Looking up from his seat, Darryl quickly stood when the woman walked into the small crematorium waiting room. She wore a black velour track suit with red stripes, new white Adidas sneakers and her hair in cornrows. Chanise waited for Darryl to come to her. They embraced.

I didn’t know if you would come, he said.

Ne neither, she said.

Jimmy wouldn’t have wanted a funeral even if we could have had one, he said.

Me neither, she said.

You OK?

No, she said.

Me neither.

Darryl bit his lip.

What would you like to do with his ashes?

You keep them, she said.

I hate to say this but I’m not sure I want them.

Chanise gave Darryl that sly look Jimmy always loved.

Spread them on the bar at the club or in the gym, she said.

Darryl laughed softly.

You’re still the same Chanise.

No, she said, I’m not.

What will you do now that you retired from the police department?

Resigned, not retired.

You always wanted to go back to school. You still think about being a lawyer?

A civil rights lawyer who sues cops, she said.

Darryl smiled.

I’m serious. Police brutality is the root of all evil, she said.

This rioting shit’s out of control, Darryl said.

The city‘s smoldering in more ways than one.

Darryl’s voice rose.

You see the burning and looting?

Most of what’s in the museum is looted, she said.

I mean the Nikes and sunglasses.

I thought you meant the Boston Tea Party.

You sound militant, Chanice.

Violence is not the answer until it is, she said.

Darryl raised an eyebrow.

You just lost a son and a husband to gun violence.

They both died for nothing.

Darryl looked at the floor.

If I have to die, and we all do, I’d rather die for something worth dying for, Chanise said.

Like what?

Like justice.

Can you die for love?

You can.

But?

But for that to happen you have to have somebody still alive to love.

I don’t know what I’m going to do, Darryl said.

Chanise touched his arm.

Do you have a dream?

I don’t know, Darryl said.

You should.

I don’t know what to believe in anymore.

I have a suggestion, she said.

Darryl looked up with tears in his eyes.

Come on with it, he said.

Believe in being black.

And?

Then be black.

By any means necessary?

Exactly, she said.

The man from the crematory came through a side door carrying a box that held the urn that held the ashes.

Will there be anything else?

Darryl and Chanise left the building and stood outside in the sunshine. A siren wailed in the distance. A police dog barked from a squad car. A police radio crackled. They embraced.

You need a ride?

No, she said, I’m walking.

Me too, he said.

I might just keep walking, she said.

Me too, he said.