Jose stood up, disappointment on his face. “Echo, please don’t tell me it was you.”
“It was not me, Brother Jose. But they needed to die. They were very evil.”
“Then who was it? How did they die?” Jose sat down, his posture seething with disbelief.
“It was the Womb.”
“You saw the Womb? Come on, cut the crap.”
“I did, Jose. I saw it.”
Jose took a deep breath, a grenade ready to explode. His fingers drummed impatiently on the table, the tempo escalating. “I can’t deal with this right now. Can you please keep an eye on him? I’m not in the mood for fairy tales.” Jose abruptly rose up from the table and stalked out of the room. Scotty scratched his head, ready to condemn Jose’s overreaction.
“What’s with him?”
“I don’t know, just stress. Promise me you’ll stay around the house? Stay out of trouble?”
“Yeah, I’m going back to bed if you don’t mind. I have plans later with Echo and the dogs, if that’s okay?” Scotty sounded contrite, looking to placate Abby. Why blow up on her anyway? He knew he could always count on his sister to be in his corner first and ask questions later.
“Don’t leave the island.” She put her hand on his. “You know we have to talk about this sometime.”
“Yeah, just later. Please, Ab.”
She patted his hand again. “Okay, go back to bed, kiddo.” Abby smiled, getting up to give him a quick hug. “I understand. I know how much creatures mean to you. Don’t take what Jose says to heart. He’s just trying to keep us on the down low and out of the public eye. I’ll calm him down. He just isn’t as nutty crazy as you are about creatures, so he doesn’t get it.”
“Don’t worry, Ab, I’ll convert him, sooner or later.” As Scotty left the room to head up the stairs, the entire posse, including Echo, trundled up the stairs behind him, back to bed.
Chapter 2
Scotty slept late into the afternoon, Echo and Barney already outside. Throwing on a pair of denim cutoffs and a terry cloth shirt, he ran down the grand staircase out to the terrace, hunting for his posse.
Putting the memory of last night behind him for now, he allowed himself to get jazzed about the surprise he had planned for Echo. This was just for her. Whistling for the gang, they came running in a pack; Echo holding on tight to Barney as Penny and Mimi brought up the rear. Appearing at the front of the house, Scotty cautiously slipped Echo inside the garage, mindful of unwelcome eyes.
As everyone piled into his Jeep, he lifted a baby carriage into the back of the truck, smoothing down the opaque netting which hung down over the opening. Looking up as he closed the Jeep door, Kane shouted to him from the mouth of the garage, his muscled arms standing out in relief, the sun glazing the sweat beaded on his skin.
“What’s you up to, Scotty?” His big sleepy brown eyes squinted into the cool shade of the garage.
“What are you doing here, Kane? Shouldn’t you be down at the dock with your father?” Scotty was annoyed, Kane was always trying to suck up or butt in. Penny slipped out of the vehicle and pranced over to Kane where he squatted, rubbing the soft clean fur on her well-formed head.
“Na, he’s having a meeting with Jose, so I have a few hours off. Thought I’d offer my services if you wanted to take your little put-put out.” Kane smiled innocently.
“I think I’ll pass . . . thanks anyway. Penny, let’s go, girl.” Hearing Penny whine, he saw Kane had taken a hard, fast grip on her. Sizing up the situation, he remembered Kane weighed about fifty pounds more than him, all solid muscle. Uneasy, he tried for a light tone.
“You mind letting go of my dog?”
“Why don’t you come get her? Or are you afraid to get your pretty-boy golden curls mussed up?” Kane tensed his muscles, a hard light in his eyes. Knowing a fight was inevitable, Scotty came out from behind the vehicle, noting Echo climbing down from her seat. Oh, no.
Before anyone could make another move, Barney bounded out of the vehicle, ran to Penny and lunged at Kane. Caught off guard, he fell flat onto his butt, sprawling on the driveway. Penny and Barney danced back to the vehicle, jumping in as Echo climbed back up to her seat where they all settled down.
With a laugh, Scotty got behind the wheel and started the Jeep. Feeling relieved, he edged out of the garage, giving a jaunty salute to Kane’s enraged face, then headed down the road. He’ll calm down soon enough, Scotty thought, trying to reassure himself. Too bad he’s such an ass. His life left no time or room for a boat bum like Kane. They shared nothing in common.
