Chapter XIII
Things changed dramatically for me after the war – they changed drastically for the whole country. People moved out of the cities into outlying housing neighborhoods known as ‘suburbs’, and they started commuting to work. It was the dawn of the ‘Rat Race’, and from where I was sitting it wasn’t pretty.
There wasn’t a need for the USO, so I was closed and put into mothballs for all practical purposes. My windows were boarded, my doors were chained and for the next few decades, life as I had known it was going to pass me by.
Not that I didn’t have visitors or stories to share about that time. As long as there are homeless or vandals or criminals in the world, I will have visitors and I will see life, especially the seedier side. I will admit to being thrilled when my fortunes finally changed again, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you about some of the folks I saw pass through my portals illegally.
************
“C’mon. C’mon, dammit.” The creak was the only warning the girl got before the board gave way, and she fell on her butt in the rain-covered street from the force of the release. She looked around in alarm, hoping the noise wouldn’t be heard over the storm that was currently raging. With a sigh she got up out of the puddle she’d landed in and jerked her bag up onto her shoulder before scurrying back under the portico and slipping into the musty old building.
Tusk was a runaway. At fifteen years of age, she'd decided her parents just weren't hip enough to understand her. So she'd left. Now she'd been on her own for two years, and she'd seen and done just about everything. The old building on Franklyn & Rhodes was known on the circuit as a safe place; somewhere you could find shelter for a while; somewhere you could score some decent drugs or companionship for the right price.
Tonight all Tusk wanted was to get in out of the rain. She'd been soaking wet for two days, and even the worn material of her jeans was starting to chafe. She ducked into the hole she'd created, careful to pull the board in behind her. Though it was common knowledge both on the circuit and in law enforcement circles what this building was used for, there was no point in advertising either. She stopped moving when an arm reached out and wrapped around her middle, a hand roughly fondling her breast.
"What bizness ya got here, bitch? This be Sammy's place."
Tusk reached a hand back and grabbed his family jewels, twisting them until he released her with a howl. "Stay off me, asswipe. I don't want no trouble."
Sammy came at her with a growl, swinging a huge, meaty fist in her direction. Tusk waited until he had committed himself, then stepped to one side, extending her foot and watching him hit the ground with sudden force. Sammy lay stunned for several moments before rolling onto his back with a chuckle. "I like you. You got spunk so you can stay. Name's...."
"Sammy," they finished together. His chuckle turned into full-throated laughter and the girl smiled in sympathy. "I'm Tusk," she said.
"Well, Tusk," the big black man said as he rose. "Welcome to my place. What can I be doing for ya?" He eyed her up and down. Though she'd lost any hint of the child she had once been and a hard veneer had settled on her features, she was still decent enough to look at. Certainly worth a tumble or two in the bed if she was willing. God knew Sammy didn't have much respect for any sort of perceived morality or law, but he preferred partners who went to his bed willingly. They were much more creative.
"Not that," she smirked at him, well aware of what the lust glazed look in his eyes meant. "Not tonight, anyway," she continued when he frowned. "I just wanted a place to crash for tonight. I wanna dry out. Damn rain has soaked everything I got."
"Later, maybe?"
She grinned at him from behind thick auburn hair. "Yeah, maybe," doing her own perusal. He was fairly good looking, and he wasn't emaciated though he wasn't nearly as muscular as he had once been. He absorbed her look, feeling himself swell at the intensity in her heated gaze as it lingered at his groin. "Yeah," she repeated. "I imagine we can come to an understanding."
"Good. C'mon," he said, leading her around to the front staircase area. He picked up a candle from the small stash at the bottom step and lit it, handing it to her and motioning up. "Gw'an up and pick ya a room. I got plenty."
"Thanks, Sammy." A faint jingle sounded.
"Gotta go. Customers." He motioned again. "Gw'an. I'll find ya later and we can uh...." letting his eyes trace her body again, "... talk."
Tusk held the candle up and hefted her bag again. All she wanted right now was a place to rest. Tomorrow would have to take care of itself.
************
When morning came, Tusk was surprised to find herself under a light, tattered blanket. She looked around the room she had chosen the night before, taking in her surroundings with bemusement. The room appeared to have been storage once upon a time, judging by the bits and pieces that were left behind. This room had a thin, dirty mattress, which is why she had selected it to start with. Now she lifted her head and found Sammy curled up on one side of her and an unknown woman on the other.
There were another couple young men in the room, both scraggly and unkempt looking. She blinked her eyes again and stretched, feeling both Sammy and the woman begin to stir beside her. Tusk snuggled down between them enjoying the shared warmth.
"Hey, baby," Sammy rasped and ran his hand lightly over Tusk's naked body. "How's 'bout a little lovin' for Sammy?" The woman on the other side of Tusk chuckled and Sammy sat up enough to glare at her. "Shuddup, Angel. Nobody asked you."
"C'mon, Sammy. Give the kid a break. She may not swing your way, ya know. She looks like she could appreciate a woman's touch," tracing Tusk's lips with a finger and gasping in reflex when the lips smiled back at her then sucked on the end of her finger.
"Actually," Tusk murmured, releasing the fingertip with a kiss. "I like both. But first I gotta earn a little bread."
The woman looked at her with sparkling brown eyes. "Why don't you come down to the vet center with me, Honey? We can always use help there."
Tusk frowned thoughtfully. "I dunno. I'm pretty anti-war."
The woman chuckled. "So are most of the vets we serve. Chuck over there is one," motioning to a young man who was easing himself into a wheelchair. "He actually heads up a number of our protests. We do more than just help the vets – we get them involved as well."
Sammy rolled a joint and lit it, inhaling deeply into his lungs. He passed it to Angel who took a hit then passed it on to Tusk. Tusk took a drag, savoring the sense of detachment she felt as the vapors enter her body. She passed it to Chuck who accepted it with a smile.
"Good shit, Sammy," he commented after several hits. "Makes the pain just go away."
Sammy chuckled, having had just enough to be happy. "Only the best for family, Chuckie. You know that. We take care of each other, Brother."
"Speaking of, ya'll don't forget we've got a civil rights meeting tonight. A lot of the vets from the center are coming and so are a bunch of students. Should be a good turn out."
Tusk turned to Angel with a frown. "Not that I disagree – I'm all for civil rights. Hell, I'm for any kinds of rights that make the Constitution work for everyone. But how'd you get the vets to go for it?"
Chuck rolled over and bumped into Tusk's legs lightly. "Easy, Sweetheart. Sammy and I are brothers. Served three tours together in 'Nam. He looks out for me – I look out for him. We stand up for each other, dig?"
Tusk smiled. "Yeah, I dig. I think I could learn to like it here." Tusk rose then, shedding her blanket and ignoring the appreciative looks cast in her directions by everyone in the room. Not that she was averse to receiving them from either sex, but she had more important things to worry about at the moment – not the least of which was earning some money. Wasn’t something she was that keen on, but she had learned by hard earned experience that charity didn’t always begin at home, and even when it did people tended to judge your worthiness by their standards and not your needs.
She grabbed up her backpack and wandered down the hall to the bathroom. Despite the thorough wetting she’d gotten last night, she decided soap and warmer than cold water would be a welcome change, especially if she was gonna get some sort of job for a while. Even the veteran’s clinic required neat and clean, and if Tusk were completely honest with herself so did she. It just wasn’t always easy to achieve on the road.
Tusk was a little surprised that she was left alone to bathe in privacy. Given the interest they’d shown earlier, she’d half expected Sammy or Angel or both to show up and offer to help – not that she’d have turned either down. Sammy was a good looking man; nice hands and... She smirked, remembering the good look she’d gotten of his dick. He certainly had the means for taking good care of a woman’s needs.
On the other hand, Angel appealed to her in an entirely different way. Not nearly as dark-skinned as Sammy, she was still a nice chocolate brown, and Tusk wondered if she suckled at those firm, full breasts she’d woken snuggled against if chocolate milk would be her reward. A smile crossed her face – she couldn’t wait to find out.
She braided her hair back loosely and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a loose, flowing top. She rubbed her hand down the smooth material, then hoisted her backpack and moved back out into the room. She was amazed that the room was empty and made her own way downstairs where she could smell something cooking.
Tusk followed her nose and sure enough, found Sammy, Angel, Chuck and his buddy and a few others Tusk hadn’t seen before were all gathered around a makeshift table in the kitchen eating some sort of... well, Tusk wasn’t sure what it was exactly. But it certainly did smell really good.
Sammy patted the chair between him and Angel while Angel dished Tusk up some breakfast. Then he proceeded to introduce her around the table.
“Everyone, this is Tusk. Tusk, this is the family. You’ve already met Angel.” The black woman patted her thigh affectionately and it garnered her a smile in return. “And Chuck,” motioning to the man in the wheelchair. Tusk spared a moment to wonder how he had managed to get downstairs, then nodded to him and the man who was seated next to him. “That’s his partner, Rick. Next to Rick is Nora Redwing and her old man Hoosier. Carmen, Ian and Allie round out our little family.”
It was a nice eclectic mix of races, with Sammy’s skin being the darkest among them. Then came Angel’s chocolate brown, Carmen’s and Rick’s Hispanic caramel color and Nora Redwing’s Native American. The rest were white, though they certainly had their own unique heritages. Ian’s flaming red hair betrayed his Celtic background, and Allie and Hoosier were both blonde, though opposite ends of the spectrum. Chuck had California boy surfer good looks.
That left Tusk, who was about the slightest among them. She had auburn hair and hazel eyes and a dimple on the right side of her smile. She was cute enough, but her time as a free spirit had made her harder and cynical – something that showed clearly in her expression and body language. However, looking around at Sammy’s little family, she felt a sense of understanding and belonging. And for the first time since she’d left her parents’ home, she decided she had found a place to stay for a while if she was offered an invitation.
Tusk looked around the room and smiled. “Hi, guys! Nice to meet all of you.”
All of them reached out a hand or gave her an embrace in greeting. Then they all got down to the serious business of eating. When they were done, Sammy took Tusk aside while the others started the clean up process. “You goin’ in with Angel today?”
Tusk nodded. “I think so. At worst, I’ll be donating a day’s time to help some vets, and with a little luck, I can hire on and earn some bread.”
Sammy nodded. “All right... cool. You c’mon back here when the day’s over with, and we’ll see about making your livin’ here with us a more permanent arrangement.”
“Groovy, man. I’m totally in tune with this whole scene.”
Sammy nodded and smiled. “Me too, Baby.”
Tusk reached up and brushed a kiss over his lips, smiling and pulling back when he tried to get little friskier than she was willing to go for in front of the whole family.
“Later, Big Guy. I don’t want an audience and I don’t wanna be rushed.”
“Ooh, Baby, I am totally diggin’ the sound of that.”
