Beds Are Burning

…her memory of those years had sweetened with time.

-John Rolfe Gardiner
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE, a novel

Twenty-five years ago today:

April 17, 1987
Friday

After work I drove home swiftly and took my usual nap. I woke up to shower and hopped into my Mustang convertible and drove toward Sacramento.

I found Judy Geniella’s house in Orangevale at around 8:10PM. She was getting ready in her bedroom as I was chatting with her seventeen year old son, Scott. We spoke about songs that we both liked. We mutually liked groups like THE SMITHS, THE CURE, THE HOODY GURUs, REM, NEW ORDER, ERASURE and more. I think he thought I was pretty cool to know the groups because his mom doesn’t have a clue. I guess she’s limited to Frank Sinatra and the Beatles.

Judy and I went out to a place called MACE’s and then to CRAUDAD’s. Both places were pretty nice. We had a fun time and returned to her house for crème liqueur and walnuts. I thought it was an odd combination but it sure tasted so good. It was fun to crack open the walnuts as it reminded me of an activity I would do with my Dad as a kid. I was watching her goldfish in the aquarium in her living room.

Then Judy decided aloud, “Well, let’s take a bath!”
Judy would giggle with sudden bouts of laughter  and make me feel a little uncomfortable. I was a bit shocked and nervous. I thought she was just kidding. In fact, I didn’t like the idea at first; however, we did it…with suds and all. After the bathtub experience together we went into her bedroom and one thing led to another. It made me wonder if her son, Scott, knew the song ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER by The Fixx. .

As one thing did lead to another it almost felt like a scene from THE GRADUATE. We got into bed naked and ‘one thing led to another’. I felt awkward. She was a coworker and she has a seventeen year old son. It felt strange, considering we’d only been friends and coworkers all along.
“What if Scott comes home?” I asked.
“Oh he won’t be home until tomorrow…don’t worry.”
Of course Eileen was in the back of my mind as well. Will she ever find out?
PHOTO: 'me' with Judy Geniella/Freeman/Westoby

In the middle of the night while Judy and I were in bed together her son, Scott, came home. He knocked on his mother’s bedroom window! I thought I saw him trying to get a peek at us. I guess he didn’t have his key and his sleepover outing didn’t pan out. I really felt awkward (and scared) at that moment. All I could think of was that new single by Midnight Oil called “BEDS ARE BURNING” and I ‘just knew’ that Judy’s son, Scott, knew the song. After Scott obviously got a sneak peek at us I kept hearing that part of the tune 'in my mind' that goes ‘How do we sleep’? I couldn’t fall asleep for a long while.

This was the calm after the storm, the heart’s true note after so much wailing and roaring.
-Jules Verne
PARIS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY,
The Lost Novel