SBF Seeking ...

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

After a night filled with “I’m going to miss you” s*x, Martin and I parted ways at 4 A.M. He headed west to meet up with his platoon and I headed east back to the City of Oaks. Usually, Sunday morning saw my butt in the ninth pew from the front during the 8 A.M. service at Johnson Road Baptist Church, but I needed some shut-eye. After getting my nap on, followed by my standard coffee and the Sunday paper, I decided to check my date ad mailbox. After listening to a series of duds, my ear perked up at one recorded only two hours before.

“His name is Neil. He is a paralegal from Albany, N.Y. Big hockey fan. Enjoys reading. He is the oldest of four children and has lived here for three years,” I told Danita the next day as we cooked dinner at my house. We were having an It’s-too-damn-hot-to-cook-inside cook out and while we were in the kitchen fixing salad, our steaks and hamburgers sizzled on the grill outside on my patio.

“He likes black and white movies and jazz, just like me. He’s went to Syracuse and majored in poli sci.”

“Damn, girl what’s his blood type,” Danita asked, sipping her rum and coke as she c****d a knowing look at me. I can be a real fact gatherer when it comes to getting people’s backgrounds. Some people may call it nosey; I say it is just a matter of wanting to know whom I am dealing with. One of the lines I used to get my first internship in college was I am genetically engineered to be nosey. I came from a long line of women who valued gossiping on the phone with a neighbor from across the street more than taking a call from a long distance relative.

“B-negative, Hell, I don’t know. When I got back from Greensboro yesterday, I checked my phone mailbox from the ad and his message was on there, along with three other messages from guys too weird to waste my time calling back. Neil’s message made him sounded intelligent and fun so, I called him back.”

“So when are y’all going to meet?” Danita asked, stepping outside to check our dinner.

“Wednesday at Pandora’s Box on Hillsborough.”

“A coffee bar in June for a first date, that’s so you, Vet.”

“Remember what my ad said, ‘Black coffee looking for some cream to add to her cup.’ I figured a coffee bar would be the right place for us to meet. Plus they sell Snapple and tea.”

“Alright, Juan Valdez.”

“Well, you know what can I say,” I said stroking my invisible mustache a’ la Jimmy Walker from Good Times.

“I still think you shouldn’t do this but then again, what do I know. It’s not as if I have the best record when it comes to men. Did I tell you Keith called to tell me he is moving in with this gal he met at the Biker’s Rally,” Danita asked, lowering her voice so her kids playing video games in my living room wouldn’t hear.

“No,” I said, my eyes open in astonishment at her soon to be ex-husband’s nerve. The two split last year after she caught him with another chick. He tried to play, ‘baby it wasn’t me,’ but Danita has 20/20 vision and a damn good attorney so, three months later, Mr. Double Timer received papers indicating a need for his presence in divorce court. I guess it was somewhat ironic as I planned my happily ever after, my best friend was trying to figure out her right here, right now.

“Yeah, but the kicker is the b***h lives down the street from you in the Arbors.”

“I’m sorry, D.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. Just get ready for the Wonder Twins to be bopping down here more often to get goodies.”

As if on cue, Devon and Nia raced into the kitchen to check the status of dinner, which fortunately was ready. After blessing the food, we took our places around my small dining room table and proceeded to enjoy the fruits of the grill. Typically, beef wasn’t for dinner in my house. My crack food of choice leaned toward pork. I joked with my friends my ham, sausage, and barbeque consumption secured many hog farmer’s children a chance to secure a higher education. After all, if I didn’t buy the product, Daddy couldn’t contribute to the college fund. Still, sometimes a good steak seasoned, seared and served with a good catch-up session with an old friend did the heart good, even if does lead to clogged arteries later down the line.

After we finished eating, I left the kids to the video games and Danita and I went upstairs to pick out proper attire for my venture across the color line. As Danita and I talked, she kept an ear peeled for what her kids were doing downstairs. It seems every fifteen minutes she yelled, either “Y’all too quiet, what ‘cha doing?” or “I can hear the TV up here, turn it down please”. One thing I love about my girl, she can multi-task. Be an attentive friend and still make sure her kids don’t tear down my house.

The practical, type A part of me figured since it was an interracial thing I should wear black and white. Danita thought the idea was hooky but said my white silk shirt and black linen pants looked suitable.

“But then again, you know how linen gets in the heat. No need to be wrinkled when you meet this man for the first time.”

“Okay, point taken. How about my white cotton dress with the flowers on it? You remember I wore it to the concert downtown last year,” I asked, pulling it out the back of the closet. As I held it up to my body, Danita nodded her approval.

“It will work, plus it makes you look like you got an ass which we both know is not true.”

“Ha-ha, we all can’t be built like an sss, Ms. ‘She’s a brick house,’” I said, doing my best 70’s funk band imitation.

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” Danita said tossing her ponytail and smiling wide enough you could almost see her invisible braces. “But you know you be giving the boys fever Ms. ‘Brown Sugar with the cocoa eyes and dem there talented thighs’.”

As I looked at our shared reflections in my bedroom mirror, I reflected on how my friend came out with a good hand in the game of interracial offspring. You know when the races combine sometimes things go horribly wrong. Danita ended up with the best of both worlds. From her father, she got her eye color, hair, and height. From her mom, she got hips, boobs and ass. Standing five inches taller than I do, she need not worry about me raiding her closet. She had good fashion sense so I trusted her opinion. White dress with the black flowers it would be.

Tuesday was heaven. At work, all my sources returned my phone calls so I was able to complete all my assignments. When I came home, I managed to get a parking spot right in front of my door. Dinner was a delicious steak salad from the batch of meat we grilled the night before. On TV was my favorite movie, Some Like It Hot, and after the movie I finished off another reading of my favorite Zora Hurston Book, Tell My Horse.