Long Shot

Iris DuPree remembers her experience of Hurricane Katrina. The storm ripped through New Orleans, forcing citizens to leave their homes. Iris’s family escaped, but many others didn’t survive. She feels like she’s in a similar storm now—one that she can’t escape and fears she won’t survive.

August West prepares for his basketball game. The National Championship is on his late father Perry West’s birthday. His mentor, Coach Kirby, calls. He was August’s high school basketball coach. Perry apologizes that he’s going to miss August’s game—his wife is in the hospital. He reminds August to stay strong and remain focused. August is disappointed that Coach Kirby won’t be in attendance, as his stepfather, Matt, and mother, Susan, haven’t arrived yet, and his stepbrother can’t make it.

August goes to a local bar. He sees an attractive woman watching the Lakers game. He joins her, offering to buy her a drink. The two start chatting. They open up about their experiences with being Black in America and how often they’ve felt like outsiders. August reveals that his father died and that his white mother remarried a white man shortly thereafter. He’s close with his stepfather and stepbrother but has never fit into the family.