Out on the Sound

by R. E. Bradshaw

  Decky spent an hour answering emails, her ankle in or out of a bucket of ice every twenty minutes. Her editor needed to know if she was closer to completion of her next book proposal. Decky had spent the last two years gathering research for her next book. She was a stickler for detail, a fact that had won both previous books awards for historical accuracy. With a movie deal in the works, her editor was anxious to get more titles out there, anticipating a demand for more material. Decky was in no rush. The research was the best part. It was the hunt for information that gave Decky the most satisfaction.

  There were a few emails from the graduate students she hired to do research in the State Archive in Raleigh. The students worked part time for Decky, pulling files and documents, scanning them into the computer and emailing them to Decky. They also helped with her Genealogy business. What started as a project for her mother had turned into an obsession. Once finished with her family’s tree, if one is ever finished, Decky started looking up family trees for friends. The family research business had been spawned from the number of requests for information she received. Some people do crosswords to relax. Decky did genealogy.

  Spam dumped, emails returned, Decky Googled Charlie. She wasn’t investigating Charlie. She wanted to know everything about her. That whole, ‘Where have you been all my life?’ thing. They were about the same age, so had experienced the world much the same. Decky, however, was on the progressive east coast, while Charlie grew up on the buckle of the Bible belt. Experience made you who you were. What experiences had Charlie had? It was what Decky did. Truly to understand them, Decky studied people and events, in their historical and social context.

  Dr. Charlene Ann Warren had a few hits. Decky checked out the listing for Who’s Who of College and University Professors. It basically contained information she already knew. She scrolled down the page to several listing in The News Star, a newspaper out of Monroe, Louisiana. The first article she read was from 1995. Dr. Warren it seems was hired at the University of Louisiana at Monroe to be the new head softball coach that year. Charlie had not mentioned that fact. Along with her coaching duties, she would join the Mathematics faculty. She had been a graduate assistant at Duke University and then an assistant coach at Eastern State College in Oklahoma for the two years prior to taking this job, her first as a head coach. Decky looked for a picture, but found none.

  There were several articles in the archives with quotes from Coach Warren. The team, it appeared, made marked strides during the first two years of Charlie’s tenure. All of the articles were positive. Then an odd date stuck out at the bottom of the list. Most of the articles had been either early fall or spring and into summer. This listing was for January 10, 1997. Decky clicked on the link.

  Coach Resigns, read the headline. To everyone’s surprise, the highly successful Coach, Charlene Warren, was stepping down as head coach of the women’s softball team at ULM. No reason was given for the apparent sudden decision. Former player and current assistant coach, Lynne Harper, would take Charlie’s place as head coach. Dr. Warren would remain on the university faculty in the mathematics department. At the bottom was a link to the photo that had accompanied the article.

  Decky clicked the link and saw a younger Charlie, hand shielding her eyes, squinting up at another woman she appeared to be listening to. She was smiling. The hand not shielding her eyes was touching the other woman on the forearm. The caption explained that this was Coach Warren discussing strategy with then assistant, Coach Harper. Decky examined the picture closely. Charlie was damn cute. She hadn’t aged that much in the ten years since this picture was taken. Yet, there was something about her eyes that was different. She had that fresh look of confidence youth gives you. No fear, no pain lines. Decky recognized that look. You had it until life knocked the breath out of you for the first time.

  Something stirred in Decky’s chest. She was drawn again and again to the spot on the picture where Charlie’s hand rested on the other woman’s arm. She had been so preoccupied with Charlie she hadn’t really looked at the other woman. The assistant coach was taller than Charlie, taller than Decky, she thought. Maybe five eight, and even though the picture was black and white, the woman’s skin was obviously deeply tanned. Her hair hung out the back of her cap in a dark ponytail. This girl was very attractive. She was a dark Cajun beauty with a little Angelina Jolie on the side.

  Decky felt a pain in her chest and recognized it as jealousy. How could she be jealous of someone Charlie knew ten years ago? She decided, after a few minutes of staring at the picture, she was jealous that it wasn’t her in the picture with Charlie. She longed for all those years before now, when they could have been together. She had to laugh at herself.

  “Oh girl, you got it bad this time don’t you,” she said out loud.

  She printed off a copy of the picture, closed the window and shut down the laptop. She’d surprise Charlie with it later. It was seven o’clock. Decky decided to go downstairs and fix something to eat, so when Charlie woke up, it would be ready. If she could manage the little bar cart, she would bring it to her in bed. Decky hobbled past the bed, on the way downstairs. She stopped to look at Charlie.

  Charlie was curled into a fetal position, lost in a dream, a tiny smile on her lips. Decky watched her sleep for a moment. She wanted to kiss those lips. She shouldn’t wake her, and Decky was sure that if she kissed Charlie she would definitely be driven to wake her. Finally, Decky overcame the urge to touch her and went downstairs.

