Month: March 2019

Long after Paul had left, Jacob wondered why he had not told Paul why he stared at the mystery woman. I have kept nothing from Paul, why now?

Jacob put the yearbooks in the box. It was time to let it go, but he knew it would always bug him. Who was she and why did she seem familiar?

Digging into the past would leave Jacob with a bad taste in his mouth. His ex-wife now there was an awful memory. Thank you, Paul, for that reminder.

The woman on the beach continued to haunt Jacob. Where he knew her from was on the tip of his tongue. She had to be someone in his past. He didn’t believe in fortune tellers, but going to one now seemed like it might help. Only if he could get a good nights sleep. This woman had kept him up most of the night. Wondering about her was like a toothache that would not go away until he did something for the ache.

After dinner, he would tackle the yearbooks. Then if he didn’t see the woman from the beach, he would let it go. Well, unless she appeared on the beach again. Then he would have to approach her and ask her name. Maybe her name would make him know how he knew her. Deep down, he knew something connected them. What was the connection that was keeping him up? How could I explain to Paul my behavior when I couldn’t explain it to myself?

*****

Something about school made Lila think of the golden man, as she referred to him. She attended a segregated high school and her first college. She knew the connection was in Miami. Am I here for him?

Lila continued to drive through Miami. She was on a mission but had no clue what it was about. When she jumped on the plane, she promised herself she would be open to whatever came her way. She knew the camera which was an extension of her would impede the whatever.

Daylight faded as streaks of purple filled the evening sky. Still puzzled of the quest, she drove back to the hotel. Her stomach reminded her she had not eaten in hours. Not wanting to deal with crowds in the packed restaurant, Lila went to her room to order room service. Twice she almost called down to cancel the order. There was the restlessness from before.

Why am I here? What did the dream mean? Maybe I have spoken with someone of I left home. The impulsive nature of her trip seemed silly. Lila was methodical about everything in her life. So why did she up and leave without even telling anyone where she was going?

The knock on the door brought her out of revelry. Room service was what she heard as she strolled to the door. A peep out before opening the door. She was still a cautious person. She opened the door and allowed the man to bring the cart in. She had forgotten to get a tip out. Sorry, just a moment. He nodded as he waited.

The tip taken care of; the guy left as quickly as he had come. She sat with the food, still in another place. It was as if the dream was attempting to invade her space at the moment. Lila had the dream intact when she woke two days ago. The pieces seem to have evaporated, and she couldn’t understand why she was there.

Lila ate without tasting her dinner. The golden man and his friend invaded her thoughts. Had his friend followed her? She had barely noticed the friend the night before. All of her attention had been on the golden man. She laughed. Calling him the golden man sounds like a Bond movie.

There was a draw to walk on the beach again tonight. But it was later than last night, and she was entirely out of her element so the walk could wait for tomorrow.

Tomorrow…

© 2019, Ivy Jade

Paul knocked on Jacob’s door. “Coming,” Jacob yelled.

“What are you doing up so early?” Jacob asked. “I could ask you the same thing.” Paul replied.

Jacob paused and stared at his friend. “Well, Paul if you must know I could not sleep last night, so I got up and fixed breakfast and went through some boxes that have been sitting for years.”

“Any reason for that?” Jacob heard the unspoken question. He debated with himself. Should I say I am looking for the woman we saw on the beach last night?

The silence went on. “I’m sure at some point you will tell what is so important in boxes stacked in a corner for years.”

“Paul don’t push this morning, I’m sleep deprived.” “You will never guess who I ran into this morning.” “This is a big city and you know plenty people and it could be anyone. So no I can’t guess.”

“I stopped in the cafe at the Beach Plaza Hotel this morning. Actually, I was walking by and saw the woman from last night.”

“What woman from last night?” “Jacob, really you want to be like that? I saw you watching that woman until she was out of sight.”

“Paul, I watch a lot of women. Not like you don’t.”

“What is with you this morning?” Jacob shrugged, “Not sure what you mean.” 

“We have been friends since kindergarten and now you want to play crazy with me. I’m the man who told you not to marry Shawn, but you did anyway. Look how that turned out.”

