THE BAD SCENE

After Joey experiences the Esperanza love euphoria for a few days, he decides he MUST see her again - but when he heads up to The Tijeras de Oro to see her - he is met with a horrifying sight!!

Thursday arrives, I have a day off from The Fox Hole, and I cannot wait anymore, I miss her so much. I’m going to go surprise her at the shop. I’ll bring her up those Polaroids I took of the mural, the last night Na-Na and I were there, so she can show ‘em off to the ladies at the shop. Yeah, she’ll like that. I hop off the bus, and practically skip to the bodega at the corner of Broad Street, to buy some Peppermint Patties. Women love expensive chocolate. I head over to the Tijeras de Oro, all dreamy, romantic, and goose bumpy.

A little more than half a block away, and across the street, I spot her outside the shop. Conversing with a guy all dressed in purple, for some reason. I slow down a bit, not wanting to interrupt her, because this guy could be a customer, or something.  

As I get a little closer though, I can see the conversation is becoming more animated. More heated. She’s yelling at him, but I can’t hear or understand what she’s saying…and now he’s screaming back, gesturing wildly with his hands. Suddenly, she slaps the dude right in the face!  Holy shit! What the hell is going on?! In a split second, she’s flailing away at him, kicking, cussing – then, he grabs her arms, blocking her kicks with his legs. She’s struggling, crying, and shouting. I’m going to kill this motherfucker!!  I don’t care who he is. I charge up the street, bristling with fury - but the freaking traffic light turns red now. Damn! It’s rush hour. There’s a crazy, frenetic onslaught of buses and trucks rumbling by me, temporarily blockading my view. C’mon, light – change! I get a slight reprieve, as I briefly spy them again through the barrage of vehicles. He has her face in his hands, forcing his lips upon her! No fucking way! I dart out into the middle of the freeway-like avenue, intent on beating the shit out of him and rescuing my girl. Trucks and taxis lock their brakes, screeching to avoid smashing me into pulp! I duck and juke in and out, between them. She’s squirming madly, trying to fight off his macho advances, as he grabs her by the waist. I’m flushed with rage - a bus swerves, just missing me, as he slams down on his horn. Adrenaline speeds through me, making me feel as I can fly right over all the traffic. Beeping - beeping.  All of a sudden, she surrenders her struggle. Gives in. Embracing him, as she throws her arms around his shoulders. Caressing him desperately. They absorb each other, kissing passionately, ferociously. I stop right there. Paralyzed. A tractor-trailer rumbles in front of me, shaking the ground like a freight train. Black toxic exhaust spews from a hundred tail pipes, surrounding me with an impenetrable filthy cloud, choking me, gagging me.  

“Mericone!”

“Huevon!  Puto!”

“Pendejo!  Get the fuck out of the street, asshole!”

The curses, the screams, the screeches, and the horns are beeping in a myriad of varying tones and pitches. All coagulating into a kind of horrific, chaotic, opera of madness.

The next thing I see, is Esperanza and this purple guy retreat into his silver Cadillac, and roar off down the avenue.

TROUBLE AFTER PARADISE

For days after his carnal experience with Esperanza, Joey is still floating 10 feet off the ground.

The next couple of days go by, and I am just radiating this aura of joy and love - even in the hallways at school. It’s as if nothing can faze me.  Now, this must be what it is like to be in love. Even some of the black girls smile at me, as they pass me in the hall. Including Carol Simmons, who’s probably the most beautiful girl in 10th grade - black or white. Even when David White and the Orange Face brothers scowl at me as they bop down the hallway, calling me a “punk-ass-bitch,” it doesn’t matter. I just beam at them with compassion in my heart, and float on down the corridor. I feel saintly! Although, I am dying to tell somebody about the whole Esperanza experience. But who can I tell? Not Skinny or Ricky - they think I’ve been boffing her all along. Certainly not Na-Na. It’s just welling up inside me, ready to pop. Finally, I just have to spill it to somebody, and wind up telling Marc, my Greek stoner dishwashing partner, at The Fox Hole.

I’m surprised, because as I’m reciting to him the tale of my love fest, he keeps pressing me for every minute detail. He’s asking me very specific questions. After each verification, he says - “excellent!” Later, he presents me with a nice, thick spliff. As a congratulation gift to share with Esperanza.