Tusk grinned and turned to find Angel waiting with an intriguing little smile on her face. “C’mon, Baby Doll. Let’s go see of we can earn you some bread.”
Tusk reached out a hand and held onto the hand that Angel extended to her. This day was suddenly filled with intriguing possibilities.
************
I got the next bits from the conversations that went on when Tusk and Angel got back though the center building was quick to confirm them. It made me wish I could have been there at the vets’ center when Angel and Tusk were there. According to all the reports they gave the family when they got home, they caused all sorts of mess and mayhem. And the vets had such a great time with the two of them that Tusk was hired immediately and became a full-fledged member of Sammy’s little family.
It gave us no hint of things to come.
************
"So how did all of you end up here?" Tusk asked Angel as they walked together the few blocks to the vet's center. It had actually been a military hospital until the military moved out; then it had served as an old folks home until the government decided they needed the space for the veteran's who were returning from Vietnam.
Tusk looked around at the neighborhood and wondered why they'd bothered. Seemed like it would have been cheaper and easier just to start from scratch somewhere else. Even worse, the community it was in was full of the tension of the time – racial, anti-war, anti-establishment - you name it, it was all prevalent in the few blocks it took for them to get from the building at Franklyn & Rhodes to the center.
Angel shrugged, coming back to the question Tusk had nearly forgotten she'd asked because she had been so absorbed in the activity around her. "I dunno... mostly just wandered in like you, I guess. You could tell we were from all over, huh?"
Tusk chuckled. "Uh, yeah. I mean, I've been all over this country and you guys seem to have pretty much covered it from coast to coast."
"And is that a good thing?"
Tusk thought about it for a long moment. "Yeah. At least I mean I’m really digging it so far. I'm definitely looking forward to finding out for sure though."
Angel's dark eyes twinkled. "Oh, right on, Baby Doll. Now c'mon. We're here. Let's go see if we can get you a job. We want you to have a reason to stick around for a while." She rubbed a hand up and down Tusk's arm, delighting in the goose bumps that trailed behind her touch. "I'd really like you to have a reason to stick around myself."
Tusk leaned forward and brushed a kiss across the corner of Angel's soft lips. "Oh I don't think that's gonna be a real problem. I really do like it here."
Angel grinned real big and took Tusk by the hand. Then she opened the door to the vet's center and together they walked into controlled chaos.
************
The vets cheered when Angel crossed the threshold and she shimmied and shook in response. Then she reached back and took Tusk by the hand and pulled the younger woman forward. Angel wrapped her arms around Tusk’s slim waist and leaned her chin on Tusk’s shoulder. The men really whooped and hollered then, and Angel teased them just a little before giving Tusk a little squeeze.
“Guys, this luscious babe is Tusk and she’s here to help out. Whaddya think?”
Another cheer went up from the men in the center and Angel chuckled as she took Tusk’s hand in her own again and headed them for the human resources office. “C’mon, Baby Doll. I think you’re gonna like it here a lot. The guys already like you.” She squeezed the hand she held. “So do I.” Tusk smiled and followed Angel into the office.
The harried little weasel of a man in the office took one look at Tusk and shook his head, then he handed her a sheaf of papers to fill out. An hour later, Tusk was employed and headed back out to the floor to start her first day of work at the vets’ center.
Angel had already started her rounds; her primary job was to changes the sheets on the beds, but she always spent a bit of time talking to each of the vets who occupied them. Most had been there a while and they were like old friends. A few were new and received her attention with various reactions, ranging from sullen silence to tears to loud laughter. Once in a while one of her regulars would be gone – sometimes from release back into the world but others to death. Those were hard days and usually involved purging her spirit when she returned to Franklyn & Rhodes with drugs, alcohol or sex. Fortunately that didn’t happen often and it didn’t happen today.
Angel greeted the mobile veterans in the day room and they returned her greeting with enthusiasm. They knew she would join them for singing when her other work was done.
Tusk, meanwhile, had been assigned to give the men haircuts and shaves. A number of men who had shown no previous interest in that particular aspect of personal hygiene and grooming were suddenly quite enthusiastic about it. It embarrassed her a bit, but she took it all in stride. Haircuts were something she was good at and it made her feel good to be able to do something for these men who had served even if she didn’t agree with the war.
Listening to them, she realized a lot of them like the vets who lived at Franklyn & Rhodes were against the war. It made her wonder why they had chosen to serve, but she figure if she hung around long enough, she’d get an answer to that question.
The old man in charge of the barbershop watched her work for the first few customers, then finally grunted in satisfaction. Tusk just snickered and continued working, humming idly while she worked.
One of the guys heard her and picked up his guitar, strumming chords until he found the key she was humming in, then he proceeded to accompany her song. The guys in the barbershop quieted down, their normal banter and conversation silence by the folksy rock sounds Tusk and Smithy were creating.
Tusk kept on working though it was difficult. Men kept coming in but no one was leaving and it was getting crowded in the shop. And it was almost impossible to rotate men in and out of the chairs. Finally the old barber had enough and threw everyone out. Fortunately it was lunchtime anyway so although the men grumbled and complained, they left and headed out to the mess hall to have lunch.
Angel finished up her first set of rounds just as the men started streaming out of the barbershop. Her eyes widened as they just continued to come and she wondered how so many men had managed to cram themselves into such a relatively small space; and better yet, why they had wanted to.
Then she spotted Tusk inside, her hand resting on the shoulder of a young man holding a guitar. When the man turned, Angel realized it was Smithy. Her eyebrows jerked up into her hairline. What on earth had she missed??
Smithy laughed at something Tusk said, then laid the guitar across his lap so he could wheel himself out of the shop. He stopped and grinned up at Angel when he rolled out almost into her.
“Angel, Baby!”
“Smithy?” She’d never seen him looking so happy since he’d been brought here missing most of one leg and half of the other. She wondered what Tusk had said or done in the few hours she’d been here to have brought about such a change.
“Honey, I don’t know where you found Tusk, but she is groovy, man. She digs us, and Baby, she can sing. You two need to make some music together.”
Angel leaned down and hugged Smithy much as she had done nearly every day since his arrival. Only this time she also got a hug in return. “Smithy, if it will make you keep smiling like that, well, I guess I’ll have to see what I can do about singing with Tusk.”
Smithy whooped and hugged her again, then spun his wheelchair and raced down the hallway towards the mess hall, anxious to share the news with the rest.
Meanwhile, the old barber had taken Tusk aside. He was a disabled vet himself and remembered well the feelings of loss and despair he’d suffered through during his time in a military hospital. And his country had not turned its back on him; he had been a celebrated hero unlike the men who served now.
He’d watched so many of them come to life today when Tusk started singing. She’d been so nonchalant about the whole thing, acting like it was completely normal to be surrounded men who were crippled and deformed by the vagaries of war. And she was young; he could see that despite ravages time and running away had already wrought on her body. So he seriously doubted she was pro-war. But she never let on... never uttered a word. Instead Tusk treated the veteran’s like the human beings they were and in his eyes that gave her validation like nothing else would have.
“You did a good thing here today, Kid. There’s not many who come in and make friends of these boys... especially not that quickly.”
“Thanks, Bob. They seem like good guys. I’m glad to do what I can.”
Bob nodded. “I’ll see about getting you reassigned to morale and recreation if you want, but it’ll probably take a few weeks, especially if Arthur has pushed your paper work through. It’s easy to get into the system, but a hellish nightmare to move around in or, God forbid, get out of.”
Tusk nodded. “I’d like that, Bob, though I like it here too.”
He patted her arm awkwardly. “I’ll see what I can do. Go get you some grub and come back here in about an hour. We’ve still got plenty of cuts and shaves to give.”
When she walked out of the barbershop, Angel grabbed her by the arm and Tusk looked up in alarm until she saw the smile on Angel’s face. Then she smiled in reflex and tucked her hand in the crook of Angel’s arm. Angel took Tusk into the kitchen through the back and introduced her around, picking up lunch for them both before escaping into the tiny staff lounge.
“You made quite an impression today, Tusk,” Angel commented as they ate. Tusk shrugged.
“It wasn’t intentional. These cats just seemed to need some good karma flowing. Must be such a bummer to be stuck in this place.”
“Yeah, but you like them... they can tell that. So many here just see it as a way to earn bread; they don’t care. You do. You didn’t have to be cool about things, but you were.” Tusk shrugged again, but didn’t answer. She was a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Honey-girl. Didn’t mean to embarrass you, but you did a groovy thing.” Angel paused and cleared her throat. “Would you be interested in a short sing-along after work? We couldn’t do it for very long tonight, not with the rally and all, but the guys would think it was totally far out.”
Tusk considered it thoughtfully as she ate, and Angel let her eat and think in peace while she consumed her own meal. Finally she raised her eyes to meet warm chocolate ones. “You really think they’d dig something like that?”
Angel laughed. “Baby Doll, I know they would. You remember that guy that was playing the guitar for you?” Tusk nodded. “That was Smithy; he’s been here four months and in that time, I think I have seen him smile twice... counting today. I dunno what you did or what you said, Honey, but you did something that touched him. You got a real gift there, Baby; don’t let it go to waste.”
Tusk thought about it for a few minutes, or would have had not nearly every single staff member approached her individually to comment about or congratulate her on her actions in the barber shop. Though many of them simply thought of this as a paycheck and most of them would have looked down at her otherwise given her hippie looks and mode of dress, most of them respected the fact that she had come in and done good even if it was completely accidental.
Tusk listened to the words and studied the reactions and as folks filed out of the staff lounge to go back to work, she turned her attention back to an expectantly waiting Angel.
“You knew that would happen,” she accused.
“Nope,” Angel shook her head emphatically. “But I damn well would have planned it if I’d thought I could. What they said to you was real, Girlfriend, straight on from their hearts. Take it as the compliment it is.”
Tusk nodded and rose, picking up her tray to return it to the kitchen. When she got to the door she turned to Angel who was only a step behind her. “All right, Angel. Let’s see if we can rock some groovy karma into this place.”
Angel’s smile lit up the room, then they headed out to finish their assigned duties.
************
It didn’t take long for word to travel around the whole facility and an excited buzz followed in its wake. Long before the workday was over, veterans and staff began filtering into the day room, all of them anxious to get a good seat for the impromptu performance.
When Tusk and Angel made their way into the room, they were greeted with cheers and whistles and could barely get through the crowd to the makeshift stage that had been prepared. With a little effort, they got onto the stage. Smithy had been wheeled to one side of the stage and sat patiently waiting with his guitar.
They started with some duets and then moved on to some sing-alongs and round robins. Those were fun, involving everyone and causing laughter around the room. Then Angel sang alone and Tusk sang solo and then they came back to singing together at the end.
