Living in a small town there's not much to do. Drinking and riding the strip is our way of having a good time. Occasionally a trip to the Mall may afford you an opportunity to meet a fresh face, but for the most part the people there are the people you see everyday.
My sister June works at the Mall and she use to always come home telling me about the people she would encounter at the little accessory shop where she worked. One day she came home and told me about this guy who came in to get his ear pierced. She said he was an old Black guy, maybe in his late thirties. I know that's not old, but my sister was only 18 at the time and to her that was old.
According to her when he came in he reeked of alcohol, he told her he always wanted to wear an earring, but his ex-wife wouldn't let him get one. But now that he was divorced, he was ready to wear one. But in order to do it, he told her he had to take down a couple of drinks to get up the courage to go through with it.
Two weeks later she mentioned him again, this time she talked about how often he was at the mall. She had seen him there several times with his three kids. At least she assumed they were his kids. He was always wearing a suit and tie or a shirt and tie. We knew by his attire he wasn't from around here.
Black guys around here just didn't dress like that. Dressing up around here entails taking off your jeans and replacing them with sweat pants. So he really stood out. I could tell she was starting like him, instead of referring to him as that "drunk guy", she was now calling him that "good looking guy."
One day I went to the mall to visit her, I walked in through the back entrance, the entrance employees usually come in and out of. But I used it as a short cut to her shop. The long hallway led to a door, which opened to the mall. When I opened the door, I noticed a older Black man sitting on a bench with three kids, and he was wearing a suit.
He was bald and the lights shinning down from the mall's ceiling reflected upon his head created an aura of light around him. Like a spot light shinning on the star of a Broadway play.
"Hello, how are you?" he said to me.
"Fine, how are you?" I said.
"I'm doing fine."
"That's good."
I was wearing a tight pair of Pepe jeans and I know his eyes were focused on my butt as I walked past him. I entered my sister's shop and she immediately hurried up to me.
"He's here, that guy I've been telling you about." she said.
"Where is he?" I said.
We walked to the doorway and she pointed him out to me. It was him, the bald Black man sitting on the bench. I shot the bull with my little sis for twenty minutes. She was like a little school girl as she went on and on about him. I had to admit he was looking delicious as he sat under the light, but on the other hand I thought he may have a little too old for my little sister.
After listening to her and talking for several more minutes my throat was feeling dry from talking so much, so I decided to go buy me a coke. There was a little popcorn shop diagonal to my sister's shop, so I headed for it. As I was heading to buy my coke, I noticed the "good looking guy" (my sister's name for him) standing at a kiosk in the center of the mall, he was looking at jewelry.
We made eye contact. At that moment he was looking even better than he was when I first saw him. Standing up he hovered over the tiny lady at the kiosk. He gave me a wow moment as I was taken back by how tall he was. Part of me was hoping he would approach me, but there was a side of me that didn't, that side of me wanted him to talk to my sister. But as my luck would have it, he approached me.
"Hey, what's up?" he said.
"Nothing much, just going to buy a coke." I said.
"Can I buy you a coke?"
"Sure you can, that's very nice of you."
"No problem, it's my pleasure."
He pulled out a wad of cash that was thick as hell. It took him what seemed like forever to locate the one dollar bills. Obviously he was trying to impress me with his money, but little did he know that turned me off. I asked him if the three kids were his. He said they were and he likes to bring them to the mall to shop and eat ice cream. I looked over his shoulders and saw the three of them across the way at the ice cream shop eating away.
"So what's your name?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, my name is Wendy. What's yours?" I said.
"My name is Dwight and I'm pleased to meet you Wendy."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Dwight."
I told him he should go in and have a talk with my sister. With a puzzled look on his face he wanted to know why. I told him I thought she may like him, and he should go in and maybe ask her out on a date.
I watched him walk to my sister's shop and as he did I wonder if I had done the right thing. For a split second I wanted to stop him and ask him to go out with me, but I didn't. With my coke in hand I walk passed my sister's shop, Dwight was inside talking with my sister and I continued my shopping.
I found out from my sister when she got home that she gave him our number and agreed to go out with him that Friday. For two days the only thing my sister talked about was their pending date.