The pious paralleled paraclete partners propelled purposely
piercing themselves through the pines on the distant bank of the Charles
gliding just a wing flap above the river’s slight downstream ripples. In
perfect syncopation suddenly one, then, just as quickly, the second secured
himself together with the first one on a branch to take a breath before jetting
upward again towards the sky and some unspoken destination. Meanwhile a solo
pilgrim Canadian goose floats carefree and effortlessly with the river’s current
just as another splashes behind and then another. Suddenly the three are joined
in collaborative coasting letting the river take them to wherever. They are
unconcerned as scullers redirect their sleek vessels to avoid collisions with
the feathered floaters. As if guided by some greater hand the geese glide to
shallow eddies away from the waterway’s human traffic. They are safe and they
just are.
Jake watches wondering how the two unworried birds had
decided to fly in formation and became concerned about what interior spiritual
force intuits the geese and the birds to be companions on their journeys.
“Were the journeys of these creatures always mutual?”
For a moment he is lost in the peace of the flow of
everything.
The solace unintentionally dissipates with Sundance’s voice
“Well, since Isabella is off to study and we are left to
our own devices, let’s find a famous Bean Town watering hole to quench our
spirits before we secure a seat at the Feliciano concert.”
Startled but alert Jake chimes
“I’ll drink to that!”
Isabella carefully gathered her things
“Jake, you will drink to everything”
as she touches Sundance’s hand and pecking Jake’s cheek
with her lips.
“and call me when you either get out of the concert or get
settled at Diana’s place. There may be another demonstration at the commons
today and I might not be in my dorm room.”
Concerned, Jake peered into Isabella’s eyes.
“ Oh don’t worry ya big silly. We have been having daily
bomb scares in the building and some suggested it is just a hoax to get
students out onto the streets and hopefully involved with the anti-war
demonstrations. Everyday there seems to be a new group sponsoring a new
demonstration against he war. I guess they figured that when students don’t
have their dorms or classes to go to because of bomb threats in the school
buildings the students will join the party”
Sundance asked
“The Communist Party?”
Frankly, Isabella was surprised by Sundance’s naïveté’ and
she chided him
“No, the party in the streets. The demonstrations have
become street festivals for most part. Of course you have the SDS’ers and the
weathermen and Panthers and a few sympathizers but most folks I know go for the
joints and beer. The radicals smoke dope and drink just as much as the
tagalongs. Abbie and his yippies made this whole thing into some perverse
circus. Before you know it you can have twenty to thirty thousand students in
the streets chanting ‘Peace now.’ But the college administrators got wise and
now if they get a bomb threat they don’t have mandatory evacuations and just
let the students decide. When given a choice most of us usually decide to
stick together. ”
Anxiously Jake glanced up and down at Isabella
“I know I am a loner of sorts but I’m no fool on a hill. It
is great to get out of class. The professors usually leave too. Howard Zinn is usually leading the
parade. It is also a good way to get out from sleeping in those prison walled
halls called a dormitory. So don’t be surprised if you see a large group
marching down Mass Ave this afternoon or if you call me at the dorm I don’t
answer.”
”So what’ll we do?”
“You worry too much. We will work it out. We always find a
way.”
Jake tauntingly sang
“Well… just show me the way to the next whiskey bar….oh
don’t ask why, oh don’t ask why!”
Sundance pulled on Jake’s arm.
“Now don’t sing that. Come on.”
The shadows of the two boys quickly disappeared over the
knolls that bordered the Back Bay and the river. Isabella quietly relocated herself almost unseen to a shady
spot on the grassy banks with her blanket and books to keep her company.
Sundance turned to Jake as both were lighting another
smoke.
“So, you know where we are going? We driving or walking or
what?”
“Sure I do. Driving by the way.”
Sundance was concerned about the immediacy and truthfulness
of the response. They jumped into Black Beauty headed somewhere closer to the
concert hall. Like a bolt of lightening they had darted down the road for two
blocks faster than the speed of light until the traffic in front of them forced
them to a dead halt.
Sundance smiled that smile of relief…
“Bet you it’s a demonstration. We should go “
Sundance encouraged Jake further by pointing out a place to
park.
“That spot has your name on it. Claim it now!”
Jake squeezed their over sized vessel into the vacant space
and with no further words they laughed as they ran to see where the action was.
Finally within a short run from where they stopped they saw a crowd gathered.
Pushing and squirming their way to the front to see where the action was the
bystanders stared at Jake as he yelled out
“Peace Now! Peace Now!”
As the two overexcited revolutionaries – in-training gradually
worked their way further to the front of the crowd they heard the screeching
blaring siren of some emergency vehicle weaving in an out of the jammed in traffic
and congregating crowds.