“Thanks for that reminder to add to my exhausted morning. Why did you fill the need to tell me you saw that woman?”

“I spoke with her for a moment and she was snippy with me. Didn’t like me interrupting her breakfast.” Jacob laughed, “Don’t say I blame her for that.”

“Anyway, after I left the cafe, I kept thinking there was more to the two of you and I wanted to know what it was or is.” “Paul, there isn’t anything to know, I saw a woman and watched her, end of story.”

“You were in a daze and did not hear a word I said last night when you were gazing at her. Last night you denied you are staring at that woman.

“You had a look in your eyes.” Paul raised his hand to stop Jacob from speaking. “I don’t have a prejudice bone in my body. I never saw myself being with a black woman. Since you are my best friend I have trouble seeing you interested in the black woman.”

“Paul, I look at women, period. It does not matter their color, shape or size.”

“Would you be with a black woman?” “Yes, if I liked her.” “Wow, I thought I knew you.” “I guess I could say the same about you. Paul, why does this woman upset you?”

“I’m not upset, well maybe a little. A few blocks from here I bumped into another black woman. Literally bumped into her. I muttered sorry, but she gave me a side eye. It wasn’t like I intended to bump into her. This morning feels like too many black women around here.”

“Do you hear yourself? There have always been plenty black women in Miami. You must not have notice them.”

“I still want to know why you are going through the boxes and who that woman is to you?”

“I might be sleep deprived but I think you must have bumped your head. These are boxes I have put off going through for years and decided today was the day.”

“If you say so.”

“Let it go, okay.” Hopefully, I will do the same.

© 2019, Ivy Jade

Lila jumped out of bed. She sang in the shower. Albeit not a word was in tune, but she continued to sing as she moved back to the room to get dressed. These were songs of her youth. Some which she had not heard or song in thirty or forty years.

She was on a memory lane trip. Then Lila thought of the man on the beach. The man with the golden tan. Why is he so familiar? It was on the tip of her tongue.

She paused before heading to the cafe in the hotel. She had no plans for the rest of the day. But she knew she needed fuel, and it always started with breakfast.

She bounced into the cafe and waved at the waitress. Karen chuckled as she watched Lila come in. Lila found the perfect seat, she could observe others as they came and went. It was her photographer eye that was always watching others. Never wanting to miss anything. That was a holdover from being a kid. She always wanted to be in the know. That was probably why it was bothering why she couldn’t get over the feeling she knew the man on the patio.

“Well, someone must have had a great night,” Karen said as she placed the menu in front of Lila.

“Why would you say that?” Lila asked.

“Yesterday, you looked like you did not want to be here and today you walked tall like the queen of the world.”

Lila laughed. “I guess I decided to be happy about this trip. Not sure why I came back, might as well be happy.”

“if you say so. Same as yesterday?”

“Yes, cereal, hot tea and lots of fresh fruit.”

Lila watched Karen walk to place her order. She was glad to be back in South Florida, more for the fruit than for anything else. She had little family still living, and most of her friends had moved away. So why am I here? She had gotten on a plane and come here after a strange dream.

A man walked in. The way he searched the cafe made Lila take notice. He took his time walking between the tables, then sat at the last one. The man made sure his back was not to the open door. This is Miami, there are always bizarre things going on. Something about the man brought the TV series, Miami Vice to mind. Lila had not been living in Miami when it filmed here, but she often watched, just to see the Miami sights.

As quickly as he sat, the man got up and moved to another table. She got a newspaper from the rack by the door. There were only four others in the cafe, so not much to watch. Going back to her table she saw the man watching her. A brief second he looked familiar. Shaking her head as if to knock the image in place, she sat. I must be seeing things. That’s two days in a row I’ve seen a man, and he looked familiar.

Within seconds of getting the newspaper, Karen placed her breakfast on the table. Lila looked up and found the man’s eyes on her. She had promised herself she would not go postal on anyone. But she wanted to ask why was he staring.

Without looking up, Lila felt his presence. “Do you have a problem with me?” She asked. He smirked. “No, not really. I saw you on the beach last night. Just wondered who you are.”

“Why would you…” He interrupted Lila, “My friend seemed taken with you, that’s all.”

