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The day had all gone by in the blur.

Moments strung together my threads that didn’t seem like they belonged but that Beau had no reason to question.

He had been ushered from his home by his children, swifter than the fastest race car burning its rubber against the hottest tarmac. No one made mention of any destination, only a journey, a journey which took the literature teacher to the furthest corners of his adopted home, Edenridge and deep into its tragic heart. Ferried at different intervals by Desmond, Delphine, Genevieve, Evangeline and Zara; Antoine was taken to see faces from his past.

It began with a sit down with Big Rey Gonzales, who played with his grandchildren in a spritely manner that did not give way to his advancing age. The Serpent Patriarch was followed by a trip through the cracked streets of the Southside, beyond the train tracks where the line between the haves and have-nots was as thin as pink tie adorning his thick neck. 

Soon he ended up at Faith’s Fish House for a sit down lunch with Colleen that reminded him of his childhood in the French Quarter. The spicy smell of crabs, shrimp and crawfish took him back to simpler times. Lance had really out done himself with this new venture. Plus it was always nice for Beau to brush up on his ASL when communicating with Lance’s youngest daughter Eden. You’re never too old to learn something new.

The final stop after a long day was Edenridge High, decorated in black and gold instead of its usual green, the school was to hide Beau’s retirement party. When Antoine entered the room he was taken aback by the sheer number of people there. Former students, old friends and even some family from back south. Seeing his girls on stage, beckoning him into the room with the songs of Sam Cooke, his heart filled with light and joy. Everything felt right in the world.

[color=49A1DB]“Look at them all.”[/color]

A deep, resonant voice to rival his own bellowed behind Beau before he soon felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Turning his head ever so slightly, he noticed that the large mitten belonged to one of his own, a boy in blue to the end, Windham Broadus, the Chief of Police. Antoine did not envy Windham’s position as head of a force that was more corrupt than pure. Back in his days in NOLA, Mr Beau too had to deal with an amazing level of dirty police and southern white politics. And yet there was always a clear line, a definite black and white and good versus evil. In today's world, that line was more blurred than ever. Some more even hazard to say, that the line no longer existed. [color=E4DF9B]“Mr Broadus, are you about to get all whimsical and nostalgic on me?”[/color]

[color=49A1DB]“You bet your black ass, so sit down, shut up, grab yourself a scotch and listen.”[/color] The two men began to laugh together, hearty, strong laughs that were infectious to those around them. Immediately the room lightened even more as the old coppers took their seats at the edge of the room to survey the younger generation that mingled before them. 

Windham was not known to be an emotional man; some might even hazard to say the man was cold but Antoine knew that to be a falsity. Like him, Broadus grew up on the streets, fighting tooth and nail for all he had, supporting a family and doing right by the code of the corner. He was known amongst various police forces for his skills at interrogation and getting confessions from his perps. It was awe inspiring really. He closed himself off to protect himself, to hide away from the horrors of the game so that he could not thrust those same nightmares onto his children, Alonzo, Bianca and Quinton as well as his niece Maya. Antoine knew that beneath the shield, Windham was a devoted father and uncle and a man behest to walk a path of righteousness lest God smite him with fury and anger. He was a good man, a good cop and someone that Beau had the utmost respect for.

[color=49A1DB]“You know, twenty years ago, a lot of the faces in this room weren’t even born? Some were about to be, others weren’t even swimming in their daddy’s sacks yet. Me and you? We were working them corners. Banging up on hard boys, flexing on em to stop slinging their product. Shit never worked but it’s what we did. I remember, I remember that moment. When I heard the first bang and the screams.”[/color] Windham’s voice turned darker and more sombre. [color=49A1DB]“I was running through an ash cloud thicker than anything I’d ever seen before. Hell I couldn’t see shit. Then I got to where the towers used to be and….” [/color]

