The Trade (4 page)

"I um uh, came in a cab,” he replied. He saw
her eyes drop just the tiniest bit. He wondered if she thought he
was giving her the brush off. Jay wondered if she thought he was
married or involved or gay or something.

"But if you're driving, sure I'll take off
now with you,” he added. He saw the spark come back to her
eyes.

"Maybe I can buy you some dinner, thank you
for saving my ass,” she offered. Jay didn't need much convincing,
the mention of her ass was exciting enough.

"You’ve already done enough, but, if you
insist,” he answered.

“
I insist.”

“
Fine. Then anywhere's fine
with me. After all this beer I could sure go for a pizza though,”
he said.

"Pizza?" she breathed wistfully. “My
favorite, but I never ever get to have it any more. Okay. For you,
anything.”

The pizza was excellent. Over mounds of
cheese and loaves of hot garlic bread Jay managed to tell Tonia his
life story, carefully leaving out any mention of the CIA. She
listened attentively. They both had another beer and then he
realized he'd talked all night and learned almost nothing about
Tonia Taggert. Like her phone number.

“
So what about you?" Jay
asked.

"What about me?" she asked back. He saw her
chin lift and tilt to the side. Her corn silk blonde hair swished
over one shoulder.

"What do you do? I mean, besides watch
baseball and eat pizza? What's your favorite TV show? Where do you
work, where do you live?" he asked all at once.

“
Well,” she started. Her
finger drifted to her lips as she started to think about her
answer. Jay noted the gentle fullness of her rich red lips. He knew
the color was lipstick but he dreamed of them being that color
forever. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her. It had been
six months since his last date and that had been a set up with a
flat-chested sorority girl that his favorite student, C. Daniel
Kinchon, had arranged as a pity date for Jay. He'd been too busy
ever since. Computer viruses, video games, golf, and graduation, in
that order, had taken up all his time. Girls were a long way down
the list, especially since he knew he would be moving. Jay half
listened to Tonia's answers, half dreamed about hugging her and
kissing her.

He tried to nod and murmur in all the right
places. New York City was working its way back towards the top of
his list.

"You're not even listening to me,” she
pouted. "You're thinking about something else aren't you. What is
it? Football? Money? Getting me naked? You men are all alike,” she
said. She shifted her seat back as if planning to leave. Jay acted
quickly.

"Tell me more about your little brother,” Jay
blurted out. During his mental drifting he’d still caught something
about her kid brother being a genius at computers. He hoped he'd
saved the night.

"Okay,” she relented. She started to talk
about her brother, and then kept on talking. She talked about him
for another ten minutes.

"Maybe I'll meet him someday,” Jay offered.
"Is he on the Internet? I could look him up there. Do you know his
email address?"

“
No," Tonia answered,
puzzlement ringing in her voice. "How do you know so much about all
this computer stuff?" Tonia asked.

"Well... I'm a bit of a computer geek
myself,” Jay said. "In fact, I've been offered a great computer job
here in New York City.”

"The City,” Tonia corrected him. "No-one says
New York City. They just say 'The City'. You don't want to sound
like a tourist do you?" she asked. She said tourist like it was a
bad word.

"You know what?" Jay asked. "I think I need
some more instruction in the ways of New Yorkers. Maybe we could
get together tomorrow and you could show me something about 'The
City'?"

"I'd like that,” Tonia answered. "Now get me
a cab. I can't drive home like this,” she said. "Two beers is my
limit and I'm already at four or five. If I didn't know better I'd
say you were trying to get me drunk or something,” she teased.

"No ma'am,” Jay answered. Although the
thought had crossed his mind. "No way,” he repeated, the finality
and conviction in his voice was clear.

Tonia grabbed the bill off the table and paid
the tab. “Thanks again for saving me,” she said.

“
It was my pleasure,” he
said. They both looked at his absurdly swollen right hand and
laughed. While winding down their laughs they made their plans and
arranged for tomorrow.

Later that night, as Jay lay in bed in the
Vista Hotel in the World Trade Center in New York City, replaying
the day, smiling and wincing with the pleasures and pains, he
wondered if she’d show, if he'd really ever see her again, or
whether she would change her mind in the night, or the morning, and
leave him alone, all alone, like he had been so often. He wondered
if he’d ever have another first date, or first day, that was so
unlike all the others that had gone before.

