THE LETTER PART 2

In contrast to the journey from her home on the west side of Detroit to Metro Airport, it was a relatively short drive from the rental car area of Eppley back to Mark’s apartment.  The drive took the two of them past the Quest Center and the Ameritrade Stadium, and winding through the Old Market area.  “Omaha does look really nice,” she thinks to herself.  It is a stark difference from downtown Detroit, a lot smaller but crammed with sights and full office buildings.

“You are going to have to bear with me,” Mark says as he turns to Tonya as she drives the Mazda 3 rental. “Even though I have been here two years, I get around by bike or bus, so I do not really pay full attention to what streets I take to get there.  All the one-way streets are foreign to me, like all the one-ways on the East Side and in Highland Park were.  We may go in a circle a time or two before we get anywhere.”  Smiling, “I did not think you knew where you were going even when you did drive”, she replies.  Her eyes are sparkling, full of mischief, adventure and a little uncertainty.  Asking herself the question “can I do this?” silently takes on a different urgency now that she is actually HERE.  Other than accidental touches and occasional alcohol-fueled speculation, she has never been this close to anything like—

“Left turn, Tonya, left turn.”  He points to the next intersection and she hits her mark flawlessly.  Like almost every street in Omaha, she drives up the slight hill.  “See that building on your left??  That is where we are heading.”  Given the new information, she picks up a little speed.  “Left at the light and then into the parking lot,” Mark instructs.  She glances at the park directly across the street from his building, and is even more impressed with it than by his written descriptions.  “You know, both President Ford and Malcolm X were born here.  The historical birthplace of the President is not even a quarter-mile from here.  I don’t know where Malcolm’s is located.  I do wonder if they have a historical marker for the brother.” 

“I am surprised that you have not found that yet,” she replies as she turns off Park Avenue onto Woolworth and then eases around into the building’s parking lot.  “Maybe that was a part of the trade.”  He eyes her quizzically.  “You know, Omaha gave us a President and Malcolm, maybe Michigan had to trade them you to finish the deal.”  He smiles at the creative compliment, putting him on par with two historical figures.  She edges past the parking spots, some occupied and others not.  “Is this place fine?”  He nods and she pulls and parks the car.  Now her nerves are racing and she steal a glance at him as takes off his safety-belt and exits.  “Okay Big Dog, no one is ever going to know if you turn into a chump and get your own room and fly back home after the weekend,” she says silently as she turns off the engine.  “Pop the trunk so I can get your bags,” she hears from outside the back of the car.  Reaching for the button on the instrument cluster to release the hatch so that Mark can access her bags… and she smiles at the thought that he now has “access her bags.”  “Before I go home, he would have had a lot more than just “access to my bags.”

At the atrium of the outer door, he stops to bend and wave his key card that unlocks the door.  Pulling and holding it open, “Come on good looking, I am anxious to get settled in so I can show off the Old Market.”  She lengthens her stride and is really surprised by his smile.  “Looks like someone has swallowed the canary,” she replies as she enters the inner door.  One of the residents, an older woman, dressed in the best that Shopko has to offer, pushes the button that engages the door for the handicapped. 

“Welcome to the hood,” he says under his breath.  He steps back after pressing elevator button.  Turning to look at the wall opposite of the elevator, he points to residential listing.  “Look, there is my name.”  And true enough, next to number 504, “Johnson, M”.  “Seriously, it is not that bad here in this neighborhood or in the building.  Occasionally you get people acting “black” and all, but not that often.

“Besides,” he says as the door to the elevator opens and Tonya’s heart starts to pump as if it is on rocket fuel, “I don’t ask questions and I DO NOT open my door if there are any noises!  And since you are supposed to have a key card, then you should not be knocking on my door if you know me.”  The two of them get into the elevator and he presses “5”.  As the door slowly closes, Tonya lets out a deep breath, one that she had been holding in after getting out of the car.

“You not going to tell me that you are scared?” he says with a knowing grin.  “You will be safe.  No one is going to hurt you.”

“Easy for you to say,” Tonya answers.  “I don’t know WHAT I am even doing here or what I am getting myself into.”  He puts a hand around her shoulder and pulls her to him.  “Tonya, I would not bring you here to hurt you.”  The elevator stops.  “We are here.” 

Stepping out of the elevator and turning to see a door with the number “504” in a black laminated plate on it. “Come on baby, let’s set your bags down and then go get a drink and appetizer in the Old Market and set the butterflies free.”

“Are you sure that is all you are going to set free when we get into your apartment?”

“Yeah, I am pretty sure.  I am “food hungry” as well as “hungry hungry” and my stomach has priority right now, though with you… I just don’t know.”  Sliding the key into the lock, he turns it slowly, almost intentionally, as if to allow one more chance to say, “I have changed my mind, let’s go back to the airport so I can go home.”  But she doesn’t.  “No,” her Inner Goddess says, girding herself for the coming engagement.  “We did not come all this way to “nut up” and then make up something believable to tell everyone in the Motor and the car wash.  WE are going to do this!”

Tonya flinches at the fierceness of the response.  “Yes we are.”  As she crosses the threshold, Mark says, “And now you have crossed the point of no return.”  The door shuts and clicks behind him and she now feels like she is in the mouth of the abyss and whatever she knew or thought about herself will never be the same again.