Chapter 110: Tomorrow

Wednesday, June 16, 1982

We woke each other up around 8am trying to sneak off to the bathroom. I let Jasmine go first. That got me an appreciative kiss. I probably would’ve gotten one anyway, but no sense risking it.

We shared a shower and managed to not start anything beyond some flirting. Once we got out of the shower and were dressing, Jasmine said, “So, what are we doing today?”

“The show’s at 8pm tonight. Figure dinner at six? Before that, I was thinking maybe the zoo? It’s close, it’s supposed to be good...”

“I like that! That’d be fun. There’s so much more we could see than we have time for. The zoo sounds good.”

“I’ve got an idea for tomorrow, too. It’s a surprise. Not a big surprise, but still a surprise.”

“I like surprises.”

“Breakfast at the hotel restaurant.”

“Read my mind. I’m hungry. You’d think I wouldn’t be after that dinner, but...”

“But you are, and I am, too. There’s supposed to be a nice breakfast buffet.”

“Lead the way, boyfriend.”

The breakfast buffet was, indeed, pretty good. Nothing fancy, just well-prepared basics. We might have over-eaten just a bit. Maybe. The zoo would be a lot of walking, so we should be fine.

After breakfast we headed to the zoo, about a ten minute drive. The parking lot was almost empty. I figured a Wednesday morning in June wasn’t their busiest time.

We spent the day strolling the zoo, watching the animals, and talking. Nothing big, not today. We enjoyed the air conditioning during our light lunch and tried to keep to the shade in the afternoon.

We got lots of smiles from the other guests. In my experience, most people seem to enjoy seeing teenagers in love, at least when they’re just holding hands and maybe smooching a bit, not making out.

All in all, a really nice day. Nothing life-changing, nothing amazing, but the sort of day that I’d love to have over and over.

We left the zoo about 5pm, because Jasmine decided — and I agreed — that we needed a shower before dinner and the show. The amazing thing was that we — again — shared a shower without falling into bed, though it was a near thing.

Cleaned up and dressed, we headed out around 6pm for Fair Park. The Music Hall at Fair Park has its own restaurant, and I’d gotten reservations there when I bought the tickets. Like last night, it’d be pricey, but well worth it, considering our evening plans.

We were seated and looking at menus before long. The restaurant had great views — not like Reunion Tower’s, but the gardens around the Music Hall were lovely, too.

“I loved today,” Jasmine said. “It’s cool that we’re seeing the show, and I’m really excited, but the rest would’ve been special enough.”

“I agree. It’s a great show, though.”

She giggled. “Like I said — really excited.”

“We’ll do more trips like this. Obviously not during the school year, but maybe we can manage something in August, and other times as the opportunity arises.”

She sighed and took my hand, gently squeezing it. “So ... what’s going to go wrong? If it does, I mean? We seem ... perfect. Or close enough, anyway.”

“Hmm. That’s a really interesting question. Lack of communication, maybe? We do well with that, but it’s always a risk. Not just failing to talk, but misunderstanding each other, making bad assumptions, anything like that. Complacency. One of us putting something or someone else before us. Obviously, that’s a road I could’ve gone down with Jessica but refused to. It’d be crazy, but people do things like that all the time. Then there are the no-fault possibilities. A move, an illness, an accident ... anything like that. Unexpected and unavoidable.”

“Good list. I’d add jealousy, which I could’ve gone down with Jessica. If I was going to have some crazy jealous moment, I think knowing that the hottest girl in school is falling for my boyfriend would’ve done it. No crazy jealous moment. But it’s not impossible that it’d happen.”

“Of course it could. Trust, communication, all of that.” I squeezed her hand. “The flip side of all the warm, happy, special feelings is knowing that we could each hurt each other deeply with the wrong words, the wrong actions. But that’s always part of love. There’s no way around that. You can’t love someone and not risk being hurt.”

“Yeah. And I’m willing to risk it. I’m happy to risk it. But it’s a risk, and that’s scary.”

“It is.”

She shifted. “I was thinking, at the zoo, I ... could see us taking our kids places like that. Our kids. Not like we haven’t talked about it, but ... still.”

“I was thinking that, too.”

She blushed a bit. “Really? I mean, I know you want kids. But...”

“In good time. Not now. Not anytime soon. But, with you? Unless we break up, that is where things lead. If I can’t imagine our kids being a possibility, we have a problem.”

“You’re the most ... different ... guy I know. That’s a huge compliment, I mean. You have ... not an old soul, but a... mature soul. You’re so calm and grounded, and you see things ten years out, when half the kids I know can barely see things to the end of high school.”

I blushed this time. “Just who I am. I didn’t set out to be that way, and I doubt someone could.” Literally true, and completely misleading. But explaining the truth was impossible.

“I like it. The original idea was maybe that I’d be flighty and you’d be sedate, and that’s both true and totally wrong.”

