Walking around on Resurrection ground
June 28, 2009 Leave a comment
Faith…
Inopportune
Scary
Tried and true
Worthy
Foolish
Without finite
Favorite
Generous
Gone to the Wind
Apocalyptic and
Analgesic
By faith…
“Come”
“Walk”
“See”
“Move”
“You feed them”
“Go”
“Tell…
It is finished.”
***
Faith:
My father, my mother
My brothers, my sister.
My faith.
***
Without faith it is impossible
to please
Him.
© Sally Paradise, 2010, All Rights Reserved
June 26, 2009 Leave a comment
It was 4:25 on a Friday afternoon. I left my desk, grabbed my coat and headed for the elevator. I said “have a good weekend” to Marilyn the receptionist and then went down 24 floors to street level. I left the building, walked over to the corner of Wabash and Adams and waited for the light to change. An EL train overhead thundered down the tracks as I crossed Wabash. After the EL had past I could hear a street musician playing Careless Whisper plaintively on a tenor sax. Down at the next corner a homeless man was selling his art work of color pencil drawn superheroes. Somewhere along the way I noticed a lone chopstick lying on the sidewalk. I was anxious to get home, eat supper and curl up next to my husband on the couch with my book. I had it all planned. I could see the red wine swirling in my glass and taste the ricotta in my homemade dish of lasagna. I could feel Russ as he snuggled next to me. Home was over an hour away by train. I ran half of the way to make the train on time.
I thought about Russ as I passed a men’s store. Fine suits and shirts were dressed on the manikins in the display window. None of the smooth lifeless models had the rugged hewn frame or the silky blue eyes that Russ had or the swagger smile which he kept in the corner of his mouth. He had you guessing about what he was up to. I liked his surprises, the good kind, and Russ was full of them. He made me laugh and he made me think. I was thinking of him when I approached a corner and stepped out to cross the street as the light had changed to green. A taxi driver in a hurry to beat the light change didn’t see me or thought he could speed past me and go on his way careened right in front of me. I fell backwards out of his way losing my balance, my heel caught on a sewer grate. I whirled and hit my head on a nearby car bumper, whirled again and fell face down onto the curb. I don’t remember…there was blood by my nose…there was a muffled sound of voices…I saw feet…and then sleep…
Several days later at the hospital…
“Jill, honey, Jill, honey, Can you hear me?” Russ touched Jill’s arm twice.
I could see Russ. He was there shaking me but I didn’t feel him. I wasn’t beneath him but somewhere above looking at him through a window. I felt as if time was passing around me and through me. I saw his beard grow out; his hair thin. He became bent over. He still shook me and said “Jill, honey.” Then he was gone.
“Jill, honey, Jill, honey, Can you hear me?”
“Russ, ah ou, I don’t feel so good. I …
“Lay still, Jill, the nurse is getting something for your head. I’m here. The doctor says that you have a concussion. You blacked out. I’m so glad you are awake.”
“What?…oh my head hurts so much.” Jill tried to sit up but stopped. “I am going to throw up.”
“Don’t move, Jill. Concussions make people sick to their stomach when they move. Don’t move. I’m here.”
The nurse brought in a little plastic cup with two pills inside and a small glass of water. The nurse helped move Jill’s head slowly upright so that she could swallow the pills. “The doctor wants you to stay still and not move. We did a CT scan of your head but these scans do not give the best picture of a concussion. We are going to do other tests. We just want to make sure that there is no swelling in your brain. So, please don’t move.” The nurse then let Jill‘s head carefully rest on the pillow.
“I feel like my head was hit with a hammer.” Jill felt some dried blood in her hair. The IVs in her arm itched.
“Yeah, this was a traumatic concussion, you lost consciousness.”
“I had the weirdest dream, Russ. I saw you touching me but I was somewhere else. I…I don’t feel so good.”
“Just rest, Jill, I’ll be here the whole night. I won’t leave you.”
Jill closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Around 1:00 in the morning Russ awoke and heard Jill talking in her sleep.
“Dancing shoes?” The garbled words came out from under the top of her bed covers.
Russ sat up and looked at Jill. Her face was troubled and questioning. Then she seemed to fall into a deeper sleep. Her face melted into a serene soft mask. Russ decided he would try to sleep again. The nurses had been coming in every hour of the night. He awoke upon every occasion. He would try to sleep again. At least he knew that Jill was talking even if it was only in her sleep.
It was the morning shift nurse at 5:30 am that woke Russ for the rest of the day. The nurse, a robust black woman who looked like she just met Jesus, came bounding into the room and checked the IVs. She moved some bed covers, bunched the pillows around Jill’s head and looked over at Russ who was now sprouting a beard and baggy eyes.
“How’d you sleep?”
“I get more sleep on Sunday morning during the sermon.”
“The woman laughed and said, “The Lord knows what you need before you axe Him.”
Russ let out a short laugh and said, “Yeah, I guess He does.”
The nurse left and Jill began to stir her feet beneath the covers.
“How are you doin’ Jill?”
“I think I slept through the whole night. I never slept so much. I guess I am feeling a little better. Can I have some water?
Russ went across the room and got the water pitcher and poured her a cup of water and handed it to her. “Do you want the straw?
“Yes, please.”
Russ handed her the straw and sat down on the side of the bed.
“You were talking in your sleep last night, something about dancing shoes, I think.”
“Huh.”
“You must have been dreaming.”
“Yeah, I remember some of it. I had died and gone to heaven. I was standing before God but I was looking at my feet the whole time. I didn’t have any shoes on my feet. God says to me, “You must return, suicide is not your skin. Find your shoes.”
“Wow, that’s quite a dream. What were you thinking before you fell asleep?”
“I guess I was thinking that I could possibly die just laying here in the hospital with these things in my arms and my head hurting and all.”
“I could see that you are doing better. Aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I feel a little stronger today.”
“Good.”
“Yeah, I feel better, anyway.”
“When you are all better, Jill, we can start the ballroom dancing lessons. I was excited last Friday about going with you.”
“I can’t wait but right now the room is moving and I feel like sleeping again. Jill dozed off holding Russ’s hand.
Biting his lower lip, Russ held back his concern and his tears.
************
It was almost two years later that Jill and Russ decided to take the Ballroom dancing classes that they had intended to take before her accident. Jill now felt able to move freely without feeling nauseous. In fact, she felt a new impulse to live and do the things that she had wanted to do but had kept them putting off because of the business of life. Russ registered them for the Tuesday evening class. All that was needed were dancing shoes – leather soled street shoes – with a small heel for Jill and a regular heel for Russ.
“Russ, I need to find these shoes before Tuesday evening. I’m not sure where to start looking.”
“I’ll go online and take a look.” Russ replied.
Jill set about cleaning the house as she usually did on Saturday afternoon. She carried a bag of old toys out to the garage. Goodwill would take them, she thought. And, then she had an idea,” I’ll go to St. Vincent de Paul Resale shop and see if there are some shoes there.” Jill told Russ her idea and then she headed off with the bag of toys to look for the shoes at St. Vincent de Paul.