  Forty-five minutes later, Decky was pushing the bar cart out of the elevator. She had not been quite honest earlier. She could cook. She just didn’t like to clean up after. The problem it seemed was she only liked to cook certain specialty items, most of them requiring numerous saucepans and gadgets.

  Tonight she had prepared strawberry crepes. It was one of Zack’s favorites, so Decky always had plenty of ingredients around. First, after making the crepes, she spread some melted chocolate on one side of the crepes. She placed a line of overlapping strawberries down the center of each crepe and rolled them up. Capping the whole thing off with whipped topping and more chocolate drizzled over the entire plate, with a few blue berries sprinkled about. She added a few mint leaves. Decky didn’t really like mint leaves, but she liked pretty food. Being theatrical, presentation was everything.

  Using the cart as a crutch, Decky made her way over to the bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed close to Charlie. Decky gently brushed the hair from Charlie’s face.

  She whispered, “Charlie. Hey, Charlie. Wake up honey, you need to eat something and then you can go back to sleep, okay. Charlie.”

  Charlie’s eyes popped open. They darted around the room and then settled on Decky. Again, Decky noticed how deep blue they were. Wide eyed, but saying nothing, Charlie continued to look at Decky as if she was trying to remember who she was.

  “Charlie… hey there. I need you to wake up.”

  Charlie blinked, then as if she had suddenly regained consciousness, she leaned up and said, “Oh, hey. Man, I was gone. Wow! What is that? It looks great and I’m hungry. How did you know? Wait a minute. You can cook?”

  “A few things. Mostly stuff that isn’t good for you,” Decky added.

  “Good for you or not, that smells divine. I can’t believe you did all this on one leg.”

  “Oh, that’s just one of my unique talents,” Decky replied.

  “I think I like your unique talents. I can’t wait to learn more.” Charlie kissed Decky on the cheek, jumped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m going to grab a shirt while I’m in here, is that okay?”

  “Drats, foiled again. It was my evil plan to keep you prisoner here, naked and helpless.”

  From inside the bathroom, Charlie answered, “What makes you think I couldn’t escape? I would, you know. Then I would run naked down the road screaming your name.”

  The scenario played out in Decky’s mind. “Please, help yourself to whatever you need.
”

  “Scared you, huh?” Charlie came out of the bathroom in an oversized tee shirt. She jumped back in the bed. “Let’s eat.”

  Decky sat on the edge of the bed, while Charlie balanced her plate on her knees. They talked and laughed through the meal. Decky was careful not to mention her mother and Charlie stayed away from the subject. When the plates had been cleared away, Decky reached under the cart.

  “Now, I am going to let you in on my secret formula, guaranteed to prevent or stop a hangover.” She produced a pitcher of Bloody Mary mix and poured them both drinks. “I call it a health drink because I use V-8.”

  Charlie took a sip of her drink. “Hmmm. That’s good. I guess I will have to add bartender to my list of your unique talents. What else don’t I know about you?”

  “It’s better if you just let the talent naturally reveal itself when needed. It’s more impressive that way.”

  “So, I’m in for more surprises. We talked about this.” Charlie was laughing, when she said it, which put Decky at ease, but she felt she needed to change the subject. Decky remembered the picture.

  “I Googled you,” Decky said, as she hopped over to where the picture was lying by her laptop.

  Decky didn’t see the mood of Charlie’s expression had changed until she turned back around.

  “It wasn’t anything creepy. I just want to know who you were, or are, everything about you. Chalk it up to my natural born curiousness.”

  Charlie tried to be lighthearted, “Were you making sure I wasn’t only after your money?”

  “You can have it. I’ll just make more,” Decky kidded.

  Charlie saw the picture in Decky’s hand. She sat up straighter in the bed and pulled the covers up close. Decky observed this behavior, the defensive posturing, but it registered a half a second too late. She had already handed the picture to Charlie.

  Looking at the picture, Charlie sighed, “That was a long time ago.”

  Decky sat back down on the edge of the bed. Charlie pulled her legs in closer to her chest. More signs, but still Decky went on, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were a college softball coach. When you said your scholarship was for brains, it never crossed my mind that you were a coach. I played for Carolina. If I hadn’t blown out my ankle my sophomore year, we might have met so much earlier.”

  Charlie seemed willing to talk about this, appearing relieved not to have to talk about the picture. “I never played for Duke, but I had always dreamed of being a coach. So, I made friends with the staff. They took me on as a grad assistant ‘91 through ‘93. It was a great time.”

  “And then you went back to Oklahoma.”

  “Boy, you really did your research. I’m not sure I like having all that stuff about me out there on the Internet. What else did you find out?”

  “It was in an article about you, when you took the job in Louisiana. There was a little bio info.”

  “They have stuff that old on the Internet?” Charlie looked truly amazed.

