by James Villas
“Tyler seems to be in much better spirits today,” Edmund was saying to Ella as the two sat in her cabana and watched Tyler and Goldie fishing together. She was now dressed in bright yellow slacks, a blue and white striped gondolier shirt, and narrow-brimmed beach hat, and he had on the same Bermuda shorts he’d worn every day.
“It does him good being home again,” she said a little awkwardly. “He’s been away a long time, and now he needs to be home. This is where he belongs. You see, Tyler’s not well.”
Edmund took her hand. “I know. You told me all about it last night.”
Ella looked a little astonished. “I did?”
“You did. I guess we both had a bit too much to drink, but, yes, you did tell me about Tyler’s illness, and Jonathan, and certain secrets, and how you all loved to dance when you were young. I believe you got a lot off your chest last night.”
She sat looking straight ahead, her eyes blinking rapidly. “Oh, of course, and you told me about Elizabeth. I remember now. I do hope I didn’t bore you with my problems, Edmund.”
“You never bore me, my dear.” He squeezed her hand. “I haven’t had an evening like that since Grace died and just hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.”
She blushed slightly, as if momentarily embarrassed by the recollection of their reckless frivolity. “Yes, Edmund, it was wonderful,” she then professed openly. “You’re a good man, and I always enjoy being in your company. You see, honey, you make me feel young, and I used to worry…What really bothered me was that I’d never be touched again, except by the undertaker.”
He laughed. “Well, I’d say we both can still cut the mustard—as we used to say.”
She pretended to blush again, then took her cigarette case out of her bag, put it back, and proclaimed, “I’ve gotta quit.” Next she looked down at his stained shorts and asked in jest if they were his only pair.
“I’m afraid so,” he confessed with some shame in his voice. “Lizzy’s already lectured me about them.”
Ella laughed. “Earl was the same way. He’d come down here with a half-dozen pairs of shorts I’d bought for him and wear the same tan ones day after day—to fish, to play ball on the beach, even to swim in. Said they were the only pair that didn’t…bind him. Drove me crazy. You men are all alike—all of you except Tyler. But, then, he goes overboard in the other direction. Tyler’s obsessed with clothes.”
“Sort of like his mother,” he teased.
“Why, that’s not true. I go ages without buying a stitch of clothing.”
“I guess we old geezers don’t give much thought to things like that.”
“But you usually dress beautifully. And stop calling yourself an old geezer.”
“Well, if that’s true, you can thank Grace and Lizzy. They bought every outfit I own.”
“By the way, isn’t this the night they’re having the combo on the terrace after dinner?” she suddenly remembered.
“That’s what the leaflet said. Eight to ten thirty.”
“Well, then, why don’t we all have dinner together again? Tyler has to go back tomorrow unless I can convince him to stay longer, and if you think the others might enjoy it…I could arrange it with Riley, and…I’ll even order a bottle of champagne. Of course, I don’t want to sound pushy…”
He popped her on the leg. “No lady buys me champagne—let’s get that straight right now. I’m the one who orders champagne, but, sure, that’s a great idea, if you think Tyler wants the company.”
“Oh, he seems like his old self today, and I think a little celebration with good company would do him good. Don’t worry about Tyler. I know him like a book, and he’s better now, already so much better. This trip is doing him good. Just look at him out there fishing with Goldie. Reminds me of when he was a boy and would stand for hours waiting for a bite.”
O’Conner’s face now took on a very dubious expression, but, not wanting to upset her, he kept his thoughts and opinions to himself.
Ella reached again for her cigarettes, and this time she let him light one, her normal mood now fully restored.
“I have another suggestion,” she then said.
“I hate to guess.”
“Don’t be a smart aleck. I think we should go shopping while Sal and Elizabeth and the boys are down roaming around Brook-green Gardens. I’d like to buy something for Goldie, and maybe we can find you another pair of shorts. I just saw an ad for the Gay Dolphin down near the Pavilion. Been there for decades. They have lots of junk but used to also have some pretty decent things. We could run down there and be back here in plenty of time for lunch. We don’t wanna just lie around here all morning like two old fogies.”
After Edmund walked down to tell Tyler and Goldie their plans, the two took off again in the Cadillac and were soon browsing through the massive gift emporium stocked with everything from elaborate toys to gutsy shells and figurines to beach clothing. Almost immediately, Ella’s eye caught a handsome, rather expensive silver and turquoise bracelet in the jewelry section, and after she tried it on to judge its size, she told the clerk to gift wrap it for Goldie.
“What in God’s name are those?” Edmund asked at another counter, pointing like a child to some ivory-looking spikes.
“Sharks’ teeth,” the clerk informed. “Genuine sharks’ teeth.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. How ghastly!” he bawled.
“Oh, we must get a couple for the boys,” Ella said friskily. “Every young boy should have a shark’s tooth, and actually”—she fondled the daunting object in her hand—“you know, I think they’re quite lovely.”