The next day, when I come to school, the black kids are in an uproar. There’s some serious trouble brewing again. I find out that somebody has painted KKK in white, on Contreau’s black Camaro in the parking lot! The black kids are enraged that someone would have the nerve to pull something like that - right there in the parking lot. They are convinced that TheKlan is present somewhere among the white kids. And the black kids are out for revenge.The white kids, of course, are equally terrified of another Black uprising, and they keep their distance. Tensions are definitely high. I have a feeling I know who is responsible for this.

THE AFTERMATH

    It’s the next day afterJoey loses his virginity to Esperanza and he is deliriously happy

     The next day, Sunday, arises. As I wake up to a sunny late morning, it’s like I’m entranced in a soothingly sweet lucid dream.

Oh my God! Did it really happen last night? Had I truly become one in a magnificent, passionate embrace with - Esperanza?  I am possessed by happy demons. Infused with giddiness. As the day wears on, I am spontaneously bursting into insane song and dance routines like –

   “Wherever we go, whatever we do, we’re gonna do it together!” 

 I’m snapping my fingers. Doing pratfalls down the stairs into the living room, for God’s sake! Just out of control. That evening, as my sisters are helping my mother get dinner ready in the kitchen…for no apparent reason, I whimsically grab the broom from Maryanne, and go into this bizarre rendition of –

  “Do-re-mi” from Mary Poppins, and using this exaggeratedly theatrical voice. I’m doing pirouettes all over the kitchen, with the broom.

“Doe, a deer, a female deer, ray, a drop of golden sun; me, a name, I call myself, far, far, far to run…”

My mother is looking at me, half smiling, and half very alarmed.

“Ewww, get out of here - freak! Snaps Maryanne.

“What are you - mental?” chimes in Karen.

They are not smiling.  

But, nothing - nothing, can deter my cheerfulness. Today, I’m in a giving mood. I actually come to their aid, pushing past them, and carrying the baked ziti and sausages to the table!

“Pardon me, pardon me! Allow me, madam.”

“What is wrong with him tonight?!” They both look at me disgustedly.   

I begin to serve out portions to them, like a butler, like Mr. French, from Family Affair. Yeah, I’m Mr. French now, that’s who I am! The thought of it cracks me up, as I start speaking in that English butler kind of accent.  I’m quite amused with myself. My father, is now eyeing me suspiciously.

“He’s on something, ma! I bet he got a hold of some speed, or uppers, from his black drug dealer friends at school!”  acuses Maryanne.  

“I wouldn’t talk, not with all those drug addict skanks you hang out with! Joe Baretti! Heh, heh,” I retort in a sing-song voice.

“Joe Baretti?! He’s the sweetest guy in the world! He doesn’t even drink beer or – “

“Drug addict! Drug addict!” I chant.

“Don’t let me find out your smoking any of that funny stuff, or whatever,” my father warns me.

“God! Can’t somebody just be happy?” I complain.

“Not that happy, my friend. It’s not normal.”

“He’s not normal.”  Maryanne condemns.

I cluck my tongue and sigh.

“I’m not on anything, Wallace (that’s what I called him, for some reason). Jeez…I’m just in a good mood.”

“I’m just saying, I find out you’re doing any of that stuff, I’ll have your ass in a military school so damn fast” …his voice trails off, as he proceeds to cut his meat into precise two inch cubes.

“Damn! Can’t anybody just be happy around here?”

This whole scene reminds me of this Star Trek episode that really annoyed me. The Enterprise beams down McCoy, Spock, and a few of the crew to this planet, where an expedition team from like a hundred years ago, supposedly got stranded on. Figuring everybody would be long dead by now, they’re instead shocked to not only find them all alive, but they haven’t aged at all, either! And they’re ridiculously healthy, too - and happy! There’s these flowers on the planet that shoot these spores, and it keeps everybody happy, healthy, and young. They work just enough to sustain themselves, and the rest of the time they just have sex and fun. So the flowers shoot the Enterprise crew with the spores also, and pretty soon everybody just wants to have a good time. When Kirk finally beams down, he, for some reason, is annoyed that everybody is happy. Even Spock.  In fact, Spock is hanging upside down from a tree branch, laughing - and he has a girlfriend! Spock! He only mates like once every seven years, usually. Whoa. So Kirk beams back up to the Enterprise in a huff, and devises a way for the starship to emit this ultrasonic sound wave, that destroys all the flowers. And everybody’s miserable again. Except Kirk, who’s feeling good about it! I mean, why did Kirk have to ruin everything? Why couldn’t he just leave it be?  

