Swimming with the Angels

by Colin Kersey

  -Genesis 3:19

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  “Heard you were injured yesterday,” Stu said at breakfast. “That why you didn’t come to dinner?”

  I set the coffee cup down carefully before any sloshed out. “I missed seeing some beer bottles while mowing with the hammerknifer up by the road.”

  “You see a doctor?”

  “Vonda took care of it.”

  Bandages covered the worst of my injuries, but guilt was tattooed on my face when I had looked in the mirror that morning.

  “From what I heard,” Valerie said, “that ain’t all she took care of.”

  Vonda’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. I felt like I had been kicked in the walnuts. Valerie was the one person on the planet that I could trust, and I had betrayed her. Was she now about to start a war at the dining table? Although I had tried muffling Vonda’s grunts, groans, and profane exclamations during our lovemaking, it now seemed possible that she had overheard us. From habit, I took a quick inventory of all the cutlery and their location on the table. My dad had never actually tried to murder me during our dinnertime brawls, but given his thundering threats and sometimes physical blows, I was never sure of his intent.

  Stu stared at Valerie, then me, before turning to Vonda sitting next to him. “What’s she saying?”

  “I have no idea,” Vonda said. “What are you saying, Val?”

  “You know,” Valerie said.

  “No,” Vonda said icily. “I don’t, actually.”

  Virgil had heard enough. “You girls going to sit there and squabble all day, or can we get to work? Today’s an important day. The prize money for catching Moses has been raised, which means we will see at least as many or more folks today as last Saturday and Sunday. In addition, I got a call from the real estate developer Stu mentioned being interested in our property. He is coming up today and bringing his wife and kid. Said he thought they might do a little fishing and kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Daddy?” Valerie asked. Her voice trembled. “Where would we go? This is the only place I know. It took years for me to figure out where everything is, and that was with Momma helping me.”

  “Now listen, darlin,’” Virgil said. “Ain’t nothing set in stone. Bob’s just looking around, talking to the bank, maybe seeing what could be done about developing the trout farm if he bought it. Take a lot of money to pull something like that off. In addition to the cost of the property, you have got infrastructure to worry about, fees, permits, taxes. Be a sizable investment before you could ever sell a lot or reap a penny of profit. I guess Bob must have the thing figured out.” He chuckled. “I may be just a farmer, but I’m smart enough to leave the financial details to the accountants.”

  Neither Stu nor Vonda laughed as Valerie’s earlier comment continued to fester. In my guilt-ridden state, I had noted Virgil’s use of the word “stone” not just once, but twice. Stoning, as I recalled from my days in Junior High Baptist Bible Camp, was the Biblical punishment for adultery. I sprang from my chair and began carrying dishes to the sink.

  Valerie ignored me as I loaded the dishwasher. Once the others left, I noticed that the house was quiet. Too quiet.

  “What’s with your birds? Why aren’t they chirping this morning?”

  “They flew the coop,” she said.

  I wiped my hands on a dish towel and went to look. The cage door stood empty. A few tiny yellow feathers were all that remained among the scraps of newspaper and seed husks.

  “I must have forgotten to close the cage when I fed them,” Valerie said from the kitchen.

  “Are they somewhere in the house?”

  “Nope. They’re gone.”

  I watched Valerie from the doorway. From everything I had observed, being less than careful was not part of her repertoire. Was she so upset about the possible sale that she let the birds out, or was it something else? Something more worrisome? Was letting the tiny birds go a message to me?

  Perhaps it was for the best. If Catania was right, the cartel could be knocking on the door any day now. Meanwhile, Stu seemed certain the farm was about to sold. And thanks to Valerie’s provocative comments at breakfast, I now had Stu’s potential revenge to worry about. Delaying my departure suddenly seemed insanely imprudent. I needed to leave. Now.

  “I’m sorry,” I said to her.

  “Yeah.” She ran a finger over the cutting edge of a knife. “I bet you say that a lot.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  The locals turned out that Saturday in record numbers for the chance to catch Moses and not only collect a check for $1500, but earn bragging rights forever. As Nathan had predicted, the smaller, recently introduced trout were easy to catch. So easy, in fact, that by mid-morning, we had already cleaned more fish than the total for our best day previously. I wished I could say it was a fine thing, all these people communing with nature, but, at some point, it turned into a fishy-smelling slaughter.

  The work was steady and wearying. Stu and Vonda cleaned fish while I handed out poles, baited hooks, and knotted leaders and tried to keep everyone from killing each other when their lines got crossed. Though she refused to talk, Valerie brought us sandwiches and sodas at noon.

  Meanwhile, I kept shooting glances toward the parking lot where I had seen a couple of burly guys exit a black SUV. My survival instinct was now on high alert and my overwrought brain was screaming “Danger!” I began hastily considering where to go without endangering others if I had to make a run for it. The tiny cabin would not do; I would be trapped. Better to take my chances in the woods.

  I also spotted Stu, arms crossed over his chest, watching me from a distance. My stomach flopped around like a fish on land.

  As it turned out, the two men I had mistaken for killers were just interested in fishing.

