Juke Jam

Chapter Eight

"I need to be gettin' home." Gladys said as she and Charlie walked out of the supermarket.

"I can walk you, if you want." Charlie insisted.

He had no idea why he had just told her that because his father would kill him for even thinking about it. Everyone always said the East Side was dirty and bad things happened. Charlie knew for a fact that couldn't be true because Gladys lived on the East Side and she wasn't dirty. He spent all evening looking at her, and she was anything but. He found her quite attractive; she was a Dolly for sure. All it took was one evening, a trip to the library and supermarket, to make him realize how attractive she was.

Charlie finally figured out why he couldn't get Gladys out his mind since the first day of school: she was such a chick. Not only was she easy on the eyes, but she had a nice personality. He admired the fact that she liked to read, and the fact that she was nice. Charlie couldn't pinpoint how it happened, but there was definitely some chemistry between Gladys and himself. The chemistry was there from the moment they met, at least on his part.

"Nah, that probably ain't a good idea." Gladys shook her head.

"Gladys, I would be a fool not to walk you home." He said quietly. He couldn't believe himself. He was actually going to walk her home. His father would kill him if he found out.

"Charlie, ion think that's smart. For a smart boy, you sholl actin' dumb." She said in a sad tone. "This was fun, but it cain't happen again."

"What exactly is this?" He motioned back and forth between the two of them. "Are we buddies? Two strangers that happened to have fun?"

"I cain't be yo buddy. Like I said, you white and I'm black."

"Everything's about color to you." Charlie shook his head.

"Well, can you blame me?" Gladys fired back. "I'm sorry if I ain't tryin' to get beaten or put in jail for no reason, except fo the fact that I'm black with a white boy."

"I won't let anything happen to you. Not on my watch." He looked into her brown eyes. "Let me walk you home, Gladys."

"Okay." She sighed. Somehow, she just couldn't find it in herself to tell him no.

The two walked to the East Side of town, where Gladys and her family resided. Charlie and Gladys made small talk on the way there. They talked to each other as if they'd been friends for a long time because of their strong chemistry. Charlie was nervous about walking Gladys home. Maybe he wouldn't walk her all the way, just to the spot where her street started. Gladys was worried about people seeing her. She knew they would give her judgmental looks for hanging out with a white boy. However, the two never said anything to each other about it and Charlie ended up walking her the whole way. He was taking a lot of risks lately.

"Welp, this me. Thank you, but I gotta go now." Gladys said when they stopped in front of her house. She noticed her older brother sitting out on the porch, glaring at the white boy in front of him.

Charlie saw how run down all the houses looked in the neighborhood. The houses in his neighborhood were ten times better. Parts of the fence were broken off, making it look like a fence of a dungeon. There was barely any grass on the ground, mostly dirt and debris. There was also a very mad looking black boy on the porch, so Charlie took that as his cue to leave.

"My pleasure, I'll see you tomorrow." Charlie waved and turned around to leave.

Gladys Point of View

"What the hell you doin' with that white boy?" Randolph, Gladys' older brother, grimaced. "Wait til mama and daddy hear 'bout this."

"Please, don't tell them. I told him not to walk me home. I ain't want him to." Gladys shook her head frantically, as she walked up the stairs to get on the porch.

"Why you do somethin' so stupid? All da neighbors done seen him too." He shook his head. "Did he do somethin' to you!?"

"Nah Randy, he ain't do nothin' to me." Gladys was on the verge of crying. Her older brother was very protective at times and it was overwhelming.

"Don't mess around wit no white boys. You uh end up dead messin' round with them. It ain't right talkin' to white people. Don't let me see it again, or I'm snitchin'." Randolph clenched his jaw.

"Okay." Gladys nodded her head and walked into the house. She would just have to ignore Charlie at school tomorrow. She would just have to pretend like she actually didn't have fun hanging out with him today. She would just have to forget about him.

Charlie's Point of View

"Boy, where have you been?" Hal asked Charlie as soon as he walked in the house. Hal was sitting on the chair in the living room with a beer bottle in his hand.

"I went to the supermarket for mom to get some things for her. She told you yesterday, remember, sir?" Charlie spoke with respect. He did not need another episode of what happened the last time his father got mad at him.

"I know it ain't take you that damn long to get a few items from the supermarket."

"I lost some of the money mom gave me." Charlie lied. He actually spent it on a black girl, but he definitely wasn't going to tell his father that. "I spent a great amount of time looking for it, before I actually went in the supermarket."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Charlie raised his eyebrows.

"You'd better go wash up for dinner." Hal nodded his head.

"Yes, sir."

Charlie went to the bathroom and cleaned up for dinner, like his father said. There was nothing great about being anxious all day, then getting home and becoming more anxious. Charlie thought his father was going to punch him in the face for being late. He also thought all those black people were going to jump him. He now understood why Gladys walked with her head down around white people; it was very frightening if she didn't do so.

Charlie looked at himself in the mirror and smiled at his reflection. It was because he was thinking about Gladys.

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Slang in the 1950's

Dolly - cute girl
chick - a young and pretty girl

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