When they were done, silence fell in the room then broke into loud applause that went on for several long moments. Most of the vets knew of the upcoming rally – were in fact planning to attend - and though they were reluctant to do so they slowly started to break up the gathering. One by one each person in the room came up to speak to both Angel and Tusk, thanking them for the entertainment. Finally only, Angel, Smithy and Tusk were left.
“Thank you,” Smithy said simply. “Today is the first time I have felt whole in a very long time.” He took their hands in turn and brushed a kiss across their knuckles, then turned and rolled out of the now empty room. Tusk and Angel watched him go before turning to one another with a smile.
“We did good, Baby Doll.”
Tusk leaned forward and kissed Angel softly on the lips. “Groovy, Baby. Let’s go home. Those cats will never believe this.”
Angel took Tusk’s hand in hers and tugged her out of the day room and down the hall. “Hell, you watch - they’ll ask for an encore performance tonight when these vets start telling tales. Mark my words, Chickie, we’ll be doing this on a regular basis before too long.”
“I’m down with that, Angel. Now let’s get back to the house. We don’t wanna miss that far out rally.”
************
The entire little group was in high spirits when they all met around the dinner table that evening, and they were making last minute plans for the rally that evening.
The thing I remember most was their willingness to do whatever it took to make a change in the world around them. It was a radically different attitude than I had ever seen before. Though there was a determined attitude during the Second World War, this was different. This wasn’t about regaining some semblance of lost honor or superiority, and it wasn’t about conquering a world nemesis and restoring order. This was about making all things equal... and for a while, I thought they might be successful. I was certainly rooting for them, and I think a lot of the world was too.
It was a wonderful idea. Too bad it turned so violent.
Chapter XIV
The whole house cheered when Angel and Tusk crossed the threshold. Smithy had called Chuck to come down to the center at lunch, and he had settled in the back of the big dayroom unseen to observe the afternoon’s unofficial entertainment. And he had scooted out before it was over in order to get home before they did. The rest had trickled in from wherever they spent their days, and Chuck had enjoyed sharing the tale of his afternoon with everyone as they came in the door.
So the household was excited and anxious to hear the duo together for themselves. Sammy couldn’t even bring himself to feel jealous over the obvious attachment Angel and Tusk had already formed between them. He figured if he played his cards rights, he might get a chance to join them.
For tonight though, he was looking forward to a decent supper with the family, good friends and entertainment after that and some special acid laced weed he’d been working on all day for desert. All in all it was shaping up to be a great evening.
They were settled around the table when Angel and Tusk walked in. They shifted to allow them to sit together and then Chuck called for a duet. Angel cut her eyes at him and smiled.
“Were you in that room today, Chuck? I didn’t see ya.”
“Oh, you bet I was there, Baby. Smithy rang me – told me it was a groovy not-to-be-missed sound. And he was totally right, man. It was far out.”
“Thanks, Chuck,” Tusk said softly. “It was really nice to be able to do that; some amazing karma was going around that room.”
“You gonna share that righteous karma with us tonight?”
Tusk shrugged and looked at Angel who shrugged back. “If folks are cool with it....”
Chuck clapped his hands together. “I know the vets who are coming will be. Word’s already spread, man. People are stoked.”
“What else is on tap?”
“Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, baby!!” Wild, raucous cheers met Sammy’s pronouncement and he laughed then grew serious. “Actually it be pretty laid back. There’ll be some music, some speeches... kinda depends on where the flows leads.”
“Is this the first rally around here... at the house, I mean?” Tusk asked.
“Like this, yeah,” Angel said. “I mean, we’ve had all different kinds – peace, civil rights, sit-ins – you name it, we’ve done it. But this is the first time we’ve gotten all the groups together.”
“Speaking of...” Ian said, rising from his seat. “I need to get the bonfires started. C’mon, Rick. Carmen, you and Allie wanna come?”
Rick brushed a kiss over Chuck’s head as he stood. “You cool, Baby?”
“Yeah. I’ll be out shortly. Lemme know when the guys drop in.” Rick nodded and followed the rest out the door. Tusk watched, stunned when they built the pyres in the middle of the street.
“Can they do that? Isn’t it illegal or something?”
Sammy snickered. “Baby, everything we do be illegal, mostly. Just our being here is illegal. But we don’t make waves and the cops leave us be.”
“You don’t think building a couple bonfires in the middle of the road is making waves?”
Angel chuckled. “Nah, Girlfriend. Pigs know when we have fire to stay the hell away. It’s not like this is the center of the world. No need to get roasted for the dregs of humanity, right?” Her tone was derisive and Tusk wondered what had happened in the past to make her so venomous. She hoped eventually Angel might share the story with her. Tusk really liked it here and was hoping to stick around for a while.
“So what happens now?”
Sammy laughed. “Now me an’ Chuck are gonna go smoke a little weed and then we’re gonna see about selling the stash we got to the folks that be coming tonight. I figure to make some good money tonight and have a gas to boot. Wanna come?”
“Nah. I’m gonna grab a brew and cut out for a few minutes. Come ‘n get me when the bang is on.”
Sammy nodded. “Will do, Babe,” moving out onto the small front area just off the sidewalk. Angel had told Tusk the truth – the police wouldn’t be down near Franklyn & Rhodes tonight... not of their own accord anyway. If Sammy had his way, it would be a good night on a lot of levels.
Tusk snagged a beer out of the cooler and held it up at Angel. When she nodded Tusk pulled a second and crossed back to the table and sat down next to her. Angel wrapped an arm around Tusk and kissed her forehead.
“You all right, Tusk?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Angel. Just tired; been a long day for me.”
Angel laughed gently. “It really has, hasn’t it? How ya liking it here so far? Think you might wanna hang out around here for a while?”
Tusk shrugged. “I like the vets, the folks living here. I’m cool with hangin’ here for a while, yeah.”
Angel nodded and withdrew her arm so she could stand up and offer her hand to Tusk. Tusk accepted it with a questioning look, curious as to what was going on. Angel gave her a smile and tugged; Tusk returned the smile and followed without hesitation.
They went upstairs to what Tusk assumed was either Angel’s private space or somewhere members of the household went for private couplings. There was a regular double bed, a nightstand with a lamp and a tall dresser. Other than that, the room was somewhat bare, though it looked comfortable enough. Tusk looked another question at Angel whose expression demonstrated a blush even if her skin didn’t reflect it.
“Only if you want to, Baby. I brought you up here for some rest. No one will bother you as long as you’re in this room with someone else... house rules. Not everybody likes to be open about their sex lives all the time.”
Tusk stepped into Angel’s personal space. She put one hand on Angel’s waist and loosened her other from Angel’s grasp to run it up Angel’s torso until she was cupping the back of her neck. She was still young in chronological years, but Tusk had been on the streets long enough to learn a little about how to make a lover happy... man or woman. Some of that knowledge had been hard won and come at a high price but it served her well in situations like this.
She drew Angel to her and Angel followed willingly, capturing Tusk’s lips and exploring them with gentle thoroughness. Then she pulled away and led Tusk over to the bed. Angel pulled the covers back on sheets that at least appeared to be clean and kissed Tusk again, hard and passionately.
“God, you’re making me crazy, Baby; c’mon... rest now, screw later.”
“You sure?” Tusk asked, running her hand inside Angel’s shirt and tweaking a nipple hard. “I really do like you, Angel. I’d like to make love with you.” She soothed the spot she had pinched so viciously only moments before and felt Angel shudder under her touch. “I know how to make you feel good, Angel.”
“What about Sammy?”
Tusk shrugged. “What about him? I’d like to have sex with him too. But we’re here now – you ‘n me.”
“And we’ll be here later,” wondering where the hesitation was coming from because getting Tusk into bed in the Biblical sense had been foremost in Angel’s mind when she’d brought her up to this room. But now the lines of exhaustion in Tusk’s face were so clear to Angel, and she just wanted to give the kid a little time to rest. It was going to be a long night for all of them. These things tended to go on past dawn.
“Don’t you wanna have sex with me, Angel?” Tusk asked frankly, getting very mixed signals from the other woman.
“Oh,” Angel groaned. “You got no idea how bad I want this, Baby. You got me so wet I’m drowning myself over here.”
“Then let me take care of you,” Tusk offered as she reached for the button on Angel’s jeans. Angel stretched out a hand and intercepted Tusk before she could reach her destination.
“Baby, you’re so tired I can see it in your eyes... feel it in your touch. I just want....”
“Love me, Angel. We can sleep together after. If there’s one thing I have learned after three years on the road, it’s to seize the moment. You never know when life is gonna turn on a dime for ya.” Angel searched the hazel eyes opposite her, finding a truth they she didn’t expect and nodding her agreement. She let go of Tusk’s hand to feel the breeze transverse her torso as her shirt went flying across the room. Angel raised her eyebrow in question this time. Tusk grinned mischievously.
“I decided this morning I was gonna find out if you served chocolate milk if I got the chance.”
Angel cupped the back of Tusk’s head as she suckled vigorously, hoping the sensation would never end. Tusk guided her down to the bed. It was the last peace they would know together.
************
The veterans were the first to start arriving; they were the closest. They greeted each other like long lost friends even though they saw one another nearly every day. A lot of the vets around here had served their tours together... many in the same units; most who weren’t had been placed at the nearby veteran’s hospital. So everyone greeted everyone else, wandering over to where Sammy and Chuck had set up shop. They accepted the joints the two men had rolled, inhaling with great relish.
“You always got the best shit, Sammy.”
He grinned. “Get whatcha pay for, man; ya know that.”
The other vet looked around. “So what all’s going down tonight, man? Those fires are massive. You could see them from the center; I imagine the smoke could be seen for miles if it was daylight still. And where’s Angel and her new girlfriend? I thought they were supposed to be part of this.”
Chuck and Sammy exchanged glances then giggled. “I guess by now those girls are upstairs relieving any tension they got.” Chuck smirked and the men around him groaned as they realized the implications of his words. “They’ll be down later.”
“Wonder if they’d share that too,” one of the other men asked aloud, causing a ripple of laughter across those gathered around.
“You can ask Angel,” another man commented with a sly grin.
The first snorted. “I’m brain damaged, not stupid.” That brought another round of laughter. Then they settled back with their beers and watched the activity taking place around them as people began arriving for the rally.
Slowly the area was beginning to fill up with a variety of people and causes, brought together by a desire to make a stand and be heard. The vets stayed on the porch area, comfortable with having the building at their back and glad to be close to the beer.
The hippies had staked out an area close to the bonfire. They and the Wiccans arranged themselves comfortably and someone pulled out a beat-up guitar. Soon the sound of music and chanting wafted across the area.
The civil rights marchers were the next to arrive, and they actually helped merge the two groups that were already comfortably ensconced in their respective places. Several of them were vets and wandered over to greet their buddies. A few of the women were Wiccans, and they moved over to join their sisters in chanting and prayer. The rest started preparing a small staging area for the speeches that would take place a little later.
