“How long you been in Atlanta?”

“I was born in Atlanta, I was a Grady baby. Used to go to summer camp in Fort Valley, GA with my sister Charlotte. I’ve been here pretty much my whole life besides when I was in Milwaukee with Billy.”

“What’d you do in Milwaukee?”

“I worked for the government. When they wanted to buy people’s property in the right of way for new roads I would go and talk to the people. They would send the people letters informing them about their plans but people wouldn’t always want to sell so I would go and talk to them. Tell them about the way the road would improve the neighborhood and what not.”

“And they would be okay to sell?”

“Some would, some wouldn’t.”

“And what would happen when they didn’t want to sell?”

“Well, I would tell my manager and then she would send their property to condemnation.”

“What’s condemnation?”

“If the agency was going to build a road, and had done a study and determined that that was the best time, if you didn’t want to sell, they would condemn the property. The agency would pay people for their property, and if you agreed to sell, you could negotiate your price. But they weren’t going to give you more than fair market value. Some people might get another $1,000 or so but if people tried to be extortionist about it, they would just get what they would get and there was nothing they could do about it.”

“So you were in Milwaukee with Papa?”

“Mm hmm.”

“How’d you two meet?”

“We met at school. He used to tutor me in math, that was always my short suit. He was very patient, always an explanation, always ready to show the shortcuts. He wouldn’t just say ‘write this or write that’.”

“So how long was it after he started tutoring you in math did he ask you out?”

“Oh lord, I don’t even remember. It’s been so long, you know we were married over 30 years. I think it was a pretty short time. I lived in Milwaukee but I’m glad to be back in Atlanta though. I haven’t visited that many cities, I don’t need to.”

“Were you here when Dr. King was here?”

“Oh yeah, in fact before I married Billy we used to go to Ebenezer where his father pastored. I knew all the children, AD who was the younger brother, Martin, and the sister.”

“Oh you knew them personally?”

“Mmm hmm. But once I married Billy we went to Wheat Street to hear Rev. Borders.”

“How were Dr. King and Rev. Borders different?”

“They were both commanding, explicit, very powerful. Whenever I went it always made me feel better. I used to go every Sunday but now I don’t go if I don’t feel like it. Do you go to church?”

“I go to yoga a lot. That’s like church for me. I’m more into having a personal relationship with Spirit than have an intermediary. Yoga is the alignment practice that helps me tune in. It seems to me like the core teachings of all religions is the same anyways, they just spring up differently because of different cultural traditions.”

“Okay, well I believe in religion and I believe in the church. But for the people that take it to the extreme, I’ve always wondered about that. If you looks at someone’s actions and they’re not treating people the way they want to be treated, I’m like ‘What’s that about?’ Don’t get me wrong, nobody is perfect. We all have our challenges and difficulties, that helps to make us human. I don’t think I know enough to tell anyone about their religion. Different strokes for different folks as they say. We all have different experiences and desires and that’s okay provided they don’t damage us or other people, I really never had time for any of that. But in the end, I guess we’re saved by whatever we believe in.”