17

When I got home I witnessed the first miracle of my life. Jennifer, stripped of any surface anger, was sitting on my porch steps with her legs crossed. I sat down next to her and tried to say the first word, but she beat me to the punch.

“Jamal told me what you did for him and how you gave him a second chance,” she told me, unable to yet look me in the eye. “He also told me that I should give you a second chance because you are the most messed-up person he’s ever met.”

“What did you say?” I quietly asked.
“I told him how my father was a drug dealer and that when I was five both of my parents were murdered when one of his deals went bad. I told him that I could tell he was a good man and to stop pretending to be somebody he wasn’t.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I had no idea about your parents.”
A single tear rolled down Jennifer’s cherubic cheek and I embraced her, holding her tight. This was her dark secret and as much as I felt terrible for her loss and apparent lifelong pain, I couldn’t help but feel an incredible sense of relief and joy that she was back in my life. The tender flame I was trying to forget only a short time ago now burned like a fiery furnace. She placed her soft hands on each of my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes, penetrating my soul with her gentle gaze. I met them with a look of love, which beamed from my core like a homing beacon. I was so happy and so in the moment that I couldn’t stop a tear of my own from escaping.
“I’m sorry for what I did. It will never…“

Jennifer put her hand over my mouth before I could finish and said, “Jamal told me what you said to him and I’m choosing to believein you. And now I would like to take that ride that you promised me.”

I pulled the magical key to the Ferrari out of my pocket and we waltzed over to the car and took the top down. It was a bright and warm day, the perfect weather for a sun-soaked drive to the ocean.

