The Lion's Den: Chapter 4: We Were Young
Because at twenty-three, Renata was a force to be reckoned with; and almost didn't count anymore.
Chapter Four: We Were Young
At twenty-three, Renata was a force to be reckoned with. Often the center of attention, she was living life like a kid in a candy store, discovering the world on her own terms and enjoying her new role as a pioneer. With the exception of weekends, her son was staying at her mother’s house through the week, leaving her with a lot of time on her hands.
She used that time to build a new life, one that distanced her from a painful past. Her house was often filled with people from all walks of life, hanging out until the early hours of the morning. One such friend was Tiana. She was a few years younger, but she had become Renata’s “road dog.” If you saw Renata, you saw Tiana.
One day, as they lay around the house watching Yo! MTV Raps, they decided to take a road trip. Although Renata’s finances were a mess, she felt she could use a break from the norm. They debated between New York or Florida, finally settling on New York around four that evening. The fact that they didn’t know a soul in the city never came into play. In their innocence, they packed their bags and a measly two hundred dollars and set off for I-95.
By the time they hit Washington D.C., it was dark, and the nerves started to set in. The sense of freedom was unexplainable; the world was theirs! That is, until they pulled into a Newark turnpike looking for a hotel. The man in the toll booth took one look at them and suggested they turn right back around; he clearly thought they were prime candidates for a carjacking. His conscience wouldn’t let them set themselves up for failure, so they headed straight back to the highway, pushing on toward the city.
Pulling into New York had them gasping for air. Two girls from North Carolina, they had never seen a city this big, and they were struck with awe. That awe died quickly once they checked into their hotel room. Roaches were everywhere. The excitement turned into a quiet terror as they grabbed their blankets from the car and slept on top of the bed, holding their bags for dear life.
The next morning, they found their spark again when Tiana found Hot 97 FM on the radio. It was just enough to get them moving. Renata figured out within five minutes that honking and aggressive lane-switching were the only ways to drive in New York, so she threw caution to the wind and began driving like a madwoman.
Before leaving the city, they collected a stack of New York mixtapes, the kind of raw, legendary tracks they couldn’t get back home. They were buzzing with the energy of the city, and they weren’t ready for it to end. On a whim, they decided to head to Pittsburgh to visit a friend.
Popping in their newly found music, they set out for Pennsylvania, laughing and talking for hours as the mixtapes played. They were so lost in the music and the conversation that they hadn’t realized the world outside had changed. Suddenly, they were crawling at twenty miles per hour down a snowy, deserted highway. It was two o’clock in the morning, and they were in the middle of a massive snowstorm.
Terrified of being stranded, they took the first exit they could find and checked into a hotel in a strange little Pennsylvania town. They were stuck there for two days. When the snow finally cleared and they emerged, they felt like they had entered the Twilight Zone. People who looked like “Pillsbury dough people” in hats and scarves; the Pennsylvania Germans, stopped whatever they were doing to wave at them as they drove by.
Renata didn’t wait to find out if they were friendly or something else. She hit the gas, heading straight back to North Carolina. The trip back was uneventful until they hit an icy patch in D.C. that sent the car spinning across six lanes of traffic, stopping just short of a concrete wall. A “hero” stranger stopped and paid for a hotel room for them, seeing they were shaken and broke. That night, watching the news in the safety of their room, they learned a serial killer had been roaming the very highway they had just been on.
Renata finally made it home, reflecting on the craziness of the trip. She wondered what else could go wrong. The very next day, her car was repossessed.
By the late nineties, Renata had become a “club bunny,” frequenting smoke-filled rooms until the early hours. One night, she spotted him: a tall, slim man with a honey-colored complexion that seemed to glow in the darkness. He was Jamie, a military man from Guam.
Their friendship deepened into a whirlwind romance. One night, Renata joked, “You know, you’re over here so much, we may as well be married.” “Okay,” he replied. The next month, they were married in a makeshift chapel and honeymooned at a mini-golf course. They spent a year being young and irresponsible, traveling to Florida and living with few restrictions
So when he came home one day and told Renata that he got orders from the military to move them to Germany, she began to wonder what impact that would have on their ‘arrangement’. She was finally enjoying their new life now, and she wasn’t ready for the party to end.
Her denial finally ended when the day came for them to fly out. As they stood in the line to check in their luggage, Renata’s feet felt like they were glued to the floor. She didn’t want to go. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she told Jamie that she wasn’t leaving. He responded angrily that they were married and this was a part of the deal. She knew he was right—how could she leave him when he needed her the most?
Getting on the plane that day was one of the hardest things Renata felt she ever had to do. But it would prove to be one of the best experiences she ever had.
Next week, the journey moves across the ocean. From the clubs of North Carolina to the streets of Deutschland, everything is about to change. Chapter Five and all future chapters will be exclusive to our Paid Inner Circle.