Every story of yours that I read, Terry, triggers so many memories. This one brought to mind the day that a black co-worker and her 2 brothers came to where I lived - a mobile home park on the Atlantic Coast of Florida. I was 20 years old. I can't recall what it was, but I left something at work the night before (we worked 3:30 to midnight). Gloria found it and called me, saying she and her brothers would be passing by where I lived on their way to visit a relative the next day and they'd bring the item to me.

Gloria was insistent that they could not get out of the car. I would have to come to them. She said they did not feel safe in an all-white community. Hadn't thought about it before her comment, but my mobile home park was all white.

That morning, I was laying on my sofa reading when I heard their car pull up. I jumped up too quickly. I had issues with fainting if I rose too rapidly from an inclined position. I made it to the door, opened it, waved at their car, and fell to the floor. Thankfully, I did not fall forward down the steps onto the concrete patio.

Gloria and her two brothers ran to my aid. One brother picked me up and carried me to the sofa. I later learned that Gloria and her other brother used their bodies to shield the sight of a black man carrying a white woman. They feared trouble.

They stayed long enough to make sure I was okay. I had experience with these fainting spells so recovered quickly and they left just as quickly. Very, very frightened to be seen in my home.

A few months later, Gloria invited me and another white co-worker to her birthday party at her mother's home in, of course, an all black neighborhood. We attended, had a lovely time, and felt perfectly safe even though we were the only white people in a neighborhood of a least 30 homes.

What a contrast, eh? Says a lot, doesn’t it?