Putting Kane out of his mind, he looked forward to the rest of the day. Several weeks ago, Scotty, Echo and Barney had by chance discovered a path from the main road around the island to the water. They had seen a tiny strip of sand that wound unimpeded down a stretch of beach. It begged them to explore. But how to do it without outing Echo in public? Simple solution: a baby carriage. Not an ordinary carriage, of course. Forced to take Peter into his confidence in order to obtain the carriage, he had altered the wheels for the beach. They needed to be wider to ride above the sand instead of sinking in. So Peter, the professional that he was, obtained just what he required without asking intrusive questions. What harm could he come to with a baby carriage, anyway?
The unyielding midday sun enshrouded them with its relentless swelter. Scotty slipped on his sunglasses, removed the doctored carriage from the Jeep, and placed a jug of water for the dogs in the storage compartment. Lifting the opaque netting, he boosted Echo into the carriage, pinning the netting to the top so Echo could see out.
“What do you think, girl? Do you like it? It’s all yours.”
“Is this an automobile, Brother Scotty? An automobile for me?” The aura in Scotty’s mind swirled with golden fractals, almost blinding him.
“Yes, it’s a very old style car, with no engine. It must be pushed and I’m happy to do it. Now we can play on the beach, as long as we’re alone.” Echo ran her fragile leather hands over the inside lining of the carriage.
“And what is the name of this automobile? Is it Jeep like yours?”
“Nope, a different manufacturer. It’s called a Carriage. Modified. Just for you.”
“Just for me . . .” The mind aura did not ask a question, it sounded more like a statement of wonder. “I need you in my heart, Brother Scotty.” Echo reached out to Scotty. He picked her up, swinging her around in his arms as the dogs danced at his heels.
“Don’t worry, Echo, I need you in my heart too.” Laughing, he deposited her back in the carriage. Mimi stood on her hind legs, straining to see inside.
“You don’t want to miss a thing, do you girl?” Lifting Mimi, Scotty deposited her in the carriage with Echo.
“Brother Scotty, I want My Barney to ride too.”
“No, Echo, that boy’s just too big. Mimi is perfect. She’s too little for the sand and she’s your camouflage in case someone comes poking around. You just remember to dive under the covers and pull down the netting. No one will be the wiser.”
The whole gang headed for the sand, Scotty pushing the carriage over the scrub weeds until they reached the tiny beach. They were alone except for the closest mansion about five hundred feet away. They were within distant eyeshot of the mansion’s deep-water dock, containing two yachts, one a monster for sure. Scotty doubted anyone glancing their way would be able to tell what kind of dogs played on the beach, let alone how many. If approached, he would scoop up Echo and deposit her in the carriage. Little Mimi would languish there, ostensibly recovering from an injury. The ruse gave all of them a small, precious sense of freedom.
Penny loved jumping in the air after the gulls, never getting close, but convinced she was keeping them all safe from the noisy wheeling birds. Mimi watched, glassy eyed and complacent, from the carriage as Echo and Scotty chased Barney around the edge of the water, jumping and playing games of doggy tag. Echo loved being it, riding on Barney’s back as they chased down Penny and Scotty. Scotty kept his ey
e on them all, laughing at their antics or tossing a blue rubber ball for them to scramble after.
From out of nowhere, a high-pitched scream came from the direction of the mansion with the yachts, followed by the sight of a miniature chocolate furry bullet streaming toward them on the beach. The bullet was being chased by a young girl yelling frantically for it to stop. How a tiny ball of curly brown fur could keep up that pace in the hot sun was unbelievable. It danced like a ping pong ball, bouncing from one dog to another to Scotty to Echo, where it stopped, panting and staring, its dinky brown paws flush on the sand, its body prone like a sphinx. Scotty scooped up Echo, deposited her in the carriage with Mimi, then grabbed the water canister as the furry bullet’s pretty mistress flopped down on the sand next to it.
Scotty poured some water for their furry guest. He sat on the sand, joined by Barney and Penny.
