1 Chapter 1
!!Warning! Mentions of attempted assult and homophobic slurs!!
It was one of those nights, those long-lasting, with zero excitement nights, the one that drove people to overthinking their existence. Young Valerie Baker left her shift at Maxwell's dinner, the horrid place she worked nine to five, earning barely a nickel.
Still dressed in her red and white waitress uniform, that complimented her lean body nicely, she decided to let her dark brown hair loose from the ponytail that it has been suffering in the whole day. As she did every night she went home from work, she started to think about life and her life choices, more like she started overthinking everything.
"Well, that's for having big dreams here…" she sighed. Her dreams were big and very unreachable, at her age, of twenty-three she should've already been married and with at least one child, preferably a boy. An "old-gal" she was. However, her mind was set on changing the way the women were treated, not only in States but in general.
When her parents found about her going to work instead of getting married like her sister Susie, they opposed very much. "It's a man's duty to work and for women to stay at home, pumpkin'" spoke her father, which always riled Valerie up. "Well, maybe men should do housework sometimes and women should work in factories or even go to war…" she would argue, which would often earn her a glare and harsh comments from her father.
She didn't even want to work in a factory. She just loved hearing stories from women who worked with engines during the World War II, how they built machineries and stood their own. It inspired her to be something more than a housewife and somebodies' nanny. Her dreams led her to believe that maybe one day she could become mechanical engineer, a person helping their army in her own way. Her parents would never agree with her decision to include herself in men's work. Even if her parents did allow her to be more than a waitress, to maybe enrol in university and get a degree in mechanical engineering, there would always be those who wouldn't hire her, simply because of her gender. It is true that women had more rights than they did decade ago, but sometimes it still wasn't enough.
"This year, it will be a year bringing changes on horizon…" Valerie had been saying for almost five years.
Now that it was year 1965 and that the war in Vietnam was still raging on, she had lost all hope she would ever be more than a waitress. As she watched young men being sent over to the harsh territory they didn't know, she wanted to help, but that kind of dreams would only bring her trouble.
The only reason she worked at Maxwell's was to find out and hear more about mechanical engineering studies from students at The George Washington University, which didn't exactly accept women as their students. She would talk with them while she was serving them pancakes or coffee. She wouldn't call herself a genius or anything like that, but she had wits and passion for learning the trade. When she usually finished work, she would write all she had learned from that day in one of her many notebooks.
Many teased her at work saying she is only asking about their studies to kill boredom of being a waitress and didn't understand the topic. If she opposed that, she would usually earn a few judging looks, something she was already used to. Sometimes there would also be that one encouraging face in the crowd that was fascinated by her knowledge, that always gave her strength to go on.
Not only did the engineering students visit her work, but also many soldiers did. She would feel very happy when she heard someone came home, even if they were injured. At least they made it out alive. She would hear all kind of stories from them and that fascinated her to the core. It also made her sad for people fighting in a war that was based upon politics. Her neighbour, Ms. Williams, had three sons in Vietnam, youngest, Sammy, only eighteen, for who she prayed to stay alive from day to day. She remembered looking at the woman when she received the news that Sammy died during an ambush. That scene broke her heart, she couldn't even imagine how hard it must've been for Ms. Williams as she was a mother that lost her son. That's when she decided she would strive even harder to achieve her dream to help, to build weapons and machinery for the troops.
Furthermore, it was hard watching all that and still hear about race to dominate the space and other areas, as Soviets were clearly surpassing them. Nobody wanted to hear about missile strikes or threats. Those kinds of talks would send people to complete frenzy.
The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 has scared even the strongest people to death. At the same time, many rights movements have begun its awakenings. Just year before, in 1964, the States finally brought The Civil Rights Act, that forbade discrimination based on race, sex, nationality and eventually sexual orientation. It was a big change for everybody, the change for better. Valerie, finally saw an opportunity to march for her own rights as a woman, during a women liberation's movement, which was very controversial not only by bigoted men, but also by women who enjoyed being overshadowed by their husbands and their accomplishments.
They were calling it feminism, as it had bad connotations. Valerie really liked being the "feminist", she would get off work and go to marches and meetings. If her parents found about that, they would throw her out of the house in a second. Unmarried, working and going to suffragette meetings, well, let's just say it wasn't a good combination to do all that while being a girl in 60s. She sometimes wondered if she could go and join hippie movement, be free of bonds of family and duty, but then she didn't want to lose herself in drinking and doing drugs, when she knew that she was a kind a girl that could be attempted to try all first and regret later.
While she was walking home that hot July evening, she was reading a book on mechanical engineering she borrowed from one of the good students - the ones that would gladly discuss their findings and theories with her - she heard a few "compliments" thrown her way. There were always those kinds of words thrown at her and at the length of her uniform, usually about how it should be shorter and tighter. She had enough problems like that with the men in the dinner.
While in the morning many students came for coffee, during lunch hour and dinner time the crowd forming in the dinner would usually consist of married leachers that just got off work and had to give her hard time during her shift. Still engrossed in her book she didn't realise she bumped into somebody, until she felt hands holding her waist.
"What is a pretty girl like you doing out so late?" she heard deep male voice and decided to lower her book. The worst part was, it was only eight o'clock and during summer it was still light outside. She tried to remove unwanted hands from her waist and move away from the "gentleman" standing too close to her.
"I would very much like to go home, sir. If you don't mind." she gritted out harshly.
Sadly, but expectedly, the grip on her waist only hardened and the man came even closer, if that was even possible. He was so close to her that she could smell his mouldy breath.
"C'mon, sweetheart, play with me for a bit." As the man said that he grabbed Valerie by her backside, from which she flinched away. Well, as much as she could due to strong grip man had on her. The worst part was that people were walking down the street and saw the whole interaction, but no one said a thing.
Valerie was ready to kick the man in his sensitive spot, when she heard loud voice behind the man. "Why don't you take on someone your own size?!" said a sharp male voice. "Look man, you're not really my type." said the Mouldy Breath "Fag!"
That's the moment Valerie noticed a grip on her waist was gone and that the Mouldy Breath lying on the ground holding his jaw and, for want of a better word, wailing.
She couldn't help but chuckle a little, which earned her an amused look from her "saviour", who was now standing in front of her, towering over the wailing man. The Mouldy Breath got up and started to speak empty threats while walking away from the scene.
Valerie looked at the whole situation and her "saviour", who she realised, was dressed in a black business suit from head to toe, with a crisp white shirt peaking under the suit jacket. The man was a reasonable height, somewhere around 6-foot, 6 foot 1. He was muscular and the suit he wore didn't hide much. He wore a smug grin while looking at Valerie.
"I got the situation under control, sir." she said to him while she patted her skirt down. "Sure, you had, doll." said the man.
"Well, I did, sir. Thank you for your help, anyways." Valerie said while trying to get around the man. "No problem, doll. Very happy to do it again." Smirked the man while he watched Valerie walk away.
Once she walked past the man, she once again turned to look at him and scoff, even if he did save her in that moment, he acted to smug for her liking.
