Jims Inn

She was thirteen and beautiful … I was thirteen and streetwise. My four sisters .. three older and one younger than me … called me forward … precocious … a pain … the dumb kid and other random unflattering names.

It was the summer of 1967. Saturday late morning and I was standing on the grass verge in front of our house watching the new neighbours moving in. She saw me and immediately crossed the road … right into my space.

"Hi I'm Sylvia." she said. "But I don't like it so you can call me Babe. Wotcha name?"

She stood in front of me … like I said right in my space … her thumbs hooked in the side pockets of her bell bottom jeans. This already told me she was something else cos all the other girls I knew would immediately have folded their arms over their bee sting tits the moment they came face to face with a guy. Babe was confident enough to allow her little rose buds to face me with only a white tee shirt with PEACE emblazoned on it separating us … so to speak.

"Jim." I said folding my arms, then immediately unfolding them. I didn't have any tits to worry about.

Babe shook her head. "No I don't like Jim." She looked me up and down.

"Why not?"

She raised her hands to the stars and stripes bandana she wore … fussing with it in a feminine way. She had the biggest brownest eyes I'd ever seen.

"It sounds too much like Sylvia. Too conventional. Whatcha surname?"

"Jones."

"Coohil. I'm gonna call you Jones then. Okay?"

I shrugged. "Okay."

"So Jones," Babe said hooking her thumbs in the back pockets of her jeans this time, "wanna come around to my house and listen to records? I've got Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby Stills Nash and Young and also Scott McKenzie."

"Sure," I said, "but I gotta go have lunch first."

About two o'clock I rang the doorbell and an adult carbon copy of Babe opened the door. She wore the same bandana … the same bell bottoms and she had the same eyes … except the rose buds weren't rose buds but flowers in full bloom.

"Hi … you must be Jones." She smiled. "Come in … " She held the door open for me. "I'm Babe's mom but you can call me Lisa."

I think my balls musta dropped then because it was the first time in my life that and adult had told me to call them by their first name. If I hadn't met and fell in love with Babe first then Lisa would definitely have been my second choice ... honestly.

"Excuse the mess." she said closing the door. "Babe's is in the kitchen. Thru there."

She was sitting on the kitchen table, her legs swinging back and forth while she chomped on a hamburger. Her face lit up when she saw me and her smile … her smile … jeez what a charmer and those eyes.

"Hi." Babe said brushing a crumb of roll off her cheek.

"Hi." I said.

So we went to her bedroom which was a first for me … I mean going into a girl's bedroom and being alone with her there and with the door closed. It was all so cool and when her mom … I mean Lisa brought us some Coke, she even knocked before she opened the door.

We spent the whole of that afternoon in her room talking … laughing … playing records … eating … drinking and for about half an hour Lisa even joined us and we were like three buddies … only one was a mom.

Babe told me everything … that Lisa was a hippie … that her father lived in another like galaxy he was that far away. By the time I left because I had to go home for supper … Babe and I were so close and I'd never in my life ever met anyone like her.

So we spent the summer vacation like joined at the hip … where ever Babe went Jones went and where ever Jones went Babe went. Except once every week when she and Lisa disappeared for the whole day. When they got back home Babe was always very tired and she had black rings under her brownest eyes and she slept a lot the rest of the day and night.

At these times Lisa always looked sad and I couldn't figure out why. Once I asked her and she just gave me a hug and when I looked at her she was wiping tears off her cheeks. Babe just gave me the look when I asked her about it. The look was something she did with her eyes … and when you looked into those dark pools you just forgot what you'd wanted to know in the first place.

After four weeks when there were only two weeks of holiday left, Babe said we had to start going steady. She was like that … always taking charge and making decisions for both of us. I didn't mind cos she was the coolest chick in the street and she wanted to go steady with me. What can I say?

I remember the time so clearly. It was a Saturday night and Lisa asked me if I'd spend the evening with Babe because she had a date with some or other random guy in the neighbourhood. Babe and I were alone for the very first time ever.

Babe had a Philips reel to reel tape recorder and she's taped all her favourite songs on it. She said she could turn it on and play four hours of cool songs without ever getting up to change a record. We sat on the couch in her lounge holding hands while we listened to the reel to reel …

"Come on you people … shine on your brother … everybody get together try to love one another right now."

Babe looked into my eyes and her small warm hand squeezed mine so that I knew what I had to do next. I put my arms around her and drew her against me, at the same time our lips met … awkwardly at first … then as we figured out where our noses had to be and what we were supposed to do with out tongues… Jeez who am I trying to fool?

