tale #50

Katherine and I heard the splash at the same time.  We turned to look down the dock as two Steves emerged from the shallow mucky water and pulled themselves back up onto the wooden landing.  I turned back to Katherine.

“It’s not a real party until someone goes into the water,” I said.

Katherine nodded.  “If that doesn’t cheer Jaycee up, nothing will.”

I looked around and saw Jaycee walking down the dock with her back to the commotion.  She walked by Lisa and Jane.  Jane said something but Jaycee kept moving.  In one hand she held a container of Pringles with a bow on it, a going away gift from one of the now soggy Steves.

Sam came up to the bar and set his empty can of Fosters down with a bang.  “Bar maid, another beer please,” he called.  He looked at Katherine and I both standing behind the bar.  “Bar maids,” he corrected.

Katherine had taken over the bartending duties shortly after midnight, when Manual had announced that we were out of beer and he was leaving.  “Don’t leave,” I pleaded.  “There’s still other alcohol to pour.”  I pointed to the crude shelf behind him holding an impressive array of gin, vodka and whiskey.

Manual inclined his head towards the one hundred or so large, loud, beer guzzling menwei crowding the Rumor’s dock and shook his head.  “Sorry lady, I’m not telling those guys there is no more beer.”  He poured a vodka and tonic into a plastic cup and disappeared into the fray.  Oh for goodness sake, it was bad enough that Jaycee was leaving, but to run out of beer at her party.  I took a deep breath and plunged into the crowd.

I had found Katherine and Steve standing near the make shift stage.  “Nice job on the speech,” Katherine said as I approached.  Ordinarily, I would have appreciated the compliment.  I had been nervous about being the emcee for such a momentous send off.  In fact, I had been nervous about Jaycee leaving altogether.

“When she leave’s, I’ll have to be the Jaycee.  I’m not ready for that,” I had confided to my Steve a few nights earlier.

“Don’t worry, you’re up to the task.  You’ll make a brilliant Jaycee,” Steve had assured me.

“There are many books of Oz,” Father Steve had said.  “The departure of the Tin Man and the Wizard isn’t the end of the story.”

I gestured to Katherine and Steve to lean in close.  “We’re out of beer,” I said in a low tone.  I hoped they were able to hear me over the music and boisterous voices.

Katherine looked alarmed.  Steve looked at me doubtfully.  “Did you just say that we’re…” he started.  Katherine grabbed his arm and shook her head.  Steve stopped himself from finishing his sentence.

I nodded.  The three of us huddled in close.  “Well, this isn’t good,” Steve said, as a roar went up from behind us.  We turned and saw two Steves arm wrestling with Mountain Mike.

“Alright,” Katherine said.  “Let’s not panic.”

“Who has beer?” I asked.

“Right,” Steve said.  “I’ll get house keys from Sam and the Steves.  You get them from Lake and Jane.”

“We can take my truck.” I nodded towards the parking lot.  Steve and I looked at Katherine.  “You’ll have to bartend until we get back,” I said.  Another roar arose from the crowd.  “It’s probably best not to mention the no beer situation,” I added.

It was Katherine’s turn to look doubtful.  “Exactly how am I supposed to do that?”

“Turn the music up,” Steve suggested.  “And when someone asks for a beer, pretend you can’t hear them.  Just hand them something else.  Everyone here is far enough along, they’ll drink what you give them.”

An hour later, Steve and I had raided the beer stock of what seemed like most of the menwei on island.  We had scored a large supply of Bud and Fosters, and a smattering of  Corona.  It was odd routing around in people’s houses when they weren’t there, even with permission.  You learned a lot about people that way.  At one house, in the very back of the refrigerator, we had found a hoard of Fat Tire ale.  “Would you look at that,” Steve had commented.  “I was here a few days ago and these weren’t on offer.  Selfish bastard.”

“We can’t take them,” I had objected when Steve started to pull a six-pack out.

Steve looked at me and sighed regretfully.  “Ah, yahh.  You’re right.”  He set the six-pack back on the shelf and then brightened.  “We can take one,” he said as he popped the cap off of a bottle.

We returned with enough brew to prevent rioting, if not last to the end of the party.  Lake was waiting for us as we came down Rumour’s steep drive.  “Good thing we didn’t panic,” Lake had said as he helped us unload our haul, “we could have all been killed.”

Now, Sam pulled himself up to see over the bar to the ice chests at our feet.  He surveyed the remaining beer, mostly Bud with a few Coronas tucked in, no Fosters left.  “I’ll have a gin and tonic,” he said.  Katherine pulled a clear plastic cup from the stack hidden behind the bar and poured a generous amount of gin into it.  She added a splash of the remaining tonic and a few cubes from the ice chest.  She finished it with a squirt of juice from a green plastic lime, also procured in our foraging.

“Cheers,” Sam said as Katherine handed it to him.

I looked around for the guests of honor and saw Jaycee now sitting next to Kelly in one of the side nahs.  “You okay here?” I asked Katherine.

Katherine nodded as she waved to Lisa and her husband Steve on their way to the parking lot.  Steve was weaving slightly as Lisa steered him with his elbow.  “The natives are getting tired.”  Katherine looked at her watch.  “It’s 3:00 a.m.”

“Leaving already?” I called out to Lisa.

“Makin’ an early night if it,” Lisa called back.  I picked up two bottles of water and walked around the bar and down the dock.  Jaycee was sitting with her feet up on another chair, slumped down with her eyes closed.  Kelly was next to her, watching the bobbing lights of a boat in the harbour.  I set a bottle down in front of Jaycee and one in front of Kelly.  “How we doing?” I asked, pulling out a chair.

Jaycee opened her eyes.  “Ten more hours.”  The weekly flight to Hawaii left at 1:00 p.m.  She shut her eyes again.  I glanced down at her bare arm and didn’t see a watch.  How did she know the time?

Someone shut the music off and there was a moment of silence.  A low murmur from the thinning crowd started up.  Kelly smiled at me.  “We should start cleaning up,” she said.  “Manual can’t go home until we leave.”  I followed her gaze down the dock to the next nah, where Manual was curled up sleeping under the table.

“In a moment,” I said, “he looks comfortable enough for now.”

I didn’t think Jaycee was paying attention, but she opened her eyes again.  “I’ve taught you well, grasshopper.”

“Grasshopper?  I thought I was Dorothy.”

Jaycee waived away my comment.  “We all start out Dorothy,” she said.  She grinned at me, a quintessential Jaycee grin.  “But only some of us grow into the Wizard.”  She closed her eyes again.  “Nine hours, fifty minutes.”