I Can See Her, Her Brown Skin Shining in the Sun, Smiling at Everyone...
Part One: How I Met My Beautiful Wife...
My entire life changed the night I took Susan for that ride on my motorcycle. People talk about love at first sight, which I can attest to. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I fell madly in love…
I was living in Needham at my uncle's house, in the basement, with my cousin's two untamed dogs, Sheba and Mishma, named after high-powered weed, and working across the street in the body shop at Muzi Motors. I walked to and from work every day. I was moving to Sharon soon and looking for a new job, so using a motorcycle as my main means of transportation wasn't practical. Then there was Susan. If I wanted to take her out, and I did, I needed a car.
I sold my motorcycle to a friend and used the cash to buy a navy blue '68 GTO ragtop. I knew good-looking girls liked cool cars, and I wanted Susan to like my car.
One night after work, I drove to Sharon in my new car to hang out with friends at the Lake Massapoag boat docks. The Boat Docks, as we referred to it, was a small dirt parking lot by the boat landing that fit about a dozen cars. It was located where Pond St., Massapoag Ave., East St., and Quincy St intersected at an unusually located rotary. I once saw an out-of-towner with a car full of people, hit it at night, bounce over it, and when he got out, he looked really confused. Like, "What the fuck is a rotary doing here, in the middle of the road, in Sharon?"
No one gave us a hard time about hanging out at the Boat Docks. Not even the cops. And why would they? We were all gathered in one place, parked, and in plain sight. They didn't have to work very hard to keep an eye on us.
After I pulled in and got out of my car, I saw Susan. She came right over to me and immediately said, "Nice car! Are you gonna take me for a ride?" I was kind of shy around girls, but Susan always made it easy.
I was meeting my friend Mick, and Susan was with her friend Shari, so the four of us got in my car. Susan got in the front, and Mick and Shari got in the back. We took a ride to somewhere, maybe McDonald's in Stoughton or Crescent Ridge for ice cream. I can't remember exactly, but I do remember glancing over at Susan sitting in the passenger seat in total awe. She was gorgeous and for some unexplainable reason, she liked me. I couldn't deny that I had hit the girlfriend lottery!
After I dropped Shari and Mick off at the boat docks, and they seemed to be getting along pretty well, too, I drove Susan home. Before she got out of the car, I asked her if she wanted to go to the beach on Saturday, and she replied, "What beach?"
I said, "Horseneck…"
She gave me that big, beautiful smile and asked, "What time are you gonna pick me up?"
I said, "How about 9:00, so we can beat the traffic?"
Without hesitation, she said, "Make it 8:30…"
On Saturday morning, I woke up early, fueled up the car, and drove to Sharon to pick up Susan. It was a sunny day, so I put the top down when I got to her house. I knocked on the front door, where Susan was ready and waiting.
I politely opened the passenger door for her, and she immediately said, "Thank you." She was raised right and appreciated good manners. Her father was a self-employed plumber, and her mother answered the business phone and sent out the bills. They were good people.
Susan was the baby of the family, eleven years younger than her sister and seven years younger than her brother.
We had a great time on the ride to Horsesneck, laughing and listening to music. Even though we hit some traffic when we got close and were stuck in a long line to get into the parking lot, we made decent time.
Once we parked and found a good place in the sand, Susan took off her dungaree shorts and shirt, and for the first time, I saw her in a bikini. It was bright yellow and quickly became my favorite. She had many, but that yellow one… Wow!
She was tanned and muscular in a feminine way. She easily could've been a bikini model for Bain de Soleil. She had the perfect body for it.
I was baffled, still wondering what I had done to deserve this. I was just damn lucky, I guess…
After she rubbed straight baby oil all over her brown skin, she asked me if I could put some on her back. For a moment, I was speechless, but I managed to say, "Sure."
She brought some sunscreen for me, and after I did all my reachable parts, she grabbed the tube of lotion and did my back.
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We stayed on the beach for close to five hours, and other than a couple of sodas, we hadn't had much to drink.
On the way home, we stopped at a Howard Johnson's to get something to drink. While walking back to the car, Susan suddenly collapsed and fell onto the hot pavement. She was dehydrated. I sat her up and gave her one of the drinks. We sat there until she finished it and was able to stand up.
Once she was feeling better, and sitting in the car, I went back in and got her another drink for the ride home.
When we told her mother what happened, she said she wouldn't let us go to the beach again unless we had a Styrofoam cooler full of ice and drinks. I remember telling Susan and her mother I'd stop on my way home to buy one. And I did. They were cheap and everyone had 'em, especially package stores.
Susan loved the beach, and I developed a new appreciation for them. Rubbing baby oil on her back was well worth the price of admission.
After that, whenever we went to the beach, and we went a lot, I packed the Styrofoam cooler full of ice and loaded it up with our favorite beverages. Susan liked Very Fine iced tea, and her mother always gave me a six-pack to put in the cooler.
I spent the whole summer with Susan and very little time drinking with my buddies, who started telling me I was "pussy whipped." I didn't care, I just laughed it off. I knew I had something very special…
Summer was winding down. Susan would soon be back in school, and September 5th, her birthday, was fast approaching. I wanted to buy her something special. I was just a knucklehead, and there I was, peering into a glass display cabinet at a jewelry store, trying to decide what to buy Susan for her 18th birthday.
It's when I first learned that giving is much more fun than receiving…
I can see you
Your brown skin shining in the sun
I see you walking real slow and
Smiling at everyone…
To be continued…