Heller and Shannon: Bois d'Arc

Shannon followed Heller up, into the charter-bus. He went to the very back and chose a seat. Shannon sat next to him and immediately sprawled over him and was asleep even before the bus pulled out of the parking lot.

Her territorial claim was clear. “This is my man.”

The women who were closest to Shannon shared knowing smiles. It had been a year since Shannon had a boyfriend. Based on the sounds they had heard in the early morning hours, they suspected that neither Shannon or Heller had gotten much sleep the last night.

Even if Heller been offered a $1000, he would not have been able to remember a single reason why he once thought Shannon was “not his type”.

Ce’Diff was the last one to board the bus. She missed seeing the love-birds in the back of the bus. Her search for intelligence on Mr Eldridge Klugman had been an exercise in frustration. He did not exist on FB or Pluggedin. He did not post on Twit or Tok. He was a ghost.

She would try again after she got back to the office where she had access to other databases. The motel internet connection had been slower than molasses in January and it was very frustrating to use. Good-god, how could these hicks live like that!?

One of Ce’Diff’s snitches stopped by her seat and whispered something into her ear.

Realizing that she hadn’t seen either Shannon or Eldridge, she turned to where her underling had suggested she look.

Ce’Diff’s eyes narrowed. Oh, so that is how it was.

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

*

Ce’Diff waited until 9:30 the next morning before making her moves. She knew a little bit about Shannon but wanted to refresh her memory. Like every Human Resources professional, the first social media website she visited was Pluggedin.

The website confirmed that Shannon was still a teller at one of the regions largest Credit Unions and had not been promoted in the last six years. Ce’Diff was not surprised. There had been a concerted push to make financial institutions look more like the communities they were serving so Peoples-of-Color and other-gendered could have equal access to financing.

Then Ce’Diff did a search of the SPRKCU HR department and selected the names of a few HR professionals. She hit pay-dirt on her first choice, Shelquia Washington. Shelquia was a couple of years younger than she was and had graduated from Eastern Michigan. Most important was the fact that she was also a member of the Omega Alpha Pi Sorority.

Ce’Diff placed her call and Shelquia picked up on the third ring. “Hello. Washington of Human Resources Spark-U Credit Union speaking. My pronouns are Zzz and Zhrr. What do you need?”

“Hello Zzz Washington. I am Ce’Diff Koffi from Critical Staffing Solutions’ Human Resources Department. That is spelled cap-Cee, e, apostrophe, cap-d, i, f, f space cap-k, o, f, f, i. Professionally, I use pronouns She/Her.”

Ce’Diff politely gave Washington time to type her name into the Pluggedin search box.

“Oh! You are a Sistah!” the warmth in Washington’s voice was startling after the brisk, impersonal tones at the beginning of the call. Washington had either checked out Ce'Diff's affiliations page or noticed the lime-green and cotton-candy pink broach she was wearing for her P-I mugshot.

“I am a 4th Degree Bois d’Arc” Ce’Diff said with false modesty.

Washington was impressed. There were eight Degrees and it was rare to meet somebody who had graduated in 2005 who was already a 4th Degree Bois d’Arc.

Bois d’Arc literally translated to “Wood of the Bow” and was an honor granted to some Omega Alpha Pi sorority women after they graduated. The grading system was very secretive but involved becoming personally involved and "facilitating" the professional advancement of Peoples-of-Color in general and other Omega Alpha Pi members in particular. 

 

Evidence suggested that promoting the advancement of P-o-C and other-gendered in some fields like Human Resources, Media, Higher Education, and Regulation were scored more favorably than advancement in other fields like accounting, elementary education, corrections or medicine. It was odd that the Prosecutors' office was heavily scored while corrections was not.

“What can I do for you?” Washington asked with genuine interest. Clearly, Ce’Diff Koffi had some serious stroke and could vault Washington’s career to a higher level if she was able to impress Koffi.

“I hate to trouble you about this minor matter, but one of your employees displayed extremely racist and biased behavior while representing your company on a public outing….” Ce’Diff knew that she owned Washington.