"Listen up, pendejo, don't tell me to go back where I come from when you people stole this land," Marianna Conchita Alfonso said haughtily, glaring at the annoying old White dude. He was wearing a red hat, yes, one of those red hats, and made a big mistake. The old codger presumed to lecture Marianna while she cleaned the food court at the Bayshore Shopping Center in the City of Ottawa, Ontario.
"You don't talk to me like that, you don't even speak good English, go back to your country," Mr. Old White Dude said, and Marianna scoffed and walked away. Let the old pendejo whine to the mall management and get her fired if he wanted. No amount of money is worth my dignity, Marianna thought. The old bastard continued to whine long after Marianna entered an employees-only area, and disappeared from view.
Unbeknownst to Marianna, the entire incident was witnessed by electronic eyes, and the eyes watching those cameras belonged to Steven Dorvil. The tall, bald-headed, burly young Black man, the only non-White member of the Bayshore Mall Security Squad, shook his head after watching the whole exchange on camera.
Steven Dorvil had been working as a security guard at the Bayshore Shopping Center for three years now. He'd joined the team at the age of twenty two, fresh from graduating in the Police Foundations programme at Algonquin College. Steven wanted to become a police officer, but the Ontario Police College turned him down. Apparently, Steven's status as a permanent resident of Canada and his relative youth worked against him...
Steven Dorvil missed the town of Jacmel on the island of Haiti, where he was born and raised. Things were so much simpler over there. Steven spiraled into a deep depression after getting those bad news from the police, and he hated his job. Security guards got treated like shit, both by the general public and the owners and workers of the very same businesses that employed them. A solitary ray of sunlight into his dreary existence was his friendship with Marianna Conchita Alfonso...
Marianna Conchita Alfonso, the serious-faced, dark-haired, slender yet curvy Latina who worked for the Bayshore Mall cleaning crew. She was so pretty, much too pretty for a job like this. Whether emptying a garbage can or pushing a cleaning cart, Marianna held her head high. And she looked so good in her work shirt, apron and Black work pants, with her long dark hair braided Pocahontas-style and flowing on her back.
"Have a good day, El Gordo, and don't let those people get to you," Marianna said to Steven, on the morning of that fateful day. As security, it was his duty to do the big unlock. Maglock doors had to be opened, alarms reset or deactivated, and all that jazz. Steven and his fellow guards opened the Bayshore Mall doors and as usual, Marianna had been one of the first members of the cleaning crew to arrive...
"Buenas dias, seniorita, and gracias," Steven replied, in the little bit of Spanish that Marianna taught him, and she winked at him. Playfully tapping his shoulder, Marianna walked past Steven and headed to the mall's employees-only areas. Steven was doing a twelve-hour shift today since his co-worker Quinn O'Leary was absent, due to having stomach flu. He was pretty sure he'd see Marianna before he left for the day. And then this shit happened in the food court...
"Watch the cameras for me, Dwight, I'm going to stretch my legs," Steven said, and he hurried out of the security team office on the lower level, and headed to the second floor of the ever-crowded Bayshore Mall. Steven took the escalator, and headed to the food court. Sure enough he found the old White dude in question and followed him...discretely.
Mr. Old White Dude headed upstairs, toward the small Walmart outpost on the topmost floor. Whistling casually, Steven Dorvil followed the old man, and went into the store. A full patrol of the entire mall was part of his duties, along with monitoring the cameras and responding to emergencies. I'm just doing my patrol early, Steven told himself.
For the next half hour, Steven followed the old man, always from a distance. The burly security guard wondered how he might avenge the slight done to Marianna when suddenly, the opportunity presented itself. The old dude headed to one of the checkout aisles near the shoes section, lined up behind the four people ahead of him and swiped a watch and yellow bag of M & Ms and pocketed it before walking away.
"Gotcha," Steven said, and he promptly pounced on the old man, right after he exited the Walmart without paying for the watch or the stolen candy. People walking by gawked at the tall, dark-skinned security guard and the old White man he was arresting. Steven knew what they were thinking. In Canada just like America, Black equals danger and crime, while Whiteness equals innocence and all that jazz.
"I'm not a thief," the old man protested, as Steven cuffed him and called for backup. Lots of Walmart customers were watching the scene and talking among themselves. Steven's co-workers Kayla, a tough-looking young brunette, and a slim, red-haired White dude named Timothy showed up. They held him escort the old thief to the security office.
Marianna Conchita Alfonso was still fuming about the incident in the food court with the old White man. She hated racist old bastards like these, especially the ones wearing those red hats. Way to announce to the entire world that you're an idiot, Marianna thought bitterly. She felt like slapping the old jerk but didn't want to risk getting arrested.
Marianna Conchita Alfonso came to the City of Ottawa, Ontario, from her hometown of Merida, Mexico, with a dream of making it. She'd applied for a visa to come work and study in the United States of America, but got denied. The current U.S. political leadership didn't like folks from Latin America. Apparently, they were all bad hombres and bad chicas...