Students wandered in and completed the integration between all the different groups gathered. They were a mixed lot; though none of them were veterans, many of them volunteered at the clinic and knew the men who had served. And they were Wiccans and hippies and people of color as well as anti-war protesters. It was an amazing sight to see so many different factions assembled peacefully together.
************
It was interesting at first – very unusual for so many different types of people with so many diverse interests to be congregated together in one place for a common purpose. Even now, when peace is the watchword in the world and humanity is more focused on surviving as a whole than fighting over extreme pettiness and prejudice, human beings tend to remain separate and aloof from one another.
But this – this was something beyond. This was a coming together, a meeting of people from different backgrounds who had managed to find commonality in their ideology. I only wish it had remained as peaceful as it has begun.
Angel had been right about one thing – the police had no interest or desire to get involved in what was happening at the corner of Franklyn & Rhodes. As long as it was peaceful and contained, they really didn’t care what went on. I think it would have remained peaceful had it not been for the next group that showed up because they came armed and ready for trouble. And trouble is what they caused for everyone – including me.
************
One of the students was a theatre major and had brought a couple speakers and a microphone to help the crowd be able to hear things a little easier. Set-up was quick, then the musicians kicked off the rally. There were sing-alongs and different people from each of the groups represented got up to sing and entertain. The vets looked around for Angel and Tusk, anxious to hear them again. Sammy and Chuck exchanged knowing smirks, then Sammy rose and went into the house to fetch them.
He went through the house slowly, fairly confident he knew exactly where they were, but unwilling to miss them in his haste to find them either. Finally he reached the door to what was commonly referred to as the sex room. The tag was hung on the doorknob so he knew he and Chuck had figured correctly about their whereabouts and probable activities. He grinned, hoping he was interrupting. It might get him an invitation to join them.
Sammy knocked lightly, then opened the door. He frowned when he realized he had missed out, at least for now. The two were curled up together sound asleep; the room smelled of sex and sweat. He shrugged and crossed to the bed, touching Tusk’s shoulder and shaking her awake.
Hazel eyes opened slowly and blinked at Sammy without the least hint of a blush. She turned and woke Angel who kissed Tusk thoroughly before opening her eyes to see Sammy watching with more than a gleam of interest in his eyes. Angel glared at him.
“Something you want, Sammy?”
“What I want and what I be up here for be two different things,” he replied with a leer. “The rally’s done started and folks be looking for ya.”
“All right. We’ll be down in a few minutes.” He didn’t move and Angel glared at him again. “Something else you need?”
Sammy leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “Nope. Just be waiting on you two.”
“Wait outside, Sammy,” Angel growled. “You’re not getting a free look.”
“Ah Baby... it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“And nothing you’re gonna see now. Now get out!” Sammy growled but slammed the door behind him as he stomped out of the room. Angel waited til she heard his footsteps head down the stairs before she turned to meet Tusk’s amused eyes. “Thought that was funny, did ya?”
Tusk laughed and nodded. “Um hmm. And entertaining,” she added as she slid from the bed. She turned and smiled at Angel. “Enjoying the show?”
“Yep,” she answered with a satisfied smirk, slipping from the bed and reaching for her own clothes. “C’mon... let’s get down there before Sammy decides to try again.”
************
While Sammy was upstairs the vets spread the word about the coming entertainment. Their excitement was easily discernable and it spread through the crowd like wildfire. And the first of the speech givers stood to ride the wave of energy that was flowing through the crowd while they waited for Angel and Tusk to appear.
He was passionate and enthusiastic and the crowd enjoyed the things he had to say. They cheered and clapped in all the appropriate places and when he was done, they cheered again. They were so busy cheering they didn’t see what was coming until it was too late.
The speaker stepped down from the makeshift stage and Sammy made his way over to announce Tusk and Angel just as they walked out of the house. The two women waved to the vets as the men cheered raucously and the rest of the crowd applauded politely.
Angel took the mic to thank folks when the sound of gunfire broke out up and down the block. She didn’t even realize she’d been shot until she was looking up at the stars cradled in Tusk’s arms. Screams erupted from all sides, but Angel didn’t hear them. She didn’t hear anything; she was only aware of the burning pain in her guts and the tears and blood on Tusk’s face. Angel tried to reach a hand up to comfort her, but her arm was too heavy and she was just too tired. Then she closed her eyes and it didn’t matter anymore.
The Klan moved into the fray with cries of victory. When they had gotten wind of this little rally they had decided to come make an example of those that would be here. It had been an unexpected bonus to find so many troublesome groups gathered together in one place – especially since they were all so obviously anti-American. The Klan felt quite self-righteous and morally superior as they beat and clubbed and occasionally shot the protestors who were taken completely by surprise. However, it didn’t take them long to begin fighting back and within minutes, the peaceful rally turned into an all-out riot.
************
Tusk felt the blood gushing out of her body. She had taken a hit to her shoulder and been grazed across the temple, causing blood to stream down her face. Angel lay dead in her lap and Tusk was slumped over her body, unable and unwilling to move.
She was trying to make sense of what had happened, but her confusion was overwhelming. The sounds around her were loud and bewildering, but she couldn’t differentiate the noise into anything understandable. The one eye that was clear of blood saw the light of the bonfire, but little else was clear beyond a mass of writhing bodies. She wondered vaguely if she was taking a trip on some bad drugs. She closed eyelids too heavy to keep open anymore.
The sound of sirens broke through the chaos; those she could distinguish from the sounds of bones and wood hitting flesh. The next sound she heard was running feet and low moans and cries, but she couldn’t get her eyes open to take in what was happening.
The police arrived and kept the few remaining protesters from following the Klan members who mostly escaped intact. This angered the protesters who couldn’t see the dragnet that had been set up to catch the Klan members now trying to flee the scene. This time they started the riot and their actions guaranteed that it wouldn’t end well.
Sammy threw the first punch; Chuck threw the second. After that it became a free-for-all, and the police used their clubs and shields and tear gas to subdue the rioters. That coupled with the hoses that the firefighters had used to put out the bonfire then turned on the protesters put down the riot fairly quickly, and when all was said and done bodies were strewn up and down the streets of Franklyn & Rhodes.
************
When morning arrived, the damage was apparent and it was devastating. A police line had been formed and National Guardsmen stood watch around a wide perimeter. News crews pushed as close as they were allowed trying to capture the carnage that remained at Franklyn & Rhodes.
Part of the building had caught fire though as yet no one could explain how that happened. The police had already emptied it out and boarded it up. Most of the protestors had been removed from the area already. The vets who had not been arrested had been returned to the nearby center. The few local civil rights protesters left unharmed had gone home and taken those few out-of-towners who had been spared with them – not many as they had been the primary target of the hate mongers who had incited the original riot. The small number of hippies and Wiccans who remained untouched had climbed into their VW buses and found an untouched woodland area close by to recuperate in.
But most of the people who had attended the rally were now either in the hospital, in jail or dead.
Those who were now in the hospital ranged from those with deep cuts and bruises to a few who were in critical condition and not expected to make it. Some were under arrest and under police guard; others had already been injured before the police had arrived on the scene. Most of those were the ones whose wounds had put them into intensive care. The rest the hospital staff was having difficulty dealing with; aside from being overworked and overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients, there was disdain from some at having to help ‘those people’. The police presence only made things more difficult for everyone.
A large number of perps were in jail, and the police had been careful to try and keep the Klansmen they’d caught separate from the protesters, but it was an almost impossible task due to the tremendous number of people that had been arrested. That and the fact that most of the people now under arrest had superficial wounds that needed to be tended to made things hellish in every precinct in the city as it had taken every resource they had to accommodate all the arrests that had been made. It would take weeks to sort everything out and months before justice was served... if it ever actually was.
Sammy and Chuck went to jail on a number of charges, but both ended up back in the care of the veteran’s hospital. Psych evals put them in the custody of the loony bin at least for a while.
A majority of the people involved in the rally and subsequent riot survived but a few didn’t. Seven Klansmen died – either on the scene or at the hospital. Twelve protesters were pronounced dead at the scene, including Smithy, Rick, Angel, and Tusk.
Smithy and Rick were buried in a nearby veteran’s cemetery and accorded the honors they had earned in the service of their country. The vets at the center collected money among them to bury Angel in the old church cemetery that guarded the opposite corner of Franklyn & Rhodes. The authorities found identification on Tusk that gave her real name as Julia Haversham and contact information for her parents. They claimed her body with many tears and much sorrow two days after the riot and took it home to bury beneath her favorite old oak.
The building at Franklyn & Rhodes was sealed – steel plates bolted into place covering doors and windows. A nine-foot fence with razor wire was put around the property’s perimeter. The building couldn’t be torn down; it was a national historic landmark. But the police didn’t want another incident there and the easiest way to manage that seemed to be to remove the opportunity.
It worked. With the building shut down and no way in, the vagrants drifted off to a different area and things settled down once more.
Finally several months after the protest, Sammy and Chuck were given day passes from the hospital and with a few of their vet friends, ventured down to the building on Franklyn & Rhodes.
It didn’t look anything like they remembered it. The carnage had been wiped clean and there was no trace of what had happened on that fateful night months before. The chain link fence that had been put up around the property kept people out effectively and a police car still made regular rounds to ensure that there was no loitering at that particular corner.
They looked at it for a long moment, fingers wrapped in the chain link before crossing over to the side of the street that had held the makeshift stage. It had been removed of course, as had any hint that two vibrant young woman had bled out the last of their life there. Chuck handed Sammy a small brown paper sack and Sammy took it and removed two white candles from it, then a red followed by a blue. The four candles were placed side by side on the sidewalk and reverently Sammy lit them. Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and muttered a small prayer.
“God, watch over our friends and give them the peace in the next life they didn’t find in this one. And let them watch over us, ‘cause we need it sometimes and they’ll do it right. Be nice to them, God, ‘cause they sure were nice to us. That’s all. Amen.”
“Amen,” the others mumbled when he was done, and they stood there a moment longer watching the candles burn and the flames blow in the breeze. Then without another word the little troupe turned and headed back down the road, away from the corner of Franklyn & Rhodes.
************
That was the beginning of a dark time for me – worse than it had been after the mob war in the twenties. At least then, I’d still had the company of a number of other buildings my age around me and there had been people, lots of people and activity on the streets.
Now there was nothing. Only a few buildings remained from my time, and most of the younger buildings didn’t survive long. Lots of them were being torn down to make way for progress – even younger buildings with no heart or soul. Or worse... parking garages. And the loneliness was almost more than I could bear.
I could only hope and pray I would survive long enough for things in the area to turn around. But it was hard not to lose hope seeing what was happening around me on a daily basis.
Then we fell into the ‘Me Decade’. How incredibly lucky for me. That changed my life and set me on the path I am on today.
It all started when I was put up as an investment property... and it was all uphill from there.
