Settling Old Scores: BWWM Second Chance Romance (15 page)

Kevin
looked at the girls. They were gorgeous and biracial too. Then he
flipped to a picture of a striking blond woman. "Willie, you
married a California blond white girl! Why, am I not surprised? Janet
didn't tell me that part," Kevin said smiling.

"You
don't want to go there with me! Here, you are banging Pat Washington!
Are you serious about her? Once you go that way, you know what
happens. We used to call her Zebra, Oreo girl, and my favorite ─
Inside Out Oreo, in grade school," Willie laughed as he recalled
Pat.

Kevin
winced as he heard the names. "Willie, you are going be amazed
at me. I didn't even realize she was mixed until last week when she
told me. She practically has a doctorate in music these days. I am
serious about her. I’ve been dogging her for years. Finally,
it's paid off," said Kevin.

"Some
detective you would make. Did you miss that she is great looking and
has a great ass too? Inquiring minds want to know," Willie said
as he fed the last of his sandwich into his mouth.

"Yeah!
As a matter of fact, I noticed the great body just last night when I
was intimate with her. She has a fear that I will just screw her and
then run off with some white chick. You and Sheila must have had some
of those same kind of conversations. Abandonment and illegitimate
children are the real fears for Pat," said Kevin.

Willie
sighed, "Yeah, we have had a lot of those conversations. Too
many, to be specific. You can't spend your whole life worrying about
what other people think, or what might happen. All I can tell you is,
do what makes you happy and fuck what people think. Janet and Sheila
are never going to be sisters-in-law that are like sisters. Sheila
and her mother-in-law are never going to be like a mom and daughter.
I ain't never going to be a brother to my brothers-in-law either. You
know, we should all get together sometime. Sheila and Pat would get
along just fine. Intimate with her? Listen to the college boy. You
and I, well that might be pushing it," Willy said with a laugh
while slapping Kevin on the shoulder.

"You
know that would be fun! I will talk to Pat. I can't imagine that she
wouldn't enjoy seeing you again. I will tell her you noticed she was
good looking and had a great ass," Kevin said with a grin.

"I
suppose you would just have to do that within earshot of Sheila.
Don't do me any favors asshole. Remember that I got plenty of goods
on you too. Seriously, I have always admired Pat. She put up with a
lot of torment in grade school. She never seemed to let it get to her
too much. She is smarter than smart, too. Everybody had a crush on
her by the time we got out of high school, except for some very
jealous girls on both sides of the color spectrum. I don't know what
the fuck she sees in you. Must be something not visible on a clothed
man. I have to get back to work now, but let's try to get together,"
Willie said.

"I
will give you a shout in a couple of days, after I talk to Perkins"
Willie added.

Kevin
had one more stop to make before he went home. That was to make a
quick call on Mr. Sharp at the AA chapter office. He had five or six
old books with him that explained Vedic Math. He thought Mr. Sharpe
would like to read them and make them available to some of the math
club kids. He wanted to set an appointment to come back to the club
after the books had been circulated for a while. He thought he had
one more interesting little talk in him about fractions.

Mr.
Sharpe was waiting on him, drinking coffee by the gallon and smoking
his Pall Malls. "Kevin, how ya doing?" he said.

"Oh,
just fine. I brought some books that you and the math club might find
interesting. Next week, can I come in again? I have at least one more
rather fascinating lecture about fractions and conversions in me,"
Kevin said as he pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote
down some numbers.

He
wrote down the fraction 1/7th and the decimal .142857. "The
decimal is the equivalent of 1/7th. It is a repeating decimal that
repeats after six digits, one less than seven. Notice that if you
split it in half and put one half under the other, the sum of the
digits equals .999? That's part of what I want to talk about,"
Kevin said.

Mr.
Sharpe said, "I guess I need to look at the books so I can
follow along to some extent. I saw in one book a little chapter about
this."

"By
the way, I did read some of those old clippings about the riots.
There wasn't much new in them. Actually, it was depressing to read
them over eleven years after the fact. I have to say the neighborhood
lost the war, so to speak," Kevin said solemnly.

"They
have, but I ain't giving up. If anything, I am more determined than
ever to make a difference with these kids. That's why I keep getting
on you about teaching. I think you could make a difference too. Keep
working on getting your Captain's ticket. I know that means a lot to
you. You could sail in the summers and teach the rest of the year,
you know. Your relationship with Pat Washington isn't likely to last
once she is done going to school unless you are ashore with her. If
you are serious about her, give that some thought. I have given you a
lot of advice over the years and I haven't been wrong yet, have I?"
he challenged.

"You
have been like a father to me and you have never steered me wrong. I
always marvel at your wisdom. Like the time you talked me out of
joining the Marines instead of the Navy. I don't know where my life
would have gone if I hadn't followed your advice. I do know I
wouldn't be working at getting a Merchant Captains License,"
Kevin said with feeling.

"I
have more things to ask you about too. I didn't know until just this
weekend that Pat was biracial. You must have known that she was,
right?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah,
I knew it. This must be getting more serious than I realized. I just
about said something to you the other day, but then decided against
it. I have seen her on occasion over the years. She is a gorgeous
woman. She has a great head on her shoulders, I know that too,"
Mr. Sharpe continued on.

"What’s
not to like? We have both been to places where race is not an issue.
It is going to happen here, too. I have been at it so long, I am as
color blind as you apparently are," he said with a smile.