After rummaging from one counter and display to the next like two witless teenagers, Ella finally spotted a stack of men’s shorts in every color imaginable and held up an aquamarine pair to examine.
“These are nice and exciting,” she declared. “What’s your size?”
“Not on your life!”
“Just hush up, honey. Now, tell me your size.”
Reluctantly he pondered the question. “You know, I’m really not sure. Thirty-six. Thirty-eight. It’s been so long…. Grace and Lizzy always handled that sort of thing.”
Ella waved down a clerk and asked where a fitting room was, and when she was told there were no fitting rooms, she first expressed outrage, then, looking about, directed Edmund to step behind an unattended counter in a corner and try on the fanciful shorts while she stood guard. Naturally, he balked at the idea, but when Ella coaxed him over and over, he sheepishly did as he was told, slipped out of his old shorts, and quickly stepped into the new pair over his boxers as she watched and snickered.
“No time for modesty. How do they feel?” When he hesitated, she stepped behind the counter and pulled at the waist. “Don’t suck it in, honey. Just relax. Yep, these are fine, just perfect. And I love the color. So summery. These’ll knock ’em for a loop back up in New Jersey.”
O’Conner looked truly shaken and embarrassed as he reemerged from behind the counter with the new shorts in his hand, but when Ella reached into her pocketbook and said the shorts were her treat to him, he protested vehemently, took out his credit card, and quipped, “I take full responsibility for what happens when the young ladies see me in these.”
Laughing and glancing at her watch, Ella was about to say they’d better be getting back for lunch when they passed a small rack with a few travel books on the Lowcountry and a selection of popular paperback novels.
“Well, I swear,” she exclaimed suddenly, reaching anxiously for one of the paperbacks. “Would you just look at this. If it isn’t one of Tyler’s books. Why, he’d be tickled pink.”
Noticing that there were three copies, Edmund took them all, said he was going to ask Tyler to autograph them, and proceeded to a young cashier whose long frizzy hair was dyed almost orange with a thin green streak down the middle.
“The author’s my son,” Ella whispered to the hip clerk as she rang up the sale and began to put the books into a bag.
“Uh-
huh,” the girl muttered coolly, implying that she didn’t believe for one second the quaint older lady wearing a stylish gondolier shirt, expensive slacks, and small sapphire earrings.
“I said the author of this novel is my son,” Ella repeated.
“Yeah,” the girl said in a churlish tone, chewing a piece of gum.
This riled Ella, so, determined to put the ill-mannered clerk in her place, she took out a credit card, tapped it on one of the books, then held it up.
“If you can read, young lady, you’ll see that my last name is Dubose, the same name as the author of this book.”
Still smacking her gum, the girl glanced at the card, then at Ella, and repeated “Uh-huh.”
“Do you think one day, dear, by some miracle of nature, you might have a son who’s a famous author?” Ella asked defiantly.
Noticing the small handle of Ella’s gun in the pocketbook, the girl didn’t answer, finished bagging the books with the receipt, turned her back, and walked away.
“Twit!” Ella blurted quietly to Edmund as they headed for the door. “And that’s what passes for youth today.”
“Now, now, Miss Ella,” he said, chuckling.
Back on the beach, Tyler and Goldie were having just fair luck fishing, but at least his energy level was now sufficient to allow him to enjoy the sport he’d loved since childhood, and if Ella hadn’t mentioned to Goldie that he was not well, she would never have suspected a thing. Although conversation between the two was limited, this did give Tyler the opportunity to ask a few questions about his mother that only Goldie might be able to answer.
“Have you noticed any peculiar changes in Mama over the past months?”
“Oh, Mr. Tyler, I’m so used to your mama that I don’t pay much attention to what she does,” she hedged.
“No changes in her mood, or the way she talks? You know, Mama is not far from seventy-five.”
“But your mama’s a very strong lady, you know.” She appeared a little nervous as she slowly took up slack in her line. “’Bout the only thing I’ve noticed is she does seem to talk about the past lots more than she used to when Mr. Earl was alive. I think she still misses your daddy a lot. But guess that’s normal when you get her age.”
“Well, my brother and sister seem convinced she’s going off her rocker and could keel over any minute.”
“Oh, if you don’t mind me saying so, Mr. Tyler, that’s ridiculous. I think they just worry much too much about your mama, and that upsets her—that I know.”
“They say she acts really crazy sometimes at home.”
“Now, why would anybody say that? Miss Ella can get a little confused, but there’s not one thing wrong with her mind. Oh, sometimes…sometimes I notice she’s thinking hard about something, or lost in her thoughts, and sometimes I wonder if she’s real sad about something—maybe about your daddy. But then she snaps out of it, just like that, and is her old self again.”
“She seems happy enough down here, I’ll say that.”
“Oh, I think your mama’s having a wonderful time—especially now that you’re here. And she gets along so well with Dr. O’Conner and his family. They’re real nice people, don’t you think?”
