It was for that reason that I saw two of her girl friends on the side. Linda and Toni lived in the Polo Grounds, a housing project that was built where Giant Stadium once stood, longtime home field to my father’s beloved baseball team. I saw Toni whenever she would see me. Since our first night together, I was held captive by her glow. She was the sun, and I but a distant revolving planet.
Toni possessed the face of Nefriteri and the body of Lola Falana. She had a slow and easy strut, her pleated-skirt dancing playfully about her thighs. The smooth wavelike motion of her hips and the bounce of her backside set fire to my loins. With a body that could stop traffic, I was sure that she was the cause of more than a few fender benders.
Toni was an enigma. While hard as the projects she lived in, she was perfume and lace, carrying herself with a sense of style. But, she was also a freak. On our first date, she chose a porno movie. She had a thing for making love in public places like dark movie theaters, empty subway cars or quiet strip clubs. I was more than a little nervous the whole time. But, Toni was oddly calm the entire time, her every move slow and cat-like.
Appearances notwithstanding, Toni had a soft and sensitive side that few men got to see. Our time together also included walks in the park, where she had me push her on the swings. She shared with me her inner conflicts; let me see inside her heart, feel her pain. I can still see her sailing high, toes reaching toward the sky, eyelids sliding close and her mind caressing a warm daydream.
Along a walking path, she might suddenly break into a romp, leaping into the air, free of all earthly restraints. There’s something alluring about a woman in uninhibited motion. During our strolls in the park, she made me feel like I was the only man that mattered. It was in the way she lowered her guard, letting slip her soft side. I treated Ms. Clark like a queen that she might surrender the keys to her kingdom.