The resale shop on Saturdays was always filled with people looking for bargains. Today was no different. Jill pushed her way past the cash registers and the lines of mothers with tugging kids and walked over to the shoe room on the side. The air was stagnant with an overwhelming smell of stale old shoes. Jill found the women’s shoes on two tall racks in the corner of the tiny room. She found the seven-and-a half sizes and there were three pair of shoes her size. One pair stood out from the orange Keds and the emerald green open-toed 4” heels: a pair of black Cuban 1-1/2” heels with leather soles. Jill gasped when she looked at the price of only $2.00. These shoes looked and smelled like new. There were no marks on any part of either shoe. The soles were not dirty with street use. Jill tried them on immediately and then walked and then sashayed around in front of a tall mirror leaning against one of the shoe racks. Her feet felt the tempo of her heart and her heart was beating fast. She said to herself, “If I’m going to cha-cha-cha these are the shoes to cha-cha-cha in.” So she paid the two dollars and tax and left the store forgetting to look for her husbands shoes. She caught herself and turned around and there he was, looking at her. She gasped and then smiled up at him.
“Look at these. Aren’t they grand?”
“Wow they sure are kiddo. Did you try them on?
“Yeah and they fit perfectly.”
“Then they are heaven sent, my tiny dancer.”
“Oh yes, they are. We need to find you some shoes, too, Russ.”
“I was hoping to meet you and tell you that I found some on a web site and ordered them. I will get them on Monday.”
“I hope they fit.”
“Me, too.” Russ replied. “I’d hate to have blisters after one dance class.”
“I’ll care for your feet, m’ love.” Jill purred, “Let’s get some lunch while we’re in town.
“Yeah, let’s. Let’s” walk over to Andy’s Diner while I can still walk.”
*********
Jill and Russ went to the Tuesday evening Ballroom dancing classes. Russ’ shoes finally fit properly during the fifth lesson. Jill had to massage Russ’ feet before and after he put the shoes on each Tuesday night. The shoes broke in during a lesson of the foxtrot. Jill was relieved to find out.
It was on this fifth night of dance lessons that Jill and Russ met a couple, Todd and Angela. According to their dance instructor, this couple had been dancing for many years. They looked smooth and flowing whenever they danced. They came this night to help the instructor teach the students the tango. It was at the end of that evening as Todd and Angela watched the students mimic their movements that the Angela made an observation to Todd:
“Todd, those shoes Jill are wearing look exactly like the ones Amy bought before the accident.
“Yeah, they do?” Todd replied, not really sure about the shoes.
“They look exactly like Amy’s dancing shoes. I saw them in her closet after her funeral. I gave them to St. Vincent de Paul’s resale shop.”
“Really?” Todd questioned, looking at Angela. He remembered his daughter in her eyes.
The music stopped and the dance instructor said that the class had done nice work. She said that next week the class who also to be about the tango and she dismissed the class for the evening. As they were all getting their coats on, Jill and Russ were approached by Todd and Angela.
“You dance pretty well for beginners.” Todd greeted them.
“Thank you. And, Jill’s feet thank me.” Russ replied with a smile.
Angela leaned over toward Jill and looked down at her shoes as they came off Jill’s feet.
“I’m Angela and this is my husband Todd.”
“Hi, I’m Russ and this is Jill. Nice to meet you both.” Russ put one hand on Jill’s shoulder and stuck his other hand out to Todd.
“Same here.” replied Todd, shaking Russ’ hand.
“I noticed those shoes, Jill. They are just my like my daughter’s dancing shoes.” Angela said.
Jill looked up at Angela and said, “Oh, does your daughter dance, too? She must be as talented as both of you are.”
“Our daughter, Amy, died in an accident before she could ever use them. She loved to watch Todd and I dance together and she wanted to do the same thing with her husband so she bought the shoes. She was going to start the lessons but then she had a terrible accident.”
Jill looked over at Russ with a stunned amazement and said to Angela, “I am so sorry to hear about your daughter. That must have been unbelievably hard on you.”
“Yes, it is,” Angela whispered straining to hold back a sob. A tear formed in the corner of her eye and then it hugged her cheek before it left her face.
Jill stood up and gently put her arms around Angela. Todd and Russ looked over at them mournfully.
“Angela, when did this happen to your daughter?”
“It was two years ago.”
Jill looked over at Russ while embracing Angela, her eyes searching his face for the dream she had while she was in the hospital.
“What happened to your daughter, Angela? What was the accident” Jill asked loosing her embrace to look at Angela’s face.
“Well, it wasn’t an accident. The witnesses said that she committed suicide.” Angela started sobbing. The rest of the students who hadn’t left for the evening saw Angela weeping and came over to her. The women began to comfort her, gently stroking her back and giving her Kleenex.
“It is so sad. Amy took her own life. I know she had been depressed. She had lost her new job. She had lost a child. She had gone through a divorce. It was too much for her.” Tears flowed from between the fingers Angela held up to cover her eyes. “She was trying to get her life back, to get her step back by going to dancing classes. She was trying…”
“What happened to change things? To make her depressed enough to…” Jill asked quietly.
“I don’t know.” Angela replied, staring blankly. “She just snapped, I guess. Everyone there said she must have seen the taxi coming and she went ahead anyway. They said that the taxi pushed her back and she fell and hit her head on a car bumper and then she fell onto the curb. They couldn’t bring her around.” Angela sat down and put her head into her hands and sobbed. Todd came over and put his arm around her. Tears were in his eyes as he buried his face in her hair.
Jill stood there wide-eyed looking down at the shoes she had placed on the bench. They fit her perfectly and so did the dream…the taxi…the ballroom dancing lessons. Russ put his arm around Jill’s waist. He caught her when her legs gave out and she fainted. When Jill came to she looked up and saw faces staring down at her. She was laying on a street curb.
2010 Copyright Sally Paradise
June 25, 2009 Leave a comment
Timing is Everything
I
Monday morning Tom and Linda left the train station and walked to work in a constant sprinkle of rain. Walking together, Tom juggled an umbrella and their usual conversation.
“I’m not joking.” Tom was holding Linda’s hand when he snapped at her.
“I don’t think you are. I just think that we should wait, that’s all.” Linda countered.
“We are going to get married next July. Why don’t we just move in together? We can save some money for the wedding.”
“I want to be with you, Tom, but I think we should wait.”
“I love you Linda, don’t you know that?”
“Sure, I do.”
“Then, what’s the problem? Why are we waiting?”
“I want to make sure it’s real, that’s all,” Linda said.
“Huh? This is the real thing, isn’t it?” Tom asked.
“It’s becoming more real as we go on, Tom,” Linda explained, “but something tells me to wait till our wedding day.”
“You love me, don’t you?” Tom queried.
“Of course I do.” Linda replied, “My heart and my mind are telling me to wait and my . . . my…,” Linda leaned into Tom and whispered, “my body wants to go ahead.” Then with a smile she said, “It’s a two to one decision. Anyway, I want to be secure in our love and not just in the thought that we are living together. This engagement time will help us get to know each other better. It’s a good thing.”
