Jenny and Sam

I spend the entire trip building pamphlets and packages Senator Prova asked me to provide for my proposed legislation. Luckily, the only thing I sought out to do was educate Legislators on who is LGBTQIA+ and how the only requirement we have is to live freely. A few times a tawny, weather-worn man with wild tufts of uneven white hair passed by my cubicle. The hostile look on his face startled me for a bit and gave me pause enough to look around. Normally when I travel, it’s with my mom and dad, who shielded me from the reality that faced me now. Everyone in first class is unnervingly alabaster, male, and boring. The air is thick with an entitlement and self-importance that I didn’t notice when I first entered the plane. The realization that these people are most likely going to the same place that I am makes me sink down in my chair, hoping not to be seen. The bell dinged and the seatbelt light came on, while the captain told us that we would be descending soon. I’m shoving the materials that I took out of my bag back into it when I feel something bearing down on me. I look towards the aisle and I see the burnt-orange guy again, staring coldly at me. I look around to see I what is so offensive that I am now having holes drilled into me. Not seeing anything I look back at the Sloth Fratelli look-alike. Is it possible for some to glare harder than a glare? It took me a while, but as I look down at myself I see what has his briefs in a bind. I have the audacity to have multicolored dreads and be darker than a paper bag. That, or the fact that my grey sportcoat and dashiki vest (with matching bowtie) fit better than his. 

“Can I help you with something?” I smile at him. He huffs before he starts packing his own belongings. Shrugging the whole thing off, I finish my packing and wait for the plane to land. I arrive in Dulles airport, disoriented and excited. Once I’m off the plane, I grab my bags and scan the crowd, looking for a familiar face.    

Jenny Prova was a senior Senator of the great state of Florida. She was also a good friend of Dr. Delaney’s, which is how I got on her radar. She is one of the few legislators in the country who actually won their districts on inclusivity and intersectionality. She’s also one of the few people who realizes that she doesn’t always knows what that means. So, every year she selects two teens who have shown exceptional work in activism to work with in introducing new legislation, allowing her to get re-acclimated to her constituents as well as providing the teens an inside look to how policies are made. When I met Jenny, she was nothing but smiles and good vibes. 

Which is why I didn’t realize that the scowling woman in front of me is the same one I met over winter break. Her auburn and silver hair was French braided and resting on her shoulder that seemed to be holding up her ears with how high up they were. Her arms are crossed tightly and she’s angrily tapping her stiletto. Jenny looks like she’s ready for a fight. As I get closer, her features soften a little bit, but don’t go away.

“Jes!” She squeals, grabbing onto my forearms and half-dragging me into a hug. She pushes me back at arm’s length, then strides backwards towards the front doors.“I’m so glad you’re finally hear! How was your flight? Are you hungry? Let me get your bags. Oh.” She stops without warning, and that’s when I realize that there’s someone else with us. This girl can’t be much older than I am, with an even tan that the fairer skinned can only dream of and jet black curly hair haphazardly piled on top of her head. I would have killed for her red lace skater dress, and made a note to ask her where she got it later. She does not notice my inventory of her however, because the orange guy from the plane is walking towards us with an entourage of what has to be VIP of D.C.

“Isn’t that...” the girl starts, pointing at I think a particularly lanky man with floppy blonde hair, trailing behind the rest of the pack.

“I guess I know why he didn’t need a ride,” Jenny states in an icy tone, shrugging.I’m still looking at Agent Orange as he reaches a man standing near the door dressed like a chauffeur and a teenager in a suit and tie. Orange tosses his briefcase at the teen who fumbles in a bit before holding it close. 

“Who’s the orange guy?” I ask without thinking. Jenny and the girl in red both cackle loudly as Jenny throws her arms around my shoulders. We walk out of the door, the pair still laughing when the the girl speaks.

“Agent Orange is Senator Daniel Berger, staunchly conservative and oddly in favor of preserving the sanctity of this country.”

“Now is that before or after Europeans destroyed it?” Again, without thinking the words leave me. 

