“No, that’s an excuse. Hell, I got recruited by the Bureau, and I knew I could do the job. You had to have had other offers. Why the Academy instead of one of the other places?”

Alex thought about it. “I guess it has to do with my father.”

“Because of his experience in the Holocaust?”

“You know about that, huh?”

“You’d be surprised how thorough those files are. Besides, all your psych reports say that it’s part of your motivation.”

“Well, I guess that’s part of it. But there are other things as well.”

“Like?”

Alex took a deep breath. “When I was nine, this family moved into our neighborhood. They lived across and down the street from us. My father went over to introduce himself. He was the first one, and for a long time, he was the only one who would talk with this family. After all, they were the first blacks in our neighborhood, and nobody else really knew what to do. Several wanted them gone, and others didn’t care. But my father cared. He knew that they needed people in the area to support them, or they would end up victims of those who couldn’t see past their skin color. So, he organized a neighborhood picnic at a nearby park.”

Alex turned a little towards Teren. “Now, you have to understand, everyone loved my dad. He was great with kids, he was generous to a fault, and he was always willing to lend a hand if someone needed to buld a new garage or if the kids in the area wanted a tree house. He was respected, and even though some people didn’t like the fact that he was Jewish, or that he was a practicing Jew, he was still a very popular man. So, when he gathered everyone at the park, and introduced the Wilson’s, everyone began to warm up to them.

“So, the Wilson’s became a part of our neighborhood, and I was good friends with their daughter Lisa. She was about three months younger than me, and she was in my class at school. We grew up together. She was so pretty, and as we grew up it was her the guys all lusted after. But she always ignored them. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested in boys, she was. She just wasn’t comfortable around them. Even though she was very pretty, she was shy, and it took a while for her to be comfortable with anyone she didn’t know. Most of the guys weren’t interested in spending much time getting to know a girl. They wanted to make out, and if you didn’t, they didn’t stick around.”

“Sounds like most adolescent males.”

“True.” Alex began fidgeting in her seat. “When we were fourteen, there was another family that moved into a house on our street. Like always, my father went to welcome them to the neighborhood. But when he came home, he wasn’t smiling anymore. He was much quieter, for days after that. I asked him what was wrong, and he just shook his head, and said that people who didn’t remember the past would relive it. Then he’d hug me, and tell me to do my homework. Things were like that for almost a week, and then the kids from this new family showed up in school.

“They had moved to Chicago from Indiana. Their last name was Dibbles, and they had three children, all boys. The youngest was in our grade, and is name was Kevin. His brothers were Bob, who was a senior, and Jimmy, a sophomore. All three of them made it very clear that they hated black people.”

Teren was concentrating on the road. She glanced at Alex occasionally, but was content to let her tell the story at her pace. After all, Alex had listened to her tale of Perry’s death, and never interrupted. If this was the only way she could pay the FBI agent back, she was more than willing to do so.

“It wasn’t long before the Dibbles had divided the community. Those that had been willing to accept the Wilson’s found themselves at odds with those that hadn’t. The battle was waged in broken windows, graffiti, fights at school, and slashed tires. The Dibbles began a community group called Chicago Whites for Racial Purity. It was Klan, pure and simple.

“Everything came to a head one night when Lisa and I went to the movies together. It was just us and a couple of friends who met us there. I don’t remember what we saw, but I know it was the last time I ever went to that theatre.”

Teren was pulling off the highway into the city traffic. Instead of her normal speed, she slowed down, even allowing an occasional car to pass her. She wanted to hear the end of the tale.

“Kevin Dibbles and his brothers showed up. They took seats in the row behind us, and made snide comments all through the film. By the time we left, the other girls were embarrassed, and Lisa was in tears. I was furious. My father was supposed to pick us up, and I got Lisa to leave a few minutes early. I didn’t know the Dibbles would follow us, but they did.

“They found us by the curb outside. It was late, and most people hadn’t gotten out of the movies yet. Lisa was still crying, and I had my arms around her. The Dibbles surrounded us, and asked me what a white girl would want with a nigger like Lisa. I told them they were just jerks, and they should go screw themselves. I kept hoping my father would get there before anything happened. But he didn’t, and suddenly the Dibbles were trying to grab us.

“Kevin and Jimmy tried to pull me away from Lisa. I took a swing at them, and the fight was on. While I tried to keep them from ripping my head off, Bob pushed Lisa up against a wall, and was trying to pull down her underwear. I kicked Kevin in the balls and ran, trying to stop his brother from raping Lisa. He backhanded me into the wall, and I just kind of slid down it. That was when my dad showed up.”

Alex’s fidgeting was getting very pronounced, and Teren was fully aware of the emotion coming from her passenger. She was trying to concentrate on driving, but was finding it more and more difficult.

“Kevin was still lying in a heap. I’d gotten him really good, and I think he passed out at some point. My dad pulled the other boys off of Lisa and me, and told me to get to the car. I had to half-carry Lisa, but I got her over to the car, and into the back seat. I looked back to see if my father was coming. He wasn’t. Kevin’s father had joined the fray, and his sons were holding Dad while Mr. Dibbles punched him. I told Lisa to stay put, and I ran for a payphone.

“The police eventually got there, and all four of the Dibbles got taken to the station. My father went to the hospital. A policeman drove Lisa and me to my house. She called her parents, who came over right away. When they heard about my father, they began calling everyone they could think of, and by morning, there was a collection being taken up to pay for my dad’s hospital bills. My mom went to the hospital to be with him, and I stayed with Lisa and her family.

“I guess that was when the tide turned. The Dibbles had always known we were Jewish, but they’d never messed with us. After the fight, though, they included us in the same category as the Wilsons’s and added Jews to the list of people that their group felt were undesirables. But they had miscalculated. They had messed with someone that everyone in the neighborhood loved. Even the people who didn’t like the Wilson’s weren’t willing to accept what the Dibbles said about my father. It wasn’t long before the only members of Chicago Whites for Racial Purity were the Dibbles. Eventually, they quit, and moved out of the neighborhood.”

They had entered the DuPont area, and Alex finally noticed that she was almost home.

“Anyway, I think that was the reason I chose to study hate groups, and that led me to wanting to work with the FBI. I did a lot of research on hate groups around the country, but I decided I really wanted to be a field agent, and here I am. They paired me with David, and life hasn’t been the same since.”

“What happened to the Wilsons?”

“They still live down the street from Mom. Mrs. Wilson served as President of the PTA when I was a senior. Mr. Wilson is a retired postal worker.”