"Yeah.
Well, I am blind when it comes to her. I have been smitten for a long
time. I think I have found my match in this girl," Kevin said.

"Kevin,
that's great. If she makes you happy and vice versa, don't let
anything stop you. I have counseled enough people over the years to
have heard a lifetime of regrets. Don't let that happen to you! I am
not saying relationships are easy. I still have spats with the old
lady. After a while, you just have a bond that transcends all that.
You two have been friends a long time before you became more than
that. There has to be something there that binds you together,"
said Mr. Sharpe.

"Still,
she has issues," Kevin said doubtfully.

"So
what! Who doesn’t?" Mr. Sharpe said.

"She
doesn't really think of herself as biracial. She thinks of herself as
white. I don't think it's a good idea to deny half your genes, or
more accurately about a fourth of them. She has nothing good to say
about her father, although she never met him or heard his side of the
story as to how he abandoned her. I am smart enough to know that if
you don't address your demons they win. It is that plain and simple."
said Kevin.

"All
that is true. As you get older, you learn to define yourself on your
terms rather than let someone else define you. She is going to get
better over time; not worse, you will see. You can solve the male
trust issue with deeds, not words. I will say it one more time for
emphasis. Deeds not words, Kevin! I know you can do that because you
have great personal integrity," Mr. Sharpe said.

"If
it helps any, I don't think either you or Pat realizes how tough it
was for Hannah or Dwayne, I think his name was.

Lots
of people made it tough for them. Imagine for a second that instead
of telling you to pursue your love, I told you to get the hell away
from Pat. Imagine that I questioned your morals, your sense, and
actually acted on my beliefs. Imagine I did everything in my power to
make sure you and Pat would fail. Then, maybe you would get the feel
for how hard things were for them," Mr. Sharpe said.

"Do
you know what happened to Dwayne Washington?" Kevin asked.

"I
know he made a lot of bad career moves at a bad point in time. Let's
put it that way. He was black and employed. A lot of returned
veterans needed jobs and were white. He was involved in labor issues
up here that made him even more visible in a negative way. Then he
went and got a single white girl pregnant that actually worked at the
same company causing them to lose a valuable worker. I ain't saying
it was racism. I am saying he was the nail that stood out for
hammering. He quickly lost his job. Their economic prospects were
zero. What would you do in that situation?

"I
follow you there. I bet he couldn't even collect unemployment when
they were done with their case on him," Kevin said.

"Well,
as a matter of fact, neither of them could. It wasn't as though he
could go across the street and get another job either. The few mills
up here were all going out of business or moving to right to work
states in the sunny South. It was a declining industry up here,"
Mr. Sharpe said.

"Are
you saying he didn't have much choice but to bail out?" Kevin
asked.

"Look,
I won't pretend for a second I know what he thought. I know his
bridges were burned up here. Maybe, he did the brave thing and bailed
out knowing that it would be better for his soon to be born daughter,
and his new wife. Maybe, he even knew that if he ever set eyes on his
daughter, he wouldn't have the courage to do what was best for her.
How would you like to have to make that choice? Now, you tell me who
is the good and decent man?" Mr. Sharpe asked.

"Looks
like you have given me yet another assignment," Kevin remarked
quietly.

"We
don't get the luxury in life of choosing what decisions we have to
make. We just have to make the decisions and play the cards. Maybe,
he was in the same boat," Mr. Sharpe said.

"On
another note, I have been trying to help Matt Taaunen get some help
from the VA. He was the kid that came back from being a tunnel rat to
become a train wreck once he got out. You must remember him too,"
Kevin said.

"I
do. Once you have been my student, I am your teacher for life. That's
just the way it is. Once you have been a marine, you are a marine
forever. That is just the way it is, too. He was both and has been a
friend of Bill's twice over the years, never for more than six
months. At some point, he will get there. It may take another ten
years like it did for me. Don't let up on him. Try to get him in here
to see me. I am impressed with you, Kevin. You are out there trying
to help your fellow man and woman as best you can. Your dad would be
proud of you," Mr. Sharpe said tossing a beefy arm around
Kevin's shoulder.

"Yeah,
that's another area I have to work on. I know I am getting too old to
blame everything on my dad. Accept, change what you can, and
hopefully know the difference as they say," said Kevin.

"You
are getting there buddy. Stay the course!" Mr. Sharpe concluded
as they walked to the door.

As
Kevin went home, he mulled over his day. He felt pretty good. He had
been reassured by Willie and Mr. Sharpe. His time with Matt had been
beneficial. He made plans to get Matt some help with his hearing and
maybe even his teeth. He looked forward to talking with Pat about his
day. He also wondered if Tammy Smith could tell him anything about
the McCanns he didn't know. It was hard to believe the girl was now
so grown up that she was stripping for a living. In Kevin's mind, she
was frozen in time as the little girl that still idolized Willie and
him whenever she saw them. It pissed him off to think she was making
money for those two assholes.

Then
there was the Dwayne Washington question. Should he chase around
trying to find him, or just let the past alone, he wondered.

When
he got back to the apartment, Pat was at the kitchen table working on
her thesis. She looked up and gave him a big smile. "I woke up
and you were gone this morning. I am sleeping so late these days,"
she said.

"Maybe,
we should switch to afternoon delight, or morning delight instead of
staying up half the night fooling around with each other," Kevin
said as he suggestively massaged her shoulders and kissed her neck.

"What
do you think you are doing Mister?" she purred, and kissed him
back.