“I feel kind of embarrassed about crying earlier,” I told her, already on the road. “I haven’t shed a single tear since I was ten.”
“What happened when you were ten?” she asked me.
“My father beat the crap out of me for throwing a kid’s tricycle in the pond behind our house. Man, did I take a beating that day.”
Jennifer laughed out loud and I joined in. I drove slowly through the crowded streets of the city’s suburbs. Jennifer observed how everybody was staring at the car as it drove by them and I told her that she was mistaken and that the many envious eyes were looking at her. She smiled and in that smile I learned what Mr. Gold meant by giving up all of your wants in the face of love. The only want I had was to see Jennifer happy and to be witness to that mesmerizing smile for the rest of my life.
Soon we were on the highway and Jennifer could tell I was holding back from driving the car fast.
“C’mon, c’mon. You promised.”
I pressed the pedal to the floor and the white lines on the road now burned like a fuse, blaring by in a hypnotic state. I shifted the car into its highest gear, sending all the needles to the far right of the dials. The Ferrari cut through the lower atmosphere like a black meteor launched from the bowels of the city.
Jennifer was exhilarated and she kept looking over at me intermittently and smiling and laughing. The smashing wind was blowing her hair wildly about, snapping in her face like miniature bullwhips. Jennifer would often stick her arm outside of the car and enjoy the effect of it being hurled backwards as we raced forward. Everything I was experiencing was now through Jennifer’s eyes. Everything she was seeing for the first time I, too, was seeing for the first time.
Our journey seemed to fly by as we swam in each other’s excitement and before I knew it we were in Maine, spotting signs for the various beaches that stretched along the coastline. We took an early exit from the highway, eager to see the water. Upon leaving the high speed world of the interstate, we reached a quiet interlude and enjoyed a rush of silence, idling in the ripe country air that nipped at our noses like a hyperactive puppy. I leaned over to Jennifer and lightly kissed her lips and she returned a warm smile.
Within minutes we were slowly passing through green space, surrounded on all sides by fields and pastures. We breezed by boys who peered at the car and cows who were immune. By mothers who took clothes off of the line and fathers who lowered the stars and stripes. By an old man on a rocking chair, unmoved and by an old refrigerator in the yard, nobly rusting away. I drove for several long stretches and pulled to the side of the road when the camel-colored sands of the beaches appeared. It was dusk and all of the freckled sunbathers had left and moved on to their evening activities. We stepped out of the car and stumbled across the sand. Jennifer was staring at the ocean with large eyes and anticipation. I took her hand and we walked to the edge of the water. There we both immediately fell into the undertow of an amiable breeze. The ocean air filled our nostrils as the endless waves were lapping the shore. Jennifer’s eyes sizzled with a sparkling green light.
“Close your eyes,” she said.
I shut my eyes with my thoughts still on the green electricity I saw radiating from Jennifer’s eyes. On the backside of my eyelids the darkness became celestial space and the white sparkles became glistening stars. I looked on with amazement at the heavenly lights and felt a cosmic presence all around me. I found myself amongst an invisible orchestra and the song playing was the music of the spheres. Jennifer’s poem became a reality for me and for the first time I understood everything about her hidden world that she couldn’t describe to me. Jennifer was right. The universe was bare and bountiful.
We opened our eyes at the very same time. Jennifer’s face was wet from the ocean mist and I kissed her and she kissed me back, sending my heart into love-fueled palpitations. The woman of my dreams, soft and sensitive, circled the top of my tongue with hers and instantly ignited the pilot light to my sexual soul. Our mouths erupted into each other’s and the voltage we released made my spirit soar. We continued to explore with our tongues, penetrating deeper and deeper. Drawn closer together, Jennifer and I see-sawed back and forth between her life force and mine, and I felt an incredible discharge of energy explode from the inner-most portion of my being. I lost track of everything—time, space and myself. I embraced all the beauty that swirled around me and I couldn’t resist telling her how I felt.
“I love you,” I said, whispering softly so not to disturb the moment.
Jennifer stood on her tiptoes and moved her lips up to my ear.
“I love you too,” she whispered back.
Life finally had meaning for me.
We moved to a stone wall built to stop beach erosion and sat in silence. We looked out into the vastness of the ocean and felt small in its presence. It seemed like time had stopped. I felt a return to a long-forgotten world, an awakened dream state and best of all, Jennifer was there beside me experiencing the same. She was my bridge to this wonderful state of being. Jennifer was my safe-cracker and combination provider, whether it was her angelic body giving me warmth beneath a disappearing sun or the enchanting smell of her long brown hair and the salty ocean mixing together.
I watched in slow motion as Jennifer’s starry eyes peered out into the never-ending rolling of the sea. I kissed her gently on the lips and inhaled the life-giving breath from her mouth. She looked at me with a soft, heart-melting warmth and it was at that moment I realized how deeply in love with each other we were and how we had become something beyond ourselves.
“Will you go away with me and start fresh?” I asked her. “We can make our home at my cabin in Pennsylvania and travel to beautiful places.”
“I will go,” she softly spoke, and we embraced and locked together in a kiss.
The drive home was slow and quiet, a peaceful exchange between two people caught up in romantic thoughts. Every so often she would hold my hand or I would reach for hers. Periodically I opened my window halfway and took in the fresh night air. On one quick turn of my head, I managed to get a glimpse of the summertime canopy of stars and I thanked the Heavens for Jennifer and life itself.
I dropped her off in front of her aunt’s house and walked her to the door. We kissed some more and decided that we would leave tomorrow for Pennsylvania instead of waiting. We had both done enough waiting in our lives.
“I should get going,” she said. “I have a lot of packing to do before tomorrow.”
“Me too,” I told her.
We kissed one last time and I had to force myself to walk away or we’d have stood on that porch until the sun came up. I waved goodbye as she entered her house and I headed to my apartment, parking the car in the driveway and running up the stairs eager to get my things thrown into a suitcase for my morning evacuation.
