A Wrong Turn Towards Love (6 page)

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The first crack of dawn fell onto the two sleeping figures; arms and legs all a-tangle. The sun was high in the sky before Bodie finally woke up from his cozy slumber.

He grimaced. His back ached, his neck was stiff and his jaw was sore. On top of that he had to piss like a racehorse. But then he stared down at Shaun all cuddled up against him, mouth slack and soft snores escaping and his grimace turned into a grin.

“Shaun, baby.” He gently kissed her neck and shoulder.

“Hmmm.” She stirred.

“Wake up, baby. We need to get up. It’s late in the day.”

She sat up suddenly, completely awake. “Oh…I thought I was dreaming.” Then she smiled. “It was a good dream.”

Bodie looked away unable or unwilling to speak aloud the words that described his feelings about last night. After an awkward moment he stood up on stiff legs and for the first time Shaun got to admire his nude body in all its glory. Damn…he was…damn…

He walked a short piece into the woods and relieved himself. Shaun wasn’t that brave and didn’t want to risk exposing herself to anymore creepy crawlies than what had probably already skittered over her while she slept, so she quickly dressed and found a place to crouch and pee. When she returned to the campsite Bodie had his clothes on and was bringing up his boots.

She knelt down beside him and looked out at the beauty of the surrounding forest. “I never thought I’d say this. But I’m going to miss these woods.”

Bodie paused and looked at her. In that moment there were so many things that he wanted to say to her, to ask her…maybe he was crazy to want it…so in the end he just nodded and finished tying his boots.

Shaun stood up uncertainly and looked for something to do. She kicked dirt on the remnants of last nights fire even though it was dead cold. She wondered if Bodie had any regrets about last night. Maybe the finger in the ass had been too much for him…

“Well,” he said, standing. “I guess we’re ready.”

They were silent as he searched for their reverse trail. Shaun didn’t want to break his concentration, but she so wanted to ask if last night had meant as much to him as it had to her.

She had never experienced anything so powerful or fulfilling. Making love with Bodie had been like experiencing everything for the first time. It was as if she had been walking through life in black and white and then suddenly color had been introduced.

She knew that she couldn’t just walk away from Bodie completely. But how did he feel? Was he just another good ol’ boy that had made the best of an opportunity to take a dip on the black side? Maybe he liked his all-white world up here on the mountain. The idea that last night was nothing more then slam-bam-thank you ma’am chilled her.

So in the end she didn’t ask.

They got back to the truck in the late morning. Shaun was filled with trepidation as they approached it, but nothing seemed out of order. Bodie found a hastily scribbled note on his steering wheel.

Bodi

Lets say we forget about all this? No harm no foul. Tell that lady we are sorry. If you want me to pay to fix any bodywork to your truck I will just be bringing it to your garage anyway. Sully will be in jail for killing my brother so you will not be able to beat a hole in his ass for shooting at you. But I pretty much took care of that myself.

-Derrick

Bodie was laughing so hard he couldn’t read the note to Shaun so he just passed it to her.

She, on the other hand, was not amused.

“I don’t believe this.” She was shaking her head. “That’s it?! I’m sorry for terrorizing you, for almost kidnapping you, for shooting at you, and sending you on a high speed car chase; we just made a mistake?!”

“Shaun-”

“No, Bodie!” She pointed at him. “It ain’t okay! I want off this fucking mountain, out of this back wood state and back to Chicago where everybody is normal!”

Bodie started the truck. “You want some coffee first? Get cleaned up-?”

“No! I don’t want any coffee. I don’t want you to drive me to Richmond. I want to go back to the bus station, cash in my ticket and buy another one back to Chicago! Where’s my purse?!” She found it on the floor and searched it for her ticket. “I hate this stupid-ass place!” she muttered and then stared out the window with tears welling up in her eyes.

Bodie drove back to town silently, peeking at her often but seeing nothing but rage on her face.

He pulled up to the bus station in the exact same spot where they had fought off the Klan the day before.

Shaun barely waited for the truck to come to a full stop before she climbed out of it. She hurried to the entrance of the bus station and before pushing the door open she glanced over her shoulder at him one last time. Then she disappeared.

Bodie silently fumed. He ripped open the glove box and retrieved his pack of cigarettes. He smoked it trying to calm his anger. When it was down to the butt he threw it out the window and then peeled out of the parking lot still angry.

Chapter 7

Bodie was working on the engine of Toady Allen’s car. Toady was forever buying junkers for two and three hundred bucks and then expecting Bodie to work miracles. Rebuilding the carburetor wasn’t going to do it. Nothing short of a new engine was going to keep this thing running.

He slammed the hood and fished a rag out of the back pocket of his coveralls and wiped his hands.

It was after nine and he had already sent Pete and Bobby home. He locked up his garage and got into his new car, which was actually older than him. It was a black 1968 Dodge Charger that he had rebuilt over the course of the last six months.

He’d gotten rid of his truck. Somehow his tastes had changed.

At home he took a bath and had a couple of sandwiches then he decided to head over to Stubby’s to unwind. He turned the radio where it was set to a classic R&B channel and grooved to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.

