She peered through the glass of the airplane window into the darkness as they descended on the city beneath them. The excitement within her was building as she strained to take in all of the sights below. The night sky was dark and the lights illuminated the skyline, forming a twinkling line of shimmering lights along the horizon. It almost reminded her of the sparkling Christmas lights that adorned their tree every year. Though she had been to Los Angeles several times, the city fascinated her, particularly this time as she had become bored spending her summer vacations in Hillhaven and was craving some excitement. Most of her friends were gone away with their families, staying in summer homes or traveling through Europe. She had been offered a job working at the military museum in Washington but that hadn’t appealed to her.
Her father had finally agreed to allow her to accompany him on his business trip, after considerable cajoling. Initially, he hadn’t wanted her along, as his busy schedule wouldn’t permit him to spend much time with her and he was hesitant to allow her too much freedom in an unfamiliar city. His work as an art dealer required him to travel all over the globe, though it wasn’t often that his daughter was able to accompany him. But she had finally persuaded him that she was old enough to be unsupervised while he conducted his business and he had to admit that she had become a mature and responsible young lady in the last couple of years.
Sadly, her newfound maturity was a result of a time of terrible sadness and upheaval. Just four years before, at the tender age of twelve, she had lost her mother in a terrible car accident. While most girls her age would have retreated into their own little world or found rebelling a satisfactory outlet, she had blossomed. Standing tall beside her father at the funeral, she had silently vowed that she would become someone her mother would have been proud of.
Though she had accomplished that goal, she still provided her father with the normal stress that a single father of any teenage girl would endure. She was a striking young woman, with auburn hair and eyes that would melt the heart of any young man. And as anyone would expect, she and her father didn’t always see eye-to-eye about the young men she chose to date. She wasn’t really the type who wanted a steady boyfriend; she was much too independent for that. In fact, her intelligence, combined with her questioning nature, often intimidated boys her age who were lacking in maturity. She was a very focused young woman who had already narrowed her career options to two—journalism or acting. She was very active on both the school newspaper staff and in the drama club, as well as being a cheerleader. Many of the other girls in school were envious of her, as would be expected, but she was oblivious to this as she saw herself as just like everyone else, a trait that just added to her appeal.
So, bored with life in Maryland, she had managed to convince her father to allow her to travel with him to LA. She was very much looking forward to "spreading her wings" and showing her father that, although she was merely sixteen, she was ready to exercise some independence. First thing tomorrow, when her father left for his meeting, she planned to see the city—this time through new eyes.
"Jennifer?" Her father said softly, not wanting to startle his daughter who was a million miles away.
She quickly traveled back. "Yes?"
"I was just asking if you wanted to stop for a bite to eat on the way to the hotel. You barely touched your dinner. I know that airline food isn’t the best but you need to eat."
"I just wasn’t hungry, Dad, that’s all. If I’m hungry later I can get something from room service." She had been way too preoccupied with her thoughts and plans to stop and eat. Since the week before, when he had agreed to the trip, she had been consumed by it. She loved the sense of adventure and freedom. She didn’t really have a plan, she just knew she wanted to see it all, to take everything in. The last time she had been here was two years before, but during that trip she had scarcely seen more than the inside of their hotel room as her father had forbidden her to leave the hotel unchaperoned. This time would be different, she could feel it.
Stephen Edwards left the hotel the next morning at precisely seven o’clock, after admonishing his daughter to "exercise extreme care". He had provided her with a list of phone numbers to contact him with, change for the pay phone, and plenty of cash that would get her out of any jam she could possibly find herself in. Some people thought he was overly protective of Jennifer, but no one could truly understand the place she held in his heart. She was more than his daughter--she was all he had left, his whole life.
"I’ll be fine, Dad, don’t worry," she laughed as she noted the lines that always formed in his forehead when he was worried about something. "I promise to be careful and I’ll call you if I need anything."
With that he seemed to be convinced, at least for the moment, and hesitantly set out for his day.
Within minutes of his departure Jennifer had showered, dressed, and run out the door. The morning sun shone brightly and warmed her, inside and out. With no particular destination in mind, she turned toward the sun and began walking.
She spent the majority of the morning doing just that—walking. She did a little window shopping, purchasing nothing, and stopped for a drink at a café nestled amongst the quaint shops. Around noon, with her feet aching, she had purchased a bag of popcorn from a sidewalk vendor and sat contentedly on a park bench feeding the pigeons.
She didn’t have to meet her father until six o’clock that evening so there was still plenty of time to do whatever she wanted. The problem was that she didn’t exactly know what it was that she wanted to do or see. Not wanting to waste another precious minute, she decided that she needed to develop a plan. Since she was supposed to meet her father after his meeting, she thought it might be wise to head in that direction. Hailing a cab, she gave asked the driver to take her to that general area, figuring that there would surely be something to do there.
