PRESENT TENSE
Chapter Sixty

Friday, November 28, 2003
Santa Monica, California

Jack and Rose walked along the streets of Santa Monica on their way to the pier. They had found a hotel in another part of Los Angeles and checked in for the weekend, and then had battled to traffic to get to Santa Monica. Jack drove, as he knew the area better and had more patience with the bumper-to-bumper traffic than Rose did.

After negotiating the streets of Santa Monica, which, while crowded, where still more open than the freeway, they had finally found a reasonably priced parking meter and left the car behind, continuing to the pier on foot.

They had originally planned to make Olvera Street, in another part of Los Angeles, their first stop, but had found that it had been one of the harder hit places in Los Angeles when the earthquake had struck almost seven months earlier, and most of it was still in ruins and blocked off to traffic. After discovering this, Jack had suggested that they go to Santa Monica instead, a place that he had been fond of when he lived in Los Angeles.

After a leisurely stroll down the tourist-clogged streets, they arrived at the pier itself. They had taken their time getting there, with Rose stopping to look around in several shops along the streets while Jack waited patiently, not nearly so interested in souvenir hunting as she was.

When they reached the pier, they strolled along, taking time to look at the work of various artists and performers. There were a number of sketch artists at the pier, and Rose was curious as to whether Jack had ever done his artwork there.

"Did you ever do sketches here?" she asked him, stopping to admire the work of one artist who sketched celebrities.

"Yeah. This was where I started out when I first came to LA. It was a long bus ride here from the barrio where Fabrizio and I were living, but it was worth it. I didn’t make a lot of money, but it was usually enough to at least cover my share of the rent. Luckily, the rent in our particular neighborhood was cheap. There were a lot of abandoned buildings, and the rent had to be cheap to get anyone to actually pay it. There were a lot of squatters in the abandoned buildings, too, so the landlords took what they could get. The apartments were filthy and full of cockroaches, not to mention being favorite hang-outs for drug addicts and prostitutes, but it was shelter."

"Only you could be so optimistic about living in such a place."

Jack shrugged. "Most of the people there weren’t so bad. They were poor, but being poor doesn’t make a person bad. People do what they have to, to survive, and if it means living in a rundown barrio neighborhood...well, that’s just the way things are, sometimes."

"It’s a pity they have to be that way."

"Yes, but I don’t know what can be done about it. Some people actually prefer living that way."

"Then that’s their choice, but no one should have to live in such an environment if they don’t want to."

"Well, maybe you’ll find a solution," Jack told her. Changing the subject, he said, "In spite of the fact that I didn’t make much money, I enjoyed what I did. I drew portraits of people for five dollars apiece. I did some work in other parts of the city, too."

Rose smiled. "It’s good that you liked what you did. Jobs that you don’t like are just work. Everything else is worthwhile."

"It’s worthwhile to make enough money to eat, too."

Rose had to admit that he was right. "That’s the only reason I can think of for taking a boring job. Because you need it."

They had reached the end of the pier. Jack stopped, leaning against the railing, while Rose came up and leaned against him.

"I always liked the ocean," she told him, gazing out at the choppy gray water. "It’s so...so endless. Like it could go on forever, and you’ll never see everything in it."

"I used to sketch people swimming here, too," Jack replied. "Especially families. So many people enjoy the beach so much..."

His expression was far away, and Rose knew that he was thinking of his own family, lost in the fire so many years before.

"Believe it or not, I’ve never been here before," she told him. "I used to visit my grandparents in Newport Beach, and Oceanside was the closest beach to Masline, but I’ve never been to Santa Monica before. It was too much of a drive, and Mom hates the traffic."

"So do you."

Rose laughed. "Yeah. I guess Mom and I have more in common than we think."

Jack straightened, looking at his watch. "Want to go get lunch?"

"Sure." Rose took one last look at the water before walking beside Jack toward the restaurants on the pier.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked her, looking at the collection of food stands and restaurants. Some had fallen in during the earthquake, or been wiped out by the waves following it, but others had quickly taken their place.

Rose looked at the fast food restaurants. "I always liked Del Taco. How about you?"

"Del Taco works."

