Some people complain of the must, the humidity, the stickiness of a Mississippi afternoon in the summer. To me, it’s a balm. A balm against the air conditioned offices I left behind at my job in Chicago. A cry against all of the fans I’ve waved with MLK on them into my face on Sundays. Not that I have an issue with being cool; it somehow seems sacrilege to run for the nearest enclosed space with an AC system going while I’m down here.
I’ve flown in to bury some memories, bury some regrets, and bury my father. Going down Interstate 55 on my way to the backcountry my people have called home for four generations, and with the windows open. The guy at the rental counter at Jackson International touted the power of the car’s AC system and didn’t believe me when I laughed at him. He squinted at me, and after a moment’s pause, asked, “You been down here before?”
I looked at him with a mix of “bless your heart” and “”who the fuck you think I am?” Since landing, I’d slid easily into the patter of Southern vocality, thanking the flight crew with a “God bless y’all” as I de-planed and striking up a conversation with an older white guy about the Saints while we waited for our gate-checked bags to come from the undercarriage of the plane.
But the Second City was still in me when I replied, “I’ma be aight, my man.”
He smiled, and looked back down to his computer. “You must be visiting kinfolk, then.”
Curious, I asked why he didn’t think I was there on business. I had on the polo shirt and baggy shorts uniform of the middle aged urbanite, so I didn’t think I looked too sportsy or too hood.And who’s to say a said urbanite of above average height can’t be doing business? And legal business, at that?
He looked up as my receipt started printing. “Folk here on business, first thing they want to know is how good the AC is. Folk driving into the country know they got a good chair, good food, and good laughs waiting for em, so they just want to get there.”
I smiled, and smile faded when I thought about the funeral and the hard conversations in the coming days. “You right about all that.”