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I had no regrets as I rattled off the details of my divorce to my lawyer. “Yeah, a fifty million dollar lump sum and twenty thousand a month for the rest of her life,” I told him.
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” he asked.
“Just get it done,” I said running my free hand across my beard.
“Okay Mr. Turner, I’ll get this drawn up for you immediately. Call me if you want to change anything.”
“Will do,” I said as I hung up the phone. I felt as if a weight had been lifted off me with this move. It was a necessary for me to live out the remainder of my days without being chained to the farce I allowed to take place so many years ago. My mind traveled to the day that changed the course of my life. The day that led up to this very moment.
It was a warm spring morning in April of 1972, when I walked into my father’s office at the original Turner Enterprise building for work. I worked Saturdays learning the family business and spending time with my father. This Saturday, I was a few minutes late, since I stopped by Clara’s house to take her some breakfast.
Within seconds of walking through the door, my father started in on me. He gave me a once over and said, “Son, your mother tells me you’ve been hanging out with a young lady by the name of Clara Baker. Is that correct?”
I knew where the conversation was going. I’d just told my mother about Clara the night before. What I wanted her to do was soften my father for me. He always took things better when they came from her first. And my mother understood and appreciated my first love, at least that’s what I thought.
“That’s right, Pops. I met her at Wellmington,” I answered without going into any details.
“Oh, really? Where does she live?” he asked, with a raised brow. Soon, Pops’ hand stopped moving across his desk calculator and I had his undivided attention.
“Over on Westside Road near the Rapids Pond,” I said, walking further into the office and sitting down on the sofa. I leaned forward raptly, waiting to see where he would carry the conversation.
Over the years, Pops had drilled into me that people needed to stick with their own kind. Therefore, I didn’t know how he would take it if he knew I had every intention to make the very dark and lovely, Clara Baker, my wife.
“Well, I invited Tammy Jentry to our house for dinner tonight. I think it’s time that you start spending time with a more suitable mate, and Tammy is a good, fine choice.”
“I already have plans for tonight,” I told my father.
“Well, this is my first time hearing of you having plans. I guess you can just reschedule whatever you were going to do. Our dinner plans are already set.”
I could feel the muscles in my neck tense up. Clara wanted to go see the new Foxy Brown movie at the drive-in, and I’d be damned if I was going to miss an opportunity to have her curled up in my arms feeding me popcorn and soda to be at a stuck up dinner with my parents and the Jentry family.
My father continuously dropped hints about me dating his colleague’s daughter, Tammy. She was a beautiful brunette with Marilyn Monroe features that had, at one time, caught my attention. However, she was such a stick in the mud that even her looks didn’t hold my attention for long. It was Clara’s natural beauty, big smile, and even bigger personality that snatched me up and held me captive.
The first day I met Clara she was in the registration line with her parents at Wellmington College. I was walking out of one of the administrative offices with my parents.
“Are you sure you want to register for this school, John?” my father had asked as we walked to the end of the registration line.
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said as Clara and I made eye contact. She was a standout girl wearing a warm colored plaid skirt suit and high platform shoes. Her pretty, brown eyes peeked from underneath her cloche hat. As I walked by, I smiled and she smiled back.
My father and I completed registration and I finally got my dorm assignment. I set out to find out more about the girl with the pretty, brown eyes. I asked a few people in the girls’ dormitory if they’d seen a girl who matched her description, but no one knew who I was talking about.
Just when I thought I’d never see her again, I walked into my English class a week later and she was sitting in the front row. Her light brown legs were crossed at the ankle. She was wearing a pink ruffled blouse and a black pencil skirt. She had on a pair of thick rimmed glasses and her hair was pulled back in a curly puff to the side with a pink ribbon holding it in place.
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sp; I took my seat and began to listen to our teacher present her first lecture. All the while, I couldn’t keep my eyes off Clara. Even from behind, she looked so good. She sat up proper in her seat. She studiously took notes. She engaged the professor by raising her pencil to ask questions. I was intrigued with her every move.
After class was over, I asked if she would mind studying together. At first, she refused, but I was adamant that we could help each other in the class. We set a date for our first study session and I set out to win her heart. Despite her many objections and reasons we should both stay in our perspective worlds, I proved to her time and time again that we were meant to be together.
“John-John, please don’t ever hurt me,” she pleaded the night I savored every moment of her sweet virginity.
“I would never hurt you, Clara. I only want to love you forever,” I replied as I kissed her sweet lips and eased into her warmth for the most fulfilling ten minutes of my life.
Therefore, as I sat on the sofa that Saturday morning in my father’s office, I thought about my words to Clara. The promise I made before consummating our love meant more than what my father was asking me to do. I had no intention to ever hurt Clara, especially if it was to spend time with Tammy Jentry and her parents over dinner.
“I’m not going to be home until after dinner tonight, Dad,” I said, as my father and I were headed out after a productive Saturday morning’s work.
He looked at me with disappointment. “You need to consider the choices you’re making these days very closely, Son,” he said as we parted ways.