“Ah, you were on the patio last night.” It was a statement, not a question to him. “Yes, I was. Are you from here?” “I used to live here another lifetime ago. Now I would love to eat my breakfast if there are no other questions.” He laughed and walked out of the cafe.

Well, that was strange. Who is the man and who is his friend?

After breakfast, Lila walked the strip. Down from the cafe, there was a bakery having a class on baking fancy cookies. And just like that, her morning had a plan. After several hours of baking and eating cookies, Lila returned to the hotel to get her rental car.

She drove to the Liberty City area. It was one of the many areas in Miami; she had lived as a kid. Now looking back it was if they were nomads. She knew it had more to do with her parents losing jobs, which lead to losing their apartments.

She passed the last house she had lived in. There were clothes on the line. She didn’t know people still dried their clothes outside on the line. A throwback to a time long gone.

Lila drove past her old high school, the man from the night before came to mind. She could see him younger with his golden skin as if he had lived in the sun. She knew he hadn’t gone to high school with her because in those days they segregated the schools.

Why did I think of him when I passed the school? What is the connection?

© 2019 Ivy Jade

The next morning Jacob got up after a restless night. Dreams kept him up. Now the images were flitting away like the butterflies outside his window. He attempted to dig deep into his psyche hoping to gather the threads of the dreams that were just at the edge of his brain.

She was in those dreams, he was sure of that. Why did she seem so familiar, yet he could not place where he could possibly know her. Dragging himself from the bed, Jacob headed to the bathroom. Once in the shower, the image of the woman walking with books appeared. Did she go to school with him and he never noticed her?

Coffee and toast were his breakfast after a quick shower. This was going to bug him all day. As soon as he was finished eating, Jacob placed his coffee cup and plate in the dishwasher. So conditioned after all these years, to never leave anything out. Sometimes he wanted to leave a dish out just for the hell of it. There was no one here to harp on it and make him feel like a slob.

Where is the box with all of the yearbooks? He had packed them away many years ago. His ex, Minnie, didn’t like seeing pictures him with old girlfriends. He couldn’t make her understand they were ‘old’ girlfriends and he was married to her. He finally understood her insecurity. That had been a big part of their life together.

The third bedroom was more of a junk room than an office and definitely not a guest room. Boxes that hadn’t been opened in years stacked along the wall by the closet. Well, today was as good as any to start going through them. Especially since he didn’t know which box contained his old yearbooks.

Twenty boxes, he didn’t remember it had been that many boxes. Well, he hadn’t really checked in this room in years. Might as well start with the one on the top and work his way down was his thoughts. There were tax returns from more than twenty years ago. Oh, those can go in the pile to be shredded. One box down and too many more to go.

He found toys in the next box. His son and daughter were in their thirty’s, and neither of them had kids, and it didn’t look like they ever would. He had never considered if he wanted grandchildren. There wasn’t a legacy of himself to leave behind. The toys were placed back in the box with a post-it that said, Goodwill.

Ten boxes off the wall and down around him and he sat on the floor. Jacob still hadn’t found the yearbooks. Would be just my luck they would be in the last box. Or maybe just maybe Minnie had thrown them away for spite. The thought of that had the old feelings of anger and rage to rear its head. She was a lot of things but was she that spiteful. The answer was yes, and he knew.

Next, to the last box, he found photo albums. These were the chronicles of their life together. There were photos with faces cut out. He could only shake his head. There was nothing he could do with them at this point. Fragments of a life that was long ago. Maybe one day his kids would want some of these photos.

Finally, the last box and there weren’t any yearbooks. As far as Jacob knew these were the only boxes in the house. When he moved to the beach house, he had taken all of the boxes out of the old house before he put it on the market. That had been seven years ago. Perhaps one of his kids had taken a box when they were going through what they wanted.

A glance into the closet and there was one more box. Aha, there were all of Jacob’s yearbooks. The years of high school and college. He stacked them in his arms and headed out to the patio. It had begun to get dark. He had been in there all day looking for these yearbooks. He placed them on the table and headed back in for something to eat. Now that he had found them, Jacob would spend time going through hoping he would find a photo of the mystery woman he had seen on the beach.

© 2019 Ivy Jade