Tom and Linda came up to the Dunkin Donuts and went in. They ordered two coffees: a small for Linda and a large for Tom. Linda added a small drop of cream to her cup, put a lid snuggly on top and then sat down and waited for Tom to finish fixing his coffee. Tom poured a large dose of cream into his coffee and then he grabbed five packets of sugar from the holder. He took one packet by the edge and started to shake it and then smack it against his left hand. After half a minute of settling the sugar he tore open the packet and poured the sugar into the coffee. He did the same with the other four packets. Linda waited. When the sugar packets had been poured into his coffee, Tom grabbed a stir stick and began stirring his coffee while staring at the floor. He wasn’t aware that three people were waiting behind him, waiting for the cream and sugar.
“Tom, hurry up. People are waiting.” Linda prodded from her chair.
Tom looked up to see the line of people, he said, “Sorry”, and hurriedly put a lid on his cup. He gathered up his backpack and walked over to the table where Linda was sitting, looked at his watch and said, “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Linda smiled in response and then gathered up her bag and her coffee. They headed out the door and down the street to work. Tom, a business consultant and an investment counselor for real estate investment trusts, worked with several clients creating the investment trust contracts. Linda was an information technology support person in an engineering firm. They both worked in the same building in downtown Chicago. Tom had a small office on the 16th floor and Linda’s cube was on the 23rd floor. They rode the elevator together each morning.
Heading into the elevator that morning Linda moved to fill a space made by two others on the elevator. Tom came in as the door was closing and turned to face the front of the car. As he did this his backpack hit the coffee cup in the hand of a short woman standing behind Tom. Tom didn’t notice but Linda couldn’t help notice. She received some of the hot coffee on her new linen skirt.
“Tom, be careful. Look what happened.”
Again, Tom swirled around in the elevator and nearly hit another cup off coffee out of someone’s hand.
“Tom, that backpack is a nuisance in this elevator. Please be careful.”
“Sorry.” With those words, Tom left the elevator on the 16th floor and said again, “Sorry I’ll see you at lunch.”
“Bye Tom, call me.”
Tom reached his office, unlocked the door and turned on the overhead light. He noticed his wall plaque; the mounted gold crow bar glinting yellow under the fluorescent light. Inscribed beneath the crowbar in the plaque’s mahogany wood were the words, “Leverage Everything”. He set his umbrella down and took off his wet top coat and laid it on the credenza. He could see his phone blinking a red eye at him. He sat down behind his oak desk and took his phone messages.
His office space, an eight by twelve foot room, was cozy with one window. The view was of the elevated train and a partially hidden neon sign which offered “Cheap Eats at Murphy’s Bar and Grill” in emerald green light. His client’s waiting chairs were in the main hallway with a small end table holding a dog-eared copy of Fisherman’s World magazine. Painted on the sand blown glass pane door was “TOM LANDSURE, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS, A name you can trust in real estate.” Through the glass Tom could see the form of a waiting client. Tom put the phone back on the receiver and went to the door and let him in.
“Hi, Mike.” Tom welcomed him.
“Hi, Tom, Did you get my e-mail?”
“Yeah, sure did.”
“Well what do you think?”
“I think you should act on that property immediately, get the most you can out of it. You can always walk away if it doesn’t pan out – sell your share of it. The downside is losing a little time and a little money. You can always flip it for another property. If you can handle that you’ll be fine. Do you have the people lined up? You need at least one hundred investors to make a go of it.”
“Yeah, I do and you’re right. Down the road I could have great returns on this investment. If it goes south, I’ll just ditch it. No harm, no foul.”
“Sure, I’ve seen this kind of thing a dozen times before. You will do fine either way.”
“I think so. I just wanted to talk to you face to face before I made the decision to act on the property. I’m gonna go ahead and make some calls right now, get my foot in the door. Can I use your phone?
“Sure, I’m going to visit the rest room. I’ll be right back.”
One of the phone messages waiting for him when he came back to the office was from Linda. She wanted to know where they were going to eat for lunch. Before returning her call Tom talked with Mike about his new real estate investment, again encouraging him to buy while it was cheap. The deal sounded too good to pass up. They shook hands and agreed to meet again in a week to review the investment contract. Mike left and Tom reached for the phone to return Linda’s call.
“Hi, Lin, how about the usual for lunch?”
“Murphey’s? Again?”
“How about Sam’s Deli, then?
“That sounds better, let’s go there. See ya downstairs. Bye.” Linda hung up and Mike returned to his pile of contracts waiting for his review. At 11:30 am he left his office, locked the door behind him and took the elevator to the ground floor. He waited for Linda near the building reception desk. A moment later, Linda appeared.
“Tom, I’ve got a half hour today for lunch. We have to hurry.”
They half ran to Sam’s Deli a couple of blocks away. In line were a dozen or so people with numbers. Standing in line Tom happened to notice a young woman sitting alone eating her sandwich. He stared at her while standing behind Linda. After a few moments, the young woman looked up and noticed his stare. She looked over at Linda and then scrunched her face, looking back at Tom. Tom, now flush with embarrassment, tried to start a conversation with Linda in order to pretend that he wasn’t looking at the young woman.
“You know, I like the corned beef sandwich here. It is real kosher corned beef.”
“Tom, I saw you. Keep your eyes on the lunch menu up there. Linda grabbed Tom’s arm, pulled him next to her and then pointed to the menu sign hung above the grill.
“Sorry ‘bout that.” Tom whispered.
With their sandwiches they headed over to a quiet tree-lined garden outside of the art institute. They ate lunch silently looking at each other, letting the city and their thoughts do the talking.
II
Linda’s mother called Linda on Tuesday afternoon.
“Hi mom.”
“Linda, how’s work going?”
“Good mom. I received a good review this year so I’ll be getting a raise soon and I have already told my boss about next July. I will get two weeks off for the wedding and the honeymoon.”
“That sounds great. Things are coming together it looks like. How’s Tom holding out? Anything new with him?”
“He’s doing okay. He’s written more contracts so far this year than last year at this time so he’s at a good pace. His business looks promising.”
“I mean about not moving in together before the wedding?”
“Oh! Ah, he talks about it almost daily. He is pushing hard for it but I am telling him I want to wait till we are married.”
“That conversation must be hard for you.”
“It is. I want things to move forward and yet I feel like I need to stand back and get my bearings. Things are moving too fast right now.”
“I think you are dong the best thing, Linda, though it isn’t easy. Hah, I just remembered reading something out Jane Austin’s Mansfield Park last night. I’ll go get the book. Hold on for a second, Linda.”
Linda could hear her mother set the phone down on the counter, leave the kitchen and then walk down the hall. She heard her return and pick up the phone.”
“Are you there?”
“Yeah, go ahead, mom.”
“Here’s Jane: “Oh, Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.” ”
III
“What do you want, Tom?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“What is it that can’t wait until our wedding day?”
“Ummm. . . I guess I’m just anxious to be with you, you know.”
“Good things come to those who wait, Tom. Isn’t that what they say?”
“Yeah, I guess so, but I’ve been waiting all my life for someone like you. Isn’t that long enough?”
