Storyville

by Caldon Mull

“Yes.” I drew in a deep breath. “Yes he would, and if you ever told him, I would be… very angry.”

  “Oh, Acey.” Cat purred “I wouldn’t tell him. I guess he’s the one I’m flying down to Florida, isn’t it?”

  “Yes it is.” I smiled, impossible to stay angry with her for long. “Just make sure he’s safely there and fly him back when he’s ready.”

  “‘Cat the Babysat’ at your service.” She giggled. “Ooo, look! There’s June. Who’s she with?”

  “Hmmm, that’s George from accounts.”

  “Hmph.” Cat smiled sweetly “He must be infecting her with his extra pounds… she’s looking positively… matronly.”

  “Dear… try to be nice.” I hissed “You remember what that is. We’re still friends, and everything else between us is finally sorted. Don’t go stirring up things that are long past. Oh, look… Lizzie is calling. Get yourself some juice and I’ll be along in a half-hour or so.”

  “Be like that, then. Off you go.” Cat sighed melodramatically “I’ll go and keep Junie company.”

  “Be… Nice.” I hissed, moving towards the conference room where Lizzie was gesturing. Three or four steps later, almost about to turn back and rescue June when I saw Bobby just inside the room. “Hey.” I said quietly, putting my hand on his shoulder as he took a sip of juice.

  “Wow.” Bobby turned and grinned happily “You look… you…”

  “Back at ya.” I slipped my hand into his quickly, squeezed it. “Really, you do.” I whispered. “I thought that Lizzie was jes’ being silly, but… man we some good-lookin’ boys here tonight. Somethin’ to be proud of… somethin’ to remember our whole lives…” Bobby’s eyes moistened with the intensity of his feelings. I could almost feel his heart swelling in his chest, knowing his body the way I did.

  “I ain’t the one you gotta convince no more, Cappy.” I grinned as we took our places on the benches and endured all the waving and pointing from the Gypsy Lady in her cloud of blue tobacco smoke. Gramps was there, helping with the cords and the lighting, his wrinkled neck sticking out of his tux collar red with effort. I grinned watching them moving together, no need for speaking or for directions, all the shared company etched in their every movement, directing them at tasks without even so much as a word between them. I rubbed my shoulder against Bobby’s quickly and he pressed back instantly.

  After the photo shoot, we put the trophy in the glass cage and the jerseys into the display cabinet and took more pictures with the Council Fathers, all of them sour looking individuals, we finally escaped the room to the more festive atmosphere of the roof wetting. I spotted Cat busy speaking to Black Bear and steered Bobby to meet them, most likely my panic at rescuing Black Bear coloring my judgment.

  “Ah, Mourning Song and Running Deer.” Black Bear grinned at our approach, whispering something in Cat’s ear, her peals of rich laughter ringing in the room.

  “Who’d have thought the brain and the legs behind the League Bowl.” Cat grinned, turning. She stopped dead in her tracks as we approached. “Oh… it’s you!”

  “Who did you think, dear?” I forced a grin and introduced her to Bobby.

  “Ah… hello foxy Lady.” He flushed as he took her hand “I don’t know if you remember me…”

  “… the boy with the Lodge…” she stared at him in his tux, her glass halfway to her mouth, forgotten. “…which one are you? Running Deer?”

  “No, that’s Andy. I’m Mourning Song. Robert-Lee Hoskins at your service ma’am.”

  “Acey? You have a Tribal Name? You… you’re Running Deer? Andy? You’re Andy, too…”

  “Yes, I am.” I sighed “And you’re the pilot to take Bobby to Florida.”

  “All the stories… Running Deer and the flood and… and Black Bear’s son… and the Trophy… is all you?”

  “Yes.” I gritted my teeth, wandering why I had brought her through here after all. I loved her, wanting to strangle her was a perfectly normal reaction and one I had forgotten I’d had so often in the past. “Bobby here owns the Lodge. He’s Mourning Song.”

  “Oh.” Cat blinked and resumed her self-control “Well… Mr. Hoskins, any business partner of the Trust Company shouldn’t have to worry about any arrangements. You’ll be well taken care of while you’re in Florida. Acey… Mr. Finch… here was kind enough to make all the arrangements for as long as it takes…”

  “Please call me Bobby, Cat.” Bobby grinned and dropped her hand.