Part 8
Things changed dramatically for me after the war – they changed drastically for the whole country. People moved out of the cities into outlying housing neighborhoods known as ‘suburbs’, and they started commuting to work. It was the dawn of the ‘Rat Race’, and from where I was sitting it wasn’t pretty.
There wasn’t a need for the USO, so I was closed and put into mothballs for all practical purposes. My windows were boarded, my doors were chained and for the next few decades, life as I had known it was going to pass me by.
Not that I didn’t have visitors or stories to share about that time. As long as there are homeless or vandals or criminals in the world, I will have visitors and I will see life, especially the seedier side. I will admit to being thrilled when my fortunes finally changed again, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you about some of the folks I saw pass through my portals illegally.
************
“C’mon. C’mon, dammit.” The creak was the only warning the girl got before the board gave way, and she fell on her butt in the rain-covered street from the force of the release. She looked around in alarm, hoping the noise wouldn’t be heard over the storm that was currently raging. With a sigh she got up out of the puddle she’d landed in and jerked her bag up onto her shoulder before scurrying back under the portico and slipping into the musty old building.
Tusk was a runaway. At fifteen years of age, she'd decided her parents just weren't hip enough to understand her. So she'd left. Now she'd been on her own for two years, and she'd seen and done just about everything. The old building on Franklyn & Rhodes was known on the circuit as a safe place; somewhere you could find shelter for a while; somewhere you could score some decent drugs or companionship for the right price.
Tonight all Tusk wanted was to get in out of the rain. She'd been soaking wet for two days, and even the worn material of her jeans was starting to chafe. She ducked into the hole she'd created, careful to pull the board in behind her. Though it was common knowledge both on the circuit and in law enforcement circles what this building was used for, there was no point in advertising either. She stopped moving when an arm reached out and wrapped around her middle, a hand roughly fondling her breast.
"What bizness ya got here, bitch? This be Sammy's place."
Tusk reached a hand back and grabbed his family jewels, twisting them until he released her with a howl. "Stay off me, asswipe. I don't want no trouble."
Sammy came at her with a growl, swinging a huge, meaty fist in her direction. Tusk waited until he had committed himself, then stepped to one side, extending her foot and watching him hit the ground with sudden force. Sammy lay stunned for several moments before rolling onto his back with a chuckle. "I like you. You got spunk so you can stay. Name's...."
"Sammy," they finished together. His chuckle turned into full-throated laughter and the girl smiled in sympathy. "I'm Tusk," she said.
"Well, Tusk," the big black man said as he rose. "Welcome to my place. What can I be doing for ya?" He eyed her up and down. Though she'd lost any hint of the child she had once been and a hard veneer had settled on her features, she was still decent enough to look at. Certainly worth a tumble or two in the bed if she was willing. God knew Sammy didn't have much respect for any sort of perceived morality or law, but he preferred partners who went to his bed willingly. They were much more creative.
"Not that," she smirked at him, well aware of what the lust glazed look in his eyes meant. "Not tonight, anyway," she continued when he frowned. "I just wanted a place to crash for tonight. I wanna dry out. Damn rain has soaked everything I got."
"Later, maybe?"
She grinned at him from behind thick auburn hair. "Yeah, maybe," doing her own perusal. He was fairly good looking, and he wasn't emaciated though he wasn't nearly as muscular as he had once been. He absorbed her look, feeling himself swell at the intensity in her heated gaze as it lingered at his groin. "Yeah," she repeated. "I imagine we can come to an understanding."
"Good. C'mon," he said, leading her around to the front staircase area. He picked up a candle from the small stash at the bottom step and lit it, handing it to her and motioning up. "Gw'an up and pick ya a room. I got plenty."
"Thanks, Sammy." A faint jingle sounded.
"Gotta go. Customers." He motioned again. "Gw'an. I'll find ya later and we can uh...." letting his eyes trace her body again, "... talk."
Tusk held the candle up and hefted her bag again. All she wanted right now was a place to rest. Tomorrow would have to take care of itself.
************
When morning came, Tusk was surprised to find herself under a light, tattered blanket. She looked around the room she had chosen the night before, taking in her surroundings with bemusement. The room appeared to have been storage once upon a time, judging by the bits and pieces that were left behind. This room had a thin, dirty mattress, which is why she had selected it to start with. Now she lifted her head and found Sammy curled up on one side of her and an unknown woman on the other.
There were another couple young men in the room, both scraggly and unkempt looking. She blinked her eyes again and stretched, feeling both Sammy and the woman begin to stir beside her. Tusk snuggled down between them enjoying the shared warmth.
"Hey, baby," Sammy rasped and ran his hand lightly over Tusk's naked body. "How's 'bout a little lovin' for Sammy?" The woman on the other side of Tusk chuckled and Sammy sat up enough to glare at her. "Shuddup, Angel. Nobody asked you."
"C'mon, Sammy. Give the kid a break. She may not swing your way, ya know. She looks like she could appreciate a woman's touch," tracing Tusk's lips with a finger and gasping in reflex when the lips smiled back at her then sucked on the end of her finger.
"Actually," Tusk murmured, releasing the fingertip with a kiss. "I like both. But first I gotta earn a little bread."
The woman looked at her with sparkling brown eyes. "Why don't you come down to the vet center with me, Honey? We can always use help there."
Tusk frowned thoughtfully. "I dunno. I'm pretty anti-war."
The woman chuckled. "So are most of the vets we serve. Chuck over there is one," motioning to a young man who was easing himself into a wheelchair. "He actually heads up a number of our protests. We do more than just help the vets – we get them involved as well."
Sammy rolled a joint and lit it, inhaling deeply into his lungs. He passed it to Angel who took a hit then passed it on to Tusk. Tusk took a drag, savoring the sense of detachment she felt as the vapors enter her body. She passed it to Chuck who accepted it with a smile.
"Good shit, Sammy," he commented after several hits. "Makes the pain just go away."
Sammy chuckled, having had just enough to be happy. "Only the best for family, Chuckie. You know that. We take care of each other, Brother."
"Speaking of, ya'll don't forget we've got a civil rights meeting tonight. A lot of the vets from the center are coming and so are a bunch of students. Should be a good turn out."
Tusk turned to Angel with a frown. "Not that I disagree – I'm all for civil rights. Hell, I'm for any kinds of rights that make the Constitution work for everyone. But how'd you get the vets to go for it?"
Chuck rolled over and bumped into Tusk's legs lightly. "Easy, Sweetheart. Sammy and I are brothers. Served three tours together in 'Nam. He looks out for me – I look out for him. We stand up for each other, dig?"
Tusk smiled. "Yeah, I dig. I think I could learn to like it here." Tusk rose then, shedding her blanket and ignoring the appreciative looks cast in her directions by everyone in the room. Not that she was averse to receiving them from either sex, but she had more important things to worry about at the moment – not the least of which was earning some money. Wasn’t something she was that keen on, but she had learned by hard earned experience that charity didn’t always begin at home, and even when it did people tended to judge your worthiness by their standards and not your needs.
She grabbed up her backpack and wandered down the hall to the bathroom. Despite the thorough wetting she’d gotten last night, she decided soap and warmer than cold water would be a welcome change, especially if she was gonna get some sort of job for a while. Even the veteran’s clinic required neat and clean, and if Tusk were completely honest with herself so did she. It just wasn’t always easy to achieve on the road.
Tusk was a little surprised that she was left alone to bathe in privacy. Given the interest they’d shown earlier, she’d half expected Sammy or Angel or both to show up and offer to help – not that she’d have turned either down. Sammy was a good looking man; nice hands and... She smirked, remembering the good look she’d gotten of his dick. He certainly had the means for taking good care of a woman’s needs.
On the other hand, Angel appealed to her in an entirely different way. Not nearly as dark-skinned as Sammy, she was still a nice chocolate brown, and Tusk wondered if she suckled at those firm, full breasts she’d woken snuggled against if chocolate milk would be her reward. A smile crossed her face – she couldn’t wait to find out.
She braided her hair back loosely and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a loose, flowing top. She rubbed her hand down the smooth material, then hoisted her backpack and moved back out into the room. She was amazed that the room was empty and made her own way downstairs where she could smell something cooking.
Tusk followed her nose and sure enough, found Sammy, Angel, Chuck and his buddy and a few others Tusk hadn’t seen before were all gathered around a makeshift table in the kitchen eating some sort of... well, Tusk wasn’t sure what it was exactly. But it certainly did smell really good.
Sammy patted the chair between him and Angel while Angel dished Tusk up some breakfast. Then he proceeded to introduce her around the table.
“Everyone, this is Tusk. Tusk, this is the family. You’ve already met Angel.” The black woman patted her thigh affectionately and it garnered her a smile in return. “And Chuck,” motioning to the man in the wheelchair. Tusk spared a moment to wonder how he had managed to get downstairs, then nodded to him and the man who was seated next to him. “That’s his partner, Rick. Next to Rick is Nora Redwing and her old man Hoosier. Carmen, Ian and Allie round out our little family.”
It was a nice eclectic mix of races, with Sammy’s skin being the darkest among them. Then came Angel’s chocolate brown, Carmen’s and Rick’s Hispanic caramel color and Nora Redwing’s Native American. The rest were white, though they certainly had their own unique heritages. Ian’s flaming red hair betrayed his Celtic background, and Allie and Hoosier were both blonde, though opposite ends of the spectrum. Chuck had California boy surfer good looks.
That left Tusk, who was about the slightest among them. She had auburn hair and hazel eyes and a dimple on the right side of her smile. She was cute enough, but her time as a free spirit had made her harder and cynical – something that showed clearly in her expression and body language. However, looking around at Sammy’s little family, she felt a sense of understanding and belonging. And for the first time since she’d left her parents’ home, she decided she had found a place to stay for a while if she was offered an invitation.
Tusk looked around the room and smiled. “Hi, guys! Nice to meet all of you.”
All of them reached out a hand or gave her an embrace in greeting. Then they all got down to the serious business of eating. When they were done, Sammy took Tusk aside while the others started the clean up process. “You goin’ in with Angel today?”
Tusk nodded. “I think so. At worst, I’ll be donating a day’s time to help some vets, and with a little luck, I can hire on and earn some bread.”
Sammy nodded. “All right... cool. You c’mon back here when the day’s over with, and we’ll see about making your livin’ here with us a more permanent arrangement.”
“Groovy, man. I’m totally in tune with this whole scene.”
Sammy nodded and smiled. “Me too, Baby.”
Tusk reached up and brushed a kiss over his lips, smiling and pulling back when he tried to get little friskier than she was willing to go for in front of the whole family.
“Later, Big Guy. I don’t want an audience and I don’t wanna be rushed.”
“Ooh, Baby, I am totally diggin’ the sound of that.”
