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1940
Ellen’s eyes widened; the boy laughed, his breath hot against her cheek. An enraged roar from Abraham. She saw him as a blur launching himself onto the blond man. Abraham’s head hit the man’s chin. Caught off-guard, the man, grunting in pain, released his grip on Abraham’s hair. Just as Abraham’s fist slammed into his face, the man staggered back.
Ellen and her two attackers froze in surprise. The man holding her arms reacted first, releasing her as he jumped up to help his friend. Abraham was on his feet and lunged at the brown-haired man, wrapping his arms around the man’s waist and driving into him with such force that they both plowed into the other man who was just drawing his arms back to swing the board at Abraham.
The board clattered to the ground and the three men dropped in a heap. Abraham quickly rolled onto his knees and grabbed the closest man, the brown haired man, and swung his big fist into the man’s face. He was on his feet by the time the blond man got to his hands and knees. Then Abraham aimed a powerful kick to his stomach. He hunched over with an “oof” and Abraham kicked him again, sending him toppling into the other man, who had just begun to pull himself up.
The boy had pulled away from Ellen and was squatting between her legs, his surprise shifting his attention from her for a moment. Ellen drew her legs up and kicked him in the chest, spitting the rag out of her mouth. He lost his balance and she scrambled away. Just as she got to her feet, the boy grabbed a handful of her hair from behind, jerking her back against him. He grabbed for her with his other hand but she pushed away, spun around and hit smashed the heel of her left hand into his nose, followed by her left knee slamming into his groin, his penis still exposed. The boy’s eyes widened and he emitted a high-pitched squeak. Blood spurted from his nose and his face paled. The boy slid to his knees, rolling into a protective ball, his hands covering his injured genitalia.
Abraham now had the board in his hands and Ellen turned just in time to see him swing it. There was a sickening crack as the board made contact with the left side of the blond man’s head. He crumpled to the ground; blood trickled onto the grit and grime of the alley pavement. The other man was lying nearby, sprawled on his back and unconscious. The boy was crying. He looked up, his face colorless underneath the tears, blood and phlegm. He caught sight of Abraham, still gripping the board streaked with blood. Rage radiated from him, making him look even bigger. The boy began trying to crawl away.
“P... p... please... .d... don’t,” he begged, his teeth chattered and his entire body trembled.
Abraham stared at him for a moment before turning and flinging the board away. He looked back at Ellen. His anger drained away, his face softening with concern for her.
“Are you all right,” he asked quietly.
She nodded mutely, unable to grasp what had just happened... and what had almost happened. Her eyes strayed to the wounded men and her medical training kicked in. She moved towards the unconscious blond man, whose injuries seemed most serious. Before she could kneel next to him and examine his head, Abraham caught her arm.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” he told her.
“But... we need to get help for them,” she said, looking up at him in surprise. “We need to call the police.”
His hand tightened on her arm and he pulled her away from the men, propelling her to the other end of the alley. Rounding the corner, Abraham paused to brush the dirt from their clothing and try to straighten their disheveled clothing. Ellen tried to pull away.
“Abraham... ”
He cut her off. “If we call the police, I’m the one going to jail.”
She stared at him, but did not object when he urged her to walk with him. They did not speak again as Abraham guided her through a maze of streets and alleys. Soon Ellen lost track of their route and had no idea where they were. Abraham tried not to call attention to them; he was careful not to hold her hand or touch her in any way when other people were around. He knew that a black man and a white woman together was likely to be remembered, especially if the men who attacked them went to the police, but there was nothing he could do about it for the moment.
He finally led her to a bus stop, where they waited for a bus. Ellen did not ask where they were going. When the bus arrived, Abraham guided her to the seats in the back, ignoring the startled look on the driver’s face. He was not sure if there was blood on his face, but it felt like his eye was swelling. Rather than sitting with Ellen, and risking angering the bus driver, he sat in the seat behind her.
She watched as the expensive, well-kept office buildings and stores of downtown Los Angeles gave way to the poor, shabby buildings of Watts. There were not many whites here. Since the turn of the century, Mexican-American railroad workers had settled in Watts. In recent years, more black people had moved in, also working on the railroad. Many, like Abraham and his mother, rode the bus into Los Angeles every day to work as janitors and maids.
Abraham gently touched her shoulder when the bus stopped near his apartment. Stepping off the bus, she followed him. “Apartment” was a generous word for the room he lived in, with its tiny kitchenette in one corner. The bathroom was down the hall and he shared it with the other residents on the second floor. His only furniture consisted of a small table with two chairs and an old bed brass bed with a colorful, hand-stitched quilt. A battered radio stood in the corner.
Alone and away from prying eyes and disapproving glances, Abraham pulled Ellen into his arms and held her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his chest, giving in to the tears she had been fighting since running from the scene of their attack. He murmured soothingly and rubbed her back as she cried, her (what later came to be known as) adrenaline subsiding and allowing fear and revulsion to take its place. The realization that she had almost been raped sunk in and she shook uncontrollably. When she had no more tears, she looked up at Abraham and suddenly noticed the swelling under his right eye. He winced as she moved.
“Abraham, you’re hurt!”
He did not resist when she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. He winced as her fingers gently probed his chest, his ribs, and his abdomen. He sat down obediently in one of the chairs and told her where to find clean wash clothes and rubbing alcohol. She cleaned a small cut under his eye and gave him a cold bottle of soda from his tiny refrigerator to hold against it and reduce the swelling.