He paused, solemnly letting his words hang in there. [color=49A1DB]“I just started digging with my bare hands. People were pulling me from left to right, screaming for help whilst the smell of burnt flesh and oil just suffocated me. I thought of Lonzo and Bee, who I didn’t get to see because she was living here with her mother and I just…I knew that I had to save as many people as I could and then I had to get out. It was because of that day, then and there I decided to leave New York and come here.”[/color] Windham looked across the dance floor of the gym, his three babies were all together, talking with their respective spouses. [color=49A1DB]“Memories; fade. People die. But what we do, what we leave behind, that’s what lives forever, I served these people and the streets but what I leave behind are those three.”[/color]

Beau could not agree more. He was an old man, there wasn’t long left for him on this planet but that was ok because he knew he was leaving behind something much more than himself, his kids. Not just the ones that his Colleen birthed but the ones he taught, the ones he dug from the rubble that he found in Edenridge and pulled out of the life that would’ve surely ended theirs. It was here where he understood the point that his compatriot was trying to make: Antoine was leaving behind everyone that stood before him and many more beyond, that would be his legacy. As he gazed upon those happy faces he smiled. The line was blurring over time but it was his hope that with his lessons, his children could repaint it and it could live on for the next generation.

[color=E4DF9B]“You’re a sentimental old bitch, ain’t ya Windham?”[/color] Beau’s soft southern drawl could make even the most insulting comment sound almost endearing. Though his fellow officers recounting his reasoning for moving to Eden also reminded Antoine of his own story. [color=E4DF9B]“Colleen had been desperate to move back here for years. She really missed her family, especially Cynthia; ain’t nobody closer to a girl than her sister. My parents were long gone and my brother was off doing his thing but NOLA was home you know? But then I started working this case…”[/color] Beau’s mind drifted back. [color=E4DF9B]“Triple. Mom, two daughters. Husband missing, presumed the murderer and no weapon. I thought it was gonna be big, you know? Constantly in the papers. Especially cos it was a white family too, you know how the media is. But then nothing; not a word. Didn’t even get a paragraph. I spent months working that thing, ran every lead. Not a word.”[/color] 

Beau finally brought his glass to his lips for the first drink of the day. [color=E4DF9B]“Then we found the husband's body; sunken in a refrigerator in the bayou. He was a victim too.”[/color] He took a long held sip. [color=E4DF9B]“Then the media got interested. Didn’t matter that these baby girls were gone, nor the wife, nor the husband. No victim mattered but the mystery? Oh they loved the mystery. That’s when I realised that the line didn’t exist no more. I realised it was never gonna be like it was. I told Collie that night to start looking at houses.”[/color]

Windham shook his head at the very thought. He had heard Beau say for years [color=49A1DB]“Nobody no victim that don’t matter.”[/color] And he was now beginning to see the origins of Antoine’s motto. It was something he carried with him always. They were of similar ages but just like everybody else in that room, in that town, the Chief of Police had learned a lot from Antoine Beauregard. [color=49A1DB]“Did you ever solve it?”[/color]

Beau’s lips widened into his famous bright white grin. [color=E4DF9B]“Of course I did. It was the last case I ever worked. Turns out the husband’s business partner was in love with him but was denied affection. So he murdered the family, kidnapped the husband, then killed him, sank the body and then hid the murder weapon in the foundation of a new building. One month later, I was teaching at Edenridge High.”[/color] As the two men smiled pridefully at one another, Beau noticed Windham’s son Alzono beckoning his father over. [color=E4DF9B]“Looks like your attention has been requested, Win. Goddamn though, what did you feed that boy? Motherfucker is huge.”[/color] 

The younger man stood up to his feet and placed his hand once again on Beau’s shoulder. [color=49A1DB]“He gets it from his Momma rest her soul.”[/color] He polished off his drink and placed it onto the nearby snack table. [color=49A1DB]“People like you and me, we gonna go to our graves, forever knowing what corner Soulman got shot on or where the fastest routes around town are. We gonna know forever, where that line is and how to keep people on their sides of it. That’s the curse we bare, the burden we have undertaken. Ain’t nobody though, can do it better than you Antoine. Bet that. Enjoy your evening, you deserve it.”[/color]

As Windham departed to allow Beau time with his thoughts, the old man once again gazed out across the party and the faces amongst the number. In each, he could see a lesson learned and a lesson taught, a heart beating with purpose beyond living.

This was what he was leaving behind.