“Then, time is on your side, Tom.”
‘You are full of quaint sayings today, aren’t you?” Tom answered.
“Well, I want our lives together to be special, that’s all. All of this is special to me. Your mother told that when you were a kid you wanted Christmas to happen right away, as soon as you saw the presents – you wanted to open the presents days or weeks before the actual day. “
“I was so excited and I wasn’t sure what I was getting. I couldn’t stand to wait and find out.” Tom responded.
“Well, you seemed to have survived that ordeal.” Linda quipped.
“Just barely, but it was cruel and unusual punishment.” With these words, Tom evoked a smile on Linda’s face.
“You’re a good guy Tom. You can still wait for your presents. And, we’ll have many Christmases together unwrapping gifts.” Linda winked at Tom.
“Yeah, just as long as they are not wrapped in flannel.” Tom winked back with a Cheshire cat smile.”
“You can be sure of that, my Tom cat,” Linda assured Tom.
“Scratch you later.” Tom kissed Linda with a smile and headed back to his office.
IV
The week of the wedding finally came. On Friday night, Tom and Linda met at the church for their wedding rehearsal. Linda’s father walked Linda down the church aisle on their musical cue. Linda was wearing the heels she would wear in the wedding. Her father kept Linda stable as she walked slowly forward. All eyes followed Linda to her place next to Tom. She hugged her father and then she took Tom’s hand in hers. The rehearsal passed like a dream sequence. Linda was only aware of the red flush of her cheeks and how hot she felt that July evening.
Afterward, Linda packed her car with some early wedding gifts and the left-over food. Tom helped her carry the trays out to the car. Linda turned to say goodnight to Tom. She cuddled up to him and looked him in the eyes. “Tomorrow I become Mrs. Linda Landsure. Now that’s an investment!”
“I have already received a great return on this investment and we haven’t even signed the contract yet.” Tom laughed.
They hugged and kissed each other. “I’m so glad that we waited,” Tom whispered in Linda’s ear, “Wow, I thought tomorrow would never come.”
“Well its midnight and its tomorrow. We’re both tired.” Linda said, “We better get home and get our beauty sleep. I don’t want bags under our eyes for the wedding pictures.”
Tom smiled in agreement. He helped Linda get into the car and he closed the door. He gave her one last kiss through the open window and then Linda drove off saying, “Don’t forget your tux shoes tomorrow.”
Tom got in his car and drove towards home, an hour away. It was midnight and he was exhausted. He found the expressway and headed west. He thought about the Linda walking down the aisle in her blue jeans and heels, her dad gently holding Linda’s hand, her nervous smile and her watery eyes. He thought about waiting for this day and how hard he had pushed her to move in with her. He was glad that she made them wait. He wanted her more and more each day. He imagined her tomorrow night in his arms, the day’s events behind them and they would finally be alone. He imagined falling asleep next to her…
At 2:30 am Linda was awakened by a phone call. The state police were on the phone. They said that a car had careened into an overpass and the driver had been killed. Every word now began pulling her heart down. They had found a wedding invitation in the car and Linda’s phone number was listed in Tom’s cell phone. They said that Tom appeared to have fallen asleep and had driven into the cement wall of the overpass at 55 mph: “I am sorry. He died instantly from a broken neck. There was a necklace in a box on the floor of the car.” Linda did not answer. “The necklace has two hearts hanging from the chain, one gold heart and one silver heart. It looks very expensive. I will bring it to you, tomorrow.”
Linda hung up the phone and stepped backward. Overcome with grief, she cried out into the morning darkness, “Tom…Tom…Tom…” She sank down to her knees and wept. When daylight came the sun’s rays began to wash her swollen red face with amber light. Linda raised her head and stood up. She turned to leave the room. In a whisper she heard the voice of Tom:
“I have prepared a place for you.”
Sally Paradise ã 2009
June 25, 2009 Leave a comment
Father’s Day 1985. I have good reason to remember that day: I was in Saudi Arabia when I called my father to wish him “Happy Father’s Day!” It was 9:30 pm Jubail time and about 9:30am in Chicago on that Sunday when I placed the call to my father. I had traveled to Saudi Arabia as an engineer/tech to start up some equipment that our company had sold to a Texas pipeline company. This new equipment would help Saudi Arabia pipe Saudi oil to waiting oil tankers on the Persian Gulf. I happened to arrive during the Saudi Islamic spiritual observance known as Ramadan. It was time of fasting, intense heat and scorched ground. It was the beginning of June and I thought I would be home by Father’s Day.
My journey to this Middle Eastern country was a long passage of connecting airline flights starting from Chicago. First I flew to Kennedy airport in New York and lay over there for several hours. Then I flew to Amsterdam and lay over there for several hours. Then I flew to the Dhaharan International Airport on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. I arrived about 12:30 am. Our plane was greeted by short (they all seemed short to me) khaki uniformed Saudi soldiers who searched each passenger’s luggage for social and spiritual contraband, things like glamour magazines, Bibles, etc. (I had already learned that Christians were persecuted in Saudi Arabia). After going into customs, being questioned about where I was staying (I didn’t know) and where I was working (I gave them a business card that said, “BREDERO PRICE MIDDLE EAST LTD”. They understood immediately.), then finally having my passport stamped, it was 2:00 in the morning. I walked towards the front door of the airport with my small suitcase and saw a placard being waved with my name written on it. I was relieved and scared at the same time since I understood no Arabic and I couldn’t read any of the airport signs. I could only read my name bouncing up and down. The man waving the card greeted me in his language, said something else I didn’t understand and then waved me over to his car, a 1980 Mercedes Benz 380SL, parked at the curb.
I loaded my small suitcase into the trunk of his car and then he had me sit in the back seat. He proceeded to drive almost sightlessly through the desert at 140km/hr (about 86 mph). The two headlights hardly made an impact on the night. Blowing sand and dust filled our vision on the road before us. I saw other cars when they passed beside us and sometimes I saw camel legs. I prayed to arrive safely to wherever we might be going. A hotel, soon, I hoped. I didn’t know what the driver was told to do with me.
We finally arrived at a hotel, a Sheraton Hotel, in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Jubail is an industrialized city on the east coast of Saudi Arabia near the Persian Gulf. During the day, one could see petrochemical plants rising out of the floating desert heat. At night, one could see the glowing gold light of the petrochemical plants and black spouts with fire shooting upwards, fires that burned off excess oil. The rising smoke created carbon black pillars in the Saudi twilight.
Inside the hotel there was more lack of communication between me and the driver and me and the hotel keeper. I was given a key to a room. I felt slightly better. I found my way upstairs and then found my room. The room looked at lot like other western hotel rooms except for the bidet in the bathroom. I turned on the TV. On several channels people were shown praying in Mecca and others making their pilgrimage to Mecca. I learned, later that day, that it was Ramadan. Another channel had a British news service. I found an American channel that played Andy of Mayberry and I Dream of Jeannie reruns 24/7. It was a TV oasis of back home sitcoms. I set the alarm for six o’clock in the morning. Two hours of sleep is all I that I would get that night.
