June 15, 1975
Jimmy told me he needed a ride. But not to Quick Chek this
time.
Carol wanted to meet him at a bar on Paterson Avenue in West
Paterson, and he needed me to drive him there from Passaic.
It was a kind of date, he supposed, although Carol
technically was still John’s girl, even though she was living with somebody
else near Bleeker Street in the Village.
How she got back to the old digs in West Paterson I didn’t
find out until we got to the bar and found Carol waiting with her one-time best
friend, Cosmic Judy – a girl I had last seen in an apartment in Verona where
Jimmy and had gone to cop pot once or twice. At the time, I was startled by the
face that Judy had a swing in her living room, and a switch that allowed her to
turn off the volume on the TV set when the commercials came one.
Jimmy cautioned me not to call Judy “Cosmic Judy” since it would
like offend her, a description others had for her because she was something of
a space cadet – and not from drugs (though she did those, too.)
I had just bought a 1960 Chevy impala, but it had a few
quirks.
The dashboard light did not work so in order to check on the
speed or the gas gauge after dark I had to turn on the dome light.
That night, I had only an eighth of a tank of gas. But I
figured the ride from Passaic where Jimmy and I lived to West Paterson wouldn’t
put too much a strain on it, and I could put some gas in the car the next
morning.
I wanted to save money to buy drinks and perhaps food, if
this was a double date as Jimmy seemed to suggest.
When we got there, we got drinks, but Carol – who was in a
randy mood – wanted to go someplace else, only she didn’t tell me where, she said
she would direct me as we went and she directed me to drive out Route 80 west,
while she had Jimmy cuddled in the back seat.
Cosmic Judy said in the front side passenger seat.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll find out when we get there,” Carol said.
“I don’t have a lot of gas.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I don’t want to get stuck anywhere.”
“I said not to worry about it,” Carol insisted, sounding
preoccupied and I glance in the rearview mirror showed her dark shape cuddling
with Jimmy’s.
I turned on the dome light and saw the needle on E.
“Will you stop that!” Carol snapped. “Can’t you see we’re
busy back here.”
Jimmy said nothing, but I got the impression from the odd
looks Judy gave that he was half undressed.
“It will help to know where you want us to go,” I said.
She mumbled something about Stokes Forest – a regular
destination for our gang.
“I don’t have gas enough to get there and certainly not
enough to get back,” I said.
“That’s fine with me,” Carol said, voice muffled as she
pressed her lips against Jimmy’s neck.
Judy giggled.
I wanted to kick Jimmy for this. Guys are supposed to be the
ones coming up with the excuse about running out of gas.
When we got to the exit to Route 15 north, Carol directed me
to take it.
Darkness swirled around us, thick with woods that had not
yet been cut for development, the narrow lanes plunging under their extended
arms.
I kept thinking about running out of gas – about getting
stuck out here, having to sit in the front seat while Carol and Jimmy made love
in the back, or worse, having to make love with Judy just to occupy ourselves
till the police arrived to rescue us or morning came so we could walk to some
gas station somewhere.
There were not a lot of gas stations around that part of the
county, none on Route 80, and only a handful on Route 15. I didn’t know if we
had gas enough to reach one.
We passed a few stations, but they had already closed.
I mentioned the gas situation to Jimmy, he only mumbled back
at me.
Finally, I saw a glow in the center island of a still open
station and started to turn off.
“Don’t!” Carol yelled.
“I have to. We have no gas,” I yelled back, and then pulled
up to the pump, directing the attendant to put the amount of gas in the gas-guzzler
I still had money to pay for. When finished, I asked Carol if she still wanted
to go to Stokes.
“Never mind,” she said. “Just go back. You ruined the whole mood!”
