Well, well, I do declare. It has indeed been quat a'whal." He stuck out his hand. "J. Thomas Brandywise. I 'member you from the old Jeffersonville Barn Dances back in the day."

Leela's brain finally came back online when she heard the man's name.

"GUMSHOE!" she exclaimed. "OhmiGAWD! How are you?" She reached out for a hug.

"Wuz wunnerin' how long it'd take you," he said, hugging her back. "How's tha coffee biz ovuh in Tel Aviv?"

"Oh, you know, it's a grind," she said, chuckling at her own pun. "Silly me – I knew you'd been working here at the Downs for seemingly forever."

"I knew you used to work here in the stables back in high school," Daisy said, exchanging a hug with him. "But I didn't know you'd still be here fifty years later!"

"Now, you know I have racin' in mah blood, Daisy dear," he replied. "I've gone from stable cleanup to ticket taker alla way up to security di-rec-tor. I don' think even tha track 'nouncer's been here 'slong as me."

"Y'know," he said, opening the gate for them, "I think there'd be someone who'd be tickled to see y'all – muh wife."

"Wife?" Leela reacted in surprise. "You mean some lucky girl actually managed to break you and tame you?"

"Ah know, hard ta b'lieve," he said with a laugh. "She was more'n worth it. Fer a long whal thayuh, I had t'help her get back on her feet financially. I got her a job here at the track, we fell in love – what can ya say?" He motioned toward the end of the paddock line. "She's workin' over with Baffert's team and Mor Spirit, down in stall 17B."

"Oooh, working with the defending champion's team?" Daisy said. "Lot of eyes are going to be on her today."

"Yeah, g'wan and ask fer Bella. She'll give ya an up-close look at a Derby horse. Oh, and say hi to her fer me – she's been here all night, and I ain't managed ta get ovah thayuh."

"Will do," Leela said, as the pair moved on down the paddocks. This area was much busier than the hallway where they had just came, and dodging various people running to and from trailers and stables was a bit of a challenge.

It wasn't until they reached the stall of Exaggerator that Daisy stopped, realizing what he had said.

"Wait a minute – did he say, 'Bella'?" Leela almost got run over by a cart listed as "Desormeaux Stables" before she realized Daisy had stopped.

"Yeah, he did," she said, turning back to her. "Why?"

"You don't think…"
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by Sgt. Howard »

... wow... what a tale...
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by FreeFlier »

Of course it is . . .

--FreeFlier
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Just Old Al
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by Just Old Al »

Can't wait to see where this goes...

-"Colonel Blimp"

P.S.: Joe, next you're at the estate we're going to discuss the choice of words... -Al

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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

Hey, that was all on Leela. ;)

---

"C'MON, GUN RUNNER!" Cinny was screaming at the TV screen in her paddock.

"...and NYQUIST is still unbeaten! He has WON the Kentucky Derby! Exaggerator is second, and a PHOTO for third among Suddenbreakingnews and Gun Runner, and the final time was a swift two minutes..."

Cinny snapped the TV off.

"Shoulda told mom to bet him to show, sis," Rowdy said as he got up and went off to his own stall.

Cinny threw a pillow at him.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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