In the morning I found the hotel restaurant near the lobby downstairs. Because of Ramadan, the Muslims were fasting during the daylight hours, from dawn to sunset, so the restaurant was empty except for me. I ordered black coffee and Swiss muesli. This was my daily breakfast the entire time I spent in Saudi Arabia. As I was reading the menu, someone approached me, a foreigner, and said in English, “When you are done with your breakfast I will drive you to the work site.” The English words were comforting. I had pointed out my food selections to the waiter and he hurried back with the coffee. I felt dog tired with only two hours of sleep. I was still on my Chicago time clock. I should be getting ready for dinner and then for bed. I finished breakfast and signed the check over to my room number. Someone was paying the bill but I didn’t know who.
I met my driver outside the hotel and he scurried me off to the work site several miles away. I was informed of the ‘rules’ of Saudi life and was basically told to stay in the car, stay in my hotel and stay at the work site. I had decided to dress and to appear as a male so that I wouldn’t receive many looks along the way, except, I believed, for my Swedish light skin and my short reddish-blond hair. I wore a baseball cap. As we drove, I saw Bedouin shepherds moving their sheep across the highways, highways populated with tall palm trees. We arrived at the work site, a collection of construction trailers and low open buildings, many with corrugated roofs and no walls, out in the barren sand field. The only shade was beneath the wavy silver roofs which deflected the sun.
I met with the site foreman and the rest of the crew. The foreman’s name was Rusty. He was from Ireland. The crew made up of all males, were from various parts of the world. There were several Australians, some Danes, one Austrian, some Germans, some Filipinos, some Brazilians and several Brits. They had come to Saudi Arabia to earn a lifetime of money in just a few short years of work. The oil company paid a high wage for foreign workers with good pipefitting/mechanical experience. I was added to their group during my time in Saudi. I was teased because of my appearance: I did look foreign (I’m Swedish and Dutch) just like them but I also looked somewhat male and somewhat female and I easily sunburned. I had to wear tee shirts because of the extreme heat. Every day I would become soaked with sweat. I just teased them back and we got along fine. Many members of this crew had been working at this site for several years. Several were getting ready to go home and retire – at 35 years of age! They had their “nest egg” as they called it. They would finally get to see their wives and their families. They weren’t being held hostage by the company or the Saudi people. It was just that the money they made working everyday, overtime and weekends was incredible. It sounded tempting to me except for the extreme heat and the fact that I was a woman in Saudi Arabia. I would only be working and going to my hotel and doing it under cover, at that. I would become a dried up fig, I imagined.
That first morning on the site I saw the new equipment which my company had shipped to the Bredero Price site. The equipment, a plastic extruder for oil pipe coating, had been installed by the crew under a corrugated roof out on a field of sand. The equipment, they said, was ready to start up. I spent the entire day reviewing the installation and getting my bearings in the scorching June heat. Noon came around and I was invited to the canteen for lunch. The food, basically variations of American food that I knew, was prepared on site. I enjoyed the taste of the hometown food and the camaraderie of the crew. It was during lunch that I learned about each of them and their families. I saw wallet tattered pictures of their wives and kids. After lunch we each grabbed two one liter bottles of water and headed back to work. The bottled water was necessary because the local water was undrinkable and each of us would sweat at least two liters a day through our clothes. The mid day Saudi temperature was 42 degrees C (108 degrees F). I also worked on the heated plastic extruder, so I was doubly parched. I couldn’t drink water fast enough.
The work itself was challenging. I was working alone on the equipment. I had come there to just push buttons but there were problems and parts that needed fixing. I couldn’t directly contact my office because of the difference in time. I had to fax my requests and wait for a reply over night. Someone had to deliver the faxes back and forth to me. All of this interposing communication delayed the commissioning of the equipment. The owners, Bredero Price and the Saudi government, were getting anxious. I didn’t have my passport. It was conscripted at the hotel by Bredero Price. As I learned, they controlled things via the Saudi government. I was more than a little concerned about my situation. I was the one who felt like a hostage. Luckily, as the days passed, I was able to bring the equipment up to working order and only after removing a key component that had failed at start up. I turned that problem over to our company’s sales department and I continued down my start-up path. After two weeks, I was able to create a four foot wide sheet of HDPE plastic, one quarter inch thick. The sheet of plastic exiting the die of the extruder coated a twelve foot diameter oil pipe as the pipe revolved and moved perpendicularly away from the extruder. I was delighted that things had come together. The customer was beginning to see results, too.
My nights in town were spent primarily in front of the TV reruns in my hotel room and in the hotel restaurant trying Middle Eastern food. I liked the lamb shish-kabob with minted yogurt sauce. I finally did venture out into the city in the cool of the evening. I was tired of sitting in my room at night listening to two Saudis making love in the next room. Apparently, it was nightly ritual not related to Ramadan. I dressed in a dark blue linen shirt, blue jeans and a black White Sox baseball hat. I had seen other Americans walking around during my car trips back and forth to the hotel and the work site. I decided to see what was going on outside. I left the hotel and walked down the palm-lined sidewalks.
The first thing I noticed were clusters of Saudi men sitting on the ground smoking water pipes. I watched them from the corner of my eyes as I just kept walking. I went to the market area and walked down the narrow market streets. The crowded little shops were open to the street with pull down shutter doors. These doors were shut during the daily prayer times. I could see the minarets poking above the city skyline. I could hear the loud speaker voice calling the faithful to their prayers. I could see the shop doors being pulled down and locked for half an hour. I would continue to walk and wait till prayer time was over.
The shops were a curious assortment of everyday goods which were sold one shop next to the other. There was a row of watch stores. Then a row of camera stores, a row of women’s clothes stores, a row of men’s clothes stores, rows of food stores, etc. There were little open air cafes along the way. I didn’t try any café food. There were too many flies buzzing around. I took in the smell of mint tea, of shawarma (lamb), grilled chicken and the deep-fried chickpea dish called falafel. I took in the aromas of things I never had smelled before. The heavy enticing smell of Arabic tobacco coming from the water pipes was especially exotic, floating along with other strange scents. I returned to my room for a good nights sleep. I began to feel comfortable being in Saudi Arabia. I would visit the market places again after that, with more courage and more casual curiosity.
Halfway through my stay in Saudi Arabia Father’s Day came up. I knew that I wouldn’t be home to wish my father my love so I decided to call him from the hotel that night. It would be Sunday morning in Chicago. I placed the call on what sounded like very thin wires. My mother answered the phone. I said “Hi” and she knew it was me. She was totally surprised to hear my voice. She asked about how I was doing and other mother questions. She was getting ready to go to church. She gave the phone to my dad. He sounded extremely surprised and very happy that I would call from such a distant place. I wished him “Happy Father’s Day” and told him that I wished that I was at home in Chicago to see him on this day. He was glad that I had called. So was I.