They joined the line of people waiting to buy food, watching the things going on around them as they waited. Several families with small children tried to calm their hungry, cranky offspring, while a number of teenagers sat at the tables or stood around eating, eyeing the people around them. A seagull swooped down and snatched an abandoned hamburger bun from a table, disturbing the pigeons that had been pecking at it.

Once they had bought their lunches, Jack and Rose sat a small table near to where a man was attempting to juggle several empty glasses. Rose jumped, startled, as one of the glasses dropped to the ground and shattered. Jack looked at the man with amusement.

"I guess he’s still learning to juggle," he commented, watching people scatter out of the way of the broken glass.

They were interrupted when a slightly overweight woman with badly dyed and permed hair came up to the table.

"Hello, Jack," she purred, looking him over.

Jack turned, startled. "Beatriz!" he exclaimed, coming face-to-face with his old girlfriend for the first time in a year and half.

"I wondered when you were coming back to Los Angeles."

"I’m not here to stay. Rose and I are here on our honeymoon."

"Rose?" Beatriz only then noticed the woman sitting at the table with Jack. "You’re married?"

"Yes. We were married in October."

"And you’re only now getting to your honeymoon? I would’ve thought you’d do better than that." She sat down in an extra chair.

"Beatriz, what are you doing here?" Jack asked, not particularly happy to see her. They hadn’t parted on the best of terms.

"I saw you and decided to say hello."

"Hello. What do you want?"

"Is that any way to talk to your old girlfriend?"

"Knowing you, yes. What do you want?"

"I just wanted to see you again."

"Horseshit. You only hope that I’ll give you money or something."

"Do you really think that badly of me?"

"Yes."

"What did I ever do to you?"

"Let me think...you slept around, ran up long-distance phone bills and refused to pay them, smoked pot when you knew cops were around, threw an empty wine bottle at Fabrizio’s girlfriend...do I need to go on?"

"Speaking of Fabrizio, how is he?"

"He died in the earthquake."

"That must have upset his fiancée. Or maybe not. She was a cold person, as I recall."

"Actually, they were married before the earthquake. She’s expecting a baby in January."

"His?"

"Who else’s?"

"Oh, I don’t know. She was around you and her cousin enough—"

"Beatriz, shut up! You have a really filthy mouth!"

"Oh, come on, Jack. You used to like my dirty words."

"I learned quickly enough. Why don’t you go find someone else to bother?"

"I want to see you."

"Well, I don’t want to see you. If you need money, go stand on a street corner. It always worked before."

"I never stood on a street corner in my life."

"Ha. That was where I first met you."

"But you didn’t speak to me until you saw me doing exotic dancing."

"That’s slightly more respectable than being a hooker."

Beatriz shrugged. "A girl has to make a living."

"That’s the kind of living you enjoy."

Rose watched the exchange with her mouth hanging open. So, this was Beatriz, who Helga had wanted to slap silly a few times. Having seen her, Rose wanted to do the same.

Jack was trying to get rid of her, but Beatriz wasn’t giving up. When she tugged at her tight, low-cut top, exposing more of her cleavage, Rose had had enough.

"Get lost, skank!" she told her, glaring threatening at her.

"What?"

"I said, get lost."

"Who the hell are you to tell me anything?"

"I’m Jack’s wife, that’s who. Now, leave."

"Make me."

"Do you dare me?"

Beatriz stood, making a move toward Rose, but the look in Rose’s eyes stopped her. Rose was spoiling for a fight. She glanced back at Jack, hoping that he would disagree with his wife.

"Leave, Beatriz. Now. Or I’ll call the cops," he told her.

"I second that," Rose added. "Get lost, whore."

"Bitch!" Beatriz stomped off, turning around once to call to Jack. "Good luck, loser. I bet she’ll never be half the woman I am."

Jack stared at Rose for a moment, surprised by her outburst. "Meow."

"What do you expect?" Rose asked him. "She was making a play for my husband. She was your girlfriend? What did you ever see in her?"

"Uh...I’m not sure you want to know the answer to that."

Rose fixed him with a withering glare. "Oh, I think I do."

