tale #47

“Sandpaper won’t wipe the grin off of that boy’s face,” Lisa said as we stood watching my Steve haul the five foot long sail fish from Sam’s boat to the teak landing of the Tchoomy Tchoomy.  Katherine stood next to me, water pooling around her feet, with her fins dangling from her hand.

“Very impressive,” she said.  Something in her voice made me turn and look at her.  Even dripping wet, Katherine was elegant.  That hadn’t changed.  Her posture was relaxed and a smile played at the corners of her mouth.  She was enjoying the moment without her usual distance.  I shifted my weight and leaned towards her, my shoulder almost touching hers.  She did not step away.

Henri was helping Sam unload the smaller, less flamboyant fish.  Jaycee was standing nearby, supervising.  Kelly had removed herself to the beach chairs on the lower  deck.  Katherine and I joined her just as Lake came out of the boat cabin with an array of knives, none of which were gutting knives.  “This should be interesting,” Katherine said, as we settled ourselves on either side of Kelly.

One of the other Steves and Lisa carried the cooler over with the drinks in it.  “Seemed a might far away,” Lisa said as she nodded towards the cabin door where the cooler had been located.  They set the cooler near Katherine’s chair.

I nodded.  “Good thinking.  That must be at least ten feet.”

Lisa opened the chest and removed a beer.  She looked over at the landing where there was now a lively discussion going on about the best way to gut the fish and which fish to use for sashimi and which to cut into steaks.  “Y’all think they know what they’re doing?” Lisa asked as she popped the top off the Corona bottle.

“Nah” Steve said.

Forty minutes later, Henri was seated next to me.

“You’re giving up?” I had asked him when he sat down in the chair Kelly had vacated.

He wrinkled his nose.  “Too much blood.”

“I didn’t know fish bled that much.”

He shook his head.  “Not from the fish.”

Now, Jaycee, Jane, Lake and Kelly were coaxing flames from the coals in the hibachi on the upper level of the deck.  Katherine was on the landing, slicing the fish into edible parts with chilling efficiency while Sam and my Steve stood guard.  I had lost track of Lisa and the two other Steves.  My Steve looked over and caught my eye.  I raised my plastic cup of mostly tonic with a little gin for flavor and he smiled.

“You two are close?” Henri asked.  I glanced over at him.  He was gazing at Katherine.

“We are,” I said.

“You have known each other a long time?”

I turned in my chair to face him.  “Not that long.  We met on island.”  Henri nodded without taking his eyes off of Katherine.

I turned back and together we continued to watch Katherine.  Her arms were lean and muscled.  She was wielding the knife with sure, swift strokes.  Her hair had lightened in the sun and was held off of her face with water and drying salt.  She really was beautiful.  Had she always been that way?  “She’s still healing,” I said.  “She’s not ready.”

“Yes,” Henri said.  “I wait.”

“It could be a long time.”

Henri nodded.  “I think so.”

Lake came over and plopped himself down in the chair on the other side of me.  “I tell you, stay out of the way of lesbians with matches.”  He reached over to the cooler and pulled out a Fosters.

“You left Jane there to fend for herself?” I asked sternly.

Lake shrugged.  “She’s Australian.  She’s tough.”

I turned back and saw Jaycee, Kelly and Jane huddled around the little barbeque.  Jane had the box of matches in her hand and appeared to be explaining something to Jaycee and Kelly.  They were both watching Jane intently and nodding.  I turned back to Lake.  “I haven’t seen Sky for awhile.  What’s he up to?”

Lake tipped his beer into his mouth.  “He’s been working.  He’s getting ready to head back to the real world.”

“Is he ready?”  I worried about Sky.  He was still vulnerable.

“If we wait until he’s ready he’d never leave.”  Lake looked around.  “Are there snacks?”

I reached behind his chair and pulled out an open container of Pringles and handed it to him.

“How do you eat those things?” Henri asked with a sour expression on his face.  Henri leaned past me and said to Lake, “Sky must go back to finish his book, yes?”

“Yes,” Lake crunched down on a chip.”

“Book?”  I held my hand out and Lake put a stack of Pringles in it.

“Book” Lake took another drink from his beer can.  “Someone sent the basket ball photographs Sky took to a publisher.  They thought it would make a great coffee table book.”

“Someone?”  I reached over Lake to open the cooler.

“It was Katherine’s idea.”  Lake opened the cooler for me and held up a Fosters.  I shook my head.  “So, was the idea Sky is going to pitch the publishers for his next book,” Lake said.  He held up a Corona.  I shook my head again.

I held up my cup with a tiny bit of clear liquid at the bottom.  “What idea is that?”

Lake pulled the bottle of gin from the cooler and I nodded.  “Another coffee table book.  This time, clothes lines of the world.”

“Really?”  I handed Lake my cup.

He scooped some ice into it.  “Really.”

“Is the barbie almost ready?” my Steve called up to Jane.

“Almost,” Jaycee replied.

“Almost in lawyer time?  Or almost in real person time?” my Steve asked.

Lake poured some gin and tonic into my cup and handed it back.  Sam carried a plate loaded with filets to the upper level.  “Hope everyone is hungry,” he said as he went past us.

Henri stood up.  “I will see to the other food.  We need more than just fish.”  He stopped at the cooler and pulled a small bottle of Kettle One vodka out.

Katherine was rinsing the fish remains off the landing.  “Do you need some help?” she asked as he passed.  Henri nodded and they disappeared down the steps into the cabin.

My Steve came over and sat in Henri’s chair.  He leaned over close to me.  “Did you see my fish?”

I smiled and wiped a bit of sand from his cheek.  “I saw your fish.”

“I did good, eh?”

“You did very good.”  I kissed him lightly.

The smell of barbeque and grilling fish wafted down.  I gestured to Lake who took a Fosters from the cooler and tossed it to Steve.  Steve caught it, popped the top and took a drink.  He leaned back over to me.  “Do me a favor,” he said into my ear.  “Remind me not to get into a knife fight with Katherine.  She’s a bit frightening.”  Steve sat back in his chair.

“Right.  No knife fights.”  I took his hand.

Sam came and stood nearby, looking out at the coastline of Ant.  “Does it look to you like we’ve moved?” he asked.

We looked over the edge of the boat.  “It does look like we’re closer to the island now,” Lake said.  “Perhaps the anchor has lost its hold.”

“We should tell Henri,” Sam said.  He opened the cooler and took out a beer.  We watched as the shoreline drifted past.  Nobody moved.

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