Sarah Of The Moon (20 page)

Benny took to the lie immediately. “We haven’t done that one in a while. Let’s go.”

“Wait a second,” Alex said. “That might get us there, but we still need to thumb back.”

Skip and Benny looked at Alex as if he were a child.

“We don’t thumb back,” Skip said in a rather condescending voice. “We ask the driver to wait for us.”

“Hold on a minute.” Alex shook his head. His thoughts were becoming muddled. It did not help that the girl was already sitting on the curb, head in hand, bawling like a baby.

“Sometimes they even help us look,” Benny said before Alex could get another word out.

“Of course we separate, so Skip and I can groove on the animals.”

“I think I’m going to pass,” Alex said. “But thanks for the thumbing tips anyway.”

“Your loss,” Benny answered as they hit the street. “See you at the dinner table.”

Alex walked by the girl, then stopped and returned to her. He bent down and tapped her on the shoulder. When she looked up, he gave her a ten-dollar bill from his pocket.

“You have a promising career as an actress, if you choose it,” he said to her.

She smiled brightly and thanked him before her head went again between her hands and the sobbing continued.

Sandman and Cactus Girl decided to tie the knot. Sandman freely admitted to anyone within hearing distance that he had fallen in love with Cactus Girl and her two daughters, Aisha and Blossom. More importantly, the girls loved Sandman. He took them to the playground at the Golden Gate Park every afternoon after they had finished their home studies. On bad weather days, he would play games with them inside the house, the most popular being ’chase and try to catch Oswald’.

He loved them so much that he told Chick one evening, toward the end of August, he was no longer doing drugs, though he might join Alex and Matt for a beer or two on occasion.

The news did not particularly surprise Chick. He had heard the same words earlier in the month from Belladonna when she realized her pregnancy.

The wedding ceremony took place in the park at the base of Hippie Hill on the last Sunday in August.

A priest was recruited from a church on Stanyan Street. Chick agreed to be best man and wore his best billowy shirt, patched jeans, and sandals to the event. Sarah was a bridesmaid, dressed in white of course.

Alex winked at her as she escorted the bride-to-be through the houseguests and friends who lined each side of the grassy path.

Aisha and Blossom led the procession, flinging rose petals from the baskets in their hands.

A musician, who knew both Chick and Sandman, played a flute in the background as the priest performed the vows. Those standing close enough heard the soon to be husband and wife say their birth names during the ‘I do’s’. It was the way we both wanted it, they said after the ceremony.

That night Matt and Celeste vacated the couples bedroom and slept separately, in other rooms, in honor of the newlyweds. Someone had written ‘Honeymoon Suite’ on a paper and taped it next to the room’s beaded entrance.

Later, much later in fact, after the entire house had gone to bed, Belladonna moved close to a drowsy Chick. She hugged him tightly beneath the covers.

“That’s what I want,” she whispered in his ear.

On the last day of the month, Chick walked with Alex to the Western Union on Haight Street. It was a Thursday and he needed to send his weekly article to the paper. He also needed to talk to Chick about Sarah.

In the last several days, she had become withdrawn. When he would question her about it, she would shrug him off, saying it was nothing.

Alex knew better. People were leaving the area in droves. Many still listened to her talk in the park each day, but even those numbers were dwindling. Some would speak to her in private, out of his earshot. He suspected they were attempting to persuade her to join them in their exodus.

“I’m afraid of losing her, Chick,” he said after they had entered Haight Street.

“Whenever I mention her coming home with me, she changes the subject or tells me we will talk about it later.”

Chick stopped him gently, with a hand to his arm, the same arm that had healed completely from his brush with a car.

“A friend of mine told me once that it was okay to forget the music as long as you remembered the song. At the time, I thought that made no sense, but I gave those words a safe haven in my mind nonetheless. Then one morning I was walking through the community and it came to me just like that.”

