The Outsider

by K'Anne Meinel

  “Hello?” she heard the old lady’s tremulous voice and smiled in remembrance.

  “Hello. I’m Joy Parker. I know you probably do not remember me, but I escorted you home a long time ago,” she called through the door. “You’re T-Ray’s grandmother, right?”

  “Yes?” the raspy old voice came through the door. She opened it and looked at the blonde standing on her doorstep suspiciously. At the mention of T-Ray, she relaxed a little, but not too much. She was not used to well-dressed, young, white women on her doorstep and she peered near-sighted at the vision before her, trying to remember who she said she was. She vaguely remembered a woman helping her get home long ago, but not this woman.

  Once the door was open and she could see who she was addressing, Joy smiled to help relax her features and show she meant no harm to the older woman. “I know it’s been some years and I dress differently, but I used to work around here and I wanted to talk if you could give me some of your time?”

  “I ain’t buying nothin’,” she asserted firmly.

  “Of course not, ma’am,” she answered with a grin, “and I’m not selling nothin’.” She smiled again at the humor of it all. “I’m actually here to ask for your and T-Ray’s help in a project I have going.”

  “A project?” she asked, her interest piqued.

  “Yes, I’m starting a project in that old center that was previously used for the community, as well as those old houses around it.”

  “That place is going to fall down in the wind,” she stated. Joy agreed with her.

  “That’s why I’m tearing it down and putting up a new kind of center. It will be a combination community center and rehabilitation center for those who want to get back to work,” she explained. She outlined a few of the simpler things she was doing at the first site, but emphasized the senior outreach part of it.

  “What are you doin’ here?” a voice asked harshly from behind Joy. She whirled in surprise, nearly falling off her heals.

  “Oh, T-Ray,” she gasped, her hand going to her chest in shock. “I came to visit with you and your grandmother. I was just outlining…” she began, but he interrupted her.

  “We don’ want nuttin’ you’re sellin’!”

  “T-Ray!” his grandmother gasped. “You apologize to this nice, young lady! She came here to ask our help in the community as she builds us all a new place to go,” she began indignantly and Joy watched a transformation come over the gangbanger. He immediately hung his head. “I, for one, want to see something come of the old neighborhood and she was askin’ our help! You remember this nice gal? She helped me that one time,” she added, as though she actually remembered.

  “I was hoping with your grandmother’s and your endorsement, the site would be okay and that perhaps some suggestions from the community would help us make it a place that everyone wanted to go, especially the seniors and the kids. The kids won’t need to stand around on corners,” she said meaningfully and saw his head come up again in defiance.

  “T-Ray, I don’ hear no apology comin’ from your lips?” his grandmother nearly shouted, and the man almost physically jumped to do her bidding.

  “I’m sorry. I thought you were botherin’ my grandma,” he said politely.

  “No, not at all. I was hoping to drive her by the site so she could tell me more about the old neighborhood and what she saw in it, way back when,” she told him sincerely. “I would like to see old neighborhoods like this come alive again with pride, rather than being tagged with paint.”

  “You see, T-Ray? There are young people who care,” his grandmother said triumphantly. “I’ll just go get my shawl and purse and you can take me out,” she told Joy as she closed the door and turned around.

  “You know my g-ma isn’t all there now, dontcha?” T-Ray said quietly in a menacing voice to Joy as he tapped on his head for emphasis.

  Joy nodded, not in the least intimidated by the gangbanger. “Yes, and part of that is a lack of something to do. I hope with the community center and her friends’ involvement, that will improve. If you keep an elder’s mind active, the rest will follow. I hope I have your and your friends’ endorsement and that my site remains safe,” she added meaningfully.

  Suddenly T-Ray grinned, showing off a cap in silver. “You got nerve, woman,” he said admirably. “Don’ think I don’ know what you are doin’. G-ma likes you, so I gonna trust you to take care of her. And don’ make promises you ain’t gonna keep.” He managed to make it sound like a threat and promise all in one.

  Joy smiled in return. “I do not have a grandmother, so you are fortunate. I will treat her as though she were my own,” she promised.

  “I don’ forget my debts,” he reminded her. “You live up to yer promises and I’ll live up to mine. No one will touch your center.”

  “We are also adding a village to it. Anyone who wants to work on the site will have first right at the houses offered there in addition to learning necessary skills. That way, it is part of this community,” she explained a little of what she had done across town at the other site and he actually listened as they waited for his grandmother. Once she arrived, Joy took her out, holding her arm carefully as she placed her in the car and waved to T-Ray as he watched them drive away.

  “And over there, I had my first kiss,” she said as Joy drove her around the neighborhoods and eventually to the site. “Mr. MacGregor used to have a candy store over there,” she reminisced. “You gonna have a candy store?”

  “You think I should have a candy store?” Joy asked, interested in the old woman’s views and genuinely enjoying herself.

  “Well, them kids would be standing ‘round there instead of doing them damn video games,” she complained as she thought about the question. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea or not.”

  “What do you think we should have in the senior part of the center?” Joy asked as she drove past the construction site.

