Bronx Park East Ch. 08

She wanted it more often; I had tried to set some limits with her but I was failing. Why doesn't that lady find someone her own age and maybe even get remarried?

I foolishly thought, I can't quite give up on her yet. Oh, well, I guess I'm going to have to somehow work around her for the moment. I was too young to understand how heedless I was being.

Now I needed a follow-up, a date right now. It was only one o'clock in the afternoon, and I had a place to go. I said, "Let's go over to the Bronx Zoo. I haven't been there in years."

"That's great; neither have I." The front gate of the place was only a thirty-minute walk from where we were now.

We were sitting on a bench there later having cracker-jacks, I think. I felt happy, and then I remembered Lenore again. The suddenness and completeness of her departure had shocked me. It had definitively ended my complacency.

I had really just met her, but I wondered about Bernice now. She seemed so sweet and nice, and yet I felt I would have to keep closer tabs on her and not take her for granted. But how would I do that? Would I always know what she was thinking?

I was still only a sophomore at college. I had no money to speak of, and I was a liberal arts major at a public university. Already I was getting the first doubts about my future prospects. What was I going to do, switch to engineering? I supposed I could go to law school later, but the idea didn't seem that appealing.

For the moment, all I could offer Bernice was myself. For the time being, that seemed like enough, but would that always be true? I couldn't know what would happen with her in the longer run.

******

Three days later I got a call from Aunt Julia. I wasn't surprised.

"I'm so sorry to hear about you and Lenore."

"Well, you know she met this other guy." I hoped Julia would spill the beans on exactly who this other dude was.

If she understood my intention, she evaded it, "I'm sorry, Paul, you're learning the hard way. Girls will sometimes do that kind of thing." I was starting to know the truth about that. They often went for the bigger, better deal if one came along. That other, older guy obviously had an established job of some kind.

It was time to bring up the brighter side, "Anyway, I do have a new girlfriend now."

She sounded skeptical, "So where did you meet her?

"You know Bernice Weber, right?"

Her whole tone changed, "Of course, she's such a lovely girl." Then she lowered her voice, "You do have a way with the young ladies I see." That was a bit embarrassing. She giggled, "But you do have a way with the older ones too."

I noted how she had directly inserted herself into the situation. I didn't have to wait long for her follow-up, "I'd like you to come down soon and share some cherry pie with me."

I imagined one with fruit-filling and a crust, "I didn't know you did any baking."

"Silly, I didn't literally mean a pie." Now I got what she meant. She confirmed that, "I'll wear something interesting for you, I promise."

I knew she wasn't kidding. Julia had quite a few sexy underthings, and also some sexy outer things, in her wardrobe. Sometimes I suspected she had bought them after her divorce in the anticipation that some new lover would arrive. That guy happened to be me.

But I was young, and if somebody was throwing around some pussy, even thirty-nine-year-old pussy, then I was going to grab it. I thought about being spiteful and telling Lenore about her aunt. Then I realized the pointlessness of that.

I only hoped that Julia knew Lenore's schedules well and she wouldn't walk in and catch us. But what could Lenore really do about it? Would that be the end of my time with Julia? Then I thought, Julia and I are consenting adults, we can make our own decisions.

*****

It only took a week, but Bernice and I did run into Lenore. We were walking north on White Plains Road and she was walking in the opposite direction. We all saw each other, but we kept walking towards each other. We were about two feet apart when we stopped. Bernice was not holding my hand, but now she put her right arm around my left one.

Lenore was trying to focus herself, I think. She opened her mouth slightly and I could see her moving her tongue around inside. Then she shook her head. "You two work fast pretty, I see."

I said, "You know where we learned that, don't you? From you!"

Then she said, "Bernice, sweetie, how are you doing?"

Bernice seemed a little unsure about the situation. "I'm doing okay, I guess."

"I can see that. So, I bet it was you who called him?"

"Yes, it was me."

"Well, good for you. I always thought you should be more proactive." I wasn't sure I liked the way Lenore was handling this. She continued, "So, if I may ask, where have you been, ah, going with him?" That seemed more than a little impertinent.

I was impressed by how boldly Bernice answered, "In my car, we go in my car. Usually after dark."

I think that caught Lenore by surprise. She was seeing a whole new side to her friend that I already knew about. I think Bernice dug into a reserve of confidence within herself, because she continued, "Like we drive into Van Cortlandt Park, that part next to Jerome Avenue. The Allen Shandler Recreation area, that's what it's called."

Lenore seemed impressed with her friend's cleverness. It was Bernice who found the best places to park in the car at night, not me. Lenore thought about something briefly, and then she said, "I could offer you the keys to my apartment and you can use it when Julia and I aren't there."

I think both Bernice and I were surprised at that, but it was Bernice who spoke up, "Wow, why would you do that for us?"

Lenore shrugged, "I just like you both; isn't that enough?"

I thought, yeah, you liked me so much that you dumped me without the slightest warning. But then I softened a bit. I knew Lenore had come out on top in that situation, and she could afford to be magnanimous. But so what, it benefits me, so I might as well accept the offer.

Yet I thought it should be Bernice, as her long-standing friend, who should do the formalities. She said, "Sure, that sounds fine with me."

"Okay, I'll get an extra set made up and I'll give them to you. Anyway, I'm going to let you go now." I unkindly thought, yeah, are you going to see Mister BMW 2002?

I knew I would still see her around - she lived downstairs from me. But we had been so close for a while and now, in a very real sense, she was gone. I briefly watched her go, and I dealt with the loss at that moment by thinking of her only in physical terms. She had been very generous in offering her body to me, but that was over now. As I watched her walk away, she seemed like just another stranger on the street.

######

Author's note: The cartoon Paul and Bernice refer to is "Katnip Kollege," from 1938. It was frequently on TV in the 1960s.