"Well...I’ll tell you the truth. She was my girlfriend, back when I lived in LA. She was always short of money, possibly because she spent a good portion of what she did have on drugs. I let her move in with me within a week. Fabrizio didn’t like her, but he tolerated her as long as I did. Beatriz and I fought a lot, though, and she managed to make enemies of nearly everyone she met. Yes, she was my girlfriend, and she did live with me, and yes, I did sleep with her."

"And I’ll bet that was what you saw in her."

He sighed. "Yeah, that was about it. The rest of the time, we fought bitterly."

"I can see why Helga wanted to slap her silly."

"She did?" Jack was surprised. "She never told me that."

"She was probably too polite."

"Probably. At any rate, I hadn’t seen her in a year and a half, and I’d rather not see her again. Just my luck that she’d show up today. But then, she always did like to hang around here, hoping for customers or people dumb enough to give her money. I guess I should have thought that she might be here."

"She’s a slut."

"Yes, she is. And she was then, too. We had an on-again, off-again relationship. More off than on. It was a relief when I finally split up with her for good. She doesn’t really want me back. She just hopes I’ll give her money."

"And will you?"

"No. If she was in genuine need, I might, but I know full well that she’ll just go buy booze or drugs, and I am not financing her habit."

"She has some problems, I’ll agree." Rose looked at the pile of trash left from her lunch. "I think her worst one is she’s a bitch."

"I think she was probably high, too. Meth, unless I miss my guess. She’s probably trying to lose weight again."

Rose raised an eyebrow. “You did know her well.” Tossing her napkin on top of the pile of trash, she went on, "If I’m only half the woman she is, I’m grateful. Who wants to be like her? She’ll probably wind up dead in some alley."

"You’re twice the woman she could ever hope to be, and don’t you forget it." Jack laughed at Rose’s expression. "Come on. Let’s get out of here before she comes back."

"Good idea. Where should we go next?"

"How about we just go down to the beach? Beatriz walked the opposite direction, so I don’t think she’ll show up there."

"Let’s go." Rose scooped up her trash and dropped it in a nearby trash can. Several pigeons scattered as they walked away from their table.

They made their way down to the sand, which was surprisingly warm for such an overcast day. Taking off their shoes, they walked along in companionable silence for a while, watching as one group of people played volleyball, and laughing at the sight of two little girls burying their father in buckets of sand.

"Want to go in the water?" Jack asked after a few minutes. A few people were in the water, but not many, indicating how cold it was.

He grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the surf.

"Jack, no!" Rose tried to pull away. "I couldn’t possibly, Jack!"

"Sure you can." He tossed his shoes aside, then snatched hers and added them to the pile. "Come on!"

Rose shrieked as the cold water hit her feet. "It’s cold!"

"I know! That’s the fun of it!"

"You’re insane!" A large wave hit Rose, knocking her over. She sat up, sputtering. "I’m going to get you for that!"

Before Jack could get out of her way, Rose tackled him, knocking him into the water.

"Rose!"

Rose laughed, scrambling to her feet. "Still like the cold?"

"Yes." Jack suddenly lunged for her, pulling her into the water with him. "Is it really that bad?"

Rose spit out a mouthful of saltwater. "Yes!" Another wave came in, covering them with water for a moment.

Rose giggled uncontrollably when she got a look at Jack. He looked at her strangely, until finally she decided to enlighten him.

"You have seaweed in your hair," she told him, still laughing.

He quickly tugged the strand of seaweed from where it had wrapped itself around his head. Then he looked at her and started laughing himself.

"Do you know where the other end of this strand of seaweed is?"

"No. Where?"

"Down your shirt."

Rose looked, quickly pulling the rest of the seaweed from her clothes. "Ugh."

They stood up, trailing the seaweed behind them, and waded farther out. The November sea was rough, so they didn’t go out too far for fear of being swept out.

"This is good surfing weather," Jack told her, looking at the size of the waves.

"Too bad we don’t have surfboards."

"There might be someplace around where we can rent them."

Rose thought about it. "No, thanks. I don’t want to stay in the water that long."

"It is cold," Jack agreed. "Let’s go back to the beach."

Hand in hand, they headed back toward the beach until a large wave knocked them both over, picking them up and depositing them in a heap on the sand.

Jack sat up, spitting out a mouthful of sand. "Gross."

"Yeah," Rose agreed, wiping the saltwater from her eyes. "I think I have sand in my underwear."