Speechless and shocked they finally saw what everyone was looking at and
stared at what looked like to be a body covered in a white sheet lying next to
a smoking taxi cab that was sitting upside down with it’s roof half crushed in.
Sundance just pulled on the uncomfortable embarrassed Jake
“Come on let’s get outta here and find a bar quick and have
a drink.”
Both boys were running on empty, emotionally and physically,
and they needed refueling quickly if they were to make it through the night.
Jake shifted to a thought about looking to find a bar he and Isabella liked
somewhere near Fenway Park but he had no idea where he and Sundance were in
relation to Fenway Park or to anywhere. They were officially lost. So to deflect
from his own anxiety Jake asked
“ Hey did we ever get Kerouac’s or Salinger’s address?”
Sundance didn’t want to deal with any of that now. .
“Hey, there’s a pub or something over across the street.
Maybe we can talk about that there”
“How do we know if it is any good?”
“Well, if it has beer it’s good and if it has burgers too
it’s perfect.”
No more discussion needed as they entered the pub securing
two seats side by side at the bar. Jake signaled the bartender for two beers
and said
“Almost perfect and I am paying!”
“Hey!”
Sundance couldn’t complete his protestation. Jake
forcefully held his companion’s hand as it reached for his own pocket. Sundance
was always gracious and giving. He seemed to be an endless well of compassion
and generosity. Sometimes that annoyed Jake but at the same time he was
grateful to have a friend such as Sundance.
“Look, I am paying and that’s that. You always pay and you
have done too much for me. So let me pay for tonight’s drinks. Just get a
couple of beers and start a tab while I find the men’s room.”
Sundance was taken aback with Jake’s adamancy and comments
and ordered two pints of Guinness just the same. He was confused as to why Jake
thought he owed Sundance anything. On Jake’s faster than normal return from the
men’s room Jake put his arm around Sundance leaning to whisper in his ear.
Physical contact was not one of Sundance’s favorite ways of connecting with
another human, especially a man. Jake knew that but did it anyway. Social
scientists say we have 18 inches of personal space. Jake was good at intruding
on that barrier as both Isabella and Sundance would often testify. Wriggling
away from Jake, Sundance heard him say
“Listen, if anyone asks” Jake spoke almost inaudibly, “you
are my date.”
Not being one who showed emotion easily Sundance changed
all that as his eyes bulged out like some cartoon character completely
befuddled by Jake’s comment as Jake continued
“Have you noticed anything unusual about this bar?”
Sundance ‘s first reaction was to look at the beer keg taps.
Maybe they had an unusual selection of beers. No, that wasn’t it. He then
scanned the prices, …standard. The menu….normal . He then looked carefully at
the ambiance, typical dark dingy dive.
“It is a bar. It has a jukebox. The music is loud”
Sundance had difficulty speaking above the loud music.
(…“Me and you, you and me, no matter how they tossed the
dice, it had to be…” blasted echoing bouncing throughout the poor acoustics of
the half-lit beer odored room.)
“Now look at who is dancing to the music! But don’t stare,
just casually look up.”
Sundance lifted his dark pint glass and moved his eyes to
try to sneak a peek at what Jake was seemingly anxious about.
“Oh, they are men and a few boys dancing with each other!”
Jake, leaning in closer as if to snuggle to Sundance
whispered
“Yeh, this is
a gay bar. If anyone asks me to dance I am going to tell them I am with you.”
“Well, what if they ask me to dance?”
“You can dance with them if you like then!”
Uncomfortable but thirsty and tired they agreed without
speaking that they would sit and rest for a while and chug two pints before
making their exit. Clinking glasses like two pilgrims on some half-baked
crusade
Sundance elevating his drink
“Per ipsum et cum ipso
et in ipso est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti in unitate Spiritus Sancti omnis
honor et gloria per omnia saecula saeculorum”
Jake’s response
“Amen, brother”
Jake cracked that crooked worrying smile as he couldn’t
shake that uneasy feeling about what he would really say if anyone there would
approach him to dance. He finally stopped his mental meandering and silently
finished his drink.
Dipping their fore fingers into what stout remained in
their glasses they both blessed themselves as they made their escape from the bar.
Jake laughed
“That was close”
Getting to be adept at stumbling they accidentally stumbled their way to
the concert hall only to see a “Sold Out” sign plastered across the poster on
the face of Jose Feliciano. Sundance pulled out his last two cigarettes in
resignation, giving one to Jake and offered up a solution
“If we can find where you parked let’s just head out to
Diana’s place.”
Sometimes it is good to go with the flow and sometimes it
is good to stay put and sometimes it is good to retreat .The interventions of
angels continued their surprises as the boys found the car with very little
effort and the boys flew as fast as they could on the road that followed along
the river back upstream.
