by Frank Perdue
Later, as they were driving west on University, Ted had a thought. “I’ll bet the trestle Jake and his friend Sara were stranded on when the streetcar came is near Balboa Park. There are a lot of canyons there.” Of course, the streetcars had been replaced by busses years ago.
He parked the Ford overlooking one of those crevasses. “It could have been right out there.” Then, thoughtfully, he said, “There’s one thing that’s been bothering me.”
“What’s that?” Joanna turned toward him.
“When I was very small I was told that my dark skin came from my French background. I believed it all those years. But now I know that I’m not French. So why do I tan so much more than most people?”
Joanna looked fearful. “Jake was dark like you, too.”
“So what nationality am I?”
Joanna held out her sleeveless arm. “I’m darker that you. But I’m not as black as many people of African heritage. My grandmother on my momma’s side was Chinese.”
So that’s where your gorgeous eyes came from. I wondered about that.”
She ignored him. “Bessie was part Iroquois from her mother’s grandmother, who supposedly married an Indian chief.” Joanna continued. “Her mother’s husband was a Negro.”
Ted didn’t flinch. “So I’m Black?”
“By the white man’s standards, yes. In actuality, your great-grandfather, who was born into slavery, was only half colored. His mother was a slave, but his father was a plantation owner from Virginia. Your great-grandfather escaped to Vermont along the Underground Railway near the end of the Civil War.”
“Jake told you all this?”
“Yes, and his mother told him.”
Ted did some figuring in his head. “So that makes me one-sixteenth Black, and” he smiled, “Maybe the last of the Mohicans.”
Joanna had a concerned look on her face. “Seriously, what I’ve told you has changed just about everything you believed about yourself, and who you really are. How do you feel about it?”
“Okay. Really, I’m all right with it. But I feel guilty.”
“Why?” she exclaimed.
“Because these people, my people, have been suppressed for over three hundred years by the whites. And even after Lincoln set them free from slavery, they were always made to feel like second-class citizens. It was ten times as hard to find a job, and a roof over their heads. Education was restricted, or held back completely. Still the Race survived, and leaders gradually emerged. Now they are forging political majorities, and are on the verge of winning true equality. I feel guilty because I didn’t pay the price. I grew up white. Not with white prejudices, but white just the same. Does that make any sense to you?”
“Yes.” Joanna took his hand. “But you shouldn’t feel guilty. You didn’t know.”
“What was his name, my great-grandfather?”
“Jacob Gentry. Your brother was his namesake.”
“Do you know where his grave is? I want to see it.”
She was thinking. “As a matter of fact I do. It’s a little town near the New York line. It’s called West Perris, and it’s in Vermont. I’m not sure where the cemetery is. I’ve never been there. Neither was Jake. He talked about it, but that’s as far as it went.”
“Have you ever seen the zoo here?” Ted changed the subject quickly. Joanna was beginning to get that depressed, corners of her mouth turned down, look again.
She was back. “No. It sounds like fun.”
“Yeah. It’s only a few blocks from here.” Ted said, pointing to the west.
Once inside the giant preserve, Joanna was like a little child, scurrying rapidly between exhibits, and acting as if she wanted to hug each of the animals. A look of wonder and excitement had returned to her face. Ted was glad they came. She made it fun for him too. For lunch they had hot dogs, and cotton candy. They threw peanuts to the monkeys.
It was dusk when they emerged, a little weary, and made their way back to the car in the huge parking lot.
“That was a lot of walking.” Ted was still breathing hard as he opened the door for her.
“Yes. Wasn’t it wonderful?” She was aglow. “So what’s next on your agenda for this glorious day?”
“I thought I’d give you a tour of the city.”
Joanna leaned back in her car seat, stretched her arms high above her head, as if to get the kinks out, and answered, “That would be wonderful.” As she put her arms down her left hand just happened to fall on his shoulder. “Thank you for giving me the zoo. I’ll cherish this day forever.”