After several weeks of work in the oven of the desert my mission at the job site was completed. The plastic extruder was operating and coating oil pipes 24/7. I finally received my passport back from Bredero Price. I scheduled a flight home via the fax machine. When the day arrived to leave I said goodbye to my new friends. I wished them well. I gathered up my tee shirts and my few belongings, packed my suitcase and headed for the Mercedes waiting for me. I enjoyed the day light ride back to the airport. I could see all that I missed traveling on that first night in the desert. There were men riding camels, sheep and shepherds and goats. There were women in black abayas with their faces half hidden with boshiyas, and hundreds of pilgrims returning from Mecca. I was glad to get to the airport to be going home.
I boarded the direct flight to New York. It would be at least fourteen hours of flying. I found my seat and let my shoulders relax for the first time in weeks. When the plane taxied the runway and then lifted off I was even more relieved. I began to see that the Saudi women were more relieved than I. When the “FASTEN SEAT BELT” light went off most of the Saudi women, mother and daughters, all of them covered from head to toe with their black burqas, headed for the bathrooms. When they came out they were each wearing jeans and typical tops worn by western women. The western transformation took off when the plane no longer touched Saudi soil. I was amazed and happy for them. I felt liberated, too. Father’s Day had past and Mother’s Day was just beginning, for some.
© Sally Paradise, 2010, All Rights Reserved
(Author’s note: This is a true story. Just ask my dad.)
June 24, 2009 Leave a comment
I suppose you believed the words you said
At the front of the church: “I do.”
Those words were waiting for you.
They stood waiting with me.
Did you know that you would shred them?
***
I suppose that if you had kept your vows
We would be forever united in words:
Words that wrap lives with ribbons of care;
Words that tie down lives with stakes in the ground;
Words that follow balloons as they become pixels of the sky
***
I suppose, had you said,
“Let’s make this work.”,
I would be walking down the aisle with you everyday.
Un-tethering balloons, staking our lives
And letting rice fleck my hair.
*****
© Sally Paradise, 2010, All Rights Reserved
June 23, 2009 Leave a comment
The shortest distance
Between two points is your love
But I am alone
****
Meet me tomorrow
Along your rocky shoreline
The waves are lapping
****
Together we birthed
A boy, we buried a man
We began a tree
****
Nothing fills the cup
Rain falls from aching skies
Sadness overflows
****
B-, “I still love you”
My words find no resting place
A tomb is inside
Sally Paradise ã 2006
June 4, 2009 Leave a comment
Almost Like Praying
It is 1967 and that’s all I know about that. I do know that I looked in the mirror tonight and I didn’t see me. What I saw was the face of a thirteen year old girl with a pony tail pulling back on acne plagued skin. The adult woman I had wanted to see was really a decrepit adolescent in the bedroom mirror. This would-be woman, this child, this me with a hint of a baby face, stood in front of her dresser preparing herself for a night with her best friend Jane and Jane’s boyfriend Mick. They invited me along, feeling sorry for me, I think, knowing that I don’t have a boyfriend. If my mirror is any gauge, my chances of getting one are slim to negative. So, I see myself sitting alone in the backseat of Mick’s Chevy Impala Caprice tonight, hiding far from view. All eyes would be focused on Jane and Mick or on Tony and Maria. The three of us were going to the Sky-Hi Drive-In on Route 53 to watch West Side Story. I am just going to try to forget myself, hide my face and just let the movie carry me away in its arms. I wish I had someone to share it with, though. Maybe the gods of love will see me alone in the back seat of Mick’s car as they look down on me from their huge screen throne. Maybe, speaking with their muted voices in merciful tones through little black boxes, they will intervene on my behalf. Or, perhaps not.
As always, I’m not sure what to do with my hair. When I was a young girl it was easy. A pony tail was easy. Now it’s up or down, ratted or flat, sophisticated or playful? And, I’m not sure whether I should be a Greaser or a Climber tonight. In my school Indian Trail Junior High everyone has to be one or the other. The Greasers wear only black: black socks, black shoes, black clothes and black leather jackets; the girls wear black tight skirts and ratted hair above their black Dracula-like mascara staked eye lashes. The Climbers, the ones like me, wear white socks, paisley, plaid and colored school clothes and letter jackets and pink makeup. It doesn’t matter if you are a Climber or a Greaser-acne shows up where it wants to. As usual, tonight I have nothing black to wear except for some Buster Brown shoes that I wear to church. The black church shoes won’t do for the drive in. So, I’ll wear my dark brown penny loafers. But, what do I do about socks? I know, I’ll wear black socks. I’ll be a Greaser and a Climber.
My face is a blotchy patchwork of pointy blemishes. I’ve had it with puberty. I need different skin. This skin isn’t working. My body and clothes are just another battle on the same front. I tug on my dryer shrunk top until I fit inside its shamrock green sheath. My jeans, which I had pulled out of the dryer half an hour ago, are still wet. They will surrender to my lower half after I complete my wrangling dance yoga inside the resisting denim. I’ve done this before.
My friends are going to show up in fifteen minutes and I still am still not made up. This is the first time I would be at a drive-in without my parents. I am pacing myself to the AM radio: Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell are singing, “Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby… I’ve got to move faster.
I find my purse and I am trying to find my cotton candy pink lipstick somewhere inside. My mom convinced my dad that I was old enough to wear lipstick. Lipstick and some cover stick. (The lipstick was like Chapstick, my mom tells my father. He’s not sure. “It’s good for her lips.” Mom goes on. “Every girl needs cover stick, too.”) No mascara. No blush. No eye shadow. Yet. I dab my face with the cover stick trying to hit every red spot at least twice. I look at my profile standing sideways to the mirror with my eyes shifted right. Then, I turn around and look in the mirror with my eyes shifted left. I apply move cover stick. I look straight into the mirror. There is a rose bud on my nose. More cover stick. I don’t see the pretty girl there I used to know. Pretty is not going to happen tonight. Where are my shoes? “Mom?” I yell downstairs.
“Honey,” my dad yells from the living room, “Your mother’s on the phone. She can’t talk right now. She’s talking to Jane’s mom.”
“Oh, no. Now what? Something’s coming.”
“Jane’s mom said they are on the way. They got a late start.” My mom talks to me from the bottom of the stairs. “Your shoes are under your bed, remember?”
“Whew.” I grab my shoes and do more denim leg stretching as I bend over to get them. I walk to the hallway and I take a last look at myself in the hallway mirror. “Ugh.” The figure I see is an embarrassing collision of childhood and adulthood, of Climber and Greaser. I want to go back to my room and hide. I take another look and I think that it is getting dark soon and my “ghastly” appearance won’t matter. Besides, I’ve wanted to see West Side Story. I turn around and pause to think about what I need for tonight’s movie: I have my baby sitting money. I have my lipstick. I have my comb. Where’s my good luck pink troll key chain? Ah, I remember. It’s under my pillow.
I head downstairs and my dad says, “Hi, beautiful. Have fun tonight. I’ll be waiting up.”
“Dad, I’m gross.”
“No your not, sweetie.”
“Dad, I am, too.”
“No, No, No.” Dad protests.
Mom says, “They’re here.” Then she says, “Oh, there is someone in the back seat of Mick’s car. I wonder who that is. Jane’s mom didn’t mention that there would be someone else going with. Did Mick and Jane pick him up on the way over? I wonder.”