Tusk grinned and turned to find Angel waiting with an intriguing little smile on her face. “C’mon, Baby Doll. Let’s go see of we can earn you some bread.”
Tusk reached out a hand and held onto the hand that Angel extended to her. This day was suddenly filled with intriguing possibilities.
************
I got the next bits from the conversations that went on when Tusk and Angel got back though the center building was quick to confirm them. It made me wish I could have been there at the vets’ center when Angel and Tusk were there. According to all the reports they gave the family when they got home, they caused all sorts of mess and mayhem. And the vets had such a great time with the two of them that Tusk was hired immediately and became a full-fledged member of Sammy’s little family.
It gave us no hint of things to come.
************
"So how did all of you end up here?" Tusk asked Angel as they walked together the few blocks to the vet's center. It had actually been a military hospital until the military moved out; then it had served as an old folks home until the government decided they needed the space for the veteran's who were returning from Vietnam.
Tusk looked around at the neighborhood and wondered why they'd bothered. Seemed like it would have been cheaper and easier just to start from scratch somewhere else. Even worse, the community it was in was full of the tension of the time – racial, anti-war, anti-establishment - you name it, it was all prevalent in the few blocks it took for them to get from the building at Franklyn & Rhodes to the center.
Angel shrugged, coming back to the question Tusk had nearly forgotten she'd asked because she had been so absorbed in the activity around her. "I dunno... mostly just wandered in like you, I guess. You could tell we were from all over, huh?"
Tusk chuckled. "Uh, yeah. I mean, I've been all over this country and you guys seem to have pretty much covered it from coast to coast."
"And is that a good thing?"
Tusk thought about it for a long moment. "Yeah. At least I mean I’m really digging it so far. I'm definitely looking forward to finding out for sure though."
Angel's dark eyes twinkled. "Oh, right on, Baby Doll. Now c'mon. We're here. Let's go see if we can get you a job. We want you to have a reason to stick around for a while." She rubbed a hand up and down Tusk's arm, delighting in the goose bumps that trailed behind her touch. "I'd really like you to have a reason to stick around myself."
Tusk leaned forward and brushed a kiss across the corner of Angel's soft lips. "Oh I don't think that's gonna be a real problem. I really do like it here."
Angel grinned real big and took Tusk by the hand. Then she opened the door to the vet's center and together they walked into controlled chaos.
************
The vets cheered when Angel crossed the threshold and she shimmied and shook in response. Then she reached back and took Tusk by the hand and pulled the younger woman forward. Angel wrapped her arms around Tusk’s slim waist and leaned her chin on Tusk’s shoulder. The men really whooped and hollered then, and Angel teased them just a little before giving Tusk a little squeeze.
“Guys, this luscious babe is Tusk and she’s here to help out. Whaddya think?”
Another cheer went up from the men in the center and Angel chuckled as she took Tusk’s hand in her own again and headed them for the human resources office. “C’mon, Baby Doll. I think you’re gonna like it here a lot. The guys already like you.” She squeezed the hand she held. “So do I.” Tusk smiled and followed Angel into the office.
The harried little weasel of a man in the office took one look at Tusk and shook his head, then he handed her a sheaf of papers to fill out. An hour later, Tusk was employed and headed back out to the floor to start her first day of work at the vets’ center.
Angel had already started her rounds; her primary job was to changes the sheets on the beds, but she always spent a bit of time talking to each of the vets who occupied them. Most had been there a while and they were like old friends. A few were new and received her attention with various reactions, ranging from sullen silence to tears to loud laughter. Once in a while one of her regulars would be gone – sometimes from release back into the world but others to death. Those were hard days and usually involved purging her spirit when she returned to Franklyn & Rhodes with drugs, alcohol or sex. Fortunately that didn’t happen often and it didn’t happen today.
Angel greeted the mobile veterans in the day room and they returned her greeting with enthusiasm. They knew she would join them for singing when her other work was done.
Tusk, meanwhile, had been assigned to give the men haircuts and shaves. A number of men who had shown no previous interest in that particular aspect of personal hygiene and grooming were suddenly quite enthusiastic about it. It embarrassed her a bit, but she took it all in stride. Haircuts were something she was good at and it made her feel good to be able to do something for these men who had served even if she didn’t agree with the war.
Listening to them, she realized a lot of them like the vets who lived at Franklyn & Rhodes were against the war. It made her wonder why they had chosen to serve, but she figure if she hung around long enough, she’d get an answer to that question.
The old man in charge of the barbershop watched her work for the first few customers, then finally grunted in satisfaction. Tusk just snickered and continued working, humming idly while she worked.
One of the guys heard her and picked up his guitar, strumming chords until he found the key she was humming in, then he proceeded to accompany her song. The guys in the barbershop quieted down, their normal banter and conversation silence by the folksy rock sounds Tusk and Smithy were creating.
Tusk kept on working though it was difficult. Men kept coming in but no one was leaving and it was getting crowded in the shop. And it was almost impossible to rotate men in and out of the chairs. Finally the old barber had enough and threw everyone out. Fortunately it was lunchtime anyway so although the men grumbled and complained, they left and headed out to the mess hall to have lunch.
Angel finished up her first set of rounds just as the men started streaming out of the barbershop. Her eyes widened as they just continued to come and she wondered how so many men had managed to cram themselves into such a relatively small space; and better yet, why they had wanted to.
Then she spotted Tusk inside, her hand resting on the shoulder of a young man holding a guitar. When the man turned, Angel realized it was Smithy. Her eyebrows jerked up into her hairline. What on earth had she missed??
Smithy laughed at something Tusk said, then laid the guitar across his lap so he could wheel himself out of the shop. He stopped and grinned up at Angel when he rolled out almost into her.
“Angel, Baby!”
“Smithy?” She’d never seen him looking so happy since he’d been brought here missing most of one leg and half of the other. She wondered what Tusk had said or done in the few hours she’d been here to have brought about such a change.
“Honey, I don’t know where you found Tusk, but she is groovy, man. She digs us, and Baby, she can sing. You two need to make some music together.”
Angel leaned down and hugged Smithy much as she had done nearly every day since his arrival. Only this time she also got a hug in return. “Smithy, if it will make you keep smiling like that, well, I guess I’ll have to see what I can do about singing with Tusk.”
Smithy whooped and hugged her again, then spun his wheelchair and raced down the hallway towards the mess hall, anxious to share the news with the rest.
Meanwhile, the old barber had taken Tusk aside. He was a disabled vet himself and remembered well the feelings of loss and despair he’d suffered through during his time in a military hospital. And his country had not turned its back on him; he had been a celebrated hero unlike the men who served now.
He’d watched so many of them come to life today when Tusk started singing. She’d been so nonchalant about the whole thing, acting like it was completely normal to be surrounded men who were crippled and deformed by the vagaries of war. And she was young; he could see that despite ravages time and running away had already wrought on her body. So he seriously doubted she was pro-war. But she never let on... never uttered a word. Instead Tusk treated the veteran’s like the human beings they were and in his eyes that gave her validation like nothing else would have.
“You did a good thing here today, Kid. There’s not many who come in and make friends of these boys... especially not that quickly.”
“Thanks, Bob. They seem like good guys. I’m glad to do what I can.”
Bob nodded. “I’ll see about getting you reassigned to morale and recreation if you want, but it’ll probably take a few weeks, especially if Arthur has pushed your paper work through. It’s easy to get into the system, but a hellish nightmare to move around in or, God forbid, get out of.”
Tusk nodded. “I’d like that, Bob, though I like it here too.”
He patted her arm awkwardly. “I’ll see what I can do. Go get you some grub and come back here in about an hour. We’ve still got plenty of cuts and shaves to give.”
When she walked out of the barbershop, Angel grabbed her by the arm and Tusk looked up in alarm until she saw the smile on Angel’s face. Then she smiled in reflex and tucked her hand in the crook of Angel’s arm. Angel took Tusk into the kitchen through the back and introduced her around, picking up lunch for them both before escaping into the tiny staff lounge.
“You made quite an impression today, Tusk,” Angel commented as they ate. Tusk shrugged.
“It wasn’t intentional. These cats just seemed to need some good karma flowing. Must be such a bummer to be stuck in this place.”
“Yeah, but you like them... they can tell that. So many here just see it as a way to earn bread; they don’t care. You do. You didn’t have to be cool about things, but you were.” Tusk shrugged again, but didn’t answer. She was a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Honey-girl. Didn’t mean to embarrass you, but you did a groovy thing.” Angel paused and cleared her throat. “Would you be interested in a short sing-along after work? We couldn’t do it for very long tonight, not with the rally and all, but the guys would think it was totally far out.”
Tusk considered it thoughtfully as she ate, and Angel let her eat and think in peace while she consumed her own meal. Finally she raised her eyes to meet warm chocolate ones. “You really think they’d dig something like that?”
Angel laughed. “Baby Doll, I know they would. You remember that guy that was playing the guitar for you?” Tusk nodded. “That was Smithy; he’s been here four months and in that time, I think I have seen him smile twice... counting today. I dunno what you did or what you said, Honey, but you did something that touched him. You got a real gift there, Baby; don’t let it go to waste.”
Tusk thought about it for a few minutes, or would have had not nearly every single staff member approached her individually to comment about or congratulate her on her actions in the barber shop. Though many of them simply thought of this as a paycheck and most of them would have looked down at her otherwise given her hippie looks and mode of dress, most of them respected the fact that she had come in and done good even if it was completely accidental.
Tusk listened to the words and studied the reactions and as folks filed out of the staff lounge to go back to work, she turned her attention back to an expectantly waiting Angel.
“You knew that would happen,” she accused.
“Nope,” Angel shook her head emphatically. “But I damn well would have planned it if I’d thought I could. What they said to you was real, Girlfriend, straight on from their hearts. Take it as the compliment it is.”
Tusk nodded and rose, picking up her tray to return it to the kitchen. When she got to the door she turned to Angel who was only a step behind her. “All right, Angel. Let’s see if we can rock some groovy karma into this place.”
Angel’s smile lit up the room, then they headed out to finish their assigned duties.
************
It didn’t take long for word to travel around the whole facility and an excited buzz followed in its wake. Long before the workday was over, veterans and staff began filtering into the day room, all of them anxious to get a good seat for the impromptu performance.
When Tusk and Angel made their way into the room, they were greeted with cheers and whistles and could barely get through the crowd to the makeshift stage that had been prepared. With a little effort, they got onto the stage. Smithy had been wheeled to one side of the stage and sat patiently waiting with his guitar.
They started with some duets and then moved on to some sing-alongs and round robins. Those were fun, involving everyone and causing laughter around the room. Then Angel sang alone and Tusk sang solo and then they came back to singing together at the end.
When they were done, silence fell in the room then broke into loud applause that went on for several long moments. Most of the vets knew of the upcoming rally – were in fact planning to attend - and though they were reluctant to do so they slowly started to break up the gathering. One by one each person in the room came up to speak to both Angel and Tusk, thanking them for the entertainment. Finally only, Angel, Smithy and Tusk were left.
