Dana picked me up sometime after nine in her parent’s car. I noticed right away that she was wearing lipstick. She caught me looking.
“Like it?”
“I’ve never seen you wear it before.”
“I know, I never do but I thought maybe I would tonight. I can wipe it off.”
“No, you don’t have to,” I looked right at her. “It looks nice.”
She smiled. “Thanks.”
At the party, Dana stayed with me the whole time and she didn’t drink much. It was a similar crowd to the last party I went to with her but this time she just didn’t seem that much into it. Her friends tried to convince her to try some mushrooms but she declined and they told her she was lame. She asked if I wanted to leave and I said yes because it sucked worse than last time.
Outside, the temperature was hot and the air humid as we walked along the sidewalk towards the Plymouth. Someone behind us started to make rude comments at Dana. I turned and a guy stepped out of the back lane. He gave me the finger and called Dana a terrible name. He was taller than me and easily weighed seventy pounds more than me in muscle alone. He looked like a football jock.
“Who’s your pussy friend?” he asked Dana, still walking towards us.
“None of your business,” she replied, trying to act tough, but I could see she was sick with fear.
I whispered to her, asking who this guy was. She took my hand in hers and said nothing. It was then I knew that this was the guy who had raped her.
“You better take off, pussy,” he said, glaring at me.
“You touch her and I’ll kill you.”
He stopped walking towards us. He took out a knife from his jacket pocket.
“Now you can leave superman or I’ll give this to ya.” He was rolling it around in his hand.
I couldn’t make out the guy’s face as it was still protected by the shadows of the buildings in the back lane. Suddenly there was a dull thud. The guy fell to his knees and then crashed forward, smacking his face painfully on the concrete. From behind him in the shadows came a short stout figure. It was the Beave. He looked like he was holding an old muffler pipe in his hand. He looked down at his handiwork.
“What a douche!” he said, then looked up at me smiling.
I eventually collected my wits. “What are you doing here?”
“Had some business downtown. You gonna go skate the Edge tomorrow?” He dropped the muffler pipe.
“Yeah,” I replied, dumbfounded
“Cool. See you there.” He disappeared again down the back lane.
“Who was that?” asked Dana, who was still holding my hand.
“A kid from school. I think.”
“Lucky us.” She looked at the fallen Goliath on the sidewalk. She walked over to him, fished in his pockets and took his wallet. She opened it and took out sixty dollars, then dropped the wallet between the sewer grates on the street; driver’s license, social insurance number, bank card, all of it right down the gutter. You had to hand it to her.
She walked right past me and opened the car door for me.
“Get in.”
“Where we going?” I asked
“Just get in.”
So I did. She drove off and I watched in the side mirror to see if the guy would get up, but he didn’t. He was going to be in rough shape when he finally did come to.
Dana drove us away from downtown and in the direction of Charleswood. We drove beneath the overpass of the perimeter highway and turned into the gravel driveway of an old run down building, parking behind it. In front of us were train tracks with fields of grain fading into the horizon. She got out of the car and told me to do the same. She climbed up on the hood of the car and sat down. I climbed up on the hood beside her.
She took a small mickey from her jacket pocket, unscrewed the top and took a pull. She handed the bottle to me but I waved it off.
“You never drink, huh?” she asked.
“Not really, I can’t be drunk and slide hand rails I guess.” That was my answer but it never sounded much like the truth, even to me.
“Dana, what are we looking at here?”
“Just be patient,” she said, taking another swig and then tucked the bottle back into her pocket.
There was a faint rumble in the distance and then the squealing sound of metal on metal that continued to escalate in volume. I realized Dana had been waiting for a train to come. She reached over and took my hand again as it approached. The noise became much louder and then it was upon us, only mere feet from the front of our car. The sound was deafening. Dana let go of my hand, put her arm around me, leaned in and kissed me. Everything went silent. She moved her hand to the back of my head and I felt her tongue move into my mouth. Then the train was gone and the kiss was over.
“I ruined my lipstick.” She was smiling at me, playfully, and then became serious.
“I’m really going to miss you.”
“Yeah me too.”
She looked like she was going to say something else but didn’t. This time I didn’t let it pass.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” She slid off the hood and I followed her down. Dana dropped me off at home. We saw each other only once more and only briefly before I left for China. After that I never saw her again.
I’m forty-one now. I’ve long since retired from skating after various injuries wouldn’t permit me to continue. Sometimes, when a summer day is hot and perfectly peaceful like they can be from time to time, I do look back on that one summer. I think of Terry and building the ramp. I reflect on skating with my brother and the gang. I think of Peter and how the news of his death made me cry one night in China.
I’m married now and have a boy of my own who is about to start high school. He skates and likes to draw like I did, although he’s better at the latter than I was and at a much earlier age too. On weekends his friends come over and skate some grind boxes that I built for him in the backyard. Sometimes a girl with dark hair hangs out with them too and I smile when I see him talking to her.
OTHER TITLES FROM AT BAY PRESS
AVAILABLE NOW:
The Edge 125 Pacific Avenue
Various contributors
Non-Fiction
Paperback
ISBN: 9780987966551
2013 At Bay Press Fiction Annual: Jilted Love
Anthology
Fiction
Paperback
ISBN: 9780991761005
Of Violence and Cliché
M C Joudrey
Fiction
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780987966575
FORTHCOMING:
Woman
Anthology
Fiction
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780991761036
Releases: Fall 2014
Charleswood Road Stories Page 8
