Catching the California Wave

by Jennifer Kady Stanton

I opened the door as music poured into the backseat, rolling over the thick upholstery, drawing me into her cocoon. 

“I’m Levelle,” she boomed, her voice raised over the beat. 

“What you want, baby, I got it/ What you need, baby, I got it” 

“How you doin’ tonight?” Levelle tossed to me, her yellow and red turban twisting into the air, pausing for Aretha to ask, 

“What you need/ do you know I got it.”

“I’m…OK,” I said, purse in clinched hand, eyes cast into the night.

“Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good,” Levelle purred.

“Tell me about it, baby.”

“All I’m askin’ is for a little respect when you come home. Just a little.”

I stared blankly into the night as her Uber ride led me home.

“Girl…you got played, that’s what you got!” Levelle bellowed, slamming her hand on the steering wheel.

“And, God Damn it, I am sick and tired of women like you!”

“Mmm, I’m sorry, baby, but this ride is going to be all about tough love tonight!” she sang. 

“And, girrrrl, why are you dressed like this tonight? So sad, so..casual?”

“I get tired (just a little bit)/ Keep on tryin’ (just a little bit).”

“The next time you see any man, she said, slamming her hand onto the steering wheel, you are going to…”

“Ummm….wear some heels, put on a sexy dress, and, umm, you are going to smell good!” 

“And, you know what? You are not going to do it for him, either; you are going to do it for you!” 

“All I’m asking is for a little respect” 

Levelle and Aretha were working together now, raising me from my self-appointed despair.

“Women like you just piss me off!” she scolded, her musical notes finding the empty beats.  

“All I’m asking is for a little respect” 

“You not even respecting yourself!” she cried, taking her hands off the wheel and raising them into the air. 

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T/ Find out what it means to me/ R-E-S-P-E-C-T”  

I straightened my spine and lifted my eyes from the floor as Levelle sang her love song to me. 

“Oh, a little respect” 

“You gotta respect yourself, girl,” she whispered.

Levelle and Aretha were working together now, their voices in unison. 

“Whoa baby, a little respect” 

I fluffed my hair, I wet my lips, I straightened my shoulders.

“I was once like you, I was downcast, too,” Levelle sang. 

“But it took some tough lovin’ from someone like me to get me to stop playing the fool.”

“Keep on tryin’ (just a little bit)”, Levelle and Aretha sang together. 

“Girl, today you needed some tough love, and that’s what you got,” she said as she rolled to a stop, her dark eyes lighting my night. 

“And I ain’t lyin’/ ‘spect/ When you get home”