Antebellum Read Online Free PDF Page B

Tom with their eyes before they returned to gently placing beautiful cloth napkins on the laps of rich white people.
    â€œLet’s just sit at the table so you can calm down,” SaTia said. “I’ll do all the talking, you just pull yourself together.”
    We walked up to Mr. Rose’s table and sat down in front of him. As he opened his mouth, I found myself again trying to tame the wild animal trapped inside of me.
    â€œI assume you all got tied up back at the hotel? I guess when it comes to making stars, we know what we’re doing, huh?”
    He looked at me, expecting some sort of jovial gratitude. I just stared back at him, trying not to envision blood squirting from his throat.
    Not getting the reaction he was looking for, his eyes betrayed the smile on his face. At that moment, I was nothing but an ungrateful nigger. I reached out for the salt shaker with the worst of intentions. Before I could even get a good grasp on it, SaTia reached over and took it out of my hand.
    â€œThank you.” She smiled at me, but somehow whispered the word “stop” through her grinning teeth. Then she turned back to Mr. Rose. “I go completely postal if I don’t have enough salt in my food, so he always makes sure I have it on my side of the table.”
    SaTia always pressed what she called her “inner white girl button” when we went to meetings with execs. She said she learned how to do it in college. It was more annoying than hearing someone scrape the end of a fork against a plate, but it worked. We alwayscame out with more money, or the promise of more money, than we had before.
    I could tell by the word “postal” that she had hit her button, but I was too angry to care.
    Mr. Rose glanced suspiciously from me to SaTia, and then back to me. SaTia cut his thoughts short.
    â€œGetting down to business, Mr. Rose, Mr. Jenkins has been very pleased with his success since signing with your company.”
    â€œWell, good. He doesn’t seem like it at all.”
    â€œIt’s been a considerably hectic morning, Mr. Rose. I requested that he quiet his thoughts a bit before coming into this meeting. He’s just trying to pull himself together. Oh...and by the way, Mr. Rose, Mr. Jenkins likes to be called Moe or Moses when he’s dealing with business.”
    Mr. Rose glanced at me one more time. I kept the same stone expression on my canvas. He shrugged his shoulders and looked back at SaTia.
    â€œOkay, fair enough. We’re starting late, so let’s jump right into it, shall we? How’s the second project going?”
    SaTia turned on her white girl excitement.
    â€œIt’s going wonderfully! We’re making progress quicker than we expected to. Mr. Jenkins has really learned a lot from the completion of his first album.”
    Mr. Rose nodded his head as he methodically picked apart the sculpture on his plate.
    â€œGood, because we’re going to need to kick up the deadline.”
    My righteous indignation went limp. “Whoa, what? You cain’t just kick up the deadline without lettin’ me know!”
    â€œHe speaks!” Mr. Rose chuckled to himself. I tried to grab at my butter knife, but SaTia had already moved it.
    I looked over at her as she leaned forward, clasped her handstogether, and stared directly at Mr. Rose, and I knew I had nothing to worry about.
    The inner white girl button had been turned off again. Now she was just plain old SaTia.
    â€œMr. Rose, we discussed a clear timeline in our last meeting and agreed that the dates that were set would be permanent. May I ask the reason our previously agreed upon deadline is no longer sufficient?”
    Mr. Rose finished chewing the food in his mouth before he answered. He seemed vaguely amused at her, but he was too smart to underestimate her.
    â€œRiggs and Baker, the head guys at Infiniti, got wind of our scheduled release dates. They kicked up all of No Parole’s