“Thank you,” Smithy said simply. “Today is the first time I have felt whole in a very long time.” He took their hands in turn and brushed a kiss across their knuckles, then turned and rolled out of the now empty room. Tusk and Angel watched him go before turning to one another with a smile.
“We did good, Baby Doll.”
Tusk leaned forward and kissed Angel softly on the lips. “Groovy, Baby. Let’s go home. Those cats will never believe this.”
Angel took Tusk’s hand in hers and tugged her out of the day room and down the hall. “Hell, you watch - they’ll ask for an encore performance tonight when these vets start telling tales. Mark my words, Chickie, we’ll be doing this on a regular basis before too long.”
“I’m down with that, Angel. Now let’s get back to the house. We don’t wanna miss that far out rally.”
************
The entire little group was in high spirits when they all met around the dinner table that evening, and they were making last minute plans for the rally that evening.
The thing I remember most was their willingness to do whatever it took to make a change in the world around them. It was a radically different attitude than I had ever seen before. Though there was a determined attitude during the Second World War, this was different. This wasn’t about regaining some semblance of lost honor or superiority, and it wasn’t about conquering a world nemesis and restoring order. This was about making all things equal... and for a while, I thought they might be successful. I was certainly rooting for them, and I think a lot of the world was too.
It was a wonderful idea. Too bad it turned so violent.
Chapter XIV
The whole house cheered when Angel and Tusk crossed the threshold. Smithy had called Chuck to come down to the center at lunch, and he had settled in the back of the big dayroom unseen to observe the afternoon’s unofficial entertainment. And he had scooted out before it was over in order to get home before they did. The rest had trickled in from wherever they spent their days, and Chuck had enjoyed sharing the tale of his afternoon with everyone as they came in the door.
So the household was excited and anxious to hear the duo together for themselves. Sammy couldn’t even bring himself to feel jealous over the obvious attachment Angel and Tusk had already formed between them. He figured if he played his cards rights, he might get a chance to join them.
For tonight though, he was looking forward to a decent supper with the family, good friends and entertainment after that and some special acid laced weed he’d been working on all day for desert. All in all it was shaping up to be a great evening.
They were settled around the table when Angel and Tusk walked in. They shifted to allow them to sit together and then Chuck called for a duet. Angel cut her eyes at him and smiled.
“Were you in that room today, Chuck? I didn’t see ya.”
“Oh, you bet I was there, Baby. Smithy rang me – told me it was a groovy not-to-be-missed sound. And he was totally right, man. It was far out.”
“Thanks, Chuck,” Tusk said softly. “It was really nice to be able to do that; some amazing karma was going around that room.”
“You gonna share that righteous karma with us tonight?”
Tusk shrugged and looked at Angel who shrugged back. “If folks are cool with it....”
Chuck clapped his hands together. “I know the vets who are coming will be. Word’s already spread, man. People are stoked.”
“What else is on tap?”
“Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, baby!!” Wild, raucous cheers met Sammy’s pronouncement and he laughed then grew serious. “Actually it be pretty laid back. There’ll be some music, some speeches... kinda depends on where the flows leads.”
“Is this the first rally around here... at the house, I mean?” Tusk asked.
“Like this, yeah,” Angel said. “I mean, we’ve had all different kinds – peace, civil rights, sit-ins – you name it, we’ve done it. But this is the first time we’ve gotten all the groups together.”
“Speaking of...” Ian said, rising from his seat. “I need to get the bonfires started. C’mon, Rick. Carmen, you and Allie wanna come?”
Rick brushed a kiss over Chuck’s head as he stood. “You cool, Baby?”
“Yeah. I’ll be out shortly. Lemme know when the guys drop in.” Rick nodded and followed the rest out the door. Tusk watched, stunned when they built the pyres in the middle of the street.
“Can they do that? Isn’t it illegal or something?”
Sammy snickered. “Baby, everything we do be illegal, mostly. Just our being here is illegal. But we don’t make waves and the cops leave us be.”
“You don’t think building a couple bonfires in the middle of the road is making waves?”
Angel chuckled. “Nah, Girlfriend. Pigs know when we have fire to stay the hell away. It’s not like this is the center of the world. No need to get roasted for the dregs of humanity, right?” Her tone was derisive and Tusk wondered what had happened in the past to make her so venomous. She hoped eventually Angel might share the story with her. Tusk really liked it here and was hoping to stick around for a while.
“So what happens now?”
Sammy laughed. “Now me an’ Chuck are gonna go smoke a little weed and then we’re gonna see about selling the stash we got to the folks that be coming tonight. I figure to make some good money tonight and have a gas to boot. Wanna come?”
“Nah. I’m gonna grab a brew and cut out for a few minutes. Come ‘n get me when the bang is on.”
Sammy nodded. “Will do, Babe,” moving out onto the small front area just off the sidewalk. Angel had told Tusk the truth – the police wouldn’t be down near Franklyn & Rhodes tonight... not of their own accord anyway. If Sammy had his way, it would be a good night on a lot of levels.
Tusk snagged a beer out of the cooler and held it up at Angel. When she nodded Tusk pulled a second and crossed back to the table and sat down next to her. Angel wrapped an arm around Tusk and kissed her forehead.
“You all right, Tusk?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Angel. Just tired; been a long day for me.”
Angel laughed gently. “It really has, hasn’t it? How ya liking it here so far? Think you might wanna hang out around here for a while?”
Tusk shrugged. “I like the vets, the folks living here. I’m cool with hangin’ here for a while, yeah.”
Angel nodded and withdrew her arm so she could stand up and offer her hand to Tusk. Tusk accepted it with a questioning look, curious as to what was going on. Angel gave her a smile and tugged; Tusk returned the smile and followed without hesitation.
They went upstairs to what Tusk assumed was either Angel’s private space or somewhere members of the household went for private couplings. There was a regular double bed, a nightstand with a lamp and a tall dresser. Other than that, the room was somewhat bare, though it looked comfortable enough. Tusk looked another question at Angel whose expression demonstrated a blush even if her skin didn’t reflect it.
“Only if you want to, Baby. I brought you up here for some rest. No one will bother you as long as you’re in this room with someone else... house rules. Not everybody likes to be open about their sex lives all the time.”
Tusk stepped into Angel’s personal space. She put one hand on Angel’s waist and loosened her other from Angel’s grasp to run it up Angel’s torso until she was cupping the back of her neck. She was still young in chronological years, but Tusk had been on the streets long enough to learn a little about how to make a lover happy... man or woman. Some of that knowledge had been hard won and come at a high price but it served her well in situations like this.
She drew Angel to her and Angel followed willingly, capturing Tusk’s lips and exploring them with gentle thoroughness. Then she pulled away and led Tusk over to the bed. Angel pulled the covers back on sheets that at least appeared to be clean and kissed Tusk again, hard and passionately.
“God, you’re making me crazy, Baby; c’mon... rest now, screw later.”
“You sure?” Tusk asked, running her hand inside Angel’s shirt and tweaking a nipple hard. “I really do like you, Angel. I’d like to make love with you.” She soothed the spot she had pinched so viciously only moments before and felt Angel shudder under her touch. “I know how to make you feel good, Angel.”
“What about Sammy?”
Tusk shrugged. “What about him? I’d like to have sex with him too. But we’re here now – you ‘n me.”
“And we’ll be here later,” wondering where the hesitation was coming from because getting Tusk into bed in the Biblical sense had been foremost in Angel’s mind when she’d brought her up to this room. But now the lines of exhaustion in Tusk’s face were so clear to Angel, and she just wanted to give the kid a little time to rest. It was going to be a long night for all of them. These things tended to go on past dawn.
“Don’t you wanna have sex with me, Angel?” Tusk asked frankly, getting very mixed signals from the other woman.
“Oh,” Angel groaned. “You got no idea how bad I want this, Baby. You got me so wet I’m drowning myself over here.”
“Then let me take care of you,” Tusk offered as she reached for the button on Angel’s jeans. Angel stretched out a hand and intercepted Tusk before she could reach her destination.
“Baby, you’re so tired I can see it in your eyes... feel it in your touch. I just want....”
“Love me, Angel. We can sleep together after. If there’s one thing I have learned after three years on the road, it’s to seize the moment. You never know when life is gonna turn on a dime for ya.” Angel searched the hazel eyes opposite her, finding a truth they she didn’t expect and nodding her agreement. She let go of Tusk’s hand to feel the breeze transverse her torso as her shirt went flying across the room. Angel raised her eyebrow in question this time. Tusk grinned mischievously.
“I decided this morning I was gonna find out if you served chocolate milk if I got the chance.”
Angel cupped the back of Tusk’s head as she suckled vigorously, hoping the sensation would never end. Tusk guided her down to the bed. It was the last peace they would know together.
************
The veterans were the first to start arriving; they were the closest. They greeted each other like long lost friends even though they saw one another nearly every day. A lot of the vets around here had served their tours together... many in the same units; most who weren’t had been placed at the nearby veteran’s hospital. So everyone greeted everyone else, wandering over to where Sammy and Chuck had set up shop. They accepted the joints the two men had rolled, inhaling with great relish.
“You always got the best shit, Sammy.”
He grinned. “Get whatcha pay for, man; ya know that.”
The other vet looked around. “So what all’s going down tonight, man? Those fires are massive. You could see them from the center; I imagine the smoke could be seen for miles if it was daylight still. And where’s Angel and her new girlfriend? I thought they were supposed to be part of this.”
Chuck and Sammy exchanged glances then giggled. “I guess by now those girls are upstairs relieving any tension they got.” Chuck smirked and the men around him groaned as they realized the implications of his words. “They’ll be down later.”
“Wonder if they’d share that too,” one of the other men asked aloud, causing a ripple of laughter across those gathered around.
“You can ask Angel,” another man commented with a sly grin.
The first snorted. “I’m brain damaged, not stupid.” That brought another round of laughter. Then they settled back with their beers and watched the activity taking place around them as people began arriving for the rally.
Slowly the area was beginning to fill up with a variety of people and causes, brought together by a desire to make a stand and be heard. The vets stayed on the porch area, comfortable with having the building at their back and glad to be close to the beer.
The hippies had staked out an area close to the bonfire. They and the Wiccans arranged themselves comfortably and someone pulled out a beat-up guitar. Soon the sound of music and chanting wafted across the area.
The civil rights marchers were the next to arrive, and they actually helped merge the two groups that were already comfortably ensconced in their respective places. Several of them were vets and wandered over to greet their buddies. A few of the women were Wiccans, and they moved over to join their sisters in chanting and prayer. The rest started preparing a small staging area for the speeches that would take place a little later.