“I enjoyed it too,” Ted answered. He wanted to say more, but decided to wait. He drove down Interstate Five almost to the Mexican border. Then he turned back west along the Silver Strand; a narrow peninsula stretching for about five miles and ending in Coronado. From there he dropped back into the city via the Coronado bridge.
“The downtown lights are beautiful from here,” Joanna observed from the huge twisting span.
Next they headed out to the beach, using Harbor drive. They crossed over the hill at Point Loma to the east end of Ocean Bay, then north into Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. Ted pointed out a few landmarks along the way. When he took her up a hill instead of remaining on the main arterial, Joanna asked playfully, “Are we going to park?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Ted answered with a grin. “Maybe later.” Two could play that game.
“Then where are you taking me?”
They had reached a plateau, and started down a winding road. The street was lined with expensive homes. Ted didn’t answer right away. He was negotiating a particularly sharp curve in the roadway. “It’s called Magnetic Hill.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
“And that will be when? Tuesday?”
“Sorry it’s taking so long. Are you tired?” Ted worried that he had made a mistake bringing her so far.
“No. It’s just that I was going to talk you into taking me dancing.”
“That sounds good.” He stopped the car in the middle of the street and turned off the engine.
“What are you doing?” She asked, bewildered.
“I want to show you a little magic. “We’re pointed uphill right?”
“Yes, but what’s that got to do with anything?”
He turned off the engine and took his foot off the brake pedal. The big car began moving slowly up the hill. It wasn’t much of an incline, but Joanna agreed that the car should be coasting the other way.
“That’s amazing. How does it work?”
“No big secret, really. It’s just an optical illusion. It’s actually downhill. It just looks the other way around because of the surroundings.” There were steeper climbs on that particular street on either end approaching the smaller looking hill.
“That’s certainly different,” again Joanna was toying with him. Did you have many second dates after bringing girls out here?”
He laughed. “Maybe that was my problem. Do you like Western?”
“Did we change the subject?” She smiled warmly in his direction. “Western dancing is my favorite kind. How did you know?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
It was as if they were completely in tune; each thinking the same thing. But Ted wasn’t sure if she wanted the same thing. Her touch on his shoulder was, to say the least, very provocative to his way of thinking. To her it might have been just a natural place for her hand to fall. They had become friends. Maybe it was a friendly touch. Watch it, he thought.
“As a matter of fact I didn’t know that you like Country, or Western. It’s my favorite. I guess it’s because I can dance to it. That Rock and Roll music tears me up. If I can’t hold my partner, why bother?” It wasn’t really a question .
He stopped the car at a department store. “I’ve got to get some appropriate duds for the occasion. I’ll be right back.”
Before she could protest, he was gone. She looked at her wrist-watch.
; He was gone about ten minutes. She kept her eyes riveted on the door of the building. It was easily visible from where Ted had parked. When he finally emerged, he looked different. When he had entered the store he’d had on gray wool slacks and a solid blue sport-shirt. The man who was approaching now wore blue jeans and a black and red plaid short-sleeved shirt. He was carrying a white shopping bag.
Did they burn your other clothes, or are they in the bag? she asked wryly. She was deadpan. “I think you’re crazy. Those were perfectly good clothes you were wearing.”
“Perfectly good, but not country,” he retorted. “You’re garb is fine for where we’re going,” She was wearing beige slacks with a dark brown top, “but I didn’t want to embarrass you.” He meant it.
She couldn’t be mad at him. “Okay, you win.” she conceded, and added “Where are we going, cowboy?”
“Well ma’am, it’s out in farm country to the east. A little town named El Capitan.”
The drive took about a half hour from where Ted had stopped to shop. Judging from the large parking lot, which was nearly full up, it appeared the place was packed.
