Oh great! This was freaking wonderful! I got out of the car, and slammed the door. I looked at it for a long time, cursing it since it had just broken down on me. I kicked the car, and then looked around. I cursed myself also, for not buying a new car; this piece of junk was always breaking down on me. I began to walk, I wasn’t that far from my house, but the gas station was closer, and I needed someone to come get my car started.
I was looked at as I walked, and got a few comments, like, “hey Jess, your car broke again, “ followed by laughter and me playfully given them the middle finger. Though, the walk wasn’t that far, the humidified heat of Kansas City had already begun and I had to take frequent stops to rest. On one of my stops I heard a voice, directed at me.
“Hey! Hey, why you walking down here?”
I turned my head and saw an older black woman sitting on her front porch. I smiled at her as I addressed her.
“My car broke down again Miss Vera; I was heading to the gas station.”
“You don’t have a cell phone? You really shouldn’t be walking down here by yourself.”
I waved my hand to dismiss her statement.
“No I don’t have a cell phone, can’t stand them.”
‘Why don’t you come up here and sit, Hon, I’ll get you a glass of tea, you look like you gonna pass out and it’s far too hot to try to be walking.”
My smile broadened at the invite, and I gladly walked through the gate and up the stairs to the front porch. I watched the woman go into the run-down house and back out with a glass of iced tea. I hated tea of any kind, but I wasn’t going to impose on Miss Vera who had been so kind, and I sipped at it.
“We ain’t got a phone or you could use it to call whoever could come get you.”
“I know Miss Vera. I’ll resume walking here in a minute.”
“No you won’t! You ain’t walking in this heat, besides there’s way too many men out here.”
I laughed and shook my head. Miss Vera always complained that there were far too many young men on these streets and that all they wanted to do was get there hands around a girl, and she’d point her finger at me and look over the top of her glasses and say, “especially a pretty white girl like you.”
“Well, you ain’t walking no more.”
When Miss Vera spoke, everyone listened.
“I understand Ma’am, but I do have to get home.”
“That’s fine, Eric’ll be getting off work soon, and he’ll drive you home after he takes me to work or take you to your car and get it started.”
“Oh I couldn’t impose like that.”
I smiled at the bringing up of Eric’s name. We’d known each other since high school, and I had always had a secret crush on him. I would have tried to make him mine, but my family would have never allowed it, and now that we were older, he had a girlfriend, and so my crush just stayed were it was.
“Don’t you worry your head about it. He’ll do it.”
I nodded and sipped my tea. She mainly held the conversation, talking about Eric, and how proud she was that he didn’t turn out to be one of the no good thugs that lived around here, but went to work everyday and helped her with the bills and the house. She apologized for having us sit out in the heat, but all they had were window units to cool the house, and they didn’t work very well. I told her it was alright, I didn’t mind sitting outside.
Soon, her beloved son showed up. As he walked up to the front porch from the drive his eyes stayed steady on me.
“Hi Momma.”
“Hey Baby, we got a guest.”
“I see that.”
“Your car break down again, Jess?”
He gave me a big smile, and I smiled back.
“Yeah, it did.”
“Where were you going?”
“I was trying to walk to the gas station when your Momma stopped me.”
“Yeah, too hot to walk up there.”
We said nothing more to each other, but our eyes lingered a few minutes more, until he looked back at his mother. “Hmmm….well, you better get on and get ready for work.”
“I know, I know, hey you gonna take her home.”
His eyes went from me to his mother, and he laughed.
“Guess I’m going to have to.”
I smiled.
“Or you could come fix my car, so I could drive it home.”
He shook his head.
“I ain’t a mechanic woman!”
He gave me a wink, and I giggled.
“Fine, I’ll just get someone else to do it.”
“You just need to leave that piece of shit where it is and get a new one.”
“You gonna give me the money for a new car.”
“Better look somewhere else for that too.”
Eric’s mother slapped her chair, and stood up.
“Alright you too, no more bickering! C’mon, ya’ll come on in. I gotta change, and it should be cool enough in the house now to stand sittin’ in it.”
We followed her into the house, and she directed me to sit on a couch. The inside of the house looked much better than the outside. She and her son took good care of what they had. She left, going down a hall, and came back shortly in a grocery store smock, white shirt, and black pants.
“All right, now you just make yourself comfy there, Sweetie, and Eric’ll be back in a few to take you home. Here, here’s the remote, you can watch some TV while you wait.”
I thanked her and turned it on. I flipped it to the local news station as Eric and his Mother left. I felt a little funny sitting in their home without anyone else, but she had kept me there so long that I had no other choice.
Eric came back in about ten minutes, and took the remote from my hand. He flipped the station to MTV, and began to watch videos.
“I thought you were going to take me home.”
“I’ll take you home, but damn it’s hot out there, and my car ain’t got no air conditioning. So, let’s watch some videos and after awhile I’ll take you home.”
“Okay, but I’m getting kinda hungry.”
He looked at me in mock annoyance, and then smiled.
“Me too. Go fix me something to eat woman!”
“I ain’t your woman.”
I winked at him, and he gave off a loud laugh.
“Okay, but still go fix me something to eat.”
