by Lee Heaven
“Seventeen years,” I responded. Decker gave me a look and I knew he was questioning about my story of Ely last night. “No, Decker, it’s not because of Ely, it’s just a coincidence the time frame is the same.”
Detective Kelly asked, “Ely?”
“Ely was my best friend growing up. He was killed in a car accident seventeen years ago.”
“Oh I see. I’m sorry…can we go on with what happened last night?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. Where was I? We pulled up to the building. Decker explained that there would probably be more people here then outside the restaurant and they might be more aggressive. But when we pulled up it seemed like there were five hundred of them out there. The flashes seemed so bright. I couldn’t see. I followed Decker’s pull on my hand but I was suddenly grabbed and yanked backwards. I slipped from Decker’s grip and was circled by cameras. I could barely see Decker, he seemed like he was a mile away. I remember screaming his name a few times, but they kept getting closer yelling questions at me. I felt trapped. I couldn’t breathe and that’s when I hit the ground. After that I can’t recall anything till I woke in the elevator with everyone surrounding me and I yelled at that poor paramedic. Oh God, I should really apologize to him. I was so mean and snapped at him for no reason. Do you know his name?”
“I can get his info for you,” Detective Kelly said. “Well that seems to cover anything. I’ll file the report in the next few days and if you would like a copy it should be ready in ten days. In the mean time if there’s anything else you need or any more trouble please feel free to reach me.” He handed me another card and Decker showed him out.
Upon returning to the living room Decker sat on the couch next to me. “I wanna know the story about what started the panic attacks.”
“Decker, it’s not something I can live through right now. Plus when I tell you I’m sure you’re not going to want to talk to me.”
“What could be so bad that I would stop talking to you?” A pained look crossed his face and that muscle in his jaw flinched with anger. It was like he was mad that whatever happened to me was so painful more than the fact that I didn’t want to tell him.
He was so persistent. I hated talking about the day that ruined my life. I hated talking about my scars. I hated I had to deal with this almost for all most half my life and there will never be anything that could put that horrible day behind me. A day I just want to forget about.
“I know you will, everyone accept for Shawn has turned from me in disgust when I told my story and they have seen my scars. Shawn holds it over my head everyday and I couldn’t live with you turning against me. I couldn’t live without your friendship. Can we please just leave it at that right now?”
“Fine, but I will hear the story soon and you will see that I won’t walk away from you. Nothing could be so bad for that to happen.” I can tell he wasn’t happy. I can tell he wanted to press the issue to hear the story. But I can’t live with him knowing.
Decker, if you only knew you would run fast. Someone like me could never live in your world.
“What do you want to do today?”
“Hmmm…know anywhere we can get some good chocolate and maybe see a matinee show on Broadway?”
“Baby, anything for you. But are you sure, that means more chances of having cameras shoved in our face. Can you handle that after last night?”
There he goes with calling me baby again. Where did this come from? I love the way it sounds coming out of his mouth. Fuck! There I go again thinking things I shouldn’t.
“Decker, I think right now a show in the dark where no one can see me might be the only thing that calms me. Can we see Phantom of the Opera? I’ve always wanted to see it, but can never get anyone to go with me.” I was bouncing in my seat like a toddler hoping he would say yes.
“Sure let me call the box office and see if we can get tickets. Plus that’s a good theater to be dropped off and picked up right at the curb, it’s only a few feet.”
“I’m going to go get ready,” I yelled as I headed down the hall to my room.
~~~
“Oh, Decker, I’m so sorry. I ruined it,” I said as I walked back into the living room.
“What, what’s the matter? What did you ruin?” Decker responded in a concerned tone.
“The purse from last night! It’s covered in blood. I’m so sorry!”
“Sarah, relax it’s just a purse,” he said as he took it from me looking at the blood stains.
“Yeah, a $400 purse. That’s a lot of money.”
“It’s fine. Let’s drop it at the dry cleaners on the way out and see if it can be cleaned. If not, I’ll get you a new one to replace it.”
“Decker, no! I cannot accept it. Any of that stuff.” That was just way too much money for me to accept. Plus I would never have any use out of it. It would all just sit there in my closet collecting dust because I never go anywhere.
“Ok, let’s just take it to the dry cleaners first. Then I have a surprise for you,” he said as we walked out the door for the elevators.
We head out a back entrance trying to avoid the cameras. Thankfully there was no one there. We head around the corner toward Central Park.
“We don’t have much time. So we’ll go get something to eat after the show.”
Looking at Decker I wearily reply, “Okay.” I know he’s up to something; we have over two hours before the show starts.
There is a small dry cleaner half a block down. The tiny old Chinese woman behind the counter is grinning ear to ear. She knows who Decker is but is not calling him out or asking for photos. She just loves the fact that he’s there. I am beginning to love this woman for her nonchalant attitude. She insists she should be able to get all the blood out and the purse should be good as new.
Decker’s phone rang as she was filling out the ticket. He crossed the small little lobby and stood by the door.
As I stared at him with a smile on my face, I feel a small warm hand on mine. “You love him, no?”
“Oh no, ma’am, it’s not like that.”