  A cry rose like a wave from the other side of the big pond. After jogging to a vantage point where I could see past the tree-covered island, I spotted an older teenage boy opposite me, his fishing pole bowed in half.

  “We caught Moses!” his girlfriend shrieked.

  Everyone stopped to watch as the fish made a run. Even twenty yards away, I could hear line spooling off the reel in a high-pitched whine. Then there was a loud splash followed quickly by an audible snap as the nylon fishing line parted. A collective groan rose from the crowd of onlookers.

  Moses was clearly not going to give up without a fight. I smiled to myself as I climbed the hill to check on how Vonda was doing. She wiped an arm across her brow. Even with dark stains on her apron and a smear of blood on her cheek, she still looked sexy as hell.

  “How about if I take over for a bit? You look like you could use a breather.”

  “I would kill for a hot bath and a glass of wine, but it’s going to take the two of us to handle the crowd wanting their fish cleaned.”

  “Stu say anything more about Valerie’s comment this morning?”

  “He’s acting like a lit stick of dynamite, being rude to customers, throwing fish guts on the lawn.” She shook her head. “He’s also been asking lots of questions, like what was I doing in the cabin, how long was I gone, and why didn’t I let Valerie tag along. I told him she’s just pissed that I cleaned up your wounds.”

  “‘Pissed’ doesn’t begin to cover it. Valerie says her canaries escaped, but I’m worried,” I said.

  “You think she let them go?”

  I shrugged.

  “You probably figured out by now she thinks you belong to her. Can’t really say that I blame her. There ain’t a lot of options up here.”

  “Is that what attracted you to me? A lack of options?”

  Vonda measured one trout carefully before speaking and then only when she was turned toward me so that the customers would not overhear. “Guess I’ve managed to make a mess out of your life as well as my own.”

  “For what it’s worth, my life was already a mess.”

  Working together, the line of people quickly e
vaporated. Another cry from the pond drew our attention so we were both facing downhill. I remembered her scent from the day before and had a suicidal urge to pull her body tight and kiss the place where her neck became her shoulder. With no one looking, I reached out a hand toward her back, like a drowning man reaching for the surface, and knowing I couldn‘t get there.

  “Stu will probably kill us both,” I said.

  “You might be right, but I ain’t sorry. Not one little bit.” She reeled around to face me, a look of fury on her face. “What if all we get on earth is this? Just a few minutes of stolen bliss surrounded by acres and acres of neglect and heartache and a few feeble attempts to drown the pain?” She peeled off her rubber gloves and threw them down on the cleaning table.

  “And by the way, it would have been nice to share a little sweet talk afterwards, something to make a girl feel like you cared.” She took a step toward the house before pausing. “I thought you were different, but you’re just the same as Stu. The least you could do is pretend that you cared more about me as a person than an inflatable sex toy.”

  What the hell? For a woman who had seemed so eager to have sex at the drop of a hat, she now demanded post-coital chitchat? Was it the remote location, lack of neighbors, or something in the water that made everyone crazy? Or was it me? The longer I stayed here, the more I was in over my head, swimming with the trout.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  I was brushing fish scales from the cleaning table when Virgil arrived.

  “I thought I better catch you up on things,” he said.

  “You sold the farm,” I said.

  He nodded. “Escrow is in sixty days, which will give us time to sell off the machinery and clear everything out.”

  So that was that. I was back to Square One. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.

  “There’s a couple things I should mention,” I said.

  Virgil looked like I had peed on his Rockports. “Go on,” he said warily.

  “That time I broke into Stu’s closet to look for the chemicals, I saw a roll of blueprints. I think he’s been planning the sale of the farm for a long time.”

  Virgil did not seem surprised. “I wouldn’t doubt it. I’m sorry my daughter married him. I never thought he was worth a damn. The two of them can ride off into the sunset if that’s their desire.”

  “One more thing,” I said. “You have probably noticed how unhappy Valerie is over the prospect of a sale.”

  “Oh, that,” Virgil said. “That’s just women stuff. A guy will get angry or sad, maybe drink it off. Next day, he is back to normal. Women, on the other hand, need to mope around for a few days. That is just the way they deal with things. Nothing to get worked up about. It’s just their nature. In some ways, I believe women are tougher than us men. Didn’t you have any sisters to learn from when you were growing up?”

  “No, I didn’t. And you’re right. There’s a lot I don’t understand about women.” How my poor Heide would have laughed at that.

  “Don’t you worry,” Virgil said. “I’ll find a little place close to town for Valerie, her dog and me. She can cook and clean just like she does now, and everything will be fine.”

  I doubted Valerie would agree that everything was just fine like her father assumed. “I don’t think she’s ever gotten over the loss of her mother. The death of the single most important person in her life must have been devastating, especially with Valerie so dependent on her mother for her schooling and social development.”

  “Uh huh,” Virgil said.

  I felt the ice beneath me shift. “I guess what I’m suggesting is that she might benefit by seeing a therapist.”

  “A therapist?” Virgil reacted as if I had suggested locking Valerie in a room with a serial killer. “You must think my Valerie’s crazy and that I’m crazy, too. Them shrinks act like they believe everybody is a pervert.”

  I had been expecting an argument, but not this.