Jack laughed, prompting Rose to fling a handful of wet sand at him. They walked back to where they’d left their shoes and picked them up, ignoring the people who were staring at them.

"I guess we must look pretty weird," Rose commented, "going swimming fully clothed."

"It was fun."

"Yeah, but now I’m really getting cold."

They stopped at the sidewalk and put their shoes back on, brushing the sand from their feet.

"Let’s go back to the motel and put some dry clothes on," Jack suggested, "and then drive up the coast a ways. I know of a place where you can rent horses and ride them on the beach, if it’s still there. Have you ever ridden a horse?"

"A few times. When I was a little girl, growing up in San Bernardino, we used to go on vacations up to Big Bear, and there was a place where you could rent horses and ride them with a guide. I liked riding, even if it did make Mom nervous." Rose laughed. "She always let Dad take me riding on these things."

"How long has it been since you’ve ridden a horse?"

"Oh, about ten years."

"I used to ride horses when I was a kid in Chippewa Falls. Uncle William had horses."

"I thought you didn’t like him."

"He was more tolerable back then, especially when my cousins and I would sneak away from him."

"What would he do if you showed up now?"

Jack thought about it. "Probably pull out his shotgun, which he has illegally, but which he thinks he needs for protection."

"Has he ever had to use it?"

"Not that I know of. He’s kind of paranoid."

"Sounds like it." They headed back down toward where they’d left the car. Rose rubbed her arms. "Let’s hurry and get back. I’m freezing."

*****

After returning to the hotel and changing their clothes, they headed back out. It was a long drive up the coast to the place Jack remembered, but Rose enjoyed the drive, looking out at the passing scenery.

"It’s pretty here," she commented.

"Especially when you get away from the city," Jack agreed, looking out at the ocean as they made their way up Highway 1.

"How far is it to this stable you mentioned?" Rose asked, watching as the traffic thinned out as they got away from LA.

"About another twenty miles or so."

"You did get around."

"I’m good at that."

They finally reached the place Jack remembered. In spite of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami, the stable was still there, though a bit the worse for wear. It was still in business, though, so Jack rented a horse for the two of them and they took off down the beach.

They rode together most of the time, first going slowly along the beach, then going faster as they remembered how to ride. Rose sat in front of Jack, a little leery of riding a horse after so many years.

She was surprised when Jack directed the horse toward the water. "Jack, what are you doing?"

"Riding in the surf. We couldn’t really go surfing, so we’ll ride a horse in the surf."

Rose was a bit nervous at first, hoping the horse didn’t object to the cold water and buck them off, but her fears were assuaged when Jack urged the animal into a gallop, splashing along the edge of the water.

The water flew up and splashed them, but neither minded. Laughing with delight, they rode up and down the waterline for the better part of an hour, until Jack guided the horse back up the beach a ways and dismounted.

"Stay there," he told Rose, gesturing for her to hand him her purse.

She did, puzzled by what he was doing. Jack pulled her camera out and walked back a short distance.

"Smile!" he called, as she sat atop the horse’s back, her hands lightly holding the reins.

He snapped several pictures before walking back to her and taking the reins. Rose balanced in the saddle, no longer nervous about riding, as he led the horse back to the stable.

*****

"I had fun today," Rose told Jack as they headed back down the highway toward Los Angeles. "Even going into the water."

"Glad you liked it," he told her. "Want to go swimming again?"

"No, no, no. That’s okay. Once was enough. Maybe we can try swimming again in the summer."

"We’ll be here for another couple of days. Is there any place in particular you’d like to see?"

Rose answered without hesitation. "Hollywood. I’ve always wanted to see that."

"It’s kind of rundown."

"Even better."

Jack laughed. "I like your sense of adventure. Any place else?"

"I don’t really know what’s around here. What would you like to do?"

"I’d like to visit the Getty Center. They have a lot of art there."

"Mari talked about that place once. She said they have botanical gardens."

"That, too."

"So, Hollywood and the Getty Center."

"That sounds like a plan. Of course, we need to spend some time alone, too."

Rose smiled at him, giving him a kiss as they stopped at a traffic light. "Of course."

Chapter Sixty-One
Stories