Chick spread his arms wide. “Look around you. This is the music, the beauty of a summer morning on a crowded street. Some walk by wearing jeans and tie-dyed shirts, others in sport coats and ties, briefcases in hand. A baby cries, a child laughs. It’s music, champ, all these sights and sounds of everyday life. It’s the music of an ordinary day.”

Chick closed his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened them, he was smiling. “Think of this summer as a record album. You like most of the music, but one song stands out.”

“Take the Beatles album for example. I like all the music on it, but the
song
I will always remember is A Day in the Life.”

He grasped Alex’s arm. “You will forget this. One day you won’t remember this morning, and a great many things you did here will slip from your memory. That music will be gone forever, but you will remember one song. It’s an easy song to remember. It has a one word title.”

It was difficult to follow Chick’s reasoning at any given time, but this line of thought made a little sense. As he stood, amidst the noise and commotion of the Haight, he knew the music was all about him. In that music, a symphony of the summer of love, one song, above all the others, stayed with him. A melody of such beauty that time held no reign over it.

He saw Sarah dancing on a windy hill, and he saw her weaving a children’s story from thin air. He saw Sarah laughing at his bad jokes. He saw her smile, and he saw her tears.

She once came to him in a dream so long ago. He heard a song then too, and he still knew every note of it.

“Yes, I’ll remember the song,” Alex said, as Chick’s face lit up in a big silly grin. Chick was always happy when a bit of his wisdom took root. It simply did not happen often enough. He patted Alex’s shoulder for good measure and they continued their walk up Haight Street.

A MOMENT’S SUNLIGHT

Beth and Maura Hope left
on the first Sunday in September.

They made the announcement at the dinner table the night before. It did not shock the houseguests. The sisters had been making overtures about going back to their home in Chicago for some time.

Their mother clinched it when she offered to enroll them in a culinary school noted for producing fine chefs. I can have the tickets waiting for you at San Francisco International in the morning, their mother said during an afternoon phone call. Please come home. I miss you both so much.

The dinner became a solemn affair after their disclosure. The Hope sisters kept to themselves for the most part, but, despite that, they were much loved in the Ashbury Street house.

“Bella has agreed to pick up the supplies for the house for as long as she can,” Maura Hope said while patting her stomach. “I believe I can speak for both of us when I say these months spent with all of you were the most enjoyable times of our lives.”

A tear sprang to her eye as she continued. “We will never forget any of you for the rest of our lives, and, if you are ever in Chicago, drop by our restaurant.”

“But give us a couple of years,” her sister Beth added, as all at the table walked over to them for mutual hugs.

The remaining houseguests stood on the porch the next morning and waved them off as they left in a cab.

“There go the good meals,” Benny said, with more than a hint of sadness.

“Are you saying I can’t cook?” Belladonna had moved menacingly in front of him.

“Oh no, Bella, you’re a fine cook. Chick tells me that all the time.”

“Cut the crap, Benny,” Chick spoke up from his place on the swing. “Bella knows I never compliment her cooking.”

Celeste giggled at that, which started everyone laughing, and that quickly the house was back to normal.

“I’m thinking of going to college on the G.I. Bill,” Matt mentioned to Alex as they walked to the Panhandle.

“Registration starts soon at the University of San Francisco. Celeste is interested too.”

“Do your parents know about Celeste?” Alex asked.

“I told them about her right after I told them about college.”

Alex smiled. “Good move.”

“They were okay with it. We’re going to try to find a place to live on or near the campus.”

They walked for a while in silence.

“It feels like everything is coming to an end,” Alex said as they entered the park. “In two weeks I’ll be submitting my last article for the paper, and then I’ll be gone too.”

“And Sarah?”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t know, Matt. She won’t make any commitment. My parents have told me they’d welcome her with open arms.”

“Your mother I can see, but your father.”

“He’s come around a lot. He understands the Haight-Ashbury culture now that he’s been reading my articles. He knows Sarah would be good for me. Did I tell you she talked to him on the phone?”

