The Sound Of Boots (cont.) Part 4

Savannah’s father threatened to turn her in as a run-away when she called to tell him she would not be back for two weeks. “Don’t,” she said. “I am safe and I’ll be back before you find me anyway.” She followed Gabriel Raul to the next tournament. She managed to be everywhere; at the food booths, walking past the tunnel to the locker room, at the practice courts, talking to the ball boys and girls, in Gabriel’s hotel lobby, walking along his street.

After a week, she stepped in front of him as he headed to the lockers.

“You have been here every day,” he said.

Savannah watched him.

“Why?”

“Because I want to be. To be near you.”

Gabe reached up to wipe the sweat dripping from his hair. The girl took his wrist, stood on tip toe and caught the sweat with her tongue. Holding her hand Gabe led her to a dark corner behind the bleachers and leaned her against a hard wall his mouth on her neck tasting the sweat. It should have been ugly. It should have been sordid. Instead they fell into that place where there is nothing but love of the other, illicit, uncontrollable, feral and exquisite, that state beyond all boundaries and all of society. The Hindu divinity Vishnu’s highest form of love, thank God.

___

Savannah’s parents thought they knew why she suddenly took school seriously, opened her books, studied them and even added a few advanced classes to her schedule. They thought of it as an act of contrition for her runaway. The girl’s real motivation was to earn enough credits to get her high school diploma a year early and move to New York City to become an actress. She went on-line and found herself a three hundred and fifty square foot apartment. The day before her departure in early June, she sat her parents down at the kitchen table. Her father held himself very still, as though he knew what she was going to say. Her mother was a slender column of rage. They did not take it well as their daughter knew they wouldn’t and for years their faces, defeated and furious, would pop into her head when her guard was down.

Savannah joined an acting class and obtained a job as a waitress. She was surprised to discover she preferred the men in the restaurant to those in her acting class who were mostly gay. The waiters, however, were young, edgy and irreverent and though the turnover was relatively slow there were enough new faces to keep The Life Plan alive and well. Also, Savannah did not draw the line at including the customers.

Gabriel Raul had called her weekly since their last time together. Now he sent her a plane ticket and an excellent seat to his tournament. She dressed in the same clothes she had worn the first time she had met him. It was twilight when she reached the street in back of his hotel where he told her to come. She saw him leaning against the wall. His face was in shadow, but it was Gabriel Raul all right with the black hair pulled into a pony tail. She began to run. He heard her boots hitting the pavement and turned. Savannah saw the moment he recognized her and ran even faster toward that wide smile and the dimples that framed it.

They met in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Indian Wells, Cincinnati. In the beginning, Savannah stayed for most of the tournament. They came together in his hotel room or hers, in corners at the stadium, alleys, bathrooms, and one time in the locker room when everyone was gone. No one knew. They were bad kids up to no good and it made them laugh. They talked about his tough coach whom he loved and his parents whom he loved even more, about how, as much as he loved them, sometimes he felt he was missing so much. She talked about the look on her parents’ faces when she left, how her mother wouldn’t even say goodbye, how she tried to call them but couldn’t so sent post cards instead, never with a return address. They talked about his future, which looked brighter and brighter, about what it was like being in a match, the awful tension before and then once it started how the body eventually took over, relaxing into muscle memory. She told him stories about the restaurant, mostly funny. She told him over and over he had the most beautiful ass in the world, steel orbs covered with satin. He counted the freckles that ran across the bridge of her nose and onto her cheeks.

___

She worked to exhaustion but was fired anyway, her absences having gone past the breaking point. She found another job, lost it, found another, lost that one. Gabriel now sent her plane fare and tickets to every tournament. She stayed from the beginning until he was eliminated or won, which he did more and more.

___

“How old was the man who started this ‘Life Plan’ of yours?” They were in Rome. This was the first time they had managed to be together though Savannah had been there three days.

She looked at the wall. “I don’t know. Thirty-five, forty. Why are you asking me this now?”

“I wonder if he had not seduced you if you would be so…restless.”

“It’s not like I was a baby. Anyway, I always knew I couldn’t stay in that hick town. I had to see the world.”

“How does your boss let you be away so much?”

“I’m doing fine.”

“What about your acting classes. Does it affect them?”

Savannah didn’t answer.

“My coach is starting to suspect something. He has begun looking for me when he doesn’t find me.”

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To be continued on Friday, December 16th