They walked under a giant sign that proclaimed in bright lights ‘CONQUISTADORES’. They found a table, with a little help from a friendly waitress in a cowboy hat and boots. The hat was small, not the ten gallon size. The boots were large, however. Soon he had a mug of beer in his hand, and she was sipping a glass of white wine. The music was loud and twangy, the nearby dance floor full.
“We can get food here too.” Ted volunteered, remembering that they hadn’t eaten since leaving the zoo.
Joanna was tapping her foot to the music. “Maybe later.” she answered. “I’m not really hungry yet, are you?” He nodded agreeably.
Ted waited until the band calmed down some, and then asked Joanna to dance. She took his hand and, together, they made their way to the dance floor, a square of hardwood the size of about four hotel rooms put together. By the time they arrived, the floor was crammed with moving bodies. They managed to push onto the corner nearest their table. They stayed right there, swaying more than dancing, lest they be trampled.
Ted pulled Joanna close. She came easily, molding her slim frame to him. To his surprise he didn’t step on her. She was a very good dancer. Live music tends to be much longer than records or tapes. With the wrong partner it can be very tedious. That wasn’t the case with Joanna and Ted. The piece ended too soon.
There comes a time in an embrace when a kiss becomes a natural next step. They both felt the impulse, but the environment kept them in check. Instead, they walked slowly back to their table. His right arm was around her waist and her left hand was holding his.
The table next to theirs was now occupied by three men. There’d been two couples there earlier. As Ted and Joanna passed, one of the men said, in an approving, loud, voice “Man, look at that dark meat. Whoooeee”! They both heard the comment, and chose to ignore it. But Ted had to fight to control his temper.
They were just barely seated, when the one who had made the declaration, a big man with a receding hairline and a bulging belly that was visible even under his loose hanging red shirt, came over and stood next to Joanna on Ted’s side of their table. In a slurred, obviously drunken, voice he announced loudly, “Hey babe, how about a dance?”
Maybe he was playing to the white crowd, or else he was just plain stupid, but when she said politely “No thank you” in a very restrained, controlled voice, he lost it.
“What’s the matter you nigger whore, ain’t I good enough for you?”
He barely had the words out of his mouth before Ted jumped up. He caught the larger man flush on the jaw with a left uppercut that had his whole body behind it. The big man’s hands dropped to his side and his eyes began to glaze over. Before he could fall, Ted swung again with his left fist. This one too caught the now helpless man just below his mouth. He was going down when the third devastating blow missed its mark and broke his nose. Blood spurted out onto Ted, and the table.
It was over quickly. The two men at the other table made no move to interfere. It was as if they approved of what had just happened.
Ted took Joanna’s hand. “We’d better leave,” he said softly. As she rose, the waitress who had seated them came over, and looked down at the unmoving body on the floor.
“I’m sorry this happened,” Ted told her, “but he said some things that deserved a response.”
“Now don’t you fret about it hon,” the woman said. “Jack here has been asking for this for a long time. I’ll throw some water on him after you two are out of here.”
As they walked to their car, Ted noticed that his left hand was shaking. And yet he felt strangely exhilarated, almost giddy. He opened the door for Joanna, who hadn’t said a word. He began to wonder if she thought he had acted badly. But when he too was inside the vehicle, she quickly slid over to him, put her arms around his neck, and pulled him down to her. The kiss that followed was long, and said volumes. When the embrace finally ended, and she moved away slightly, she spoke for the first time.
“I’m sorry that big oaf ruined our night.”
“It doesn’t seem ruined to me.” Ted answered. Suddenly he felt pain in his hand. His adrenalin rush must have hidden it until then.
When he winced slightly and looked down at it, Joanna said “Let me look at that.” She reached across his body and grasped his forearm. “Does your arm hurt here where I’m touching it?” she asked in a soft sympathetic voice.
“No.” was all he said.
She picked up Ted’s arm and saw that there was dried blood on his middle knuckles. “I’ll clean that up when we get back to our rooms.” she said, and added, “Thank you for what you did in there. It was very gallant.”