“Thanks for the water, Ted gets carried away sometimes. He loves to show off for people. I’m Chloe. You a dog sitter? They can’t possibly all be yours.”
“Yeah, they’re all mine. What kind of shrimpy mutt is Ted?”
“He’s a Shih Tzu/teacup poodle. He’s six pounds with a one-hundred-pound personality. Pure alpha. Teddy, come here.” Chloe hung her head, shaking it sorrowfully as she watched Teddy climb up Penny’s back as she lay in the sand. He was so tiny, fifty-five pound Penny seemed unaware that he was there as he made his way up to her ear, which he straddled and proceeded to mate with.
“I’m Scotty Preston,” he said, watching the spectacle in front of him. “We live over on Mango Lane. You live there?” Pointing to the mansion with the deep-water dock, Scotty saw her nod.
“What’s in the carriage? You got a kid here?” Getting up, Chloe turned to the carriage. Scotty beat her to it, adjusting the netting.
“No, that’s just Mimi, she’s a Shih Tzu too, a puppy mill rescue. She can’t walk right now. She’s recovering from a spinal operation. This helps me get her outside so she can be with us.”
Chloe looked in. “Let me see. Oh, she looks like a little skunk. That’s so sweet of you.”
Scotty grabbed the handle of the carriage and prepared to run. Chloe sat back down on the sand. He relaxed and joined her, appraising her athletic build.
“You must be hot. Isn’t that terry cloth? It’s okay if you want to take off your shirt.”
“No, I’m good.”
Chloe and Scotty talked for another hour or so. Scotty felt comfortable with her, common ground easy to find. He sensed a loneliness in her which felt familiar. She was the first teenager other than Kane who he had spoken to in almost a year.
Even though at fourteen she was three years younger than him—although she had mentioned she had a birthday coming up soon—he felt comfortable enough to swap cell numbers, noticing she sure wasn’t hard to look at. He wished he could be smoother with the ladies, but he needed a lot of practice before he could set his childhood complexes aside.
“Maybe you can come visit me at my house. We have monkeys, what do you think of that? They don’t belong to me, they belong to my uncle. He looks after me when my dad’s away. My mom’s dead,” she said, wiping an unexpected stray tear. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“No, Chloe, I get it. It’s okay. My mom died too, about a year ago. My sister and I still aren’t normal yet either. That’d be cool if I could see your uncle’s monkeys,” he said, changing the subject.
Chloe turned away, shading her eyes as she stared past Scotty down the beach. Barney struggled to his feet, running off in the same direction.
“We’ve got company. Your dog seems happy to see him.” Barney was doing his best to lick the hair off Jose’s legs.
“That’s my sister’s boyfriend. He’s my best friend too.”
Jose reached the group, his eyes searching cautiously in acknowledgment of Scotty’s company.
“Where’s Echo?” Jose sounded worried. Chloe looked at the dogs.
“Did I miss one?”
“No, Echo’s in the carriage with Mimi. She’s just a cat we have,” Scotty said quickly, jumping up and introducing them, pointing to Chloe’s house down the beach.
“I think that little guy belongs to you, young lady?” Teddy was blissfully ignoring everyone, going to town on Penny’s ear again.
Getting up out of the sand, Chloe laughed as she detached Teddy from the springer’s ear, said goodbye, then headed down the beach to her house. She turned once, giving them all a wave. Jose knelt in the sand, removed his sunglasses and stroked Penny’s coppery fur.
“Chloe seems like a nice girl. This the first time you met her?”
“Yeah, we just needed to get away from the house for a while. Don’t worry, we were careful. Chloe invited me to her house. I’d like to go. She says her uncle lives there with a collection of monkeys. That’d be cool.”
“Yeah, monkeys are cool. I knew a few when I was little, a long time ago.” Jose’s face took on a distant haunted look, his eyes unreadable. Scotty thought to ask him about it when, just as fast as they had clouded, his eyes cleared. Maybe he had imagined it. Jose’s eyes now glowed so golden they were hard to read, anyway.
“Wouldn’t mind seeing them myself. Just let me know when you leave the grounds next time.” Going to the carriage, he lifted the netting. Two heads popped up.