“Lee, no ma’am. And yes you love, and he you,” she spoke in broken English.
“Lee. No, were just friends.” I answered back with a smile.
“I see it in the eyes, eyes do not lie. You good for him. You tame him. He heal you broken heart. You heartbroken way too long. Pretty girl with sad heart, big man with big heart will help.”
Gapping at her I feel a hand settle on my back. “How are things going?”
“All done, Mr. Decker,” Lee responds and hands him his ticket. “Be ready in three days.”
Wait. Does she know him? Does he come here often? He could I guess it’s around the corner.
“I think I love her,” I say looking back and smiling as we walked out the door.
“I do too. She’s like a grandmother. She’s so sweet and funny. She’ll tell you how it is or what she thinks and most the time she’s right.”
So he did know her. I could see it, using a dry cleaner just down the street from where he lived only made sense.
“Where are we going?” I questioned as we walked down the block.
“Right there,” he said as he points across the street.
I look where he is pointing and there next to a pretzel street cart is a beautiful horse and buggy. The short chubby old man raises a hand and waves at Decker.
“Oh you have to be kidding right. All my years of coming into the city I have never rode in one. I have always wanted to.” I practically skip down the rest of the sidewalk tugging on Decker’s hand as if we couldn’t get there fast enough.
“I know. I heard you muttering to yourself one day as you stared out the window back in the apartment. You didn’t know I had hobbled in, but I heard you and wanted to make a dream come true for you.”
“Oh, Decker! You are way too much to be real. Can we get some pretzels and hot cocoa too?”
How he surprises me with the little things is always a wonder.
Will it always be this way? Wait it can’t always be this way. We’re just friends and in two weeks my job is over.
“Sarah, this is Bob. He will be our driver for the next hour. Bob, this lovely lady is Sarah.”
“Nice to meet you, Bob,” I said extending my hand to shake his.
“Ciao Bella,” Bob greets me as he plants a kiss on the back of my hand.
“Signore sei un incantatore.” I giggle back telling him he is a charmer.
“Bellezza è destinata ad essere lusingato,” he responds back telling me that beauty is worth being flattered.
Decker has a look of shock on his face. I start to giggle at him. “Relax, Decker. We’re only talking about you.” I tease since I know he has no idea what we are saying.
“Un momento, per favore. Vorrei ottenere un pretzel e caldo coco.” I smile at Bob as I walk toward the pretzel cart, leaving a stunned Decker to figure out what is going on.
I return with three pretzels and two hot cocoas. Decker helps me into the carriage and we settle back. Bob hands us a blanket and Decker drapes it over our legs. I hand Decker one of the cups and pretzel.
Looking at me funny he said, “You’re going to eat two of them?”
I had to giggle at the look on his face, it was like he couldn’t actually believe I was going to eat two pretzels without him having to force feed me. “No, you have yours. This one is mine.” I say pointing to the two of our pretzels. “And this one,” pointing at the one sitting in a wrapped napkin on my lap, “is for us to share.”
“Ok,” he answered my explanation with a smile. “Where did you learn Italian?” I knew he was going to question my Italian.
“My neighbor Joey growing up. Nonna, his grandmother, lived with them. His parents worked a lot so Nonna took care of him and his brothers. She was from old country Italy. She understood English but only spoke a few words. If you wanted to have a conversation with her it had to be in Italian. Plus when you did something wrong and she was yelling and punishing you, which all our parents allowed her to do because everyone loved Nonna, you needed to know what the crime and punishment was.”
“She sounds wonderful.” He smiled like he was thinking of his own grandmother.
“She really was. I miss her dearly. She passed away about eight years ago.”
“She ever punish you?” Decker asked, taking a bite of his pretzel.
I busted out laughing. “Oh God yes. I can still remember the first time, I was twelve years old. All of us neighborhood kids would gather to play ghost in the graveyard during the summer. Well one night my neighbor, Joey, and I ran off to hide together. We were crouched in his backyard hiding behind stacked deck chairs. The person looking for us must have walked by like ten times. We shifted to hide a little better and he was crouched behind me with his hands around my waist. Something so causal, something we had probably done a thousand times when we hid together over the years.
“We can hear everyone screaming that we won, they give up, come out. I twisted so we were face to face. We were debating about coming out and still giggling because everyone kept walking past us. That’s when he kissed me. It was the first kiss for both of us. Neither of us knew what we doing and our teeth kept bumping. Nonna walked out the sliding door to have a cigarette just as his hand came up to my little boob. We had no idea she was there until she started yelling.”
“Wow, so Nonna caught you in the middle of not only your first kiss but your first make out session. Wow that must have been so embarrassing.” Decker was laughing, such a beautiful sound out of him.
“Embarrassing is not quite the word I would use. It was so much more than that. I think I was redder then a lobster. Sweetly Joey had stood up and placed himself in between Nonna and me as if trying to protect me, but it was too late, Nonna was on a roll. She was screaming about how a girl’s first kiss should be with her husband. This is where her old Italian beliefs came in, and how the only man who was suppose to be touching my body was my husband. By this time all the other kids had started to gather behind Nonna to listen to the berating being thrown down on us. She must have yelled for twenty minutes. She then looked at us, Joey standing in front of me, holding my hand, and me with my face buried in his back. And what seemed like a whisper and yell in one she says ‘si sta per sposare e presto.’ Everyone gasped. I mean we were twelve years old what did we know.”
