Radclyffe - Safe Harbor

She glanced down the alley next to Spiritus and noticed movement in the shadows at the far end. It was dark enough that she pulled out her flashlight, playing over the ground ahead. Two people, wrapped in an embrace, pulled apart as she approached. Her light flickered over the face of a pretty blond teenager. The girl looked like any of the leather-clad youth who crowded the streets. She had the requisite multiple piercings along the edge of her ears, a small silver ring through the rim of her left nostril, and a tattoo showing along the inner aspect of her left breast. The lace up vest she wore with nothing under it was still open to the waist from what no doubt had been an interrupted caress. A typical teenage rendezvous, except this girl was holding tight to Brianna Parkers hand, trying to look defiant. Brianna stepped forward, her shoulders braced, obscuring the girl from Reeses view.

Reese spoke before Brianna could. "Its not safe down these alleys. You two head on back to the street."

Neither of them said a word as they sidled past her, hurrying toward the end of the alley. Reese took her time, giving them the opportunity to disappear into the crowd. She glanced at her watch. It was one-twenty in the morning. She was willing to bet that Nelson Parker did not know that his seventeen -year-old daughter was out on the streets, or what she was doing there. She was glad it wasnt her daughter. She was positive she would make a mess of handling what didnt have to be a problem. As she walked east back to city hall, she thought about herself at seventeen. She had never had the desire to sneak out to be with anyone, male or female, and for the first time in her life, she wondered why not.

Chapter Nine

Reese pulled up the short driveway to the rear of her house at six-fifteen a.m. The night had passed uneventfully. By two-thirty the streets of Provincetown had been deserted. The bars had closed at one, and for the next hour the street in front of Spiritus Pizza was a mob scene. Predominantly men, the crowd swelled as those who had yet to find partners for the night cruised each other. There were also a fair number of men and women who just wanted to partake vicariously of the sexual energy that literally filled the air. The party-like atmosphere would be sustained for the next twelve weeks, as new vacationers and week-end visitors flooded into town, carrying the excitement of being openly gay and unafraid, perhaps for the only time all year, with them. Periodically Reese walked down one of the narrow alleys between the crowded establishments to the harbor beach, checking that no one decided to sleep off too much alcohol on the sand. High tide was at five-forty, and by then the waves, still vigorous even in the secluded harbor, would be up to the pilings of many of the buildings. Already the decks behind the Pied and the Boatslip, two of the most popular lesbian and gay bars, were surrounded by water. Reese didnt intend to have any drownings on her watch. She knew that the shadowed areas under the piers were favorite spots for quick sexual encounters, but she wasnt interested in busting two adults for a fast grope in the dark. She was on the lookout, however, for groups of teenagers hanging out on the beach. Nelson Parker had warned her that drug use, and distribution, was becoming more of a problem with the youth of the small community, and that many of the suppliers seemed to be teenagers from neighboring townships on the Cape.

Reese hated drugs, and especially those who provided it. Too often, the kids who tried it were simply acting out of the normal rebellious, unfocused discontent that seemed inherent in the nebulous world between childhood and adulthood. Unfortunately, they became trapped by the very real physical and psychological seductiveness of the drugs, and the drug culture, without meaning to. That they were victims, she had no doubt, and the perpetrators of the crime were the suppliers, not the addicts. She was determined that Provincetown would become a very unpopular place to commit that particular crime.

Reese pulled to a stop, cut the engine, and sat for a moment looking at the person huddled on her back steps. Brianna Parker stared back at her, her gaze steady and defiant.

"Youre early," Reese commented as she approached. "Class doesnt start for forty-five minutes." Reese could tell by the look of surprise on Briannas face, a flicker of expression quickly masked, that Brianna had not been thinking of their seven oclock appointment for her first jujitsu class. "Come in the kitchen and wait while I shower and change," Reese said as she passed the teenager, fitting her key into the back door as she spoke.

"If you havent eaten, theres bread for toast and juice in the fridge," Reese said as she tossed her keys on the table. She continued through to her bedroom, leaving the youth to sort things out for herself. When she returned in a clean white tee shirt and crisply ironed gi pants, she was pleased to smell coffee brewing. There was a plate of toast sitting in the middle of the breakfast bar. Reese gabbed a piece to munch on as she poured a cup of the welcome coffee.

"Thanks," she said as she leaned against the counter facing Brianna, who was perched on one of the high stools that flanked the counter dividing the cooking area from an eating area large enough to accommodate eight at the glass and chrome table.

Bri stared at the woman facing her, impressed by the taut muscles outlined under the tight tee shirt as well as her piercingly direct gaze. Reese presented an awesome figure. Bri took a deep breath.

"I came to talk to you about last night," she managed to say without a hint of the unsteadiness she felt.

"I thought you came to train," Reese responded.

"Maybe you wont want me to now," Bri said, a slight quiver in her voice.

Reese raised an eyebrow, her eyes never leaving the troubled teens face. "How so?"

Bri shrugged. "II came to ask you not to tell my dad."

"I wasnt planning to. But you should."

"Yeah, right," Bri snorted. "Like he wouldnt kill me."

"Hes got to know sometime. Maybe you should give him a chance," Reese suggested mildly as she refilled her coffee cup. "I dont know him real well, but he seems to be okay about the gay thing."

"Oh, sure - its okay with him, maybe , for some other kids - but not for me!"

Reese looked at Brianna, then nodded. "Youre right. Theres no way to tell how hes going to react. But he for sure is going to be a lot better about it if he hears it first from you."

"I will tell him! Just not now!" Her fear broke through and her eyes filled with tears. "Im only seventeen, he can keep me from seeing Caroline if he wants to. And if her father finds out, hell kill her!"

The girls anguish was palpable, and Reese suddenly realized how many additional terrors being gay added to the already tumultuous world of adolescence. It was something she didnt know much about, and in a town like Provincetown, she needed to. She decided that, for the moment at least, she didnt know enough to make a good decision, or to offer meaningful advice.

"Im not going to say anything to your father, and if I decide its necessary at some point, Ill tell you first. You can decide then whom he hears it from. In the meantime, I want your word that you and your girlfriend will stop meeting in dark alleys, or under the pier."

Bri tried to cover her surprise. How did she know about the pier?

"Its dangerous, Brianna, especially for two women." Reese raised her hand against Briannas protest. "Theres no point in pretending that you and Caroline could stand up to a bunch of guys. Thats not sexist - thats reality. One way a woman defeats a man is to use her brains - first to avoid the fight, and then if she must fight, to win the fight. Dont stack the odds against yourself."