I think you do something more important, Jodie. Every time you help those people, you create something more beautiful. You create love in their lives.
It surprised me how I expressed it but she had a way of leading you into sensibility. Either because of my words or my look, her eyes jumped as if they had recognized me from a distant past.
- I’m glad you see it that way. I think we’re going to be good friends. Ok, Victor Bruguera, this night you are going to dine like you have never before – she assured me. And when she pronounced my last name she did it with a very funny accent.
In effect, her choice delighted me very so. Everything was delicious. During the rest of the evening Jodie alternated her duties with visits to my table. She sat three times to keep me company, three. I felt like the luckiest one of the customers. Who wouldn’t want to be in my place?
When two people don’t know each other, but wish to do so, their lives with all their secrets are a mystery that unravels little by little. That revelation is something fantastic; but when you like what you are discovering, then something happens in your heart. When a man and a woman like each other, the world around them stops, and so they begin a magic filled dance. It’s like opening a small music box in which a small couple dances inside.
During the conversation, Jodie interrupted me to tell me: Wait. Don’t tell me; let me see if I guess…. And so she closed her eyes and got it right. She loved to play the guessing game, I admit she wasn’t bad. Although I must admit my past is pretty predictable. Or maybe she had gone through something similar. Us humans, we think of ourselves as special, but deep down inside we are very much alike.
She told me about her family in Boston – wealthy, traditional – where she grew up in a somewhat rigid environment. And pointed: Somewhat is a very generous adjective. Jodie was the youngest of four sisters and also the most nonconformist. Her parents had given up on taming her -Jodie used that exact same word-. So she moved to New York to study psychology to get away from that environment.
- My profession, as a painter, was also not celebrated in my family with a big party accompanied with fireworks, but they ended up accepting it- I said.
She wrote an essay – didn’t precise the title- and in that time she participated in programs to aid people with alcohol and drug problems. The degree of commitment she took was so high that her job continued even after work hours. Sometimes, she even had to bail some drug addict in the middle of the night, or keep their mood high – through the phone – to a desperate person.
- When you help others, their problems and difficulties stop you from drowning in your own ones – everything levels itself. – said Jodie.
After proving that the chemistry between her and the Big Apple wasn’t working, she came to the west coast, where more and more people occupy themselves with their bodies and spirits, and less with things. In Palo Alto she had been to a brief strategic therapy class and with that completed her psychology major. She centered on the curing of attitude and behavior.
- I know, people here use stuff and love people. And not the other way around: love things and use people, as it often happens in many places. Is it not like that? – I pointed.
- So it is. Ok, like I was saying, later an old friend owner of three restaurants – in Santa Monica, Marina del Rey and San Diego – relegated his position. And here I am!
The flexible schedule allowed her to spend time on her concerns. She added.
-Which ones? –I wanted to know, I wished to know everything about her. Everything is everything.
-Living, I’m preoccupied with living. Seems obvious. but it’s not. And above all, I like interaction with people.
Through human contact, I recognize myself in others. Believe me, there is no better mirror than recognizing ones defects and qualities.
- Jodie, let me ask you a personal question: Is there a Mr. Wright? Little ones at home, or any of that?
-No. And a Ms. Bruguera?
-Not any more. She died two years ago.
I apologize. My face revealed a bleak landscape. I knew it since I saw it reflected in her eyes. I broke the silence, joked; forced a smile and got her to laugh. And when she did, her lips stopped resembling a heart and in reward showed her perfect teeth.
I insisted, of course, but she didn’t allow me to pay the dinner tab.
-Jodie, that is not a way to run a business - I disapproved while storing my wallet.
- In this case, what do you think it was: pleasure or business? – She smiled again. And when she did, a six scale earthquake ran through my body.
- That soon, you don’t give me any clues…
I wasn’t going to have them. Jodie, as I was to discover, was not a woman who made things easy.
Of course I didn’t tell her about my long wait weeks before in front of the art gallery. I was ashamed to recognize that my time had no value over the prospect of seeing her again. When we said goodbye at the door, I proposed we saw each other again. All I got was a sports date. At least it’s something.
We agreed to meet the next day. Early in the morning, on Ocean Avenue, to run for miles next to the beach.
-At six thirty? –she proposed.
-At six thirty –I accepted.
Even though she went to bed every night close to sunrise, because of her work, Jodie had the habit of waking up very early to do her double session workout: jogging at the beach and yogapilates at the gym. I had forgotten about the gym a long time ago.
-We should take care, much or more, the soul as we do the body, don’t you think? – Jodie asked
I smiled. We said goodbye at the restaurant door.
-Jodie, Is there really no Mr. Wright? A woman like you… -I asked.
She closed her eyes, pretended to revolve her memory as if you do with stuff in the attic, and smiled:
-If that was the case, I think I would remember it
The next day, just as we had agreed, we met at the avenue that accompanies the beach. When I got there, she was already making stretching exercises on the grass.
-Do you feel asleep? – She said while compensating it with a funny wink.
What in the hell did that question mean? It was exactly six thirty in the morning. I was on time. I wasn’t late, however she had arrived early.
- I actually got up before five to leave some things fixed before going out – I lied
-Oh! ... I see –without sounding amused.
Who was this woman whose thoughts seemed to be a couple of steps ahead of mine?This same question a kept repeating in my head the months that followed.
We began to run shoulder to shoulder, so close that I could almost hear her heartbeat doubling on mine. Jodie was very agile and of sporty constitution. Her body showed strict care. Without a doubt she had good physical form, since she kept the tone of the conversation