Jay said a small prayer of thanks for having
met Tonia Taggert, and a slightly longer prayer that she would show
in the morning. As he prayed, his mind drifted away to the hills of
Kentucky and the hollows of Ohio, where he would pray alone, and
where he would pray with his mentor.

Chapter

The ringing phone woke Jay Calloway. His eyes
were plastered shut with sleep. His mouth felt like dirty dried
crusty cotton.
Who the hell is calling me at... What time is
it?

"Good morning sleepy-head,” he heard from the
telephone.

"Hello?" Jay answered.

"Hello. Jay? It's Tonia Taggert. Remember?
From last night? The baseball game?” Jay could and did remember. He
started to regain consciousness. A smile lit Jay's face.

"Oh hi Tonia,” he said. His tongue felt like
it was wearing a heavy wool sweater, his mouth tasted dry and
coppery.

"Could you hold on a second?" he asked. He
got up, went to the bathroom, took a whiz and rinsed out his mouth.
He returned to bed with a tooth brush in his mouth.

"Sorry. I just woke up, I had to... to get a
glass of water,” he said.

"Sure you weren't telling somebody to keep
quiet?" she asked.

"What? No, no. Just me here,” he said
wondering why he suddenly felt guilty.

"Good,” Tonia said. "So you're a jogger
right?" she asked.

"Right.”

“
You weren’t lying last
night? You really jog? And you really want to go jogging this
morning?”

“
No. Yes. Yes.”

"Okay, I'll be there in an hour for a jogging
date,” Tonia said. Before he could agree or disagree she had hung
up and was gone. Jay lay back on the bed for a minute, leisurely
dry-brushing his teeth and thinking about the happiness and
unexpected joy of the previous day. He found himself thinking about
Tonia, how she looked, how she sounded, how she had seemed to fit
so nicely into his life. He slowly drifted back to sleep.

Bang, bang, bang.

BANG, BANG, BANG.

"Hey sleepy-head, get up,” Tonia called
through the door. Jay, realizing what had happened, leaped out of
bed and rushed to the door. Opening it he saw Tonia with her fist
raised ready to pound again. She rapped gently on his forehead.

“
Good morning silly. Your
are
so
not ready to go,” Tonia teased. Jay knew he was in
for it.

"Uh, just give me a minute,” he answered.

"Running on three legs this morning are we?"
Tonia asked. Jay suddenly realized that while he'd slept, dreaming
about Tonia, he'd become aroused. He blushed three shades of red
and turned away from her.

"I'll be ready in five minutes okay?" Jay
asked. She narrowed her eyes, enjoying his early morning panic and
plain embarrassment.

"Five,” she said.

"So where are we going?" Jay asked.

"That depends on how far you want to run,"
Tonia answered.

"Oh I don't know, 5 or 6 miles I guess,” Jay
said casually, like he ran that far every day, which he didn't. Two
or three miles a day was more like it.

“
Will your hand stand up to
that much punishment?” she asked.

They both looked at his swollen, discolored
hand.

“
No problem,” he boasted.
“I won’t be running on my hands.” Tonia scanned him from top to
bottom, took a good hard look at his hand, then decided.

"Alrighty then, let's get a cab to Central
Park and do a loop up there okay?"

"Sure six isn't too far for you?" Jay asked
Tonia. He had no idea what kind of shape Tonia Taggert was in. She
turned to look sideways at him.

"Not for me,” she said casually. For the
first time Jay noticed how trim she was. Yesterday she'd been in
loose fitting clothing and he'd been staring in her eyes, at her
hair, at her lips. This morning, as they waited for a cab, his eyes
drank in her body.

She was wearing blue Lycra running tights.
Her calves were developed and firm. Her thighs were thin yet toned
and sculpted with muscles. Her rear end was high and tight. Jay was
slowly coming to the realization that he might not be able to keep
up with her. She seemed to be in great shape. His eyes tracked
higher on her figure. She wore a t-shirt from a 5K race on Long
Island.

It was one size too small so Jay could
clearly make out her trim waist and small well-shaped breasts. Her
shoulders were a little wider than most. He figured she must lift
weights of some type. Tonia Taggert was certainly an athletic woman
of the nineties. Jay smiled.

