The Heat Seekers

“So we did it the first time in the backseat of my daddy’s Rolls Royce. I snuck out to the garage late one night to meet him, and it was all over before I knew what hit me. In and out, you know?”

Tempest nodded her head. She figured two-minute brothas must come in all races. She could definitely relate.

“We went on like that for a few months until one day I realized my period was late. Real late!”

“How late?” Tempest inquired.

“Almost three months,” Linda answered, lowering her eyes in shame. “I was just stupid back then. So caught up in the moments of passion that I didn’t pay attention to much anything else.”

“Were you using protection?”

“Yes, he was wearing condoms, but you know that story.”

“Indeed, nothing is one-hundred-percent foolproof,” Tempest commented, thinking about the dozens of young girls at the center who ended up pregnant in spite of birth control. “So then what happened?”

“I told Skip about the pregnancy, and he dumped me like I was the Bubonic Plague.” A single tear finally escaped Linda’s right eye and traced a trail down her pale cheek. “He stopped talking to me at school, he wouldn’t accept any of my phone calls, nothing.

“I tried to have an abortion, but I couldn’t for two reasons. First off, I couldn’t do it without my parents signing a form, and secondly, it turned out I was too far along to have one anyway.”

“What did your parents say when they found out?”

“I hid it for as long as I could. I wore baggy clothing and stayed in my bedroom most of the time when I was at home. Ironically, it was the headmistress at my school that called my parents and spilled the beans. She could tell I was pregnant despite the clothing. I was so scared when my mother came barging into my room. I thought she was going to strangle me with her bare hands. Instead, she just slapped me a couple of times across the face and told me, ‘Just wait until your daddy gets home!’”

Tempest could pretty much guess the rest of the story, but she prodded Linda to finish it anyway. “So they insisted you give the baby up for adoption?”

“Absolutely!” Linda started wailing, and Tempest got up to walk around the table to sit directly beside her. The cafeteria was practically empty, since official visiting hours were over. “They wouldn’t let me make my own decision. They made it for me. They told me I was going to college and making something out of myself, without a baby.”

“Well, now I understand why you took on the task of working at the center. I admire your determination to get through to the girls, in spite of their disparaging comments toward you at times,” Tempest said, rubbing the small of Linda’s back. “You know what, Linda? You and I are not as different as you might think. We have an awful lot in common.”

Linda dried her eyes with a napkin and darted them at Tempest. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

Before Tempest could answer her question, which she planned to answer truthfully, a nurse came into the cafeteria and waved in their direction.

Linda jumped up from the table. “Brenda must be awake!”

Tempest got up to follow her out of the door. Linda suddenly swung around. “I’m sorry. Did you need to talk about your situation? If so, we can stay a few more minutes and see Brenda later.”

“No, not at all!” Tempest replied quickly, glad to be saved by the bell. She had gotten caught up in the moment but really wasn’t prepared to delve into her skeletal closet. “We’ll talk about it some other time.”

“You sure?”

“Positive!” Tempest grabbed Linda’s elbow and led her out the door. “Let’s go check on our girl!”

CHAPTER 12

makin’ love

geren knocked the charging base of the cordless phone off his nightstand when he reached for the handset in the darkness. His eyes slowly adjusted to the red light on his alarm clock. When he saw the time was 3:00 A.M., he wondered who in the world would be calling his house so late.

“Hello,” he whispered groggily into the phone after pushing the talk button.

“Hey, Geren. I’m sorry to be calling so late. Did I wake you?”

“No, not at all,” he lied, after realizing it was Tempest on the other end. “I was just watching some TV.”

His television was on because he was used to sleeping with some sort of noise, but as usual, it was watching him instead of the other way around.

“That’s cool,” Tempest replied. She paused briefly before adding, “I just wanted to hear your voice.”