AllTwistedUp twisted my arm to go ahead and spill the beans…. You can read it here.....
Rae, I doubt you will ever read this….. In case you do, tho, please know this….I didn’t know what you did for a living…. that you had money… and fame…. all I knew was that you were cute and fun…. I loved the way you danced and laughed….. I dug that you found me funny and that you kept touching me ever so lightly…. Our little kisses were quite heavenly, if you must know…. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world that night…. not because I was with Rae Dawn Chong, the celebrity actress… but because I was with the cute, mysterious, Rae I had boldy asked to dance, despite the fact that you were with four of the largest men I have ever seen….
In those days I was quite inexperienced… if not completely innocent… I have no idea what you had in mind for the rest of the evening…. I know that you didn’t have to invite me… and you certainally didn’t have to invite my friends to come with you….
It would have been fun.
As for what the jerk did, I don’t know that I can find words to describe how much that angers me, disappoints me and shames me…. We were in the Army… we lived and worked in a multi-cultural environment… I had no idea, until that very moment on the dance floor when he uttered that ignorant hatred, that he was a racist or a bigot…..
This revelation won’t repair the hurt you must have felt…. I will tell you tho, that I was so disgusted and supremely disappointed by his behavior that we never hung out again, after that weekend…. I no longer consider him a friend, and that break happened AFTER I left you in tears at the Red Onion….
I wish I had been more clear headed, more brave, more gentlemanly…. That was the first time in my life I had ever been involved in anything like that…. I admit I simply didn’t know what to do… I was completely unprepared by my prior life for that night….
I hope you got over the outburst rather quickly…. if that is possible…. I hope you figured out that you are a beautiful woman who can attract men of all types…
All these years later, I wish I had behaved differently…. I wish I had done something to let you know how much I disagreed with that jerk…. how much I hated him for what he did…. and how much I wanted to keep on hanging out with you….
Who knows…. we might have found we had much in common, and continued on towards a romantic relationship…. We’ll never know….
In summary, Rae, I am deeply sorry…. the very next day… I figured out who you were…. Commando was on in our Hotel room….. you were great in that film…. In fact, I am a huge fan of all your film work….
I just wish I had been more adult.