Tonia caught him scrutinizing her and noted
his smile.

"Well?" she asked sharply, "Are we going to
get a cab or what?"

"Yeah right,” Jay answered. He figured to try
to bluff his way out of being caught staring at her. "How did you
do in that 5K in...?” He leaned closer trying to fake reading the
small lettering on the shirt.

"Nice try,” she said, spinning away and
diving into the arriving cab.

"Are you coming?" Tonia called. Jay dived in
beside her. The ride to Central Park passed quickly while Tonia
pointed out some landmarks to her tourist running date.

"Ready?" Tonia asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be,” Jay answered. They
finished their stretching and started off at a slow pace. Jay
noticed that there seemed to be a large number of rolling hills in
Central Park. He'd just assumed that since it was New York that
everything would be flat. Six miles was one thing, six rolling,
hilly miles was something completely different. After leaving the
steep hills of his rural home behind, he’d succumbed to the
flatlands of southwestern Ohio. His speed had increased, but his
endurance had decreased. He broke a sweat, partly from the jogging
and partly from wondering if his slightly hung over body would last
through six miles. He should have gone straight to bed when he got
back from the game. He should not have stayed up half the night
playing Centipede in the World Trade Arcade.

"So you never answered my question,” Jay
said.

"What question, silly?" Tonia asked.

"How'd you do in that race?" he asked,
pointing at her shirt.

"You really want to know?" she asked.

"Yeah I really want to know,” Jay
answered.

Tonia accelerated away from Jay in a
surprising burst of speed that caught him flat-footed. Her long
graceful strides were a thing of beauty and power. Jay understood
now that she was about to completely dust him. He set off after her
as best he could. Yesterday's beers and pizza didn't help. After
two miles of furious chasing, and falling farther and farther
behind, he saw Tonia slow down and jog back towards him, looking
for him, waiting. A couple of minutes later he finally crested the
low rolling hill where she was waiting.

Sweat poured off his face. Jay bent over,
putting his hands on his knees and gasping for air. He thought he
might vomit as an acid copper liquid filtered up into his mouth
from his raging stomach.

"Oh. About that race? I won,” she said,
hardly out of breath.

"I believe it,” he answered.

"Would you have believed me if I'd just told
you?" she asked.

"Yeah,” he answered.

"Liar.”

"Busted," Jay said. They both laughed at his
honesty, and at his being caught.

"You want to just trot back?" Tonia
asked.

"Trot. Or walk,” Jay answered. Jay even
considered getting a cab. Tonia and Jay set off again at a
leisurely pace. They were talking and joking and enjoying the
beautiful, cool, Sunday morning. Jay was getting the idea that
every day in New York City was better than the one before and
better than could ever be had anywhere else.

"Thanks for the run,” Tonia said when they
got back to where they had started. Jay thought it sounded like she
was saying good-bye. Something was different in her voice. She
seemed unwilling to look him in the eyes.

"Oh no, thank you,” Jay replied. "I'm not
sure I would have done this if you hadn't got me out of bed.” Tonia
looked at Jay. Jay could see in her eyes that she was apparently
trying to make some decision.

"Look Jay. You're a nice guy, kind of cute, a
lot of laughs. You like baseball and you jog. Maybe if we'd met
under different circumstances..." she trailed off. Jay was cooling
off from the run and suddenly a chill went through him that was
more than just the cool breeze blowing through his damp clothes.
She went on.

"I had a lot of fun yesterday, thanks again
for knocking down that line drive, but I gotta go.” She made
motions to leave. Jay sensed that she was torn by her decision, her
choices.

"Wait,” he said. "Why don't we trade phone
numbers and call each other once in a while okay? Maybe go for a
jog. Nothing serious," Jay asked. She didn't answer right away. She
wouldn't look at him. Jay looked around and saw a policeman writing
up a ticket for a cyclist who had been going too fast in the
fifteen mile per hour lane in Central Park. Jay sprinted over to
the cop, borrowed a pen and a piece of paper. He carefully wrote
down his name and phone number at college. He scanned his note,
considered, and then added his parent's number as well. "I've got a
couple weeks left at school, then I'll be at my parents for awhile
until I move and start work.” Jay was trying not to sound too
pathetic and too pleading. But he really wanted to see Tonia again.
He decided to make one last try.