The bootleg joint had the same old crowd that was always there each night and they made room for Bodie. Laura came over to stand beside him. He hid a grimace when she tried picking up on him.

To her credit she was what all the good ol’ boys wanted, but Bodie’s flavor had changed.

Over the months, all he could seem to think about were full brown breasts and a certain someone’s succulent lips. None of the girls that had ever interested him before could do so much as to cause him to raise an eyebrow anymore.

Weeks after Shaun’s unceremonious departure from the mountain a half angry Bodie had gone down to Richmond and bought a porno; Black chicks that love white dicks. He watched it until his balls were chaffed. A month later he had charged into the Sherriff’s office and demanded that Lloyd run Shaun’s plates to find out where she lived. He’d sat on the information that came back for another month before he finally tried contacting her.

He wrote a letter and it was the first time that he had ever told any woman that he dreamed of her constantly…

The letter was returned; Undeliverable. No forwarding address found. Yeah, maybe that was a good thing. You don’t write in a letter that you were scared…You don’t admit to a sheet of paper that you had fucked up because it had been so long since you had felt anything…

“Bodie?” Laura called. “Earth to Bodie?”

“Huh?” He looked at the pretty redhead with the striking green eyes that generally captivated any man that she set them on. “I’m sorry. My mind must have wandered.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “Most men don’t say that when I’m around.”

He didn’t have a polite come back to that so he just stayed quiet and after a moment Laura stormed away. Bodie ordered another beer and contemplated the nature of his life on this mountain.

“Well will you look at that…”Merle said from his place behind the bar. JD turned in his stool to look at what had Merle so dumbfounded.

“Fuck me with a stick.” JD said in shock. Then he looked at Bodie. As a matter of fact everyone in the bar was looking at Bodie. Bodie pulled himself out of his reverie at the sudden quiet, he turned and looked over his shoulder at the entrance to the bar.

Standing in the doorway was a very pretty, petite black woman with a very large, very pregnant belly.

Bodie’s jaw dropped.

“Bodie, you better go see about your business.” Merle chuckled. And then everyone was good-naturedly razing him.

Of course everybody on the mountain had heard about the two of them tooling around town together and when Bodie’s temper soured they had all speculated on the reason--had even made jokes at his expense, which soured him even more. But now the focus of that speculation was standing right there in the doorway of a redneck joint, in exactly the spot she had stood over eight months ago.

The petite black woman placed her hands on top of the swell of her belly and sighed as she stared pointedly at Bodie. He scrambled to stand on legs that were now as shaky as Jello. He thought he was going to hit the floor with his first step but somehow he was standing before her.

Her eyes narrowed. “Bodie…whatever your last name is, I just want to know whether or not you’re going to take care of your responsibilities.”

A few people hooted and he shot them a look filled with fire, which quieted the room again.

“Shaun…you’re…” he gestured to her belly.

“Having a baby,” she completed his sentence.

“How many months—oh…I guess I should know that right? It is-?”

“Yours? Yes,” she concluded for him.

He felt faint. “Okay.” With hands that shook slightly he helped her inside and got her seated at a table far away from his friends at the bar. Once they were seated he didn’t remove his hand from hers and the stern look on her face suddenly shattered and her eyes softened as she gripped his big hand.

“Oh Bodie, I’m so sorry! I was really scared,” she said rapidly, not caring about the audience that watched in rapt interest. “I wanted to come so many times-“

“Shaun-“

“I know that being scared was no reason to act the way I did but I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to you-”

“Shaun.” She quieted and looked at him with teary eyes. “I missed you so damn much. I tried to find you. I sent you letters and they all came back undeliverable-”

She quickly perked. “That’s because Craig and I found a bigger place because of the baby. You…tried to find me, Bodie?”

“Yes.” He took her other hand and leaned in close to her, staring deeply into her dark eyes. “Shaun I wanted to tell you how sorry I was that I didn’t wake up that morning and take you in my arms and tell you how wonderful I thought you were-”

“Bodie,” she whispered as she stared deep into his hazel eyes.

“I wanted to but I didn’t,” he continued, “and it wasn’t because you’re black…I thought later that you might think that, but that wasn’t it. It was just because I’ve been by myself for so long and I truly don’t know how…how to be with you.”

“Oh Bodie! I’m sorry. Every single night since I’ve left I am haunted by how horrible I was. I was scared and I…I was just lashing out!”

“I am so sorry I let you go off like that alone. I knew you were scared, honey. I should have never let you go like that-”

“I was a bitch to you-”

He gave her a stern look. “Hey, don’t call my baby’s mama a bitch. She is a remarkably brave woman.” His frown deepened. “Who makes some crazy decisions—like driving up in these mountains after dark.” He shuddered at the thought of her navigating some of the dangerous turns and sudden drop-offs on those dark winding roads
. 

She smiled. “One thing about your baby’s mama is that she is very impulsive. Sometimes she will get a crazy idea in her head and nothing can change her mind.”

“What crazy idea did she get in her head this time?”

“That Chicago isn’t the best place to raise a baby.”