do you mean by the scene?"
"The scene: love, music, Haight-Asbury, changing the world. That’s what’s going on out there. It’s the beginning of a brand new vibe.”
He wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but it sounded pretty good.
“Of course my father wants me to go to some boring college around here. He'll pay whatever it cost. Daddy’s like that."
"San Francisco could be pretty scary for a..."
"Girl?”
"I didn't mean it that way," Frankie said, trying to explain himself.
"I've been all over the world. Africa, Asia, I've even climbed mountains in the Himalayas."
"Something tells me you would do all right in San Francisco."
Eva sat silently next to Frankie, rocking to the music, her eyes closed, seemingly lost in another world. She suddenly opened her eyes.
"It's nice hanging out with you. I'm so tired of these boys around here.”
She studied Frankie, waiting for his response.
Frankie was feeling uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but notice that he was the only black person at the party, and that some of the local boys still had an interest in him.
"Well, thanks," is all Frankie could think to say, as he looked for George in the crowd.
"I mean it," Eva said, touching his arm with her hand.
"Times are changing, and we need to be a part of it. I mean life is about variety. Variety of all sorts of things: books, friends, dreams… lovers. Don’t you agree?”
All of Frankie’s instincts at that moment screamed at him to find George, but he could not tear himself away from this wild, hippy chick. He was enthralled by her but still, he couldn’t help but wonder what his older brother Joey would say if he saw him sitting with a white girl “talking the talk”’
Frankie touched Eva's hand softly.
"It's very nice meeting you, Eva. It really is."
It seemed as if she was about to lean over and give him a kiss when Frankie saw George coming towards them.
"There you are.”
George sat down next to Eva on the bench and handed Frankie a beer.
"And I was worried about you, Frankie?"
"George, this is Eva. She lives here."
George leaned over and kissed Eva on the cheek.
Eva took both of their hands and held them. George and Frankie shot glances at each other, not sure what to think, but both digging the attention.
Eva pulled them closer to her as they sat under the maple tree. From the other side of the backyard three muscular teenagers wearing football jerseys hurried towards the bench. Eva noticed them first.
“Don’t worry about them. Let them think what they want. They need to get with the changes.”
The oldest of the three was Eva's brother, Rob, a nineteen-year-old-jock of the worst sort. He believed that he was special simply because he was born into money. Rob stood directly over Frankie, looking down at him.
"I didn’t invite you to my party, and I don’t want you bothering my sister. So I want you out of here.”
Frankie looked at the guy standing over him and rose slowly.
“That’s fine with me. God knows you can’t have a black person at your party, what would the neighbors think.”
An undercurrent of uncomfortableness ran through the crowd. The voice of James Brown wailed through the speakers singing about love and freedom. Frankie had to laugh to himself that the only blacks at the party was him and James Brown.
Eva jumped up and pushed her brother away from Frankie.
"Are you always going to be a jerk, you jerk! Won't you ever grow up?"
Rob ignored her, still smirking at Frankie. Frankie slowly turned toward George.
"Come on, George, let's hit the road. There’s nothing here for me."
With one big step, George rose and pushed Rob back.
"Do you have any idea how much I would enjoy kicking your ass? Do you have a clue?”
Rob continued to move a few steps back from George.
"I don't have any quarrel with you, George, you know that. I just didn’t invite him. You can stay if you want.”
"You screw with my friend, you screw with me."
Frankie grabbed George's arm and turned him away from the group.
"I'll walk you both out," Eva said, giving her brother a dirty look.
Frankie turned to where Rob was laughing with his friends.
“You better kick James Brown out of your party. You know he’s black too.”
They left the party as a murmur ran through the yard, followed by nervous laughter.
"I’m really sorry about all of that. My brother has always been an idiot,” Eva said, as the three of them stood in front of her house.
“What do you say the three of us get together soon? Please?”
"Why don't you come to our neighborhood tomorrow,” George said, not believing she would.
"I’ll be there. Where should we meet?"
"Meet us outside the movie house on Midvale Avenue around eight o'clock," George said, then reached over and kissed her on the cheek.
"Far out. I'll see you both tomorrow.”
Under the warm glow of the street light, three strangers became three friends.
Eva watched George and Frankie disappear down the tree-lined street, a dog’s bark announcing their exit. She liked George’s edgy energy and that he wore his emotions on his sleeve. Frankie was smart and seemed wiser than other boys she knew. It would be so great if they would come to San Francisco with her, she thought. She headed back into the party looking for her brother with anger in her eyes.
Frankie and George took a short cut along train tracks that fed right into the back of the housing project. Some nights, they could hear the trains rattling past their houses, the train whistle entering their sleep. George could not stop thinking about the incident back at the party. Frankie knew what George was capable of when he got angry, he had the broken leg to prove it.
"Man, Frankie, rich people are the most screwed-up people in the world. I mean they have everything, and they still got to get over on people.”
"Forget
