Slow Dance in Purgatory(35)

***

Shadrach Jasper was bored. He kicked at the rocks, sending one flipping up and nailing himself in the head.

“Ow!” He yelped loudly, and cursed the big feet that made him awkward and ungainly. One of these days he would grow into his feet, just like his grandpa promised. Then maybe Maggie would like him the way he liked her. Of course, by then she would have graduated, and she would probably be off to some big dance school, or dancing in New York on Broadway or some such B.S.

Shadrach knew he was in a bad mood, but he had had the worst week ever, and he really wanted to spend the day with Maggie. He was crazy about Maggie. Sure, she was three years older than him, but someday that wouldn’t matter.

Maggie was beautiful and kind and funny, and she didn’t make him feel like a loser. And she was nothing like his mom. She wouldn’t drink and get mean, or run off with some guy for months on end, or sell herself for drugs or the money to buy them. And Maggie didn’t embarrass him like his mom did.

He couldn’t believe that the first time the guys on the football team had paid him any attention it was because of her. He had been trying to impress those guys since the school year started. Now they were all laughing at him. He hadn’t made the football team…but he would when he grew, and then those guys would beg to hang out with him, he was sure of it. He knew lots of stories about guys who didn’t make their school football team until their sophomore or junior year, and then went on to play in the pros. His time would come. And if football didn’t work out, there was always basketball.

Shad nodded his head and clapped his hands, feeling much better after his little personal pep talk. Maybe he should get his bike and ride over to the school, maybe practice a little bit, sharpen his skills. The doors would be unlocked if there was dance practice going on. Then he could work on his basketball and ride home with Maggie. Maybe they wouldn’t have to wait until Sunday night to hang out.

His mind made up, Shad began loping down the street as fast as he could go, tripping only once and congratulating himself on his improving speed.





11


“KISS OF FIRE”

Georgia Gibbs - 1952





“When did they make this flick?” Johnny sat transfixed by the film playing out in life size beyond the front windshield of the Cadillac. The flickering lights reflected off the hard metal surfaces around the room, creating a constantly changing multi-colored glow that lit up Maggie’s smooth face with blue light. His own face seemed to repel it as if he were watching behind darkened glass.

“I’m not sure exactly. It’s pretty old. Maybe sometime in the 1980’s,” Maggie mused, munching a handful of popcorn.

“Gee – that is old,” Johnny quipped, his voice heavy with irony.

“You made a joke, old man! Good job!” Maggie teased and offered the bag of popcorn to him. He shook his head.

“I’ll have to show you sometime what happens to food when I attempt to eat it.”

Maggie stopped mid-crunch and offered him the bag again. “Show me now!”

Johnny picked a piece of popcorn from the warm greasy bag, and popped it into his mouth. He chewed a few times, and then blowing softly, sent a stream of silvery ash dancing through the air in a swirling circle. The ash was so light it floated like dust particles and slowly dissipated beyond sight.

“You incinerated it!” Maggie squeaked. “Do it again!”

He acquiesced, and Maggie watched, awestruck. “It looks like pixie dust!”

Johnny laughed, and Maggie joined in. He blew another silvery stream into the air, and they watched it swirl and vanish as the light from the movie changed, obscuring its departure.

“Maybe it is pixie dust….” Johnny mused. He turned his blue gaze on Maggie, his words barely a murmur. Maggie eyes roved over his face, anxious that he would reveal something crucial and she would fail to hear.

“If it is pixie dust, I guess that makes me Peter Pan – the boy who never grows up.”

Maggie and Johnny stared at each other, struck silent by the utter hopelessness of his plight. A modern day Peter Pan stuck in Never Never land. Maggie gently set the popcorn down and slid across the leather bench seat until she sat in the crook of Johnny’s arm. Holding his gaze she said tenderly,

“Well I, for one, am just glad you aren’t Tinker Bell. Now hold my hand, Peter. I want the authentic drive-in experience.”

Johnny gasped, laughing in amazement at her ability to take a proverbial blow and keep on coming. He had the sudden urge to bury his head in her lap and cry like a lost child. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the soft place where her neck met her shoulder. He held her, and let her hold him, until her hair tickled his nose and her scent engulfed him completely. He pressed his lips to her smooth skin, and she shivered, encouraging him to run his lips up the long line of her neck to the velvety lobe of her ear. He pulled back and looked at her upturned face. Her eyes were closed, and her thick black lashes lay against her pearly skin. She was so lovely it made him ache with a yearning so fierce he audibly moaned.

Maggie lifted her chin ever so slightly, seeking his mouth, and he sank into her, pushing the pain away, letting his lips move over hers in tender desperation. It was her turn to moan, and she climbed into his lap, her hands running down his arms and back up again, cradling his face as she returned his kisses with a frenzy he was quickly losing himself in. He pressed into her, leaning her back against the wheel, hungry for more.