  The little old lady had a long list of ideas including bingo, card games, and other things she enjoyed. “You know, some of them people could use some teachers. They don’t knit; they never learned how,” she added as she enjoyed informing Joy what she would like at the center. “We also don’ have no place to swim,” she added out of the blue as they went around the corner of the site.

  Joy enjoyed the conversation. It gave her many ideas of what she would like to contribute.

  “It won’ cost us nothing?” the woman worried.

  “No, ma’am. I’m donating the entire center and there’ll be places for people like I used to be, living off the streets. They will have places to live and get off the drugs and booze, and pull themselves up. They can have jobs too,” she added.

  “You just drop me off down the street at Emma’s. I want to tell her about it. If Emma don’ know everyone, I don’ know who does,” she confided as they headed back.

  “Can I treat you to an ice cream first?” Joy offered, seeing a fast food restaurant with a drive-thru.

  “Oh, aren’t you sweet! I’d love an ice cream!” she enthused.

  “You aren’t lactose intolerant or anything, are you?” Joy worried. T-Ray would kill her if she harmed his G-ma.

  “Nope,” she said pridefully. “I don’ got none of dem afflictions.”

  Joy and she both enjoyed an ice cream cone as she drove slowly back towards her neighborhood. She pointed out Emma’s house, three doors down from her own, and Joy got out to escort her personally to the door.

  “Emma? Emma!” she called as they came up the last of the walk. “You come out here, girl and meet this young lady!” she shouted. As they came to the door another little old lady, probably older than the one on Joy’s arm, opened the door.

  “What are you shoutin’ about?” she asked with a slight lisp, all her teeth gone.

  “I want you to meet Joy Parker. She gonna build us a senior center,” she enthused.

  Emma invited them both into her parlor and Joy repeated everything she had told T-Ray and his grandmother.
With help from G-Ma, as she had told Joy to call her, they soon had Emma convinced.

  “I’m going to leave my business card here for you to reach me,” Joy told them both as she handed them each an embossed card.

  “My, ain’t that fine,” G-Ma enthused as her thumb rubbed over the raised print.

  “I want you to know the center might not be done in time for winter, but we are going to try,” she promised.

  “And a swimming pool? Not too big, but one for seniors?” G-Ma reminded her worriedly.

  “I will see what the contractors say,” Joy promised as she took her leave and the two older women began to gossip excitedly about the idea. She was not even sure they were aware she was leaving, but T-Ray was as he came up.

  “You leave my grandmother at Emma’s?” he flicked a thumb back at the house she had just left.

  “Yes, she wanted to have a good conversation with her friend.”

  “You know you started something. You better not let her down,” he threatened.

  Joy was not intimidated. She knew some of it was a bluff. Not that he wouldn’t hurt her if he could, but with G-Ma on her side, she knew she did not need to worry. “I gave her my card,” she pulled out another. “If you need to reach me, here’s the number. After talking to your grandmother, I think we need to alter some of the plans.”

  “She’ll have you hoppin’,” he promised with a grin as he fingered the card, not much different than how his grandmother had felt the raised print.

  “I’m looking forward to it,” she said as she moved around him to her car. He watched her thoughtfully as she drove away. He was a little suspicious, but as long as G was happy, he would be. He went to spread the word about her site…no touchin’ or they’d have to answer to him.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Joy thought about G-Ma as well as other elderly persons in the communities where they would be building these sites. There were a lot of street people who were elderly and that always had broken her heart. Many of them had Alzheimer’s, dementia, and a host of other maladies. She hoped they could make a difference. As she thought of those with Alzheimer’s and dementia, she thought of Robyn’s mother, Julia. It was just such a shame that people were literally losing their minds. She wanted to help, but was not quite sure how…yet.

  That night, she dressed carefully for her date with Robyn. She was not wearing anything too expensive, but even her ‘dressed down’ look was miles above the normal jeans and t-shirt that was considered casual. She couldn’t find it in her to wear a t-shirt, they were too thin and the material they were frequently made from made her skin crawl. Still, she looked nice as she waited down in front of her building for Robyn to pick her up. She would have gone to pick her up, but it was Robyn’s invite and she did not wish to take that from her. Despite the disparity in their situations, she wouldn’t take Robyn’s pride away. She wondered if that would always be a factor with them.

  Seeing the Nissan belching a little smoke, she smiled at the driver and got in as soon as she stopped at the curb. “Hello there,” she greeted Robyn, genuinely happy to see her. She leaned over and Robyn met her in the middle, a kiss they both enjoyed. “So, where are we going?” she asked as she put on her seat belt, which took a bit of tugging as the contraption did not want to oblige her pulling on it.

  “Hang on. When I take my foot off the brake, it should work,” Robyn said, seeing Joy tugging. Sure enough, as soon as she accelerated out into traffic, the device released the excess and allowed Joy to strap herself in. “I thought we’d just go to one of the restaurants along the RiverWalk, if that’s okay with you?”

