Not that it directly applies to your problem, but variables containing colors
should be defined _UNSIGNED LONG.
Yes that's a ~& suffix and the ~ is found (on USA Keyboard) in top left row, shifted char next to 1! key.
white~& = &HFFFFFFFF
red~& = &HFFFF0000
black~& = &HFF000000 ' the first 2 F's are for transparency FF = none so that's solid Black