“What does that mean? What did she tell you?” Decker asked confused.
Bob sat on the front of the carriage laughing and shaking his head. Half turning his head he said, “Mr. Decker, it means they were to be married and they were to do it soon.”
I watched as Decker’s mouth dropped and he processed what was just said. It was funny to see him so speechless for a few minutes. “Married? Wait you were twelve years old, that’s not even legal here. This Nonna was batty,” Decker exclaimed in shock.
Laughing at him. “Decker, I know that, but you must understand Nonna was very old country and set in her ways, laws or no laws. She was married at thirteen and saw no issues in us being married. It was how it was done back home. Before we knew what was going on she was reaching in behind the sliding door and grabbing the phone on the wall and calling the priest.
“From the way Nonna was arguing with the priest we could understand he was refusing to marry us because of our age and it was against the law. We were beginning to think the priest was caving in because she said August twenty-first at three. Thankfully Joey’s mom pulled up at that point and saw me crying and him trying to console me. He quickly explained what happened and what Nonna was up to. His mom quickly went to get Nonna off the phone and fix things. Thankfully, she was able to talk Nonna out of the thought of us getting married but didn’t save us from a good tongue lashing. Needless to say we both wound up grounded for a week.”
Decker and I just laughed. We continued to talk and enjoyed the short ride around the park.
Bob had stopped the carriage almost in the same spot we started and had climbed down to help us out. Decker climbed out first and held his hand out for me.
Turning I kiss Bob on the cheek and said, “Grazie, Bob. Tutto era meraviglioso. Spero di farlo di nuovo presto.” Letting him know how wonderful everything was and that we would be back soon.
“Ogni volta che la mia bella signora,” Bob said back to me while kissing my hand again, telling me to come back anytime. “Have a good day, Mr. Decker.”
“You too, Bob,” Decker replied while shaking the man’s hand a slipping him some cash.
Directing me toward the cab waiting just in front of Bob, Decker says, “Come let’s go see our show then have some dinner and get you some food.”
~~~
As the lights rose in the theater tears filled my eyes. “Oh I have never seen something as magical as that. That is the most wonderful show I have ever seen.”
A theater attendant leaned over and whispered something in Decker’s ear. He nodded at the attendant then turned to me holding my arm at the elbow. “Let’s hold back a few minutes. Let the crowd clear out a little,” he said.
“There’s cameras out there waiting for us right?” I question nervously.
“Yes. It’s only twenty feet from the door to the curb and the theater has put up blockade ropes to keep them back and they have called a car for us, which is waiting. But I don’t want to get caught in the crowd and get stuck.”
“That’s a good idea. However instead of waiting in here can we go into the lobby and look at the souvenir counter.” I gave him my best puppy dog eyes.
I think if I didn’t stop him Decker would have bought me one of everything at the counter. He wouldn’t stop; it was like he wanted me to have everything there. He settled for just getting me a program, an iTunes certificate for all the songs recorded by the cast, and even though I protested he got me the Phantom Monkey Music Box.
Secretly I was happy he bought it for me, I loved it! It would always serve as a reminder of the weekend I was able to spend with him. Even if I never
saw him again I would hold this weekend as one of the highlights of my life.
“Come, let’s go to dinner, the crowd has seemed to lighten up. We should be able to get to the car with no problem now,” I said.
I grabbed my coat off the counter. Decker took it from me and held it up so I could put it on. Walking toward the door I can see the look of terror beginning to seep into Decker’s eyes. Grabbing his hand I said, “I’m good. Look its wide open. The staff and police have the crowd held back and the driver has the door open and waiting.”
“Are you sure?” Decker’s voice was full of worry.
“Come, I’m starving. Where are we eating?” I wasn’t as nervous as I was last night, having the police and staff hold back the crowd so we could get to the car made it somehow less of a threat, less of a panic situation. As long as no one broke the barrier and came charging at me I could do this. It felt like when we left the restaurant last night, they were there but didn’t invade my personal area.
Just smile and walk as quickly and gracefully to the car as you can. You’ll be fine. Smile, yeah make sure to smile.
I opened the door and pushed out. I stepped out and the bulbs started popping. I put on a smile and walked toward the car without losing a step even at the insistent yelling to look this way or that way or if I had a statement to make.
I slid into the car and across the back seat. Decker stopped at the door and I assume it was to let the driver know where we were going for dinner. Then he slide in next to me,
“So where are we going for dinner?” I asked again.
“It’s a surprise,” he said as he took my hand and wrapped his fingers around mine. I couldn’t help but stare at our hands intertwined with each others. The heat was leaving a tingly sensation that stretched from my finger tips and up my arm.
“Please tell me. One more surprise from you and I think I’ll faint.”
“Nope,” he said as he brought my hand up and kissed the back of it.
Oh God I think I’m going to faint if he continues to touch me.
