Willie & The Fire In Beulah

I recently read Rilla Askew's wonderful historical novel "Fire In Beulah" which recounts a tragic event in the history of my home state (if not the nation... if not the world... if not the...), the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. A very creative work that captures that oil boom opulence period distinctly and you really wind up caring about the characters, both black and white.

A minor character in her story is a young black boy named Willie. He was about ten at the time of the riot so that would put him in his mid sixties during the 1970s. I have an idea to write a short story about Willie as an old man living in Enid during the mid 70s, a story concerning his surviving the event and the emotional scars that he carried the rest of his life.