So do I. I look out the window and see Mick and Jane in the front seat of the Caprice and in the back seat is Juan from school. “Oh, god!” Now my dad is looking out the window, too and I say, “Mom and dad get away from the window. Quick!”
Maybe we should go say “Hi” to them and see who this is? My dad talks to my mother.
“Good idea. You go first.” My mom responds.
I stand on the front door porch. I see my parents talking to Mick and Jane parked in the driveway. My dad is now talking to Juan. He shakes his hand as he does with everyone he meets for the first time. I see him smiling. I hear a scream inside of me. I look horrible and Juan, a Greaser, always looks so cool. The scream is edging upwards towards my mouth. A flood of terror rushes through my heart like a tidal wave. I take out my pocket mirror for one last look. I see my dad and mom heading towards me. I am almost fainting. I turn and face the house.
“Honey, Mick and Jane picked up Juan on the way over to our house. Juan is Mick’s friend and I guess Juan didn’t have anything to do tonight, so they picked him up. I will call Jane’s mom and let her know that he is going along. I talked to Juan. He seems like a nice kid. He says that he is in some of your classes. Is that true?”
“Yeah, dad. I didn’t think anyone would be around to see me except Mick and Jane. I look gross.”
“Honey, all I can tell you is that you look pretty, tonight. Don’t worry. Have fun watching the movie and come home right afterwards, as you promised. I told Mick to bring you right home after the movie. Here’s some money for a Coke and some popcorn. I know that you wanted to see this movie. You have been talking about it since it came out, since you sang some of the songs in chorus.”
“I do want to see it, dad, but maybe some other time. Maybe…”
“Marianne,” my mother says my name when she wants my attention, “Marianne,” her voice lowers, “your skin looks fine. I like your hair down and your lipstick is just right. You may feel embarrassed about how you look but your father and I see a beautiful young lady. Go ahead and have some fun. We’ll be waiting for you later and you can tell us how it goes. OK?”
“All right, mom. I’ll go. I’m very nervous, though. My stomach feels like it’s in a pillow fight. I’ll go. I see you later.” With that I head over to Mick’s car and get in the back seat behind Mick. Juan smiles over at me and says, “Hi, Marianne.” And, I say, “Hi.”
From the front seat Jane turns around and says, “You look great Mare. I like that lipstick.”
I see Mick looking in the rear view mirror. “Thanks. Hi Mick.”
Mick backs the car down the driveway and says “Hi, kiddo. Juan wanted something to do tonight so I invited him along. Is that OK?”
“Ah, yeah, I guess so.”
“Good” Mick smiles back in the mirror.
I lean toward my window and look out. I don’t know what to say to Juan so I’m just going to wait for him to talk. I’ve seen him at school in the hallways and waiting in line to go into the school building. I now remember him looking at me when our school was evacuated during a bomb scare. He was in the crowd with the Greaser girls but he was looking over at me standing with my girl friends. Now I remember Juan.
Five minutes later, “Marianne, you look swell.” Juan speaks to me while combing his hair straight back.
“Thanks, Juan. You look nice, too.”
“Did you hear about Mrs. Rhoades? She’s leaving the school. I guess she’s too old to teach.”
“Yeah, she must be a hundred years old. She was always nice to me but she got angry with some of the kids, mostly the Grea…” I stopped myself.
“Yeah, you’re right. She was very strict. I won’t miss her.” Juan looked over to me.
“She was nice to me. I’m not sure why.” I looked over at Juan. He was trying to get a black forelock to stay in a curl.
“I hear that you are in the band. What instrument do you play?”
“I play the French horn.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“It’s a brass instrument.”
“Like a trumpet?”
“Well, a French horn is round with a lot of tubes and a big bell where the sound comes out. It has a small mouthpiece. It takes a lot of air to play and it heavy to carry but I like it.”
“Cool.” Juan replies, sitting slightly forward from the seat. (I think he does that so he won’t mess his hair.) “I play the radio.” Juan laughs to himself.
I break into Mick and Jane’s conversation. “Hey Jane, put on WLS. I want to hear some music.”
Jane turns on the radio and finds 890 AM. The Hollies are singing Just One Look. I sing the words to myself as I look at my orange-pink reflection in the car window. Outside the window the sunset is washing the sky like an art class project.
We arrive at the Sky-Hi and we buy our tickets. The ticket guy checks the trunk to make there is no alcohol and no food hidden anywhere. We drive in and find a good spot in the middle about half way to the screen. All around are cars driving into their uphill spots, the car windows begin rolling down. I hear music everywhere, from every car. There are people walking to the concession stand and coming back with window trays full of food. I sit back and wait. I don’t want to be the first one in the car to get some popcorn.
Finally Mick says, “Hey, everyone let’s get our food now before this thing gets started.” We all say “Yeah” and we get out of the car. Mick and Jane walk hand in hand while I walk with Juan a few feet apart. I felt like we were being watched by everyone, that we were the movie, yet I felt safely obscure. I wasn’t alone at the drive in and all eyes weren’t focused on me, just on our group. At least, that’s how I pictured the way our audience of inclined viewers would view us.
At the concession stand I get a medium Coke and medium bag of popcorn. Juan gets some nachos with jalapeno and a Coke. Mick and Jane share a large bucket of buttered popcorn and a large Coke. We head back to the car. From the overhead loudspeakers I hear the Monkees sing, “I’m a Believer.” I notice as we walk back to the car that there are ascending pillars of cigarette smoke coming from many open car windows. Each pillar has an extended arm attached. The approaching midnight blue sky consumes the grey smoke while dancing on the giant screen, behind the plumes of smoke is Mr. Popcorn and Mrs. Cola.
We return to the car and listen to WLS until the sun disappears and darkness pulls in front of us. We can hear the cars around us and all the chatter of voices coming from those cars. Out of our speaker box comes the voice of the drive-in announcer telling us to be courteous to our neighbors and to not make a lot of noise. He tells us: “There are bathrooms behind the concession stand.” The previews begin with a commercial about the concession stand food: popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, Coke, Seven-Up, Jujubes, Milk-Duds, Affy-Tapples…. Hmmm, Milk Duds sound good. The previews start to appear on the screen. Car horns begin beeping and some guy is shouting “Shut up!” and “Hey, be quiet!” The surrounding murmur siphoned down into the movie sound coming from the little black box hanging on Mick’s open car window:
“The Graduate, opening January 1968… starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katherine Ross and directed by Mike Nichols. A movie about an impulsive, rebellious kind of love, but the old-fashioned notion of love conquers all.”…
…“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, opening in December, starring Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton…a love story of today. Does love conquer all?”…
…“Thoroughly Modern Millie starring Julie Andrews, James Fox, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing, in the happiest motion picture hit of the year. Directed by George Roy Hill. “You’ve come a long way…”
…“Wait until Dark starring Audrey Hepburn who plays Susy Hendrix, a blind woman who unwittingly becomes involved in three murderous crimnals’ drug scheme. How does a blind woman defend herself? Now playing in a theatre near you.”……Feature Presentation…Technicolor…Now were getting somewhere. At last the movie is beginning. There’s another reminder on the screen to be courteous to our movie neighbors. I sit back and lean a little to the middle of the car to see around Jane’s head. Juan moves his head towards the middle also making sure his hair doesn’t touch the car seat. I can smell his cologne. It’s not like my dads. It smells musky. It smells like a rain forest would smell: fresh, earthy, inviting.
