Thieves in the Temple: A Prequel to Purple Rain

CH. 27 How'd I Know That Love Would Slip Away?- The Emotions

Mona sounded desperate this time. Kid could hardly understand what she was saying through her congested short breaths over the phone. "I need to see you right now," she sobbed.

"Ride your bike and meet me half way."

Kid rode his bike as fast as he could east, gnats hitting him in the face. Yesterday's rain made the air thick and muggy. A pond stood midway between their houses. He hoped she would make it at least that far so he could rest.

Since school started, seeing each other became more of a challenge. Mona's mother got a job and picked her up right after school. Juanita was working too. Her father took her to Mr. Jessen's house for tutoring on Saturdays.  Mid City Players were busy rehearsing and playing weekend parties. He wanted to be with Mona, but not with the same needy longing she had. Her bike appeared to be standing still in the distance so he rode faster, harder to get to her.

Mona dismounted her bike throwing it to the side of the road. Mona fell onto him, her thin arms encircling his sweaty neck almost knocking him off his bike. Kid kissed her cheek and held her for a moment. Her eyes were sunken and dark. She felt ten pounds lighter and smelled musty like a goat.

"Mona, what happened?" Kid asked.

"Nothing," she said with a tight smile.

Nothing? Kid hoped she did not make him ride his bike all they way out there at mid-day just because she was horny. But he studied her face, detecting there was something else wrong.

"Did something happen with your dad?"

She shook her head. "Your mom?...Mr. Jessen?" He asked searching her face.

"Let's just go."

Kid picked up both bikes and hoisted them over the wooden fence. He took her hand helping her over it and guided her down the hill of criss-crossed twigs to the pond. 

"Something is bothering you and wish you would just tell me." They sat on the bank. "I'll do anything to make you feel better," Kid said sincerely.

"Anything?" she asked coyly. He knew what she wanted but he knew sex could not be the answer to everything; just like he knew Hennessey was not the answerer to everything.

"I just need you around me. I feel lost without you. I feel like I'm spinning in space...I don't know how to describe it except to say, I don't want to be alone in the world."

"You're not alone. I'm here," he said trying to reassure her.

They laid on their backs on the grass. Mona held a ladybug on her index finger. She lifted her up to the sky. "Fly away, little beauty." It refused. It crawled up and down her finger. "Why doesn't it go free if it can, Kid?"

"Because your finger is not a bad place to be," he said with a chuckle. "If I were that ladybug, I'd stay on your finger too." He finally made her smile.

Mona seemed so sad, so pensive, so stale. Kid had to get her mind on something she liked. "Mona, what are you writing about right now?"

Her eyes rose to the sky. She had gone away to a place where she hid inside her head. He turned her chin toward his to catch her before she left him completely.

"I've been writing some pretty dirtystuff that you wouldn't like."

"What about with Jessen? You can't write that stuff with a teacher."

Mona sat up straight as if awakened from a nightmare. "I mostly write stories with him, no poetry, okay!"

"If you hate writing with him so much, why don't you just tell your Dad you don't want to go anymore?"

"I can't," she said from a distance. "Jessen has my dad convinced he can help me get ahead and get into a good college."

"Well, you do want to go to college, don't you?" Kid asked.

"Whose fucking side are you on?" Mona snapped.

"Yours, Baby. Always yours."

Kid did not know how to help her. Mona had become a different person. He should have ditched school early to come see her at Hoover. He should have invited her to the birthday party the Mid City Players played last week.  He should have returned her phone calls sooner. Where was Joni Mitchell when you needed her?

Kid wanted to bring her back to the pond where he was.  He wanted to be with the silly, happy girl he used to know. He pushed her down playfully, rolled atop her and kissed her face twenty-five times until she giggled. Her hands wandered to the unusual places searching for the familiar future. Kid remembered, he had not brought any rubbers with him. "Just pull out," she told him.

Kid knew what he had to do to make Mona's world right. He could make up for his recent neglect. As long as Mona knew he loved her, she would be alright. If he could rescue her from a bad mood or whatever it was in that moment, everything else would fall into place later.

They heard ducks quacking from a distance but they could not see where they were. They wondered if the ducks could hear Mona's long deep breaths, Kid's guttural moans and their secret laughter. Kid missed Mona more than he knew. His excitement spilled all over her belly button much sooner than he intended. They laughed loud and started over again.

As the sun went down, pollen floated between tree branches. The air started to thin and summer breezes became more frequent.

Color returned to Mona's cheeks. She was still sticky and greasy haired but she promised to bathe the next time they met. She promised to nag her mother until she brought her over the next day. Kid could see that two weeks was too long for them to be away from each other.

Neither of them wanted to part, but choir rehearsal at Metro Church

was on Saturday evenings. "Sunny Day is paying me ten dollars a week," he said, trying to provide her with adequate justification for his departure. "I'll have flowers ready for you. Just come by the house tomorrow."

Mona promised she would come to his house, even if she had to ride her bike all the way. "Then you'll have to take a shower at my house," he teased.

"It won't be the first time."