The Mystery of Chad Harris: Fate Delivers Us, Chapter Twelve
 
 

Chad and TC had a terrific lunch. Chad didn’t think he could eat anymore, but, somehow he wound up packing it in.

" Man. That was delicious."

" Yes. Mama hasn’t lost her touch."

" Eating must be like an Olympic Sport down here, if that was a ‘regular’ meal."

TC laughed. " It is. New Orleneans take their food very seriously. There is no such thing as a throwaway meal."

" I believe it."

" Chad, you wanna go back to the house with me?"

" Actually, Coach, I wanted to explore the city for myself, if you don’t mind?"

" No. I don’t. I know that Mama hasn’t planned dinner today, because Simone and Whitney will be going to a family friend’s house. And, Mama and Miz Piccola have to stay here for inventory. Eve is probably going to be shopping. I told her that I wouldn’t be home. So, we’re all on our own tonight. Ok?"

" Thanks, Coach."

" You need any money?"

" Naw, Coach. I’m straight. This is a terrific city. I just want to explore it on my own."

" Ok. See ya later."

Chad went his way, and began to explore New Orleans on foot. He saw so many things. First wandering the French Quarter. Looking at the architecture, and the many buildings. Soaking in the atmosphere.

He was even fortunate to see an old-fashioned New Orleans funeral, complete with band. He had seen ‘Live and Let Die’, but, he thought it was something that they had made up for the movie. To see people actually dancing in the streets at a funeral wasn’t something you saw everyday.

Chad found his way down to the riverfront, and aboard a casino or two. Chad had never had enough money to remotely understand those that would give it away to machines, but, while is was there, he played five dollars’ worth of nickel slots. He had stopped off in Vegas on his way to Harmony, and thought the atmosphere with gamblers was always too funny.

After he didn’t win any money at the Casino, he continued on with his walk. He heard the man calling for a ‘Cemetary Tour’, but, didn’t believe it.

" You goin’ on a tour of the Cemetary?"

" Yes, Sir. One of the best in New Orleans. Nobody can tell you more than I can."

" How much?"

"  Ten dollars."

Chad pays his money, and gets into the open air van.

Sure enough, they spent the next couple of hours, touring the cemetarys of New Orleans. It was a creepy, yet interesting tour.

Once the tour was over, it was just after dusk, and Chad knew that he didn’t want to go back to Madelaine’s house. He knew what he wanted to do. He went up to some men in thepark, and asked them where he could find some REAL blues. Not for tourists, but, where the men themselves would go. They pointed Chad towards the streetcar, and wrote down an address for him.

The streetcar took him away from touristy New Orleans, and down into the Black section of town. The streetcar driver alerted Chad to his stop, and he got off, walking down the half-lit street, but, following the music t hat would come blaring, every once in awhile, Chad mused, when the club’s door was opened.

Chad stopped when he got to the front of a small storefront. It wasn’t anything big, nothing like the big man standing in front of it.

" You ain’t from around here."

" Nope. Got a hint that there was real music here."

He looked Chad up and down, and let him in.

Chad was nearly choked by the cigarette smell. It was thick, the smoke. And, Chad knew from the smell, that it wasn’t just cigarettes being smoked.

Chad made his way down the stairs, to see a pretty full club. It was nearly wall to wall. He squeezed himself into a table that was off to the side of the stage. His view of the stage wasn’t great, but, he had a perfect view of the rest of the club, and was hidden behind a post. Chad was never one who had to ‘see’ the artist. He always thought whatever he heard with his ears, would be enough, and should be enough, if the artist was any good.

Chad was soaking it all in, when the waitress came over.

" What you want, Baby?"

" Um..rum and coke."

Chad was about to bring out his ID, when she stopped him.

" We ain’t like that here. $3.00."

She brings his drink back and Chad pays her. As he sips on his drink, Chad takes in the atmosphere: sort of dark, with a lot of velvet on the seats. He sees a couple of booths, where people look like they’re getting a little freak on. Almost an all-Black crowd, but, a few Whites that Chad could tell were total ‘fans’. He had run into them in L.A., those Whites that wanted the ‘authentic’ Black music, so, they’d go and hang out in the ‘not-so-nice’ parts of town. For the most part, they were always left alone. Nothing worse for Black folk than a White person being hurt or killed on ‘their’ side of town..everyone knew that the police would come out even harder on the neighborhood, and they didn’t need the hassle.

Chad listened to the band up on stage. They were good. The sounds where clear..the music mellow. The beat defined, and seducing you into just sitting and relaxing. So, Chad did some more people watching, looking to see if he could guess why the folks where there. He loved to do this in public places. Studying people was always fun. As he looked around the room, Chad came upon a sight that nearly made him choke on his drink. He had to catch his breath, and a guy came up behind him and patted him on the back. Chad nodded that he was ok and thanked him, and leaned against the beam, still not believing what he was seeing.

For, in the back of the club, looking breathtaking, in a dazzling red dress, was Eve Russell.
 