“I’m worried about this one,” she said, gently touching a spot on his left side. “I’m afraid you may have some broken ribs. We really need to get you to a doctor.”
“No... no doctor.”
“But, Abraham... I don’t understand.”
“If those guys go to the police, they’ll be asking around to see if any doctors treated a Negro man.”
“But we should go to the police! They attacked us!”
“The cops aren’t gonna to take a colored man’s word over three white men. That’s just how it is, Ellen.”
She knelt on the floor, next to his chair, and looked up at him, wide-eyed.
“But, I’m white,” she said in a small voice. “Won’t they listen to me?”
He smiled sadly and caressed her cheek with the backs of his fingers.
“No, baby, they won’t. You heard what those men called you... that’s what the cops are going to think, too.” He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. “We just have to hope those guys won’t want to admit they were beaten up by a colored boy and a white girl and won’t go to the cops.”
Ellen cupped his face with her hands and pulled back to look at him. She took the soda bottle from him and set it on the floor, and then kissed the swollen area. She kissed each eyelid lingeringly and then brushed her lips softly across his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, capturing her mouth with his. She returned the kiss and threaded her fingers through his short hair. He tried to pull her up onto his lap, but he gasped with pain and flinched. Ellen pulled back quickly.
“If we aren’t going to a doctor we at least need to immobilize those ribs as best we can. If they're broken, we have to try to keep them from shifting and puncturing a lung. Do you have a clean sheet that I can tear into strips?”
Abraham nodded toward his dresser. “Bottom drawer,” he said.
Ellen found the sheet and tore it into strips as uniformly as she could. She took Abraham’s hand and pulled him to stand in front of her with his arms out. She wrapped strips around his chest as tightly as she could without restricting his breathing, tying the ends securely over his chest. She walked around him, checking to make sure there were no wrinkles that would rub and irritate his skin over time. Satisfied at last, she stood in front of him, suddenly aware of how big he was. Tufts of coarse hair dusted his broad chest, muscles rippling beneath his dark skin.
Ellen’s mouth was dry and she tried to swallow. She tentatively raised her hand and ran her finger along the edge of the makeshift bandage, watching goose bumps break out on his skin. She pressed her lips to the indentation below his throat and felt, more than heard, his quick intake of breath. She feathered kisses along his collarbone and shoulder, and then felt his fingers tangling in her hair. He pulled her head back so that she was looking up at him.
“Ellen,” he whispered. “Baby... ”
As she pressed her body against his, Ellen felt his erection hard against her belly, pulsating through all the layers of clothing that separated them. His fingers tightened in her hair and she closed her eyes. He kissed her on that same sensitive spot where she had kissed him. His tongue flicked it lightly and that caused a shiver to run through her. His mouth came down over hers. She sighed softly as his tongue invaded her orifice She embraced his waist because she was afraid her legs would not support her. As the kiss ended, his teeth gently tugged at her lower lip. Her eyes fluttered open to find him watching her with his eyes alive with passion.
“I want you, Ellen,” he whispered. She could not find her voice and finally he asked, “Is that what you want?”
She swallowed hard and nodded her head mutely. Abraham kissed her again as he moved her toward the bed. She stood still, not sure what to do, as he slowly unbuttoned her dress and pushed it off her shoulders. He slid the straps of her slip down and let them fall to her feet. She blushed and closed her eyes when he reached behind her and unhooked her bra, pulling it free and dropping it to the floor. He knelt in front of her to slide the tattered remains of her bloomers down and off, gritting his teeth in anger as he thought of what the men tried to do to her. He swallowed and took a calming breath before removing her shoes and stockings. His hands gently skimming her flesh made her think she might spontaneously combust. Still kneeling in front of her, he looked up reverently and then buried his face against her breasts.
“God... you are so beautiful, baby,” he whispered.
He stood up and led her to the edge of the bed. She sat down and watched, unable to tear her gaze away, as he finished undressing, then knelt between her legs. His mouth captured her moans when his hands cupped her breasts and caressed them. His thumbs gently rubbed her nipples and Ellen whimpered and kissed him feverishly. He pushed her shoulders until she lay back on the bed. She fisted the quilt in her hands as he kissed and teased her breasts. He trailed kisses over her stomach and his large hands spread her thighs.
“Beautiful,” he murmured against her flesh as his mouth moved lower still.
She cried out as the moist warmth of his tongue invaded her most private parts. Ellen writhed on the bed as he sucked and licked, nipping gently with his teeth. One thick finger pushed inside her and she thought she would fly apart when a second one joined it. Tingling began at the soles of her feet and spread up her body. Her breasts felt swollen and heavy, aching to be touched. Another strangled cry wrenched from deep inside her as a spasm began where his mouth and his fingers held her captive. She thrashed on the bed and tried to roll into a ball as another spasm roiled through her... then another, and another.
He held his mouth against her throughout her orgasm. When it finally subsided, he released her and she rolled onto her side and pulled her knees to her chest. Eyes closed, she panted and sobbed softly. She wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to still the trembling in all of her limbs. Abraham climbed onto the bed and pulled her up next to him, her back to his front. He wrapped his arms around her and murmured softly in her ear.
“Are you OK,” he whispered when her trembling finally stopped and she began to relax against him.
“Yes,” she whispered back. She turned her head so she could look at him and asked, “Abraham? Is... is it always like that?”
He grinned and kissed her.
“Oh baby... you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”