Posted by Steve Ivory on March 05, 2002 at 09:29:19:
THE HARDLINE -- Steven Ivory
Love Is Blind
The curly brown afro, hoop earrings and form-fitting hip huggers
all suggested her to be having a retro soul kind of a Saturday, while
he -- tall, lean and with dimpled chin -- dressed down in jeans,
polo shirt and a pair of expensive, space age-looking athletic
shoes.
I'd noticed the couple earlier, in the record store several doors
down. They were giggling at a '70s album cover in the old school
vinyl section as she playfully cooed to him the Ohio Players'
"Love Roller Coaster." Sufficiently lovey-dovey couples can
make you gag, but the way she kept her arm inside his, and
that they only had eyes for one another, was endearing.
And now, because this popular Abaco restaurant was
packed with lunch patrons, my table was practically on top of
theirs. I apologized for the proximity, but the two wouldn't hear
me. "Not a problem at all," he said. We introduced ourselves,
and made not-so small talk.
Considering all the smooching, it was hard to believe they'd
known one another for a decade, but they met as many years
ago in their native Eleuthera -- where they married a year ago just
before he accepted a job in Abaco as a boat builder.
Back home she worked with mentally disabled pre-schoolers,
but was considering pursuing a Masters in psychology in the States. Or
stand-up comedy. "I think I'm funny," she said, as he moaned.
Their burgers came--his without the requested onion rings.
While he went to catch the waiter, she opened up. "We want
children," she said, "...just don't know if we want to raise them
in LA." She picked up a French fry and mumbled something about
catsup, but when I reached behind me and retrieved a bottle from
a condiment tray, she ignored it.
"I have to tell you," she remarked with a rather intense glare
and a candor rare for a stranger, "I feel blessed to have a life
partner. I have three smart, gorgeous sisters back home and
they're still out there looking."
"How would you know?" interrupted her husband, sitting
back down. He confided that neither had been in touch with
their respective families much in the last few years. "Her family
has always been very protective of her since the 'situation,' so
to speak, and I can't say I blame them, but she's an adult..."
What situation?
The two just laughed. "You're telling me you didn't notice,"
deadpanned the husband.
Notice what?
"She's blind."
"Sightless!" she corrected him.
Incredulous, I said I clearly recalled her looking at an album
cover at the record store; and during our conversation, she sat
here looking at me. "Don't flatter yourself," she sniped--before
seriously explaining that, years ago, surgery to strengthen her
vision had left her sight worse, and ultimately, blind. Conditioned
eye muscles keep her eyes from rolling uncontrollably, she said,
hence no dark glasses, and at the record store, what I thought
she was SEEING, her husband was DESCRIBING. When talking
to people, she simply follows the sound of their voice. "...And that's
why they SAY they were so leery of her hooking up with someone, "
chimed her husband. "Truthfully, both our families don't communicate
with us for the same reason..."
You're white and she's black.
"Bingo."
"He's white? You're kidding."
You know, your wife IS funny.
"I've loved black men. I've loved Latin men. I'm black, for God's
sake--and I fell in love with a man who happens to be white. My
mother is okay with it; Daddy, on the other hand, hasn't spoken
to me in two years. That, incidentally, is truly when you truly
need the partner you chose--when your family cuts you off for
marrying him. Or when your in-laws disown their own because
he married a woman with brown skin. I used to cry at night, but
now I say #%*@# it. Life is too short. We're both 30. We'll live.
Besides, I got lucky--My husband looks like a young Cary Grant."
How would you know?
"Well, that's what he told me."
Out on the street, the lovebirds decided to take in a movie.
As they playfully debated the theater's location, I noticed her
tentative movement that would have been the tip-off had I seen
it earlier. Finally, she pulled him to the right. "Now, this is what
you call the blind leading the blind," she cracked, as she bid
farewell.
"Sightless!" he yelled.
Steven Ivory is a Los Angeles-based journalist. Respond to
him at: STEVRIVORY@AOL.COM or EURfeedback@eurweb.com