 

Eve smiled at the waitress and paid her for the white wine. She took a sip of it, and just closed her eyes and listened to the music.

Eve loved New Orleans. There was something about the city that talked to her soul. It was obvious, and yet hidden. So many places for secrets, and it seemed to be screaming at your when you walked by. She loved the ‘in your face’ of Bourbon Street at night. Some found it offensive, but, she thought it was liberating.

The reason she came to a place like this for music, was because she knew that she wouldn’t know anyone here. That she could enjoy the music on its own merits and not worry about explaining herself to anyone that she knew.

Places like this, stripped of pretension, were always the best in terms of finding pure music. People who sang or played because, it was simply a part of them, and to express themselves, to be able to live, they had do it. Eve remembered what that felt like, even if she had turned away from that person years ago.

But, something about being in New Orleans made Eve believe that it was ok, if she visited that part of her soul that had been long buried.

The simplicity of the club was what she liked most. The people and the music. Nothing else mattered. Or, should it.

The band was good. Eve could hear the different strains in the instruments, and how they were each feeling the selection.

" You want some company?", a tall gentleman asks Eve, and she nods no. This was another reason she liked this place; she could say no, and so far, people have left her alone.

The band finished their set, and the the owner of the club came up on the stage.

" Well, no need for pretense….he’s Miss Elana Carter. Best set of pipes in the South."

A woman dressed in a long black dress, clinging to every curve in her mahogany colored body, steps onto the stage. The only splash of color in her entire outfit is the color in the headband that holds back her back-length microbraids.

" Good evening. Hope you enjoy the show. This is a song that, though, was written over fifty years ago, has to resonate with the lover inside of you. Everyone has someone that this matches."

Eve knew what the song was when it began. It took her back, to another time and place.
 

Everytime we say goodbye, I die a little,
Everytime we say goodbye, I wonder why a little,
Why the Gods above me, who must be in the know.
Think so little of me, they allow you to go.
 

Eve wanted to fight it, but, couldn’t. For the face that appeared, that wouldn’t go away as the song progressed, was Julian’s.

When you're near, there's such an air of spring about it,
I can hear a lark somewhere, begin to sing about it,
There's no love song finer, but how strange the change from major to minor,
Everytime we say goodbye.
 

This song ached her soul to another era. An era where she thought more with her heart, than she did with her head. Where her emotions were in complete control, and she made nothing but foolish mistakes, one after the other.
 

When you're near, there's such an air of spring about it,
I can hear a lark somewhere, begin to sing about it,
There's no love song finer, but how strange the change from major to
minor,
Everytime we say goodbye.
 

- Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
   by Cole Porter
 

Eve wanted to forget about that woman. Forget about her pain, her heartache, her fears. She had survived that person, to forge a good life. A better life. A life full of love for herself, with the best man that she had ever known.

Yes, despite all that, she still felt the tears falling down her face. She tried to stop them, but, she couldn’t. The words moved her. They told a story that belonged to her.

She could never have done this in other clubs. Eve needed to be here. Her voice was full of it. The certain something that makes you sit up and listen. It’s all in the pain. The pain of life. The kind of pain that brings a song to life. Eve closed her eyes and let the pain reach her.
 

Chad looked at Eve. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Though there had been the rare times when Eve had let down her guard – the time he caught her crying outside the Bennett house, and in the Book Café after she listened to a song, he had never seen her like this.

He thought that she would look so out of place. That she didn’t remotely belong, but, the longer he looked at her, the more he came to realize that she DID belong there, and he didn’t understand why. His eyes just studied Eve’s face, as the singer continued on with her set.
 
 
 
 

I know too well that I'm just wasting precious time
In thinking such a thing could be
That you could ever care for me
 

Chad didn’t know what to think.
 

I'm sure you hate to hear
That I adore you, dear
But grant me
Just the same
I'm not entirely to blame
For love
You'd be so easy to love
 

Here was this woman, who in so many ways, was his enemy. But, even that wasn’t a right word to describe him and Eve. He hated when she looked down on him, but, then, there was the obvious love that she expressed for her husband and children. The kind of love she gave them was nothing to be disrespected.
 
 

So easy to idolize
All others above
So worth the yearning for
So swell to keep every homefire burning for
 
 

In fact, if truth were to be told, Chad fantasized sometimes, what it would be like to have a mother like Eve. To have someone on his side so totally, so completely. What is it like, to have been given that kind of love, day after day. The thought overwhelmed Chad everytime it entered his mind.
 

We'd be so grand at the game
So carefree together
That it does seem a shame
That you can't see
Your future with me
'Cause you'd be oh, so easy to love

-  Easy To Love
    by  Cole Porter
 

The thoughts in his mind were becoming blurred. He had visions of his nightmare of a childhood roaming in his head, and then, he would displace them, with family scenes that he had encountered since coming to Harmony, with it all coming back to Eve. He closed his eyes while he downed the last of his drink, and then opened them to focus them back on Eve….

