the toll booth,
passed.
“ Smile,” Life said.
“ Shiiit,” I hissed, showing my teeth for a different reason,
looking like an angry possum about to attack his ass.
“ Listen Hope,” Life said. His voice was diplomatic, but I
could tell he was fighting for self-control. We were two people get-
ting on each other’s nerves.
“ You should have never attempted to make a trip in this car.
The radiator leaks, the motor is bad and some mo shit.” The
cadence of his voice changed almost as if he were talking to a small
child.
“ Hope we’re just about two hours outside of Tallahassee. We
can walk, sleep in the car, or we can get a few hours of rest at a
hotel while the car is getting fixed. I saw a Holiday Inn a few miles
back. I’ll call a tow truck and we can leave first thing in the morn-
ing.”
I slumped over the steering wheel placing my head over my
arms. I was exhausted, my head hurt and just the thought of a
long luxurious bath was tempting.
31
L i f e
“ We’ll sleep in separate rooms,” he assured. His words a gam-
bit. I figured, what did I have to lose? It was 2:00 a.m. and I was
tired. Spending the night in my car just did not appeal to me. So
I agreed under those conditions.
About thirty minutes later a tow truck was being hooked up
to my car. I grabbed my meager luggage and the three one hun-
dred dollar bills in the ashtray. Ever since I was a little girl, there
had always been something about hotels that I found alluring.
They made me feel like something I have never enjoyed, a vaca-
tion. At the Holiday Inn we got separate rooms with an adjoining
door. I kept mine locked.
As soon as we got our rooms, he walked me to mine like a
complete gentleman, and then went to the bar to get something
to drink. I took a long, hot luxurious shower that felt so good I
did not want to come out of there. After ward, I put on my night-
ie and crashed underneath the covers, but I could not sleep. Life’s
face kept appearing on the screen of my mind.
OK, I can’t lie, curiosity was killing me. It also killed the cat,
or in my case, I should say kitty.
*****
32
Chapter Four
Chapter Four
“ Fahrenheit of Lust”
– Hope –
Curiosity got the best of me and I made the second biggest mis-
take of my life. The first one was helping him and now this.
I tiptoed to the door, unlocked it and then tried his door. It
opened. A single dim light shined in the room. Life sat perched in
a chair in front of a large picture window with the blinds opened
wide. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. The gleaming swimming pool in
front of his room reflected a kaleidoscope of colors off of his body.
A cigarette dangled from his finger as gray smoke ringed his head.
On the table was a bag of ice, a fifth of Hennessy and a shot
glass half filled. For some reason I just watched that man as the
smoke curled out his mouth, the stolid face of a Black man
impelled by his thoughts. Lord knows he had a lot to think about.
Again I wondered if he killed those men. I also wondered was I
attracted to him, a thug.
He took a sip of his drink, pinky finger extended, then he
made a face the way people do from a drink of strong liquor as he
stared at something out the window. Whatever it was held his
attention. Moments passed and he had me looking too, and sud-
denly it dawned on me what he was looking at–Me!!
“ Do you always creep into people’s rooms spyin’ on them
when you think they’re not watching?”
I was cold busted. The entire time, he was looking at me
through the reflection in the window. Slowly he turned toward me
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L i f e
and I could see the scar underneath his eye. Something was miss-
ing, something was wrong. This was the intimate part of the man
without his mask, hur t prevailed on his face and instantly I regret-
ted coming into his room. His eyes roamed my body for a fleeting
second and then looked away, as if he were dismissing me.
“ Go and get