Music begins the movie. The overture fills our small space with jarring and unsettling tritones. The music sounds jazzy, modern and classical. It sounds hip (I got this word from listening to DJ Dick Biondi). The clashing dissonance of the music causes me to wonder about the story. Will it be like Romeo and Juliet? Will there be guys fighting? Will there be romance? “O Romeo, O Romeo…” Juan says that he wants the music to end and the story to begin and yet I see him tapping his hand while looking out his rear window. I crane my neck further toward the front of the car. I want to be closer to the sound. A cool breeze floods the car through the open window. My bare arms are covered with goose bumps. I shiver. Juan remains cool. Mick and Jane continue munching on popcorn while holding hands.
Juan returns his gaze to the screen when two street gangs appear, the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. The Jets have names like Riff, Action, Diesel, A-Rab, Baby John Big Deal and Ice. The Sharks: Chino, Pepe, Indio Luis, Anxious and Toro. There’s talk of a rumble and a dance. Tony is cute and so is Bernardo. Anita and Maria, two Puerto Rican women, work at a bridal shop. I find out that Bernardo is Maria’s brother and Anita’s boyfriend. Maria wants to wear a new dress to the dance and she asks Anita to make it for her. Maria wants her dress lower in the front but Anita, the older woman, is resisting her. She won’t lower the bust line of the white eyelet party dress for Maria even though Maria insists.
Something is coming. I am beginning to sense it. At the dance the two gangs meet and square off for a dance challenge. I love the warm feminine summer dresses of the Latin women. The rival couples dance the Mambo while doing a version of musical chairs with their dance partners. It doesn’t end well. There is tension everywhere in the room except in the eyes of Maria and Tony. They see each other across the room. They come together and dance. They are falling in love. They kiss warmly and I suddenly I don’t mind the chilly car.
Bernardo, Maria’s brother, does not like what he sees and he pulls them apart. He wants to fight. A war council is set up at Doc’s Candy Store. I don’t get this. Why don’t they just fight at the dance and get it over with. Maybe because the cop is there. I don’t know. After the dance, Tony can’t stay away from Maria. I like this. He finds her apartment window and he serenades Maria. I see myself on the fire escape. “Maria…the most beautiful sound…Maria”. More tritones and more melting. Maria and Tony sing to each other while the two gangs get ready to fight:
“Today the minutes seem like hours…
…Well, they began it!…
The hours go so slowly,
…Well, they began it!…
And still the sky is light.
…And we’re the ones to stop ’em once and for all,
Tonight!…
Oh moon, grow bright,
And make this endless day endless night,
Tonight!”
There’s a war council at Doc’s Candy Store. Now I’m wishing I had bought some Milk Duds. Tony tells Doc about Maria. Doc’s not crazy about the idea but Tony says he is in love. It will be alright. Tony only wants a fair fight. Things are heating up for the Jets and the Sharks and for Tony and Maria. The next day Tony meets Maria at the bridal shop. They dream and I begin to dream…
“I, Anton, take thee Maria…”
“I, Maria, take thee, Anton…”
“For richer, for poorer…”
“In sickness and in health…”
“To love and to honor…”
“From each sun to each moon…”
“From tomorrow to tomorrow…”
“From now to forever…”
“Till death do us part.”
Tony and Maria are holding hands:
“With this ring, I thee wed.”
“With this ring, I thee wed.”
A cool breeze floods in through the open window. I shiver and think to myself, “My hands are cold.” I nest them together on my lap. Juan reaches over and puts his warm hand on top of my left hand. He gently pulls my hands apart and brings our hands to rest on the seat between us. He holds my hand there. I don’t look at him. I don’t know what to do. No one has ever held my hand before. I feel the racing pulse of my wrist in my chest and my throat tightens. I try to swallow. This is all new and all good.
Tony sings:
“Make of our hands one hand.
Make of our hearts one heart
Make of our vows one last vow
Only death will part us now.”
Maria sings:
“Make of our lives one life,
Day after day, one life,”
Now they both sing:
“Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart;
Even death can’t part us now.”
“Make of our lives one life,
Day after day, one life,
Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart
Even death won’t part us now.”
The movie rolls on but my thoughts are removed from the movie. Instead, I picture myself in the back seat of the car with Juan. I imagine concentric circles of newly found energy flowing out of me. I’m not sure about the end of the movie: There is a fight. I think Bernardo stabbed Riff and then Tony killed Bernardo, Maria’s brother. I think Tony is shot by Chino. The fighting stopped. Maria is waving a gun and saying that it was hatred that killed Tony and the others. Maria is left alone to grieve about Tony. But now, I am outside their story and inside my own. I am sitting in the back seat with Juan, pimples, baby face and all, one hand one heart.
The credits begin to roll and Mick says, “Hey, that was pretty good.”
Everyone says, “Yeah, it was.” I am still not looking at Juan.
“I better get you home, Marianne. You dad’s waiting.”
I cringe under the weight of his words. “OK.”
Mick drives me home. In our driveway he looks in his rear view mirror and then looks over at Jane. He smiles at Jane. Jane doesn’t turn around. She just says, “I’ll call you tomorrow, Mar.”
I say, “OK.” I finally look at Juan. I think I had a shy smirky grin on my face. There was too much blood flowing in my cheeks to feel the words come out of my mouth. “Goodnight, Juan.”
Juan gently squeezes my hand and says, “See ya, Marianne. On Monday.” He gently squeezed my hand again and then let go.
I smile back him and when I do see moon glow sparkle in his dark eyes. I start to speak. “Juan…”, but my words are choked off when my brain decides to stop working. I return to the smile when I get out of the car. The cool night air revives my brain: “See you guys on Monday! I had a great time! Thanks Mick and Jane. Bye Juan.”
I walk to the front door of my house. Mick waits for me to go in the house like my dad would. I turn and wave a goodbye and smile a smile that I think could be seen a mile away. I go in and shut the door. I lean back on the door. I feel that I had just begun living. I feel my heart racing. My head is swirling. I look at my left hand and I see his hand. I feel Juan’s pulse in my hand. I sense his heart beating as my own. The rush of romance feels like an unstoppable prayer.
Dad is sitting in his arm-chair watching his favorite movie Pork Chop Hill. He turns and sees me leaning against the door not moving. “Hey honey, how did it go tonight?”
“Dad, you would like the movie. There were a lot of guys fighting. I guess I’ll just go up to bed. Good night dad.”
“Goodnight, Sweetie. I love you.”
Now I know that I won’t fall asleep for the rest of my life. I will stay awake and be completely alive forever. I will think of Juan and how the movie gods looked down into the back seat of Mick’s Impala Caprice and made a musical out of me with a touch of his hand.
© Sally Paradise, 2010, All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
Cindy Wity 