The cab driver dropped her several blocks from the museum, at her request. She didn’t actually want to see her father, fearing that he would have dragged her along to lunch with his colleagues or roped her into giving him her opinion on whatever pieces of artwork he was there to examine. Walking down the street, she realized that she wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do. She had longed for this independence, and was enjoying it, but with so many options available to her, she didn’t know what to do. It was all somewhat overwhelming.
She walked a little further before a voice caught her attention.
"LA Times, get it here! Get your newspaper here!" A young man yelled at passersby as he waved a newspaper in the air.
Not a bad idea, she thought. A newspaper would be filled with ideas of things to do and places to go. Perhaps she would even take in a movie.
She approached the young man and handed him some change, taking the paper from him without even looking up. "Thank you," she muttered as she began to open it and walk away.
"No, thank you," he replied as she looked up from her paper. "That was my last paper so now I’m done for the day."
"Do you live around here?" she asked inquisitively, despite her father’s admonitions not to talk to strangers.
"Well…sort of. Why?"
She looked him over, unsure if she should continue the conversation. He looked to be slightly older than her, maybe seventeen or eighteen, and he was dressed neatly, though not expensively. He seemed harmless enough. "I’m not from around here," she explained, "And I was wondering if you could tell me what was around here to do. That’s why I was buying the newspaper, to get some ideas."
"Oh sure," he answered, "There’s plenty to do. There’s the movie theater, museums, a shopping mall, the park…" He paused as he looked her up and down. No, he thought, she definitely wasn’t from around here, he would have noticed her before. He thought she was very pretty, much prettier than the girls he had known from school. He felt his cheeks reddening and hoped she wasn’t observant enough to notice. "By the way, I’m Jonathan. What is your name?"
"Jennifer."
"Where are you from?"
She hesitated before answering, wondering if she should give out so much information. Deciding that it was safe since they were in broad daylight with so many people around, she answered. "I live in Maryland. I came here with my father on a business trip. He deals in art."
"Wow," he said, sounding somewhat impressed. "I’ve never been to Maryland. Or anywhere on the East coast. I’ve only been to Nevada once, with my friend, Max."
"So, where would you suggest I spend my day?" she asked, anxious to get on her way.
He found himself wanting to get to know this girl but sensed she was way out of his league. He could tell by her clothing that she wasn't hurting for money and the way she spoke was so different from the people he usually hung around. She seemed very upper-class to him, but unaffected by it. There was something about this girl that he couldn’t explain but he knew he had to take a chance.
"Well, I was planning to go to the park and watch the planes. You can see them taking off and landing from the top of a hill there." He paused, trying to gauge her reaction. "I don’t supposed you’d like to go with me? I’ll even buy you lunch…..how do you feel about hotdogs?" He grinned at her, flashing a smile that inspired trust and contained more than a hint of flirtation.
"I don’t know…my father…I’m not really supposed to…," she stammered, intrigued by the idea but more than a little afraid of how her father would react if he were to find out.
"C’mon, it’ll be fun," Jonathan encouraged her. "What time do you have to be back?"
"I’m supposed to meet my father at six o’clock," she told him, hoping that she wasn’t telling this boy, a perfect stranger, too much about her plans. "I’m meeting him at the art gallery down the street," she continued, pointing off in the distance.
"Plenty of time. We can be back with lots of time to spare. Unless you don’t trust me?" His eyes twinkled at her. He wasn’t sure why he wanted her to accompany him so badly. She was certainly pretty, but it was more than that.
"It’s not that," she replied confidently, not wanting to explain any further. She had to admit to herself that it did sound like fun and he certainly seemed harmless enough. And something about that smile had caused her legs to feel rubbery, if just for a moment. Was she really considering going with this boy? Had she lost her mind? She had known him for less than 5 minutes.
"Well, then what is it?" he asked.
She couldn’t think of an excuse. And why should she? This was what she had wanted, wasn’t it? A chance to trust her own instincts. An adventure. She sensed that this young man could provide the latter.
"It sounds like fun," she said, feeling somewhat like she had just jumped into the deep end of a pool without even taking a breath first.
"Really?" He sounded surprised, but excited. "Let’s go then!"
A half-hour later Jennifer found herself sitting atop a grassy hill in a park tucked away within the city. From this vantage point, they could see the airplanes as they made their approach to the airport and they could watch as they took off into the distance. She couldn’t help but notice the far away look on Jonathan’s face as he watched the planes intently.
"Do you come here a lot?" she wondered aloud.
"You can’t beat the food," he laughed, taking a bite of his hotdog. They had stopped at a vendor near the entrance to the park and bought two hotdogs, "with the works" as Jonathan said, and two cokes. "I bet this isn’t what you’re used to, is it?" he continued, wishing he could have afforded to take her somewhere nice.
"It’s great," she said honestly. Despite her initial apprehension she was very much enjoying herself. As they had walked to the park they made small talk, somewhat awkwardly, but as each minute passed it was becoming easier to talk with him. He wasn’t at all like the boys she had dated in Maryland, and she was quite sure her father would never have approved of her spending the afternoon with him. "So, answer my question. Do you come her a lot?"