  “And please… please. Please. Call me ‘Andy’, Cat. I insist.” I smiled like my teeth were going to crack. “I guess Parsons hasn’t kept you in the loop.”

  “Business only.” Cat smiled guiltily. “I haven’t really paid much attention, lately.”

  “Ah… you know each other?” Bobby shifted from foot to foot, anxious.

  “For a long time.” I smiled at him, reassuringly “We’re… old friends. Tell you what, why don’t you take Cat around the Lodge and show her all the villas and the lake and everything else you’ve put in. Make her see how it’s going to be a class-action business. Tell her how you’re already fully booked for summer this year.”

  “Oh, of course.” Cat smiled and remembered to finish her sip. “Please, Bobby give me the tour. I’ve already said to …Andy… that the place really looks beautiful. Unique concept…” their voices drifted away as the crowd swallowed them.

  “She has her fathers eyes, I think.” Black Bear looked at me and smiled.

  “She has my mothers eyes as well.” I looked up and sighed. “It is sometimes difficult to remember that our world is not the world we are living in now. I did not think it would be so … uncomfortable… talking to her now that I am not the boy I was, when she knew me first.”

  “People grow. Things change.” Black Bear shrugged and then did a surprising thing. He took me by both my hands in his “For my son, Running Deer… I thank you with all my heart. Please come by on Saturday before sunset when we put him to rest. That his spirit has peace at long last is all your doing.”

  “Thank you, Black Bear.” I swallowed. “I will be there.”

  “Yes.” The old man smiled at me “You will always be there, your spirit is too great to be anywhere else. It needs all this space.”

  “Perhaps you are right, Black Bear.” I grinned and rubbed his shoulder gently.

  “I know I am.” He grinned at me putting his hat back on “Not just for you, Running Deer. Mourning Song has often come through and stared at the Lake when he is troubled. The week before you won your tin cup he was there almost every morning, drinking tea in the dawning light and watching the Lake. He thinks so hard, as well. All of my grandsons’ braves seem to be tied to this lake, but you and Mourning Song most keenly. You are very similar, you two… more than you know. Farewell, Running Deer. I will see you soon.”

  “And I you.” I embraced the old man and watched him go.

  “Andy. There you are.” June’s voice cut through my reverie as I watched Black Bear leave through the front door.

  “Oh… Hi Junie, hello George.” I smeared a quick smile on my face. “I should have warned you Cat was around.”

  “You know her?” George goggled.

  “Yip, for my sins.” I rolled my eyes. “She was never really happy I started going with Junie- bug here.” I chucked her chin and she giggled “I trust she wasn’t too rude.”

  “No, of course not.” June smiled “You shouldn’t be so hard on her, you know. She can be quite a dear.”

  “Hmph. I’ll smile and say ‘Of course’… although I’d have to be slam-drunk before I’d mean it.”

  “Sooo… this is probably why you’re leaving the company. I was trying to figure out how you are involved in all of this, but I can’t see it.”

  “You… leaving?” George blinked.

  “Ah. I’ve said too much.” June flushed “Yes dear, Andy is only with us for another… six… or is it eight… weeks now.”

  “It’s five, nice try.” I grinned tightly “And no, I�
�m not having anything to do with the Lodge. Mark Butcher and his fiancé Lizzie are running it, Bobby-Lee Hoskins owns it and I’m picking up consulting work with NASA because of their array just over the State Line. If I need to travel, I’ll be using the Company ‘strip now and again but that’s about all. I’ll probably get my kayak onto the lake every morning until it gets too cold, but that’s about it.”

  “I smell your hand in this somehow, Finch.” June smiled through the frosting on her cocktail “I always could tell when you were behind something.”

  “Heh.” I grinned ruefully “Yes, you could. George, don’t worry about missing our handball games. I’m still going to get our Friday match in.” I patted his belly. “You looking good, though, lost another what? Seven pounds…?”

  “Nine.” George grinned suddenly “I’m eating less now as well, and trying some of those snack bars you gave me. Even Junie here has lost three and she’s not even dieting.”