  “It was in the archives. I read a few articles while I was there. Charlie Warren was a very good coach. You really turned that team around. What was that quote, ‘We like to hit and run and then run some more’?”

  Charlie smirked, “Yeah, I was young and riding a huge wave of confidence. Everything I had done up to that point in life had been a positive experience. Well, there was the budget cut incident I referred to earlier.” She looked down at the picture. “Still, I really didn’t know there were any negatives at that point. It was all just too perfect.”

  “What happened, Charlie? Why did you resign?” She paused, “That article was there, too.”

  Charlie was still looking down at the picture. “I got involved in a relationship that complicated things. It was the easiest way out and I kept my teaching job.”

  “Did you have an affair with a player?”

  Charlie was truly offended, “Oh, God no! That’s a line I would never cross.”

  Decky was relieved, still she said, “I didn’t think you were that kind of person.”

  “I knew we would talk about this sooner or later, but I was hoping for a little later.” Charlie leaned forward and took a deep breath before she spoke, “When I went to Louisiana, it was a late hire. The former coach had already hired assistant coaches and since they knew the girls and the facility, I decided to keep them on. Lynne, the girl in the photo, had just graduated. She had been a favorite of the former coach and she really wanted to coach. She was good, too. We did not start a relationship right away, but before the second season was over, we were very much involved. No one knew or cared about us.

  Then she convinced me to give a local girl a walk-on position on the team. She was an okay player, but there were so many better girls ahead of her and more coming in every year. When she discovered, in the fall of her sophomore year, that a new freshman was coming in to take over a position she thought she should have, the trouble started.

  She claimed that I made a pass at her and because she rebuffed me, I wouldn’t play her. Now, as ludicrous as that sounds, the good old boys came calling. They had just had to fire a male coach for screwing around with the female athletes. I had already been in a similar situation where I was about to be labeled and now this. It would have been a deathblow to a female coach. I hadn’t done anything, but I was involved in a lesbian relationship with a former player from that university, who happened to be my current assistant.

  The administrator was kind. She knew this was a bad deal, but the university couldn’t take the chance that the paper would start snooping around for dirt, so they made an offer. Lynne could have the head-coaching job. This was agreeable to the girl and her mother. After all, Lynne had not been accused of anything. I could take on a full load in the math department at the same salary. They just wanted the problem to go away. I can still hear the dean saying how it was best for my career and the university would repay my loyalty for sparing it another nasty investigation. A win for everyone right?”

  Decky was patient. She waited for Charlie to finish.

  “I chose the old personal reasons excuse and resigned. Everyone was happy, especially Lynne. She was finally doing what she had always dreamed of. I forgot about me for a while and enjoyed how much she loved her job. The team did well and we stayed together. I was happy and it didn’t seem so bad. Before too long, I gave up my dream of ever coaching again and enjoyed being a teacher.

  We were together for ten years. There were a few bumps, but I thought everything was fine. I had a beautiful house, a job I loved and I moved steadily up in the department. Next step, chairman. Then one day she comes in to tell me she is being investigated for having a relationship with a current player. Like my momma said, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to. I asked her if it was true and she said yes. As it turns out, she had been sleeping around on me our whole relationship. She had even been sleeping with the little bitch that cost me my coaching job way back then. She had caused the whole thing.”

  “I’m sorry that happened to you. We don’t have to talk about it. I know she hurt you.” Decky was sorry she ever copied the picture. She hated Lynne even though she had never laid eyes on her.

  “She made a fool out of me. Stupid ol’ Charlene at home, thinking everything is just wonderful, while she’s out fucking everything in sight.”

  “You trusted her.” Decky tried to reassure her.

  “Yes, I did trust her and look what happened. That’s why I said all that before. I can’t do that again. I won’t do it again.”

  Decky placed her hand against Charlie’s cheek. “You can trust me. I could never hurt you.”

  Charlie looked at Decky for a moment, then said softly, “You know, for some reason I believe you.”

  “Good, and now that we have that out of the way, don’t you feel better?”

  “I’ve been sad a long time. I don’t feel sad when I’m with you, so yes, I do feel better. Throw this picture away.”

  Decky took th
e picture, balled it up and tried for a three in the corner wastebasket. She missed.

  Charlie booed.

  “I was fouled,” Decky exclaimed.

  Charlie called her a whiner, Decky pounced on her, which set off a wrestling and tickling session, followed immediately by long, slow lovemaking. Just as Decky slipped off to sleep, she heard the jukebox in her head singing, “…She couldn’t believe, that God had made a woman who would never ever leave…”

  Chapter Four

  Decky awoke to the sweet sensation of Charlie’s lips in the small of her back. Charlie moved slowly up her spine as Decky squirmed under her touch. When she could resist no longer, Decky turned over on her back. Charlie crawled up Decky’s body like a cat hunting prey. She had fire in her eyes as she sat up on her knees straddling the absolutely dumbstruck Decky.