  “Sounds great,” Joy enthused. “After living down here, I do not get over to the RiverWalk often enough,” she confided. The RiverWalk had been the city’s attempt to rehabilitate its downtown. Restaurants and bars had sprung up, and people enjoyed the atmosphere along the river. It was a nice, safe place to enjoy food, drink, and the river. It reminded her of the Riverwalk in San Antonio and she wondered if someone had copied their idea.

  As they sat at their table in The Pub—a not too impressive name, but the food and drinks looked good—they discussed their days. Robyn was already interviewing for positions in her department and she found it fascinating as Joy explained how she had enlisted two of the little, old ladies in the neighborhood of Site Two.

  “That’s a great idea,” she said when she heard Joy’s ideas and the input from the ladies. “I wish there was something like that for my mom.” She was echoing Joy’s thoughts almost exactly.

  “Why don’t you bring her to work and give her a job?” Joy suggested.

  “Can I do that?” she asked, surprised. She hadn’t thought of anything like that and it sure would help with the babysitting problem she was now facing. “You know she has early-onset…” she began, but Joy put up her hand.

  “If you think she can handle it, then give her something to do. Keep her mind active. That’s what I’ve read and what everyone says.”

  “I just lost my daily babysitter and you don’t know how this will help me out,” Robyn told her, obviously relieved.

  “I thought Callie took care of her for you?” she frowned.

  “Yeah, but she got a job in I.T. and won’t be able to do it as much,” she informed her.

  “That’s great that she got a job,” she said supportively, but something still niggled in the back of her mind as she gazed at the brunette.

  “Yes, it is, and if she doesn’t work too many hours she shouldn’t lose her disability,” she mentioned before changing the subject back to her mother and what they could find for her to do at The Town. They chatted all through their delicious dinner and each had a couple of drinks before they walked hand in hand along the river and returned to Robyn’s car.

  “This used to be my mom’s car,” she confided as it took three tries, despite the new battery, to bring it to life.

  “It’s time to get another,” Joy said before she thought.

  “When I can afford it,” Robyn said ruefully, almost defensively.

  “How would you feel if I bought you a car?” she hesitantly asked, not sure how else to approach it.

  “I can’t let you do that. You are my boss after all. What would the other department heads think?”

  “Could I do it as your girlfriend?” Joy asked playfully, hoping she had not hurt her feelings.

  “Nope, you can’t buy me,” she sounded a little hurt.

  “Can I rent you at least?” she tried again to inject some humor and was relieved to see Robyn crack a little smile.

  “You can borrow me, from time to time,” she acceded gracefully and reached out to caress Joy’s arm.

  As they pulled up in front of Joy’s building, she let out an exasperated ejaculation, “Goddamn!”

  “What?” Robyn looked around and saw a couple of reporters lingering near the entrance. “Why don’t we go to my place?” she asked.

  “Do you mind if I hang out there a couple of hours?”

  “I was hoping we’d be able to…” she started, blushed, and then added belatedly, “you know?”

  “We can’t do that at your place?” Joy asked, thrilled that Robyn wanted her as much as she wanted her. The little signs of affection, the hand holding, the caresses, all of it thrilled her since she had never had that before.

  “Well, maybe if we are quiet,” she agreed as she continued driving past Joy’s place and headed across town to her own.

  “Do I have to?” she teased.

  “Do you have to what?” Robyn asked, confused as she negotiated the traffic downtown and tried to get on the freeway, which would be quicker.

  “Do I have to be quiet?”

  Robyn blushed as she laughed. They shared lively banter as they headed to her apartment, pulling up in front and parking. “Before we go in,” Robyn said and pulled Joy into an embrace to kiss her. The windows were fogged up before they stopped. “Now, that’s better,” she said as she saw Joy was definitely mussed up and
smiling dreamily.

  Bang, bang, bang! The noise made them both jump as someone knocked on the car roof, hard. “Hey, you two coming inside?” Callie’s voice complained.

  “Coming,” they both answered, laughing as they got out of the old Nissan.

  “Geez, the way you two were going at it in there, I thought I was going to have to get a hose,” Callie complained.

  They laughed as the three of them headed to the front door and went in.

  “Here’s my girls,” Julia announced when she saw then come in together.

  “Hi, Julia. How are you?” Joy said politely and then regretted it when Julia told her about everything, including her latest bowel movement.

  “Mom, we don’t talk about that,” Robyn said exasperatedly. “How about I get you ready for bed?”

  “I better be going,” Callie announced, and they waved her off.

  Joy sat in the living room wondering at the lives of other people. Her own was not the best and she was thrilled to have someone in it. She would have liked to ask Robyn to come live with her and make it better, but she did not think she would leave her mother, and Joy did not know if she could handle having someone with Julia’s needs living with her. She also did not want to take her from what made her comfortable. It was obvious she enjoyed living in her past as she looked around at the plastic-covered couches and chairs.

  “There we go,” Robyn said as she returned a while later. “Everything okay?” she asked, wondering if Joy was bored sitting in the living room. There was no television on and she was just sitting.

  “I’m fine,” she said, trying to rise and slipping back.