As I entered the front door I quickly found myself thrown down from the clouds and onto the hard wood floor, where frightened cockroaches scurried. Getman and three of his Nazi friends were waiting for me. I tried to defend myself at the start of their initial blows, but my roundhouses were no match for their stomping boots and lead pipes. They were hitting me everywhere at once and I genuinely feared for my life.
Sensing my anguish, Getman bent down to me and said, “Look at the last face you are going to see on this earth, you piece of shit nigger-lover. That’s right, I saw you hanging out with that black gang banger and now I’m going to send you to the same hell that he belongs in.”
I closed my eyes as the strikes continued against my body. If I was going to die, I wanted to picture Jennifer’s face instead of staring into Getman’s ugly mug. I was preparing for the worst when the pounding suddenly stopped. I heard the thunder of footsteps and guns being cocked. I opened my eyes and saw Jamal and three of his cohorts standing in the room like a firing squad, their weapons pointed at Getman and his baldheaded, racist friends. My four attackers were frozen in fear as the tables turned on them and they were now begging for their own lives.
“DON’T KILL THEM!” I shouted.
The Getman gang sighed in relief.
“That doesn’t mean I’m not going to have them crack your heads open, you dumb fuck,” I told Getman.
Jamal nodded to his friends, each bigger and meaner looking than the next and they wasted no time laying into Getman and his friends. Teeth, blood and tears were spilled all over my living room that night as four angry black men beat the snot out of four narrowminded white guys. For the most part it went down like any other bar room brawl, but there were a few times that I had to look away because the tenderized flesh of Getman made my stomach turn.
Jamal dragged a near-unconscious Getman over to where Charlie was curled up beneath the couch, pulled the snake out and squeezed its jaws so that its mouth opened wide. Jamal placed the snake’s fangs up against Getman’s neck and slapped Getman awake so that he knew what was happening. Getman pleaded for his life, but lucky for him, Charlie had no appetite for the Nazi and he returned to his spot underneath the couch after Jamal released him.
Jamal threw Getman towards the door as his three racist friends crawled out on their bellies, bloodied and beaten.
“Next time we’ll kill ya, ya Nazi fucks,” I heard one of Jamal’s friends say as they left my house.
Jamal came over and lifted me off of the ground.
“Been keeping an eye on you.”
“Well what took so long?” I said as I realized every part of my body was either aching or bleeding.
“I was thinking up my plan of attack,” he said, laughing at my weary state.
“I guess you do laugh more than I gave you credit for, huh?”
“I laugh at what’s funny, and you like this, it’s pretty damn funny, white boy.”
Jamal went into the bathroom and grabbed a towel, handing it to me so I could wipe the blood off of my face.
“Thanks,” I said. “And thanks for talking to Jennifer. You saved my life twice.”
“Crazy-ass white boy,” Jamal muttered.
Things were spinning out of control in the neighborhood and Getman’s gang was sure to retaliate eventually. I asked Jamal if he wanted to come to Pennsylvania with Jennifer and me, but he declined, saying he’d rather stay in Boston.
“How the hell are we going to do real estate if your ass isn’t around?” he asked me.
I smiled knowing that Jamal had taken me up on my offer.
“I’m going to set up an account for you at my bank,” I told him. We’ll start with one hundred-thousand. That should be enough for you to live on and to establish a line of credit in order to purchase your first property.”
“Damn!” he said, floored by my accounting. “That’s a lot of money!”
“It’s what you need to get this operation running, but don’t worry, I’ll be there every step of the way as your partner. In this day an age, with cell phones and what not, doing business with miles in between isn’t a hard thing to do.”
Jamal and I programmed each of our cell numbers into our phones and I informed him that I would set a meeting between him and my banker for that Monday afternoon. I knew I was taking a risk with Jamal, but it would hopefully keep him off of the street and out of trouble, while also giving him a foundation to build on. It was a hefty goal to achieve, but using my credit line to buy a starter property that he could refurbish in hopes of flipping for a pretty profit was one that I felt he could deliver on.
Jamal insisted on stationing two of his boys on the porch for the night in case Getman returned even though I felt it wasn’t necessary. We shook hands and he smiled at me for the first time.
“You be careful, you crazy-ass white boy. And take care of that beautiful lady.”
“I will. And you come to Pennsylvania and visit us soon.”
“I will.” Jamal nodded affirmatively.
After Jamal left, Mikey came running over with a hammer in his hand.
What’s going on?”
“Getman and his friends had a pipe fest on my body, but it’s all copasetic now, Mikey. You can put the hammer down.”
Mikey offered to take me to the hospital, but I was feeling as fit as a fiddle knowing that I was leaving with Jennifer in the morning. I did secretly hope that they didn’t cause any permanent damage to any of my bones or organs, and decided to just heat those parts that hurt the most. Hopefully I wouldn’t look too mangled the next day and Jennifer would still want to run away with me.
I told Mikey I was leaving and that I’d be a phone call away if needed me. He complained about having to hit the clubs solo and I offered him one last piece of advice before we parted.
“Wear some longer shorts next time you go to the gym,” I said with a laugh. “The world has seen enough of your balls.”
We hugged and Mikey left, not even realizing that he just did me a solid by proving that friendship is more than just what you can do for me.
I woke in the morning with butterflies in my stomach and ran to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and was surprised to find only a few small bruises on my face and a single black eye that was far worse in my mind. None of my bones appeared to be broken, a small victory in my opinion after the beating I took the night before. After I finished packing, I opened the back door and set Charlie free; lecturing him on those things he could and could not eat in the wild, namely Rocky. With my suitcases in hand, I grabbed a few peanuts from the mantle and stepped outside, leaving them by the squirrel’s water bowl. As I made my way down the stairs of my porch, I noticed Jennifer already standing by my car, suitcase in hand.
“Oh my God!” she said after noticing my face. “What happened to you?”
“It’s a long story,” I told her as I loaded our things into the car. “Let’s just say that Getman said goodbye to my face. But, we have a long drive ahead of us, so let’s save it for the road.”
After everything was packed into the car, including Jennifer, I looked at the house one last time.
“Good-bye, old friend,” I said to the house.
I smiled and jumped into the driver’s seat, leaning over to Jennifer and kissing her on the lips. I started the car and let the engine rumble, only to pull out of the driveway and then out of the city en route to our new home.

978-0-595-43253-0 0-595-43253-0