Even later, when they all get back on board, Spock laments –

“For the first time in my life, I was happy.”  What a bummer.

Anyway, Kirk is like my father, I think, just trying to spoil my fun. It doesn’t matter, though. All I have to do is think back to last night with Esperanza, the way it was so tight in her MG Midget, and how my leg would involuntarily jerk, once accidentally kicking the radio button on to Van Morrison’s, Crazy Love! I mean, how perfect is that? How the windows were so fogged up from the contrast of the bitter cold outside, and the steamy heat inside. How Esperanza would make these noises that murmured from deep inside her breast…sounds I’ve never even heard from another human being before. That’s all I need to smile and create a warm, tingly feeling inside me! And nobody or nothing, can ever take that away!

JOEY LOSES HIS VIRGINITY

It’s right after Joey and Esperanza’s first date - a twin bill of Death Wish and Lipstick at the Liberty Theater in Elizabeth and Esperanza is driving home - when suddenly -

Suddenly, she clicks on her right blinker, and turns into the driveway of the Tasty Cake Outlet Factory. What is she doing? My house is about another mile and a half down the road. She continues on and pulls onto this back road. Hope Avenue. I’ve been to this Tasty Cake place a hundred times before, and I never even knew this Hope Avenue existed.

Rows of factories surrounded us, lining either side of the street.  She stops the car - and cuts the lights. A lone streetlight casts its glow in the otherwise stark blackness of the night. She gazes into my eyes with such an intimate intensity, that I have to turn away. I bow my head. She moves closer, puts her face right in front of mine.  

“Papi, how did you feel when that guy was raping Margaux Hemingway When he tied her up to the bedposts?”

Long silence.

“I – I don’t know…it was um – kind of-”

“Did you think she was beautiful?”

(Deep breath) “Yeah! I mean, of course -”

“Did it make you all hot inside?”

She puts her index finger on my lips.

“Shhh…”

Taking my face in her hands, she cradles it tenderly. Starts kissing me gently at first, softly pressing her beautiful lips against mine, then my nose. Then my face. Her tongue begins to explore my lips again and again, until she thrusts it inside my mouth, increasingly more aggressively, passionately.  

She’s leaning over me now, tenderly pushing me backwards. I surrender, almost paralyzed. I allow her to take the lead as she continues to press on. She grabs hold of my jacket, pulls it off, and begins unbuttoning my gold silkscreen shirt. She’s starting to breathe heavily now…I am too, but mostly out of fear and uncertainty. Now, I feel myself start to shake, then tremble. Tremors are everywhere. Running up and down my body, like, I’m being dipped in ice water. I can’t control it.

“Don’t worry, papi, it’s alright…be calm.”

She puts my hand on her tit.  She’s pressed against me now, moving and grinding, and making sounds like a baby sucking a pacifier. My leg jerks spastically, kicking the steering wheel. She’s on top of me now. I have my hands under her bra, and, boy, it is the most amazing thing - her nipples grow right in my hands! I begin kneading her breasts, like a kitten groping for its mother’s milk. She pulls her dress over her head and flings it backwards. She has my shirt off, running her nails around my nipples. She’s moaning. I’m grunting, caught between desire and terror. Her hands go down and now she’s rubbing Mr. Johnson. Oh, that feels good! Sweat, sweat, and more sweat. This is it. This is it! She pulls down my pants and throws them in the back. Garments are whizzing around like a dodge ball game. She puts my hand down her crotch - and I’m rubbing her black lace panties. Oh shit, I don’t know what to do!  She rubs her tits in my face. It’s a frenzy!  She guides my Johnson inside her.  

“Oh God, oh God!” I scream out