  “I’m getting another juice. Your Bar open?” June smiled and sipped the last juice out of her glass.

  “Not ‘til next week. Slow license trail. Sorry. I’m sure there’s some mint tea and coffee deserts… but no hooch out here yet. The New Bar only opens tonight as part of the function… ‘an when all the Town fathers clear outta here.”

  “Ah, well, patience.” June sauntered off.

  “Ah…” George cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

  “Hmmmm?” I looked into his earnest brown eyes. “What for?”

  “Y’know… dragging me off lunch for some exercise… dropping the health bars off with me. I thought… I thought… I’d hate you, the first time I saw you, tossing all those boxes around and me completely finished… I thought… I…”

  “George? You OK?” I said, alarmed.

  “Nah… I’m wanting to say this for nearly two years now Andy, lemmie finish…?”

  “Sure, sport.” I shrugged, curious as to where this was going.

  “Now all the guys are looking at me and saying ‘what’s he got that Finch hasn’t?’ and I’m looking good and feeling even better. Andy… I’m gonna take good care of her, she’s happy an’ I’m gonna keep it that way. I promise.”

  “Good for you sport.” I knuckled his chin. “Happy and healthy… both a’ ya’s… George?” “Hmmm?” he looked up

  “We’re men, right?” I nibbled the inside my cheek thinking “Doesn’t matter how tall or how rich or how we sit a saddle… if we ain’t got it fer a lady, that thing she needs that she can’t find anywhere else, then we jes’ don’t got it. Someone else’ll want what you got, but you only get one chance to find out, followin’ me so far?”

  “Yeah, think so…” he blinked, nodding.

  “So I had my chance with Junie an’ I fell short. You gotta chance and you hit it right on the nail. Don’t spend so much time tryin’ to make her happy. Enjoy, be happy an’ be yourself… as long as you are all that, she’ll be happy and if you treat her good as well… you’ll never lose her.”

  “Ah…” George grinned “What’s all the joggin’ and exercise?”

  “Ummm…” I whispered and winked at him slyly “The fitter the bodies, the better the sex… Tell me you not noticin’ that with you two?”

  “I… am.” George purpled and gasped with embarrassment “I thought it was just…”

  “Hmmm.” I grinned and nudged him, “Try takin’ long, slow Sunday morning walks and tell me how your afternoons go…” I chuckled, he was almost taking notes in his head. “I’m gonna mingle, man. Here she comes with a Julip for you.”

  “Thanks, man.” George grinned at me and looked at June with shining eyes.

  I wandered through the crowd, spent some time with Jase and with Shane and Linda, found Dean and Cain and Patricia and made small talk all the while. Bobby and Cat flitted in and out and when it was time to put the numbered Jerseys on display, I was finished with meeting new people and from seeing so many faces all in one room.

  Michel and Carlos bumped into me and I grinned when Michel told me he had been offered a deal to register his Log Cabin design and franchise it for royalties. He reckoned he could make a tidy sum each year without ever lifting another finger in the kit-house market. Also, if Bobby’s partnership with The Trust could bring out three more Lodges like this one, the royalty fees would make Michel very well off… but I knew that already. Cat had delivered the agreements to him this morning and I pretended not to notice while he poured through the documents.

  Carlos was also bubbling with news, him and Mama Garibaldi had put in a joint venture tender to run a restaurant in the Lodge and Mark and Lizzie had confirmed their bid a few hours ago. Carlos would be running the joint venture from the Lodge and shipping to all the local centers in and around Storyville, fifty miles in all directions, right up to Local Town and the Trucker Lounge. Things were looking up for almost everyone.

  Michel had always said they would ship more out of the bakery if only they could get the stuff loaded, being a small town and having cramped alleys. Not being able to change the building in any way was also a limit to what they could do. Now, it seemed that the Lodge kitchen was ten times bigger, easier to unload into as many vans as were waiting, and the town store could concentrate on deserts, confectionaries and chocolates that the old man was training Georgie, the youngest son, at long last.

  Little Georges and Poppa D’Almeida could concentrate on the refrigerated stuff and the vans would be full of stuff both into and out of town. Nice and efficient, and as simple as it could be. That meant that Carlos had virtually free reign to a niche market with none of the troubles in logistics and supplies that had kept them limited for the last 20 years.

