Standing
in the middle of that workshop with sparks of machinery and inventive
electricity filling the air around me, I knew I have should have turned around
and left. Yet, a small part of me suddenly grew larger in size and scope of
self assuredness in what I wanted and needed in that moment in time.
Crackle
of torch melting and molding steel consumed the space between where I stood and
the person sculpting an object of art. Flame turned off slowly, as the metal
mask was lifted to reveal the man who was in the process of changing my life
forever. He turned around and saw me in his realm.
His
name was Davenport Ashley.
I
am Joanie Maxwell and leaving him was not in the cards now. My back stiffened,
as did my resolve to remain on course of experimenting in his arena of
experience.
“Joanie?”
Walking towards me, he added, “I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again”.
I
concurred, “Same here”.
“Unfinished
business?” Taking a dark blue cloth from his jean pocket and rubbing hands
clean, he quizzed me.
I
wasn’t going to chicken out now and say something wise-ass or snarky to him, as
an honest assessment came from my lips, “Or….unfinished pleasure”.
The
ball was now in his court, as was I in his arena.
Davenport
had a way of cutting through bullshit and analyzing me in a way I was never
quite comfortable with. As his mouth formed a grin, I knew he wasn’t going to
disappoint me with his next string of words. And, I couldn’t wait to hear them.
“Continuations
have a way of heightening the thrill of the senses”, Davenport spoke of the
past and present moment, as a possible future for both of us came from his oh
so desirable lips. “Are you ready to really live, Joanie?
Bursting
inside of me were those fireworks I never thought I would feel, as a single
word exited my lips in pure relief, “Yes”.
My
body exhibited a lifted weight off my shoulders, as I stood with casual grace
before him. That momentary tenseness of my frame vanished in a three letter
utterance.
He
raised his voice slightly, when walking towards me, “Say that word again,
Joanie”.
“Yes”,
I smiled.
Once
more with vocal ascension in that massive warehouse space when approaching
closer, he peppered me with that question and urgency to hear my response,
“Joanie, say it again!”
Feeling
like a student standing in front of her dominating teacher, I began to giggle
like some sort of teenager again and answered him with an infectious laughing
grin, “Yes!”
Davenport
tossed the blue cloth he held in his hands onto a wooden counter filled with
screws, bolts and other bits of metal. He motioned with poised purpose towards
me and I couldn’t wait to feel his hands upon me once more.
First
contact of those warm hands onto my partially bare shoulders made me want to
melt. Yet, it was those words he spoke that I was previously unable or
unwilling to absorb in my psyche which left me thirsting with delight inside,
“And, so my world opens to you, my beautiful one”.
This
was real. He was real. And, it all was happening to me in the flesh.
***********
Joanie Maxwell
was the kind of woman comfortable in the background, never seeking that glaring
light of attention. What she found in a single action on a rainy night in San
Diego changed the trajectory of her life forevermore.
Certain women
are crystallized beneath spotlight, while others are the ones seemingly content
in the chorus. Yet, things that may seem one way actually are not originally
seen
Take a spin on
the axis of chance and unexpected possibilities in “Countermeasures: Buttons”.
Amazon US -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HVQSNSV