“Hello, Brother Jose, Look at my new automobile.” Echo’s colorful aura swirled languidly.
“Your new automobile?”
“Yes, it is a Carriage, modified just for me. I am sorry I cannot give you a ride, but you have your own car. Mine is a gift from Brother Scotty.”
“Yeah, real nice, Echo. That Scotty is just full of surprises. Okay, let’s saddle up, guys. I need to have a word with Scotty, and you’d better get home now.” As they walked back to their cars, Jose told Scotty about his impending trip to New Jersey.
“That’s great,” Scotty said, realizing Jose had decided to drop the issue of last night’s rescue. He must be pretty occupied with the search for his family. They all missed Mama Diaz, being the only adult maternal presence left in their lives. And he missed Emma and Bonnie. They wouldn’t care how funny he looked. If Jose located the rest of the family and they joined them in Sarasota, his life would be much more normal. Things were starting to look up. His thoughts drifted back to Chloe. Yeah, he smiled to himself, things are definitely looking up.
“Let’s head back to the house. I’d like us to spend some time together with Abby before Peter takes me to the airport.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you back there.” Jose walked off after making sure everyone was secure; Scotty followed in the baking afternoon sun.
*
Scotty sat at the kitchen table with Abby, trying to talk to her about meeting Chloe. Jose stood at the kitchen sink, listening to him chatter on. Abby sat in her ornamental pig-iron antique kitchen chair, oblivious to it all. She was staring at Echo who, for some unfathomable reason, sat plucking white hairs out of Barney’s fur and holding them up to the sun. She guarded a small plastic jar sitting on the floor where she deposited the hairs. Well, thought Abby, at least Echo’s found something to occupy herself with. Her attention turned moodily to Jose and Scotty, who were both staring at her.
“What?” They both started in on her at the same time.
“What are you guys yelling at me about? For Pete’s sake.” She lifted her heavy hair off her neck, radiating impatience and boredom. She stood up suddenly, her chair scraping noisily on the marble kitchen floor. The dogs startled out of their placid late-afternoon snooze, heads swiveling in unison to face Abby.
“Gee, doesn’t anyone have anything to do except whine at me all the time?”
“Babe, we weren’t whining at you at all, we were just—”
“Oh, so now I’m wrong about my own feelings?” She marched over to a cabinet, took down a glass and slammed it on the counter, inadvertently breaking it. Penny immediately got up to sniff the glass that had fallen on the floor.
“Watch out
, Penny. Abby, the dogs are going to get hurt now.” Scotty got up to clean the mess.
“So now I’m hurting the dogs? Really?”
Scotty started to open his mouth. Catching Jose’s eye, he stayed silent.
“Come on, Ab.” Jose moved to put his arms around her.
“Don’t. I’m not in the mood.” Shrugging him off, she pulled out another glass and let the cold water run, the sound calming her down. Filling her glass, she mumbled, “I’m sorry,” then stalked out to the terrace where she remained for the rest of the evening, not even getting up to say goodbye to Jose as he left for the airport.
She hoped she could snap out of her malaise by the time Mama Diaz returned with the girls. Glancing down toward the dock, she saw Captain Cobby sitting alone, watching the sunset. She had been meaning to find the time to chat with him about the tension between Kane and Scotty. Scotty had filled her in on the incident in the garage, and she hadn‘t liked the sound of what could have been a disaster if Scotty’s secret had been exposed in the middle of a fight.
Slipping on her sunglasses, she adjusted her clothing, making sure everything remained properly concealed, then headed down to the dock.
Walking the short plank, she stuck her head in before going on deck.
“Permission to come aboard?”
Captain Cobby hurried to lend a hand, leaving his drink on the cocktail table near the captain’s chair at the wheel.
“Ms. Abby, you know you don’t ever need permission. The Lucky Lady belongs to you.”
“I know, Captain, but I do like to observe the niceties where I can. I hope I’m not interrupting your evening.”
“No, no, please join me.” He led her over to the cocktail area where plush green and white striped outdoor chairs were strewn about. The area could hardly be called intimate as it appeared spacious enough to hold a reception for a hundred people.
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