Matt stopped walking. “Hell no, you didn’t.”

“She did. For quite some time while I stood outside the phone booth. You know what he said when I took back the phone. She’s a keeper, son. That’s what he said. She’s a keeper.”

The Diggers were at The Panhandle serving lunch. Sherry was nowhere to be seen.

“She left with a few of the others last week,” the girl who was serving soup said. “I think it was to a commune in Oregon, but I’m not really sure.”

They sat down in the shade of a tree.

“I’ll miss the extra beans, but not the conversation,” Matt said as they both dug into their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and soup.

Afterwards, as they lounged in the shade, the talk again turned to Sarah.

“I think something is getting ready to happen,” Alex said. “She told me last night that today is her last day at the Free Clinic.”

“Not enough business I suspect. Our little community is emptying out quickly. The thumbs are out on every road leading out of town, and the buses and vans are filling up fast,” Matt replied.

“That’s part of it I’m sure. There’s something else too. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but she’s been acting different lately. It’s almost as if she knows the future and I’m not part of it.”

“Sarah did ask you to wear tennis shoes the day you rescued the girl. Not long after that, your column was syndicated and the word about our peaceful community was spread around the United States,” Matt countered. “And Sarah began to get daily speaking engagements.”

“I asked her about that a couple of weeks ago. She admitted making the suggestion that morning, but she claims it was only because the sneakers were better for walking. When I asked her about her parents telling her secrets about the way things will be, she told me her parents tell her many things. She told me they talk about the past, the present, and, sometimes, even the future, and they tell her of the beauty of Heaven,” Alex added.

“When I asked her what they said, she told me their words were for her ears alone, except for the Heaven part. That is all I can get out of her.

Matt closed his eyes as a breeze blew past. It shifted the leaves of the tree just enough for a ray of sunlight to play upon his face.

“I’m glad to know there is a Heaven,” he said. “In Vietnam I had my doubts.”

The breeze shifted slightly, and the sunlight rested on Alex. “She said it’s a place of many wonders, and everything, and everyone, we ever loved waits for us there.”

Matt had removed the Silver Star ribbon from his pocket and was staring at it. “That is nice to know,” he said.

Neither said a word for several minutes until Matt spoke again.

“Maybe Chick was right about her after all. Of course he wasn’t aware she was getting help from her parents.”

Alex decided it was time to change the subject. “Chick doesn’t think she will come with me. He told me a couple of days ago to remember her as a beautiful song in a land of music, or something along those lines. It made sense at the time, and still does in an odd way.”

Matt opened his eyes again. The breeze had gone taking the ray of sunlight with it. “I hope it works out for you. You two make a great couple. But Sarah seems more committed to the peace movement than any other person I’ve met since I’ve been here.”

He turned his head toward Alex. “What are you going to do about the Army? It’s probably not too late to get a college deferment.”

“If I get my notice, I’m going in. I’ll go to college after my enlistment.”

“Are you doing it for your father?”

“For my father and myself,” Alex said.

They walked home slowly in the late afternoon. Both refrained from talking about Sarah, but she was on Alex’s mind.

What would she do if he were to go into the army? Would she stay with his parents? Was it fair of him to ask her to do that?

So many questions and Sarah was not providing answers. Time was getting too short for guessing games. He had to know soon in order to make plans. But would he be ready for the answers when they came?

He would wait a few more days, a week at the most, and, if she still had not said anything, he would confront her. He hoped that day would never come. Deep inside of him, in the part of him that was still a child afraid of the night, he feared her answer.

PROMISES TO KEEP

The days of chasing Sarah were over.
Her enthusiasm for games of fancy had waned with the last days of summer. Her dancing on the hill was no longer a nightly ritual either.

She blamed it on the cooler weather, but Alex suspected other reasons, including the strange thought that maybe her parents were telling her things she did not want to hear. It also seemed to him that their lovemaking had grown more intense recently, and afterwards, when she thought him asleep, he would hear her softly sobbing.