Chapter 1
Evlyn
Philadelphia 1954
His laugh. Long before his cooking, off-key singing or the gentle way he handles me, it was his laugh that caught my attention. He was around 6 feet tall, with jet black hair and smooth chocolate skin. He was handsome and had a coolness about him that was hard to resist. The women would constantly tease him about his exploits, and he’d just wave it off and laugh. When he laughed, it commanded the attention of anyone in earshot.
He was loud and seemed to love attention. I could hear him long before I’d even enter the lunch hall, most days. I could see the white nurses scoff in disgust at the noise coming from him and the people surrounding him, as they entered the area. I wasn’t big on carrying on in front of white folks, and thankfully they ate in a separate lunch room or outside, weather permitting. The hospital had never labeled our lunchroom “Colored”, it just was.
It was my fourth year working as a nurse at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. I was the only colored nurse in the maternity ward, so I never had anyone to eat lunch with. The ladies seemed to sit with their respective co-workers from the wards they worked in. At least that’s what I’d told myself, as not to be offended. I’d never been real good at making friends. Their reason was always, “Because I think I’m better than every body else.” You hear that long enough, and you’re bound to believe it. They didn’t want anything to do with me, and the feeling was mutual. I used my lunch time to relax my mind and have a little peace. It wasn’t that it was quiet in the lunch room. More like, a different type of noise. Crying babies and screaming mothers had a different effect on me than the chatter of the lunch room.
He sat down in the chair, directly across from me. I didn’t immediately look up from my bologna sandwich, but when I did, I was staring into a large pair of black Ray Ban sunglasses. I rolled my eyes and went right back to my lunch. I couldn’t help but wonder, what kind of perfectly good-seeing, jack ass would wear sunglasses inside. There wasn’t a lick of sun!
He’d had a reputation around there. I’d barely spoken to anyone, so if I’d heard about him, I figured there must have been some truth to it. As if I wasn’t already fit to be tied, he pulled out a long, brown Moore cigarette and lit it, blowing smoke in my face. When a man blew smoke in a woman’s face, it meant everything but God bless you.
Between the smell of the smoke and his rude gesture, I had completely lost my appetite. I grabbed the remainder of my lunch, walked over and dumped it right into the garbage. I scoffed at his nerve. I looked back and rolled my eyes once more, for good measure. He had a way with women and seemed to have had his way with many of the women we worked with. I could feel their hateful stares as I exited the lunchroom. For all I cared, they could have him. I’d been doing just fine these four years at the hospital. They’d been drama free, with no infractions. I planned to keep it that way.
Before I could reach the stairs, a brown arm reached across me and opened the door in front of me. I walked through the doorway, right past him, without even making eye contact. He ran ahead of me, stopping me in my tracks. Pulling his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose, he looked over them and said, “Not even a thank you, Sunshine?” I let out a deep breath and walked around him. “You know, I ran all the way to my car to get my shades when I saw you walk into that lunchroom?”, he said. I hoped he didn’t think it made him look cool. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought the fool was blind. As if reading my mind, he replied, “And no, not to look cool either! I got them because you’re my sunshine! You know, I come here early in the morning before the sun comes up and I don’t leave til it’s night. You’re the only sunshine I see.”
I stared at him for a brief moment before responding, “That sounds like something out of Readers Digest! Get outta my way!”
He let out that deep gut laugh, that seemed to last forever. “It did come from Readers Digest! Well, at least you know I can read, Sunshine!” The slight smiled that formed at the corner of my lips was beyond my control. I really tried to stop smiling. I just couldn’t. “Oh, don’t tell me you have dimples too?!“, he said. He grabbed his heart and started to walk backwards.
“If you’re having a heart attack, you’re at the right place,” I said, walking around him. “And stop following me! I’ve got to get back to work!”
My back was to him, but for some reason I felt like he knew that my smile had returned. He yelled up the stairs, “Don’t bring that bologna sandwich tomorrow! I’ve got something you’re gonna love, Sunshine!”
