Chapter 24

"Hey Ivy, did you hear the news?" Maya asked me at breakfast on Wednesday. 

"What news?" I mumbled as I took another bite of my cereal. Knowing Maya, she would probably say some piece of news that nobody except for her cared about. Maybe My Chemical Whatever had gotten back together. No, she would be way more excited if that was the case.

"They finally decided who that new judge is going to be," Maya said.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Samantha!" Maya exclaimed.

"Really?" I said. "That's great. She must be so happy about that."

"I'm sure she is," Maya said. "I'm going to go comment on her blog to congratulate her...you know, after I update Forbidden Love. That's clearly more important."

"You really need to sort out your priorities," I said.

"Are you talking about the new judge?" Grandma asked as she entered the room.

"Yes," I said.

"I can't believe that the Celestial Bureaucracy picked her of all people," Grandma said. "She's nineteen! What were they thinking?"

"Samantha's perfectly competent," I said. "Both Maya and I met her in the waiting room. She knows what she's doing."

"Most of the judges have years of experience in law or criminal justice," Grandma argued. "That girl was in college for less than a year, and now they're letting her decide who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell. I don't care if they needed more liberals on the judging panel - they should have gotten someone with more experience."

"Grandma, Samantha will be fine," I said.

"If she puts Joe Trohman in Heaven instead of Hell, then she's already better than the people in the Youngblood Chronicles," Maya stated.

"Who's Joe Troham?" I asked. Maya started laughing hysterically, and I gave her a confused look. "What? That's his name, right?"

"Joe would be hot with ham for hands," Maya said before she roared with laughter again.

"I don't understand you," I said. I left the table, finished getting ready for work, and went out the door. Today was the day of the interview, and I was excited and nervous at the same time. Most of all, I desperately wanted to prove myself to Rosie.

I arrived at the Cedar Creek Celestial Post's office, and I found Rosie waiting for me in the lobby. "Hello Ivy," she said. "Are you ready for the big interview?"

"I sure am," I said. "Where are we going for it?"

"Well, the only time when Miss Murphy and Miss Harris are both free is after lunch, so they're coming into one of our conference rooms," Rosie explained. "It will be a fun first assignment for you, I'm sure."

"What are we doing before then?" I asked.

"I still have to prepare questions, so you can help me with that," Rosie said. I followed her into her cubicle, and I helped her come up with questions about the Black Afterlives Matter movement, as well as the rally and all of the related movements that she was also covering. At about eleven o'clock, Rosie and I left to meet our two interviewees.

Rosie found the two of them very quickly. They were sitting next to the window, talking to each other. I recognized one of them immediately. "SAMANTHA!" I shouted, giving her a hug.

"Ivy! It's so good to see you!" she said.

"Congratulations," I said. "I heard that the Council made you a judge."

"Thanks Ivy," Samantha said, smiling. "I still can't believe that they chose me."

"Why didn't you contact me when you got in to Heaven?" I asked.

"I was going to, but I forgot," Samantha said.

"I'm glad to see that you two know each other, but can we get the interview started?" Rosie asked.

"Sure," Samantha said.

"Ivy, set up the tripod," Rosie instructed, and I did so. "Just take a few pictures of Samantha and Azalea as we're talking." She turned to Samantha and the other girl, who I presumed was Azalea, and said, "I'd like to start off by saying that it's so nice to have the two of you here today. I'm Rosie Jennings, and the girl over there is Ivy Livingston. She's my assistant. My first question is: why inspired you to be involved in Black Afterlives Matter?"

Azalea answered first. "I've always thought that equality was important, and I also believe in helping others. I was truly disappointed to see that racism still exists in Heaven, and I wanted to fix that." I took a picture of her as she spoke, and was pleased to see that it had managed to capture her frizzy hair, deep eyes, smooth, and dark brown skin just perfectly.

"What about you, Samantha?" Rosie asked.

"Even in life, I was a bit of a social justice warrior, so it makes sense that I would be one in the afterlife, right?" Samantha said. "Seriously, a lot of the same social issues that were there in life still exist here, and I want to be a part of the movement that's combatting that."

"Non-violently, of course," Azalea added.

"Of course," Samantha said.

"Azalea, I know that one of the judges was trying to send you to Hell. How did you feel about that? Did that contribute to your decision to join the Black Afterlives Matter movement?"

"It was just an inconvenience, really," Azalea said. "Of course, I was disappointed to see that racism still existed in the afterlife, but all it did was make my wait to get into Heaven longer. I'm glad that Samantha replaced that judge though."

"Speaking of that, Samantha, congratulations on being named as a judge," Rosie said.

"Thank you," Samantha said.

"What changes are you going to implement now that you have some control over who gets into Heaven and Hell?" Rosie asked.

"I want to take additional factors into account when deciding where a person should go," Samantha said. "For example, I want to look at how prejudiced a person is before we make a verdict. This should curtail the amount of racists, misogynists, and homophobes that end up in Heaven."

"What are your goals within the Black Afterlives Matter movement, and how do you plan to achieve them?" Rosie asked.

"Our biggest goal is racial equality," Azalea said. "We want all races to be treated equally, and we're trying to make sure that everyone gets a fair chance at getting into Heaven and being able to fully appreciate it when they're there. A lot of racial issues that were present in life, like police brutality, aren't as prevalent in the afterlife, since their perpetrators were sent to Hell, but we still have to resist against more subtle forms of racism. As a whole, we're also fighting against other forms of prejudice as well."

"Getting the word out is a big step towards achieving our goals," Samantha added. "This interview is helping us a lot. We also have a rally on Saturday in Washington DC."

"Why is it in Washington DC?" Rosie asked.

"One of the largest Celestial Bureaucracy offices is there," Samantha explained. "It's one of the few places where we might be able to find someone with enough power to implement some of the changes that we want to make."

"I suppose that makes sense," Rosie said. Rosie continued to ask Samantha and Azalea questions, and I continued to take pictures of them. When Rosie finally finished, she said, "Well, those are all of the questions I had. Thanks for coming!"

"Thank you for interviewing us," Samantha said. "It was a pleasure."

"Yeah, thank you so much," Azalea said.

The two of them left, and Rosie started flipping through my pictures. "Wow, these are really nice," Rosie said. "Good job, Ivy."

"Thanks Rosie," I said, smiling. "Does this mean that I can go to the rally?"

"Yes, Ivy," Rosie said. "You can come with me to Washington DC."

"Awesome!" I exclaimed. I hugged Rosie and said, "Thank you so much. I'm so excited!"

"You're welcome," Rosie said. She looked at the clock and said, "It's five o'clock already? Wow. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. You can head home Ivy. Have a nice day."

"Thanks, you too!" I shouted as I ran out the door.

On my way home, I ran into Maya. I was surprised to see her, but I didn't pay much attention to her until she exclaimed, "Ivy! I've been looking for you!"

"Why? Did you need me for something?" I asked.

"Yes! We're going to a hockey game!"