“Front Porches & Corner Stores” Leaves on the Family Trees
“Now kick it in cruise and she’ll take us all the way. Don’t pump the brake you got to let her ride. Let the windows down, turn my music up. There you go Honey. Keep it just like that.”
It was like love; her first time behind the wheel of the Cadillac. It hugged the road and all he had to do was lay back and ride. Driving with JE beside her felt safe but then again it always did. She trusted him that’s why it hurt so bad when she couldn’t. When there was love he took her on long rides before they went to bed to help her sleep. There he was again taking the lead, the way she liked. Guiding her through like ole times, she fought the urge to believe in him again. He came back to himself, and they felt good together. JE leaned over the armrest to observe her while she drove with the sly grin on his face that won her heart. He knew she was tired. He gently touched her cheek with the back of his hand and they warmed; the attraction was still there. Wasn’t no denying it. It had been a long time since they were alone together. He teased her. “Look at me, I’m riding with an independent woman.”
Honey was uneasy about the comment, it was a point of contention. She warned him, “Gone now, JE don’t do that it makes me nervous.” She triggered him.
“Good!” He asserted. “You need to be nervous. Going up there with all that mouth and tough talk about what you not gon do. That kinda talk turn a man right off.” He relaxed back in the passenger seat leaving her to her thoughts. Miles and miles of road was behind them. The Blues testifying in the background, made them think and feel. Ten miles and ten minutes later Honey got up the nerve to ask.
“Is that what I did JE? Turn you off? Asking for what I needed turned you off?” Hurt by his cheating, she wanted to know.
JE sounded more serious than ever. “Honey, you have the right to ask for what you need and some of what you want. You my wife, the mother of my children. But you don’t demand nuthin from me. Don’t nobody have that right. I do for you cause I choose to, no other
reason.” He asserted his man voice. “Honey, don’t fool around here and hurt yourself trying to raise a grown man; be careful with that.” His words cut deep and she went silent. He never said that before, not that way. Never used those words, tone of voice, issuing a firm rebuke that she may have earned. Honey wondered if that’s what she did. Tried to raise him. Wondered if that’s where it went wrong. JE reached under the dashboard close by her knee and she jumped. He popped out the 8-track tape and put in another one. They drove an hour with Motown love songs serenading them in the background. She resisted the words to the songs that spoke, begged, pulled and drew them closer. Not willing to break down, she disturbed the groove.