  “Homosexuals and atheists, most of ‘em,” Virgil continued. “I wouldn’t trust a therapist for one minute with Valerie. I read a magazine once said they have been known to hypnotize a woman and take advantage of her. And I guarantee this—” Virgil pointed a finger at me like it was a gun. “If you tell one something personal, it would be all over the Valley the next day.”

  I thought of mentioning the fact that such behavior was illegal, not to mention unethical, and would result in the loss of a license to practice, but I did not think Virgil was interested in another of my opinions.

  “You ever visited one of these so-called therapists?” Virgil asked.

  “No,” I admitted.

  Virgil shook his head. “People in California must think different than us simple country folk. We’d never so much as tell a stranger what was going through our heads as we’d take down our pants and relieve ourselves in public.”

  “You listen to me, young man. If I have told you once, I have told you a dozen times to keep your ideas about me, my family, and this farm to yourself. I explained the rules your first day here. This is my farm, my fish, and my daughters. I will take care of them without any interference from you. You want it different, you can leave now. Got me?”

  Virgil did not wait for an answer. I watched as the older man stomped back toward the house in his Rockports.

  ***

  Vonda was notably absent from dinner.

  “Where’s your wife?” Virgil asked.

  “Said she thought she might have a touch of the stomach flu,” Stu said.

  He had not eaten any of his food and was stirring it around on his plate with his fork.

  “By the way, what did you mean this morning, Val?” Stu asked.

  She cocked her head. “About what?”

  “You said, ‘That’s not all she took care of.’”

  “Why don’t you ask her?”

  It was so quiet that I could hear the fan blades turning overhead and the faint hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. I missed the cheeriness of the canaries. Their musical repertoire may have been limited, but never tedious.

  “I’m asking you, Sis.”

  I was preparing to shove my chair away from the table to fight when Valerie saved us from Armageddon.

  “I heard she helped clean up his place. Said it was a ‘fucking disaster.’”

  “Since when do you use profanity?” Virgil asked.

  “Just repeating her words,” Valerie said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  I retreated to the cabin where I leaned against the porch railing. Trout rose to feed upon the water bugs skittering across the pond, sending silent circles rippling across the surface. The first stars of the evening were becoming visible in the evening sky.

  I saw my darkened reflection in the pond’s water and could not recognize myself. What happened to that young man—the one with big dreams and a respect for proper behavior? I had arrived at the farm without hope, desperate to hide from the cartel. Miraculously, I had discovered a place of incredible beauty and a family who took me in and helped me heal. And how did I repay them? By betraying not only Stu, but Valerie and causing jealousy to turn the family inside out. Now, I needed to disappear again before I caused any more trouble.

  Prior to being shot and my wife murdered, a job as a maintenance man for a trout farm would have been my last choice for employment. But the job had turned out to be ideal except for one minor detail: the people living here were the picture of a dysfunctional family. Everyone had an agenda that conflicted with everyone else. Virgil wanted a son. Stu wanted money to buy freedom from people. Vonda wanted someone to take her away from here to a life of fancy homes and clothes and travel. And sex. Valerie desperately wanted a husband, but what I suspected she really needed was a psychologist—someone to heal her from the grief and hurt locked inside since her mother’s death.

  A large white moth fluttered about the cabin’s porch light and I wondered if it was Heide’s spirit come to comfort me.

  Heide and I had not talked
about having kids. We didn’t have the chance to get that far along. And I never told her this, but it was the first thing I thought of when I met her. Well, maybe not the first thing, but definitely the second.

  It was no matter now. “Water under the bridge” as my mother used to say. Trouble found me once, but I got lucky. Now it had sunk its teeth into me, and I did not think it would ever let go.

  Even if I were able to locate the money and move it before anyone else got their hands on it, the odds were slim that I would ever be able to spend it. The cartel or the FBI would likely track me down. Even so, it was worth a try. Other than my miserable life, I did not have much to lose.

  By now, I had entertained dozens of password possibilities and had written down a list of ten from which to cull two or three finalists. After analyzing Heide’s behavior and habits, I felt I might be getting close to figuring it out. Or maybe not.

  I about to turn in when a loud noise in the water startled me. I spotted a wake fanning out against the surface of the pond that seemed far too large for a trout or a duck. Whatever it was disappeared on the other side of the island which remained outside the cabin’s light.

  I retrieved a flashlight from the cabin. By the time I reached the eastern edge of the pond, however, the wake had disappeared. I waited patiently for a long minute before a swirl in the water caught my attention. I hurried after it, anxious not to lose sight of whatever it was. Then the beam from the flashlight fell upon a sea monster plowing the water in exhausted fury.

  “It’s a fucking submarine,” I said in an awed whisper.

  The behemoth was swimming slowly while towing something. As I watched, the fish swung his tail in a wide arc that sent ripples lapping noisily against the shore. Several yards behind him, a tree root surfaced, then sank again.

  Valerie opened the door at my knock.

  I handed her a large trash bag. “I need some ice cubes. As many as you can spare.”

  She cocked her head to the side the way she often did. “Are you having a party?”

  “Don’t ask questions, okay? There isn’t time.”