don’t know what to do with myself. I spent a few years on a merchant.” Levi paused long enough to catch his breath. “One of my shipmates talked me into movin’ to Erie, where he’d help me get a job in one of the mills. A week after we got here, me expectin’ to live with him and his folks ’til I got situated, boom. He had a massive heart attack and was dead at thirty-eight. I had a few dollars on me, so I figured I’d kick around here for a while, rather than go back to a home in Georgia that wasn’t a home. I just got hired over at the Davies Body Shop the other day. I swear, sometime it be like God intervene at the right time.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” I told him. “I only have my mama and an aunt somewhere in New Jersey.” I occupied a wobbly chair by his window, and he was on his bed with his short legs crossed, with a bottle of beer in his hand. “Thanks again for that nice dinner.” I smiled. I could still feel the vodka dancing around with my brain.
“Where your man at?” Levi smiled, scratching his chin and giving me a thoughtful look. He had on a dull brown suit, a dingy white shirt with a stiff tie, and a pair of brown loafers with run-over heels.
“Um…in the military,” I lied. “We’ll probably get married when he gets back from Vietnam,” I added.
A sad look replaced Levi’s smile. “He a lucky man,” he muttered, finishing his beer.
I told him about my futile job interviews. He told me more about places in Erie I’d probably enjoy, like his favorite bar, the nearest movie theaters, the best soul food restaurants, and his church. “I hope I get a chance to take you out before that soldier boy come home.” He grinned, raising one brow suggestively.
“Maybe,” I mumbled, rising. “Thanks again for the dinner,” I continued, moving toward the door.
“You ain’t got to run you know. I don’t know about you, but this is a lonely night for me, and I am enjoyin’ your company,” he said, leaping up from the bed with his arms outstretched.
“Well…”
“There’s a gospel program comin’ on Channel Seven in a few minutes.” He strode across the floor and turned off the radio, then turned on the small color TV next to it.
I ended up staying another hour, and I am glad I did. He was a nice man. After the program went off I stood up again.
“I really do have to go now. Thanks again for the dinner,” I told him one more time, extending my hand.
“Oh, you welcome.” He got up to shake my hand and walk me to the door. “Anytime you missin’ that soldier boy of yours, my door is always open if you wanna come over and talk. And I wish you’d think about goin’ out with me sometime.”
I went to bed that night still concerned about my employment situation. But I was in a much better mood. I couldn’t believe how close I had come to ending my life. Again, Rhoda had saved me. Rhoda and a strange new man.
CHAPTER 46
I spent most of Thanksgiving Day in bed. The hotel restaurant was open, so I went to pick up one of their dinners. Before they wrapped it I could tell it was a mess. The turkey looked dry, the dressing looked like mud, and the mashed potatoes had lumps big as marbles. “You sure are a brave soul,” a petite Black woman with red hair and gray eyes laughingly said as we got into the same elevator. “The last time I ate in that restaurant I spent the next two days in the bathroom, throwin’ up from both ends.”
“Yeah, I know the food is deadly,” I said. “But sometimes anything is better than nothing.” The woman I was talking to was one of the ones who had tried to get me to baby-sit. She was just a little older than I, but she had four kids already.
“Ain’t you got no family neither?” she asked.
“No not in Erie,” I told her.
“Well I’m Jan Kirksey in Room 1142 if you ever feel like talkin’ or you just need somebody to lean on.” I thanked the woman and got off. Once I got to my room I felt bad about turning down her many requests for me to baby-sit for her. When she knocked on my door later