“Owen Warner would have been proud. He spent quite a lot of time trying to teach me to fight. But I’ve never done anything like that before in my life. It felt good.”
Once back at the hotel Joanna seemed to delight in playing doctor. She cleaned his hand, and inspected for broken bones by prodding gently. He winced slightly, but they both decided the knuckles were just bruised.
She turned on the small radio on her nightstand by the bed, and searched for a country music station. Finding one rather quickly, she looked at Ted, who had taken a seat at the table by the window. “I didn’t get enough of the dancing you promised me. Now you owe me.” She opened her arms, beckoning him.
The Western ballad was ending, as he took her in his arms. The next piece was too fast to dance to, so they just stood in the middle of the carpeted room, waiting. She had kicked off her low-heeled pumps, so he could peer over her head. He chose instead to look down into her eyes. She tilted her lovely face up to him, and the only choice available to him was to kiss her, which he wanted to do anyway. Their lips met, softly at first.
Ted felt weak. He had become hard with desire, and that longing seemed to force the blood in his body to pump much faster than ever before. He was light-headed, but not light-hearted. He felt love for Joanna. He wanted to be tender, and not to service his desire above her needs. He began to kiss other parts of her face; the tip of her nose, her forehead, her cheeks one at a time. His lips moved to her ear, and his tongue traced each curve of that lobe before moving back to her full lips. She had been moaning approvingly, but stopped as his kisses returned to her mouth; which was now open to accept more of him.
For the first time since she had lost consciousness at the scene of that terrible accident, she felt secure, and loved. Her body too was weak with desire for this gentle man who would become her lover.
They both moved to the bed at the same time., not letting go of one another. They no longer heard the music, which was wafting out over the room, softer now, at a much slower tempo.
Ted’s lips moved to her shoulders as he lay beside her, then lower. He unbuttoned her blouse, kissing the swelling mound of her right breast that burst from the top of the slim white bra she was wearing.
Again she moaned. It
wasn’t that she felt pleasure from his exploring kisses. Her joy came instead from the passion of the moment, and the expectation that it would continue. But that changed after he loosened the garment and both her small, perfectly formed, breasts sprung free. Now she had a warm feeling that somehow extended down her spine and into the area between her legs, which involuntarily spread slightly when he kissed and sucked lightly on her now hardened and swollen nipple.
As she strained to move closer to him, she cried out, “Oh Jake, I love you so much!”
Suddenly her lover pulled away. The realization of what had just happened came to her, and she began to cry, softly.
Ted spoke quietly. “It’s all right kid. It’s not your fault.” He needed to distance himself from her, so he moved from the bed to the chair where he had been seated earlier, before they had danced. “You see, I let my guard down. It’s something I haven’t done in a long time. I walked right into it. I was anxious and willing to have my heart ripped out. I was primed for it. You can’t hurt someone who doesn’t care. And I cared too much.” He thought for a moment , before continuing. Joanna’s head was in her hands, and she had turned away from him. He could not hear her crying.
“I took advantage of you. I needed information. You could supply it. You were the only one who knew the truth. I used you. And then I fell in love. That’s my only excuse.” Had she looked at him she would have seen the sadness and defeat in his watery eyes.
“You saw your future end that day on the highway. Then you thought I gave it back to you; because I looked like Jake. But he’s gone. What I had to offer was a weaker version of the man you loved.” Now he was feeling sorry for himself. He had to get off that kick.
“You’re still a victim. Only time will heal that. In a way we’re both suffering still. We lost Jake. Only he was really taken from me thirty-five years ago.”
Suddenly there was nothing left for him to say. And Joanna wasn’t talking at all. He crossed the room to the connecting door. He looked back at her. She was clutching her pillow, her body curled tightly. Her eyes were clenched shut, but he didn’t see. She opened them as the door closed behind him.