Babe taught me how to kiss and when I asked her how she knew when to open her mouth and how not to knock her teeth against mine … she said: "Girls of thirteen know these things Jones." I was so happy and I think Babe was too.

Later when we were lying down on the couch and the Floor Elevators … Country Joe and the Fish, Cream, Donovan, Mamas and the Papas, Byrds, and Jefferson Airplane were playing … neither of us heard them. Our lips were touching and she was fast asleep and me … well I was just holding her and looking at her and loving her so much.

I'd always wondered why she never took off the bandana and I'd never seen her hair ever. Didn't know if it was black, blonde or red but my money was on red because her face was always that pale. Without thinking I put my hand up to the stars and stripes and was about to push it up so I could get a look when Babe opened her eyes and gave me "the look".

I immediately dropped my hand and as her eyes closed … I swear she smiled in her sleep.

When Lisa came home she woke us and her cheeks were wet again and I wasn't sure if it was us or something else that had happened to make her cry.

I think it was the last weekend of the summer vacation … Saturday again. Babe and I had made plans to go to the movies in the morning. Nine thirty I knocked on her door … no answer … ten thirty … eleven thirty … twelve I gave up.

Nothing the whole afternoon so I sat at our livingroom window waiting for a light to be switched on in Babe's place. Eight o'clock when I saw the light and Lisa answered my knock.

"Oh Jesus Jones honey… " When she saw me at the front door. "She's dead … Babe is dead sweetheart."

Apparently she'd had leukemia for a long time Lisa said … and it had just got worse and worse. Terminal they called it … like terminal equals "you're gonna die soon Babe".

Lisa hugged me and cried and I cursed God for letting Babe die and she phoned my mother who fetched me and even my sisters didn't say anything which was a very rare thing in their lives.

The day of the funeral Lisa asked me if I'd like to look at Babe in her coffin and I said "fuck yes" and no I didn't … in my mind yes but to Lisa I said: "Yes please" without thinking.

Mom said are you sure and I said "fuck yes" again only in my mind and mom hugged me.

It was a white coffin and Babe was so beautiful … like the first day I saw her only much whiter … her bald head was covered in a wreath of beautiful flowers so that you couldn't see she had no hair from the fucking radiation … and I cried.

After the service Lisa gave me a seven single which I stuck in the front of my pants. I didn't know what else to do with it cos it was too big for my pockets. She said Babe had made her promise to give it to me.

That night in my room I looked at the record again. Babe had taken
the label off both sides so that I had no idea what the song was nor the singer. I put it on my record player and lay down on my bed.

I never cried so much before in my life … even when my gran died. Oh Babe … I love you so much …

"If you're going to San Francisco … be sure to wear some flowers in your hair …. "

DaveKuzminski

The story is good. The writing is almost as good. In this case, the story covers up the small imperfections in grammar and punctuation that don't appear to be deliberate so it's not anything to really worry about. The narrator's voice sounds right for the era. Only those who lived through it would understand just how difficult it is to nail that particular voice down right because it's a transition point between two cultures of youth.

Now the only thing that's really hurting this piece is the fact that there are two copyright violations that are clearly needed to get a point across, yet I doubt permission has been granted to use them. There is a site online that arranges permissions, though most require a fee. Since this story probably won't find a market large enough to pay that kind of a fee, it's going to be hard to justify spending that kind of money and it can't be published without losing a significant part of the emotional impact without those two phrases. Wish I could tell you it would be worth the fee, but there simply isn't any guarantee that this work will find a favorable publication to call home.

Still, it's a good story. The voice is good. You should find other stories to use it.

Mysty

OMG Jim...... this was so beautiful and you told it with such ...... god man I am bawling my eyes out. Your foreshadowing was perfect.... I knew before the end what was going to happen but I couldn't stop reading. And now I head to bed bawling. This was so beautifully written. You are an awesome talent Jim. I have missed your writing.


*Hugs*

Mysty

Jims Inn

hi mysty ... been on a long vacation so haven't been around for a while .... hope to login more often ... thanx very much for your very kind review of summer of love ...

jim.

nomadicrhymer

Jim...you're back! This is a very sad piece...like Mysty, I was crying...so sad...the loss of love and hope as death steals our happiness and our peace of mind, and our future. Beautifully written, Jim! Thanks for sharing this story...even though it had a tough ending.

Nomad

Jims Inn

hi therese ... yeah i'm back and i've been away far too long for various reasons ... thanx so much for your kind words about summer of love ... get a lump in my throat myself every time i read it and about babe ...

luv jim.