Students wandered in and completed the integration between all the different groups gathered. They were a mixed lot; though none of them were veterans, many of them volunteered at the clinic and knew the men who had served. And they were Wiccans and hippies and people of color as well as anti-war protesters. It was an amazing sight to see so many different factions assembled peacefully together.
************
It was interesting at first – very unusual for so many different types of people with so many diverse interests to be congregated together in one place for a common purpose. Even now, when peace is the watchword in the world and humanity is more focused on surviving as a whole than fighting over extreme pettiness and prejudice, human beings tend to remain separate and aloof from one another.
But this – this was something beyond. This was a coming together, a meeting of people from different backgrounds who had managed to find commonality in their ideology. I only wish it had remained as peaceful as it has begun.
Angel had been right about one thing – the police had no interest or desire to get involved in what was happening at the corner of Franklyn & Rhodes. As long as it was peaceful and contained, they really didn’t care what went on. I think it would have remained peaceful had it not been for the next group that showed up because they came armed and ready for trouble. And trouble is what they caused for everyone – including me.
************
One of the students was a theatre major and had brought a couple speakers and a microphone to help the crowd be able to hear things a little easier. Set-up was quick, then the musicians kicked off the rally. There were sing-alongs and different people from each of the groups represented got up to sing and entertain. The vets looked around for Angel and Tusk, anxious to hear them again. Sammy and Chuck exchanged knowing smirks, then Sammy rose and went into the house to fetch them.
He went through the house slowly, fairly confident he knew exactly where they were, but unwilling to miss them in his haste to find them either. Finally he reached the door to what was commonly referred to as the sex room. The tag was hung on the doorknob so he knew he and Chuck had figured correctly about their whereabouts and probable activities. He grinned, hoping he was interrupting. It might get him an invitation to join them.
Sammy knocked lightly, then opened the door. He frowned when he realized he had missed out, at least for now. The two were curled up together sound asleep; the room smelled of sex and sweat. He shrugged and crossed to the bed, touching Tusk’s shoulder and shaking her awake.
Hazel eyes opened slowly and blinked at Sammy without the least hint of a blush. She turned and woke Angel who kissed Tusk thoroughly before opening her eyes to see Sammy watching with more than a gleam of interest in his eyes. Angel glared at him.
“Something you want, Sammy?”
“What I want and what I be up here for be two different things,” he replied with a leer. “The rally’s done started and folks be looking for ya.”
“All right. We’ll be down in a few minutes.” He didn’t move and Angel glared at him again. “Something else you need?”
Sammy leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “Nope. Just be waiting on you two.”
“Wait outside, Sammy,” Angel growled. “You’re not getting a free look.”
“Ah Baby... it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“And nothing you’re gonna see now. Now get out!” Sammy growled but slammed the door behind him as he stomped out of the room. Angel waited til she heard his footsteps head down the stairs before she turned to meet Tusk’s amused eyes. “Thought that was funny, did ya?”
Tusk laughed and nodded. “Um hmm. And entertaining,” she added as she slid from the bed. She turned and smiled at Angel. “Enjoying the show?”
“Yep,” she answered with a satisfied smirk, slipping from the bed and reaching for her own clothes. “C’mon... let’s get down there before Sammy decides to try again.”
************
While Sammy was upstairs the vets spread the word about the coming entertainment. Their excitement was easily discernable and it spread through the crowd like wildfire. And the first of the speech givers stood to ride the wave of energy that was flowing through the crowd while they waited for Angel and Tusk to appear.
He was passionate and enthusiastic and the crowd enjoyed the things he had to say. They cheered and clapped in all the appropriate places and when he was done, they cheered again. They were so busy cheering they didn’t see what was coming until it was too late.
The speaker stepped down from the makeshift stage and Sammy made his way over to announce Tusk and Angel just as they walked out of the house. The two women waved to the vets as the men cheered raucously and the rest of the crowd applauded politely.
Angel took the mic to thank folks when the sound of gunfire broke out up and down the block. She didn’t even realize she’d been shot until she was looking up at the stars cradled in Tusk’s arms. Screams erupted from all sides, but Angel didn’t hear them. She didn’t hear anything; she was only aware of the burning pain in her guts and the tears and blood on Tusk’s face. Angel tried to reach a hand up to comfort her, but her arm was too heavy and she was just too tired. Then she closed her eyes and it didn’t matter anymore.
The Klan moved into the fray with cries of victory. When they had gotten wind of this little rally they had decided to come make an example of those that would be here. It had been an unexpected bonus to find so many troublesome groups gathered together in one place – especially since they were all so obviously anti-American. The Klan felt quite self-righteous and morally superior as they beat and clubbed and occasionally shot the protestors who were taken completely by surprise. However, it didn’t take them long to begin fighting back and within minutes, the peaceful rally turned into an all-out riot.
************
Tusk felt the blood gushing out of her body. She had taken a hit to her shoulder and been grazed across the temple, causing blood to stream down her face. Angel lay dead in her lap and Tusk was slumped over her body, unable and unwilling to move.
She was trying to make sense of what had happened, but her confusion was overwhelming. The sounds around her were loud and bewildering, but she couldn’t differentiate the noise into anything understandable. The one eye that was clear of blood saw the light of the bonfire, but little else was clear beyond a mass of writhing bodies. She wondered vaguely if she was taking a trip on some bad drugs. She closed eyelids too heavy to keep open anymore.
The sound of sirens broke through the chaos; those she could distinguish from the sounds of bones and wood hitting flesh. The next sound she heard was running feet and low moans and cries, but she couldn’t get her eyes open to take in what was happening.
The police arrived and kept the few remaining protesters from following the Klan members who mostly escaped intact. This angered the protesters who couldn’t see the dragnet that had been set up to catch the Klan members now trying to flee the scene. This time they started the riot and their actions guaranteed that it wouldn’t end well.
Sammy threw the first punch; Chuck threw the second. After that it became a free-for-all, and the police used their clubs and shields and tear gas to subdue the rioters. That coupled with the hoses that the firefighters had used to put out the bonfire then turned on the protesters put down the riot fairly quickly, and when all was said and done bodies were strewn up and down the streets of Franklyn & Rhodes.
************
When morning arrived, the damage was apparent and it was devastating. A police line had been formed and National Guardsmen stood watch around a wide perimeter. News crews pushed as close as they were allowed trying to capture the carnage that remained at Franklyn & Rhodes.
Part of the building had caught fire though as yet no one could explain how that happened. The police had already emptied it out and boarded it up. Most of the protestors had been removed from the area already. The vets who had not been arrested had been returned to the nearby center. The few local civil rights protesters left unharmed had gone home and taken those few out-of-towners who had been spared with them – not many as they had been the primary target of the hate mongers who had incited the original riot. The small number of hippies and Wiccans who remained untouched had climbed into their VW buses and found an untouched woodland area close by to recuperate in.
But most of the people who had attended the rally were now either in the hospital, in jail or dead.
Those who were now in the hospital ranged from those with deep cuts and bruises to a few who were in critical condition and not expected to make it. Some were under arrest and under police guard; others had already been injured before the police had arrived on the scene. Most of those were the ones whose wounds had put them into intensive care. The rest the hospital staff was having difficulty dealing with; aside from being overworked and overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients, there was disdain from some at having to help ‘those people’. The police presence only made things more difficult for everyone.
A large number of perps were in jail, and the police had been careful to try and keep the Klansmen they’d caught separate from the protesters, but it was an almost impossible task due to the tremendous number of people that had been arrested. That and the fact that most of the people now under arrest had superficial wounds that needed to be tended to made things hellish in every precinct in the city as it had taken every resource they had to accommodate all the arrests that had been made. It would take weeks to sort everything out and months before justice was served... if it ever actually was.
Sammy and Chuck went to jail on a number of charges, but both ended up back in the care of the veteran’s hospital. Psych evals put them in the custody of the loony bin at least for a while.
A majority of the people involved in the rally and subsequent riot survived but a few didn’t. Seven Klansmen died – either on the scene or at the hospital. Twelve protesters were pronounced dead at the scene, including Smithy, Rick, Angel, and Tusk.
Smithy and Rick were buried in a nearby veteran’s cemetery and accorded the honors they had earned in the service of their country. The vets at the center collected money among them to bury Angel in the old church cemetery that guarded the opposite corner of Franklyn & Rhodes. The authorities found identification on Tusk that gave her real name as Julia Haversham and contact information for her parents. They claimed her body with many tears and much sorrow two days after the riot and took it home to bury beneath her favorite old oak.
The building at Franklyn & Rhodes was sealed – steel plates bolted into place covering doors and windows. A nine-foot fence with razor wire was put around the property’s perimeter. The building couldn’t be torn down; it was a national historic landmark. But the police didn’t want another incident there and the easiest way to manage that seemed to be to remove the opportunity.
It worked. With the building shut down and no way in, the vagrants drifted off to a different area and things settled down once more.
Finally several months after the protest, Sammy and Chuck were given day passes from the hospital and with a few of their vet friends, ventured down to the building on Franklyn & Rhodes.
It didn’t look anything like they remembered it. The carnage had been wiped clean and there was no trace of what had happened on that fateful night months before. The chain link fence that had been put up around the property kept people out effectively and a police car still made regular rounds to ensure that there was no loitering at that particular corner.
They looked at it for a long moment, fingers wrapped in the chain link before crossing over to the side of the street that had held the makeshift stage. It had been removed of course, as had any hint that two vibrant young woman had bled out the last of their life there. Chuck handed Sammy a small brown paper sack and Sammy took it and removed two white candles from it, then a red followed by a blue. The four candles were placed side by side on the sidewalk and reverently Sammy lit them. Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and muttered a small prayer.
“God, watch over our friends and give them the peace in the next life they didn’t find in this one. And let them watch over us, ‘cause we need it sometimes and they’ll do it right. Be nice to them, God, ‘cause they sure were nice to us. That’s all. Amen.”
“Amen,” the others mumbled when he was done, and they stood there a moment longer watching the candles burn and the flames blow in the breeze. Then without another word the little troupe turned and headed back down the road, away from the corner of Franklyn & Rhodes.
************
That was the beginning of a dark time for me – worse than it had been after the mob war in the twenties. At least then, I’d still had the company of a number of other buildings my age around me and there had been people, lots of people and activity on the streets.
Now there was nothing. Only a few buildings remained from my time, and most of the younger buildings didn’t survive long. Lots of them were being torn down to make way for progress – even younger buildings with no heart or soul. Or worse... parking garages. And the loneliness was almost more than I could bear.
I could only hope and pray I would survive long enough for things in the area to turn around. But it was hard not to lose hope seeing what was happening around me on a daily basis.
Then we fell into the ‘Me Decade’. How incredibly lucky for me. That changed my life and set me on the path I am on today.
It all started when I was put up as an investment property... and it was all uphill from there.
Part 8