“I see that, yeah. The true and wrong part. You’re not that flighty, and I’ve hardly been sedate, considering.”

“I am really, really going to hate being apart for over a month,” she sighed.

I shook my head. “Don’t. It’s fine to miss me. I’ll miss you a lot. But look forward with happiness, don’t look at it like it sucks. It shouldn’t suck. You’re doing the summer program you wanted, and it’ll likely be with some amazing kids. Embrace it. Remember that I’m cheering you on and that we’ll have a great reunion.”

“I like that. Still, that reunion...”

“Maybe we can go somewhere. Your parents might want you home a bit, though.”

“Eh. They’ll understand,” she grinned. “I like the idea, though.”

We finished dinner and then strolled over to the theater. The best seats available had been in the front of the balcony, so we climbed the stairs and headed in to find our seats.

“Nice view up here,” Jasmine said.

“Yeah. I’ve never been in here before, of course, but the box office said these were the best available.”

She busied herself reading the program, and I did as well. When the house lights dimmed she set it aside, our hands entwined, and we settled in to watch.

The show itself was great. I couldn’t see any real differences from the Chicago performance. Jasmine obviously loved it. We took a short walk at intermission to stretch our legs, chatting about the show.

The show ended with a standing ovation. In theory, those should be reserved for the best performances, but in practice I’ve found that, more often than not, crowds start to stand when the lights come up. I’m fine with that — standing to applaud is a pretty easy way of showing appreciation. I’m not sure that it’s meaningful to a cast who’ve seen many standing ovations, but it’s about the best you can do.

We strolled back to the car and headed to the hotel. This time we got the sheets messy again, though less so than the first wild bout, and then shifted to the less messy side to snuggle and sleep.

“I love you,” Jasmine said, nuzzling me a little.

“And I love you.”

“This is wonderful. Thank you for planning it.”

“It’s my pleasure. As soon as it became something I could do, there’s no way I wasn’t going to plan a trip with you.”

She shifted in just a little closer. “Goodnight. Sweet dreams.”

“Sleep well, honey.”

Thursday, June 17, 1982

We repeated our breakfast from yesterday, then headed back up to pack. We both called home to let our parents know we were fine. By 11am we were in the car heading off. Jasmine looked around. “Okay ... so ... I’m not an expert on Dallas, but we’re not headed home, are we?”

“Nah. In fact, we’re headed the opposite way.”

“And why are we doing this?”

“Sightseeing.”

“Good answer. What are we seeing?”

“It’s a surprise. Not a big surprise, but a surprise.”

She pondered that. “I like surprises. I’ll allow it.”

“Well ... good.”

That got us both laughing.

A bit over an hour later, I parked in downtown Fort Worth. Jasmine looked around. “I’m not sure what I should look for.”

“Then it’ll still be a surprise.”

“Hrmph. Lead on!”

I led her across the street and into the Fort Worth Water Gardens. As soon as she spotted the park and realized what it was, she grinned and clapped her hands. “Oh! This is ... really different! And cool!”

There are several nice pools at the Water Gardens, but the one it’s known for is the Active Pool, where water falls down a series of terraces to a pool at the bottom. You can descend to just above the bottom pool, where you’re nearly forty feet below street level and surrounded by roaring, crashing waterfalls. Among other movie appearances, it turns up in ‘Logan’s Run’, but the odds that Jasmine had seen that were so low that I hadn’t worried she would recognize it.

We walked down to the bottom and just enjoyed the feeling of the place for a bit, holding hands. There were only a few people in the park at midday on a Thursday, and so far down, it felt like we were completely alone, together.

We climbed the stairs, checked out the reflecting pool, and wandered a bit before heading back to the car.

“This was really fun! I didn’t know there was anything like this around here.”

“A friend told me about it and I figured we ought to check it out. It’s pretty cool.” I neglected to mention that my friend had told me about it in 1986. And that the odds I’d ever meet that friend this go-round were extremely low.

“Really cool! I’ll happily go back.”

I looked at my watch. “And now we should hit the road, or our parents will worry.”

“Yeah. We should call from lunch.”

We had a late lunch along the way and called home, giving our parents our ETA — about 6pm, figuring that we’d get caught in at least some traffic. It was a pretty good guess; I made it to Jasmine’s just a few minutes before six. I helped her with her bag.

“Hi, honey. Welcome home!” Francis called from the living room.

“Good trip?” Camille said.

“Hi, Papa. Hi, Mama. Yes! It was a great trip.”

“Good! And thank you, Steve, for taking care of her,” Francis said.

“And making her happy,” Camille added.

“My pleasure. I’m very glad we could go. Hopefully we’ll have another trip this summer.”

“That sounds good,” Camille said. “We shouldn’t hold you up. I’m sure your parents want you home, too.”

“I’m sure they do. See you both soon.”

I hugged and kissed Jasmine. “And you, sooner, most likely.”