But, she wasn’t there. Chad looked and saw  that her shawl was gone too, and then, in time for him to hide himself, he saw Eve come that way, to exit the club. Chad couldn’t let it go. He had to follow her.

He hurried up the stairs, to see Eve get into a ‘jitney’, and drive away. He ran to another one, and told the man to follow Eve’s car.
 

Once they got to the edge of downtown New Orleans, Eve ordered her car to pull over and she got out.

Chad did the same.

He kept a safe distance from Eve, but, watched her. He could see the hurry in her steps. Like she was running away from something, then for no reason, Eve broke out into a run, and Chad had to push to keep up with her.

She ducked into a doorway, and Chad waited to hear the clang of her moving up the stairs. But, he heard nothing. In the darkness, he went across the street, to where he could see Eve on an angle.

Eve was lit slightly by the lampost. He could see that she had slid down, and was crouched in the doorway. There was a burst of lightening, because it was threatening rain. It was then that he could see Eve’s face was streaming with tears.

Chad didn’t know what to do. Should he go over to see if she were alright? To see if he could help. But, he didn’t move. He just watched.

" God, how did I get here?", Eve thought. She was at some apartment building. She wanted to move, but, couldn’t. Her heart couldn’t take anymore. The last song the singer had done had sent her fleeing from the club. She wanted to block it out, but, it was pounding louder and louder in her head.
 

When the only sound in the empty street,
Is the heavy tread of the heavy feet
That belong to a lonesome cop
I open shop.
 

Eve slowly stood up, but, stayed in the doorway. She wrapped her arms around herself, and tried to squeeze a hug from herself, assuring herself that she was alive, and that she was ok.  This doorway was like so many others in New Orleans. A place to hide in plain sight. The song getting louder and louder in her head.
 

When the moon so long has been gazing down
On the wayward ways of this wayward town.
That her smile becomes a smirk,
I go to work.
 

She closed her eyes, trying to listen to her own heartbeat. Hearing it slowing down. Hearing it come back to normal. Another assurance that she was alive in the here and now, and that the past was gone. But, the song was still there, only quieter.
 

Love for sale,
Appetising young love for sale.
Love that's fresh and still unspoiled,
Love that's only slightly soiled,
Love for sale.
 

Eve slowly breathed in the thick, humid air. She could smell that a storm was coming. She knew she better be getting home. The song was now a soft hum.
 

Who will buy?
Who would like to sample my supply?
Who's prepared to pay the price,
For a trip to paradise?
 

Chad watched as Eve emerged from the doorway, and began to walk in the direction of Madelaine’s house. He stayed behind her at a safe distance. There was a calmness to her walk. It was deliberate. With purpose.
 

Love for sale
Let the poets pipe of love
in their childish way,
I know every type of love
Better far than they.
 

Eve was thinking about what kind of excuse she would come up as to her whereabouts. But, she didn’t feel like explaining much, so she would tell them that she had gotten ‘weak’, and gone to the casino. With her clothes smelling of cigarettes, it was quite plausible.
 
 

If you want the thrill of love,
I've been through the mill of love;
Old love, new love
Every love but true love
Love for sale.
 

But, Eve didn’t want to get into any long discussion, so, she would need to find a distraction. A perfect one came into her mind, and she turned a corner quickly. She knew what she could use.

Chad saw Eve turn the corner, and continued after her. When he turned himself, he thought that he had lost her, until he saw, out of the corner of his eye, in the shop. She was placing an order. When the saleslady began to fill it, he watched as Eve opened her purse, and applied the proper makeup, and fixed her hair, back into it’s ‘proper’ chignon. By the time Eve was finished, there was no indication of the woman that had been crouched in the doorway.
 

Appetizing young love for sale.
If you want to buy my wares.
Follow me and climb the stairs
Love for sale.
Love for sale.

-  Love For Sale
    by Cole Porter
 

Eve paid the woman, clutched her distraction, and then, went out of the shop, and over a block to where she knew she could get a cab.

Chad didn’t bother with getting a cab, because he knew where she was going. He just walked the rest of the way home. When he got to the door, he rang the doorbell, and Simone answered the door.

" Hey , Chad. Did you have a good time?"

" Yeah. I had a great time."

" Good. You’re just in time. Mom brought us back some terrific pastries."

" She did, huh?"

" Yes."

Chad walked into the family room, to see them all sitting there.

" Chad, hey, you’re just in time. Eve brought back some great pastries.", TC said, as he held out the tray for Chad.

Chad took a bite. " This is terrific, Dr. Russell. "

" Thank you, Chad. "

" So, what did everyone do today? I had a great tour of the city. This is a terrific city. What did YOU do, Dr. Russell?", Chad said, munching on the pastry.

" I went to the Casino."

" Really? I was there. I didn’t see you."

" When?"

" This evening."

" Well, we probably just missed one another. Plus, it’s a large place. Us not seeing one another isn’t so strange."

" I guess not."

Chad watched as Eve inquired of Whitney and Simone about their day. If he hadn’t of seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that anything had bothered Eve at all that evening.