"Yeah, I do. I found this place a few months ago, after I came here from San Francisco. I have always wanted to fly, so far this is the closest I have gotten. Sometimes I imagine that I am up there in those airplanes. I’m thinking about joining the Navy though, I could learn how to fly there. Or I might just go to college next year. I’m not really sure yet."
"You just graduated from high school this year?"
"Yep."
"Did your family move here from San Francisco?"
"Not exactly," he answered. "I moved here with my friend, Max."
"And your parents let you?" In an instant Jennifer knew that she had said something wrong. The sparkle in his eyes was gone as he looked down at the ground and began nervously picking at some blades of grass. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry…"
"That’s okay, you’re not." He tossed the dandelion in his hand aside. "I don’t have parents. I mean I had parents but I don’t anymore. The died when I was young, I grew up in an orphanage. The Mission Street Orphanage in San Francisco."
"I’m sorry."
"Oh, don’t be. It wasn’t such a bad place."
"Is that where you met your friend? Max, right?"
He laughed. "No, I met Max one day when I sold him a newspaper. Kind of like I met you." His smile returned as soon as he began talking about Max. "I was selling papers on a corner near the orphanage and he stopped one day and we started talking. He came back every day after that. Before I knew it, we were friends."
"That’s nice."
"Max isn’t our age. He’s a lot older. Sort of like a father figure. After I graduated from Mission Street, he asked he to move to LA with him. He’s always looking out for me, I’ve never had that before. He’s the closest thing to family I’ve ever had. Maybe you can meet him while you’re here, I bet you’d really like him."
"Sounds like you’re pretty lucky you found him," Jennifer responded.
"Max says he’s the lucky one," Jonathan said, proudly. "He is always telling me that someday I’m gonna be somebody important and that he just wants to be able to say that he knew me way back when. I’m not so sure he’s right but he seems pretty convinced."
"I wouldn’t be at all surprised," she added, somehow sensing that same quality in him that his friend Max did.
"So, what about you? I’ve been doing all of the talking. I’m surprised your parents would let you be here on your own."
"It’s just my father," she said sadly, as Jonathan felt the same awkwardness that she had previously. "My mother died about 4 years ago…a car accident. Now it’s just my father and I, we’re very close." She brushed a stray hair from her eyes as she looked up at him.
"I’m sorry," he said softly, able to feel her pain.
"It’s easier now," she explained. "At first it was really horrible. But you know how that is."
"Actually, I don’t. My parents died when I was very young. I don’t even remember them. In fact, I don’t know much about them at all. My first memories were of the sisters at the orphanage. I’ve never know anything else."
"So you went to school right at the orphanage?"
"Yeah. Went to school there during the day and lived there at night. It’s not as bad as it sounds though. The sisters were always kind to me. But I like it better now with Max." Wanting to change the topic, he decided to find out more about her. "How old are you? Are you still in school?"
"I’m sixteen. Almost seventeen actually. I’m going to be a senior this year."
"Do you have a boyfriend?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. "That’s none of my business, sorry."
"I don’t mind answering. No, I don’t have a boyfriend. My father just started letting me date when I turned sixteen but I don’t go out that much. See, I go to an all-girls school, Gresham Hall Prep School, so I don’t meet that many boys." She laughed. "I think my father likes it that way. He’s a little protective of me. There is a neighboring boys school and we have dances and activities together once in a while but most of the boys there are so…"
"Immature?"
"Yeah, a little."
"You do seem older than you are," he added, thinking that she was so much more worldly than him. She had undoubtedly seen things and been places that he would only dream of. Well, unless Max was right about his future.
Before they knew it, it was nearly five-thirty. Looking at her watch, Jennifer was shocked to see how quickly the time had passed. "I’ve gotta meet my father in a few minutes, I should be going."
"Wow, it’s that late already?" They had spent nearly four hours just sitting there talking about their lives. They found it so easy to open up to each other. They were so different, yet so much alike. He had told her things that he had only shared with Max. And she told him about her relationship with her father and shared memories of her mother with him. Though neither of them said it, they felt a connection that neither had ever felt with any other.
As they ran the distance back to the art gallery, neither of them spoke a word. Arriving with a few minutes to spare, they sat down on the steps of the gallery to catch their breath.
"So, when do you leave," Jonathan asked, hoping to be able to see her again.
"Not for a couple of days."
"I don’t suppose you’re father would let you meet me tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.
She knew she shouldn’t but she desperately wanted to. "I guess he wouldn’t have to know," she said reluctantly. She had never kept the truth from her father before and hated to start now.
"I could show you some of the sites here that aren’t on the tourist maps," he joked. "I should be done selling my papers around the same time tomorrow and then I have to run an errand for Max but after that I don’t have anything to do. You could even come with me if you wanted. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes."
"Okay. Where will we go?"
"How about if I surprise you? Just meet me at the same place, around the same time."
She found herself wondering if she was crazy. "I’ll be there."
