See, if I'm on the street and someone slights me,

knocks my papers to the ground, calls me names, even raises their hand to me,

like what happened the other day?

The truth is, I'm likely to let it go

to slowly pick my things up off the ground

to say the calming word

even

even

to turn the other cheek

everybody just calm down.

Everything's going to be all right.

Understand I'm a lover.

Not a fighter, but...

But...

If I'm walking with one of my babies,

my good children, my happy kids, my nappy-headed monsters,

if I'm walking down the street with one of my babies and someone steps to one of them,

says something untoward, or God forbid, raise their hand in my child's direction,

and I see it, retribution will be immediate, unkind, out of all

proportion. There will in fact be held to pay just like any other parent, any other parent.

And if the threat to them is not the crazy down the street or the entitled imbecile with a thousand dollar briefcase.

But if this threat, if this threat comes from beyond the veil, then the pain and the retribution, well, that's going beyond the veil too.

...