  As the Town Suits and Council Fathers trickled out close to ten, we circulated the news that the New Bar was open and invited everyone in to the room. We had some soft music playing, a Wurlitzer jukebox and table snacks that were a little more down-to-earth than the reception area snack buffet. I cracked open a beer and poured Cat a glass of wine and most of us split into little huddles and talked nonsense for awhile while Pops rested at the bar slugging Jack shots and gypsy lady circulated with a camera and took photo’s of all the squaddies and their wives for the photo-wall. I much preferred this style, I was hoping in years to come the photo-wall and the jersey Cabinet would tell a different story of what we had done this season, what it had taken. I suppose with Dean, Alex and Flash coming and going over the next few years it would also give a reminder to them of how we did it… something to ground yourself with, if it ever came to that. People laughed, people joked… Cat and I danced together a bit to some Fleetwood Mac, with Flash and Meat and Lizzie and Betty, Cain and Patricia and Shane and Linda, and Will Dekker and his date.

  At midnight we closed up the Bar, and people left in mostly-sober, good-natured groups. Cat, Will Dekker and a few others had booked to stay over, so we filed them into reception and let the staff check them in. All- in-all, I was impressed with the speed and service our new staff cleared the customers through and I was secretly pleased that the programs I had written to check in the rooms and create the accounts worked so well.

  A few more hours of polishing that code and I could sell the Front of House software package, as well. The profits on that would more than balance the Lodge investment, everything looked to pay off handsomely.

  A Beaker of coffee was brought through to me while I hovered anxiously, Cat’s room checked and ready, Will’s room checked and ready, Cain’s room checked and ready… average of five minutes a room. I relaxed while Lizzie rounded them up for another photograph. Two of our porters hovered and then started leading our first guests to their cabins and rooms.

  Yawning hugely, I gave Cat her room key and Meat and Lizzie walked Cat’s tog-bag through with her to her cabin. I poured a coffee and sat down in reception while the Lodge emptied out of people. Bobby joined me shortly, tugging his bow-tie loose and ruffling his hair out of the careful style it had been gelled into. I grinned at him.

  “Yo
u look like a million bucks. I could just eat you up.”

  “Heh! Hope so.” He winked, holding his mug carefully between his big hands. “We goin’ soon? You look way tired.” He swirled the coffee around and around, watching it.

  “Yeah, I think so. What’s up?” Bobby wasn’t fooling me one bit. I knew him too well. “You got Cat down here to fly me to Miami? Just like that?” He looked up, sipped his coffee.

  “Yip. I thought that they would appreciate seein’ what you’ve done, an’ while they were here they could spend some time with the owner.” I shrugged. “Investors get really nervous when they don’t get to see what they getting’ a piece of. With all of this here, why not show off a bit… what you done in the time you did it, and what it looks like… damn! That’s really something to be proud of. Almost everyone who touched somethin’ here is gonna come out of it a better person. You not just building a lodge, dude… you changing lives all around you for the better, an’ I’m so proud to be here, my heart just wants to burst.” I cleared my throat, all choking up. “I’m proud of you, Bobby-Lee Hoskins.” I whispered “I’m proud to know you.”

  “That means a lot to me, Andy.” Bobby looked up, eyes moist “You have no idea how much you mean to me… how much this means to me.” He sniffed, swallowed more coffee “I… I don’t think I deserve this, somehow.”

  “Crap. Look deep inside, my friend, look carefully.” I growled “Tell me that you didn’t work for this.”

  “I… I can’t.” Bobby smiled wearily “I’ve looked and… I guess it’s been so much fun it didn’t feel like work. You’re right.”

  “You got your football fans here every weekend watching big screen, your away teams stayin’ over here for the weekend for the whole of next season, you got some of the best food for miles around right here, an’ you fully booked for your first six months… and you say you didn’t work?” I laughed “You a liar, Bobby- Lee…”

  “C’mon, the drive is getting’ longer the more we sit here, let’s go home.” He stood up and stretched, his ribs rippling under the thin shirt-cloth.