“I like you,” the girl says, just as we are approached by a man just in a chauffeur’s uniform. Jenny slides my bags away from me and start handing them to the guy, leaving me and the girl in red standing together. “I’m Samantha Oxendine,” she sticks her hand in my direction. “But you can call me Sam.” I shake her hand, and her eyes widen, staring down at our hands. I look to Jenny, who has turned around at this point and seen our hands locked together. I look back at Sam, who is gulping for air or for words as I try to pry my hands away from her. But in her shock, she holds me in a vise-like grip. Jenny excuses the driver and comes over to where we stand. She pries Sam’s hands off of mine and ushers her into the back of the car. I follow around the other side of the car, finding my gloves in my coat pocket and slipping them on. We all pile into the town car, Sam visibly shaken, and Jenny explains to Sam what’s happening as I look back to the first few times.

⚲#*#*#⚲

One day, when I was four, I shook the hand of one of Dr. Shalhoub’s students. Once she realized what happened, she snatched me off the desk and ran to Dr. Delaney’s office, while calling Dr. Sparrow. She sat me down on the desk, handed me her iPhone and tugged Delaney away from where I could hear. She kept adjusting her hijab, which was a nervous I noticed that she had, between wild gestures at Dr. Delaney tried to calm her down. What felt like years later, the door opened and Dr. Sparrow walked in with Dr. Isaacs and my parents. After a hurried and seemingly erratic conversation, filled with hand gestures and exclamations, the group finally approached me about why I can’t touch anyone. 

According to them, when they held, something shifted in them. They didn’t know what it was, but it compelled them to protect me, and by extension, my family. They explained that while they still kept their free will, they weren’t entirely certain of what my powers could do. The next day, Dr. Shalhoub reported that the student ended up proposing to her fiance after two years of holding onto the ring.

⚲#*#*#⚲

“How are you not freaked out by this?” Sam asks Jenny, the trembling in her hands subsiding by the moment. “I mean, what you just told me is completely insane, but you don’t seem phased by it.” Jenny shrugs.

“When you see it happen to someone else, or when you see you aren’t alone in what you felt, doesn’t seem so crazy.” Sam nods absently at this explanation, still staring at the invisible residue on her hands. I can’t help but adjust my gloves because if I just had the stupid things on then this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. I’m definitely going to have to tell Dr. Sparrow-

“Nice beard, by the way.” I look up to see Sam smiling kindly at me. “And I meant to point it out earlier, but your hair is amazing. All those colors. Like, a dreaded merperson.” I beam at this. Senator Jenny leans around Sam to give me a double thumbs up before she clears her throat.

“So I didn’t get to introduce you guys earlier.” Jenny frames Sam’s face, who smiles cartoonishly. “Sam here is an Indigenous American who is going to be working on health care reform and Indigenous reparations again this year.”

“Again?” I ask confused. I am under the impression that we only got one shot at this internship. 

“Uh, yeah,” Jenny claps Sam on the back. “Sam did such a good job last time she was here I had to invite her back. They are still talking about how she put them on the spot and their constituents have not stopped calling since you left. She dragged the cowards into the light.” I get the impression that Sam is sort of a manipulative mastermind. “She says she has something else up her sleeve that she came up with the last time she was here but she won’t tell me.”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing scandalous,” Sam assures Jenny, patting her on the shoulder. “I just discovered a new angle that I could work this, focus on both the Senators and their constituents.” Jenny and I both wait for her to continue before realizing that she’s reached the end of her statement.

“Oh c’mon!-” Jenny whines.

“Are you kidding-” Sam just crosses her arms with a smug look on her face as we protest and beg for her to give us some sort of clue as to what we should expect.

“Okay, okay. I will just say this.” Jenny and I lean in close to better hear what she’s about to say. “It will be a magnificent experience for all of those involved.” I suck my teeth at Sam, disgusted. Jenny throws her arms up in exasperation as Sam cackles wildly in between us.