“My dream” was all Flynn said.
He led me to the gate. A padlock was on it. He pulled a key from his key chain, unlocked the padlock, and pushed the gate open. “Come into my dream,” Flynn said. I entered and followed him across a grassy field. There was a full moon, and the outline of trees and mountains were visible against the sky. He led me across the field and just when it seemed we were about to fall off a cliff, the land opened up and before us was a bowl of trees and mountains outlined beneath the moon.
“Oh, my Lord . . .” I was awed by what I saw.
“Just wait ’til daybreak,” Flynn said. “Maybe you will have seen something like it, but I never have.” I took in his dream with silence. “Wait here,” he said. “I need to go back to the car for a minute.” I acknowledged his leaving with a slight turn of my head, then stared out at the wonder of the night. The sky was clear, the stars were bright, and the moon shone down like the sun. “I brought some blankets,” Flynn said when he returned. “Flashlight too, if we need it.”
I eyed the blankets. “And what do you expect us to be doing on a blanket?”
He shook his head at my wariness. “Nothing you don’t want to do,” he said, tossing one of the blankets to me and spreading the other at the base of a tree. “For now, we’ll just sit.”
The night was chilly and I wrapped the blanket around me. We sat some distance from each other; Flynn’s back was against the tree. We gazed out across the valley to the mountain range beyond and we talked. We talked through the night. Mostly, Flynn left the talking up to me. He seemed fascinated by my stories. But again, he seemed not to want to talk much about himself. He did not want to talk about his childhood. He did not want to talk about the war. What he did want to talk about was this land and his dream.
“Man who owns this land says it can be mine in a few years. I’ve got a contract with him. Minute I saw it, I knew it was something I had to have. I’d love to build a house on it someday. I’d design it and build it myself. That’s my dream.”
He was holding me by now. I sat between his long legs, bent at the knees, as I rested against his chest. His back was still against the tree, his arms encircling me, but his eyes were on the sky, on the land. When the sun rose, we were both silent, watching its splendor. It was I who broke the silence. “Now I understand,” I said.
He looked down at me and turned my face toward him. “I’m glad,” he said. “I wanted you to.” Then, for the first time, Flynn kissed me.
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
“You know what you want to do now?” he asked me.
“No.”
The sun was well above the mountains. I pulled myself from his arms and sat directly across from him. “I was thinking. It’s nice of Justine to ask me to stay, but I don’t think it’s the best idea. I mean, I’d pretty much be in the way. It’d be crowded, especially with Justine’s children there. I’ve got a little money saved. I could maybe go to a hotel for a few days while I look for another job. Maybe a colored hotel on Central.”
“Well, there is the Dunbar on the Avenue. But there is that other option,” Flynn said quietly. “Like I said before, you can come stay with me.”
“Don’t forget what I said about my uncle.”
“So your uncle doesn’t come after me, I can always find another place to stay for a while.”
“Justine mentioned you were involved with somebody. From the way Justine talked, I don’t know if staying at your place would be such a good idea.”
“Justine sometimes talks a little too much.” He was silent, then spoke cautiously. “The lady Justine spoke about has her own place. I have mine.” That was all he said.
“Doesn’t matter. You know I can’t stay at your place anyway.”
Then together we both said, “Country Baptist.”
“There’s an older lady I know. Name’s Mrs. Hendersen. Maybe if you stay with her, help her, you could have a place to stay without charge for a while, and a room of your own. There are other women staying there too.”
“But I’ll still need to find some outside work. I’ll need to earn some money.”
“Well, first things first. Let’s go and see what she says.” Flynn pulled me up. He picked up the blanket and together we folded it. With the blanket squarely folded between us, his arms clasped at the back of my spine and mine clasped at his, he kissed me again. The sun warmed my skin.
I had never felt more glorious. This man.
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
Flynn arranged everything. He stopped at a pay phone, called Mrs. Hendersen, and told her about me and my situation. She told him to bring me right over and not to stop for breakfast. Her girls, as she called them, were with her and they had not yet sat down for breakfast. We could join them. Flynn and I accepted the offer.
Mrs. Hendersen lived in a modest-looking house, well-kept, a few blocks off Central Avenue. As soon as the door opened, we could smell coffee brewing. The three women who stayed with Mrs. Hendersen were older women in their forties or fifties and all seemed pleasant. Mrs. Hendersen herself was in her mid-eighties with a quick wit and a solid mind. Although confined to a wheelchair, it was obvious she was still in charge of her faculties and of her house. Mrs. Hendersen said she was from Louisiana and had come to California during the First World War while her first husband was serving overseas. She made me welcome as she explained that I could stay in her home rent-free in exchange for some of the housework, some of the cooking, and helping her with her personal care when needed. It was fine with her if I got a job, just as long as I kept up with my duties at the house. Once I got a job, however, I would be expected to pay a minimal amount to help with food and the house bills. Mrs. Hendersen made it clear that she was not out to make a profit from the boarding money. “Before my husband passed on,” she said, “he made sure this house was paid for, so my only worry is ongoing bills. Mainly, though, I open my house to ladies to give them Christian living and share what I can with them. Keeps me from being lonely and feeling old.”
Mrs. Hendersen said I would have my own room. “Young lady needs some space to herself.” She went on, though, to say, “Just because you have your privacy, that doesn’t mean you can just do anything here. We have moral, Christian rules in this house and no gentlemen callers are allowed in the bedrooms, even when they’re as handsome and fine as this young man here.” She looked at Flynn and laughed, and Flynn smiled. “They’re welcome to come visit at most anytime during respectable hours. But come ten o’clock at night, we lock the doors and all gentlemen callers better be out of here. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to be in this house by ten. I’m not your mother, so I’m not setting that rule. All the ladies who live here, I believe, have good moral character and, I hope, good judgment about what they do with themselves. You’ll have your own key, so you can come and go as you please, but if you break one of my rules concerning my house, you’re immediately out of here. Is that understood?”