“Very nice.” He cracked a smile. “And I think Mama’s particularly taken with Dr. O’Conner. Haven’t you noticed that?”
She began to blush. “Oh, Mr. Tyler.”
“I think it’s great.”
“We just wish you didn’t have to rush back tomorrow.”
“I do too, Goldie, but I’ve got some problems with my health that need to be taken care of.”
She didn’t know how to react, so all she said was she was sorry to hear that and hoped he was going to be all right.
Now Tyler reeled in his line slightly, debating what to say next.
“We never know what’s going to happen, do we, Goldie? And my only concern is that Mama’s always well looked after, no matter what. The main reason I flew down was because she didn’t sound right and seemed to need me. Now I think there’s something important she’s not telling me—maybe something about Little Earl and Liv that bothers her. Whatever, Goldie, I just hope you’ll always be there to help and watch out after her. You know she trusts you and depends on you like nobody else.”
“Oh, you never have to worry about that—not after all she’s done for me. Your mama means more to me than anybody in the world, and I’ll always be there when she needs me—that I can promise you. But nothing bad’s going to happen, Mr. Tyler. I talk with my Great Spirits every single night and ask them to watch over us all, and nothing bad’s going to happen—not to you or Miss Ella or me or anybody.”
Chapter 21
PREVARICATION
After lunch, Ella, Tyler, and Goldie made the short drive up to Little River in hopes of watching some of the shrimp boats unload their haul on the old wooden docks shaded by heavy festoons of Spanish moss dripping from the gnarled oaks, but when a rugged character with a bushy white beard and sores on his face told them they were too early, they decided not to wait around but, instead, to return to the inn for Ella’s beauty-parlor appointment and a rest. Just being in the locale and talking about white shrimp, however, not only evoked once again for Ella her indiscretion with Dennis Chapman that passionate afternoon in Charlotte long ago but also reminded her of the crazy way Big Earl used to haggle with shrimpers over price right on this same dock.
“Four dollars a pound with heads, five without,” she remembered one old salt specifying in his gravely drawl, perched behind a giant bin full of white shrimp packed in ice.
“What if I get three pounds?” Earl had tried to bargain.
“Same price.”
“What about five pounds?”
The man chewed over the offer. “Three-fifty with the heads, four-fifty without.”
“I’ll give you three for five pounds—with the heads.”
“Whatta you think this is, captain, charity? We can ship these whities frozen up North and do better than that.”
“Not with the heads. Makes no sense to ship shrimp with the heads. Too much waste. Even I know that. I’ll give you three dollars a pound with heads.”
“Three twenty-five.”
“Three. Five pounds. Just medium-size are okay.”
The man glared daggers at Earl, then took a plastic bag and began grabbing shrimp with his rough bare hands, letting the larger ones fall back into the bin and weighing the bag on a rickety metal scale.
“Fifteen dollars, captain,” he huffed, tying the top of the bag.
Ella had a big smile on her face. “And I don’t think Earl would have paid one penny more.”
“One penny more for what, Mama?” Tyler asked from the backseat as Goldie pulled out onto the road back to Myrtle and glanced worriedly over at Ella.
“For the shrimp, of course,” Ella said, unaware that the story was only in her mind. “That man wasn’t too happy.”
Silent, neither Tyler nor Goldie tried to pursue the details of the memory, and in a matter of seconds Ella was commenting on a large grove of palmettos off the side of the road.
“I plan to wear my black and gold tulle outfit with the puffy sleeves tonight,” she then announced.
“Oh, I like that dress, Miss Ella,” Goldie said.
“Son, I do hope you brought a nice suit.”
“Mama, we’re at the beach, for heaven’s sake, and I’ve already told you once I brought only jackets. A double-breasted blue blazer should be appropriate enough.”
There was no further reference to anyone’s mode of dress, and, after they arrived back at the inn, it was as if Ella had managed to block from her thoughts any worry about Tyler’s illness as she had her hair done in the late afternoon and made preparations for their early dinner with the Mariani family. Deep down, of course, she was devastated by the possibility that the disease ravaging her son might worsen, and even if this painful realization made the gravity of the problem about his real father seem even less important, it als
o presented a dilemma over which she had absolutely no control and one which could very well cause what rational equilibrium she still possessed to snap.
Fortunately, most of these dire matters were neutralized the moment she heard a knock on the door and a young man from reception presented her a vase of exquisite yellow roses with a card that read “Never trust a man in aquamarine shorts. Humbly yours, The Yankee.” Never could she remember being so touched, and her spirits soared even more when she later found herself seated next to Edmund in a circle on the porch at sunset, sipping a restorative Jack Daniel’s and chatting congenially as she and the others admired the decorative pennants and tapers flapping in the warm breeze on the terrace below and watched the members of a small combo getting set up for after-dinner music and dancing. At one point, the two boys, dressed in jackets like their father and grandfather and again sitting on either side of Goldie, became particularly restless, so, though she’d planned to wait till dinner to surprise them and Goldie with the gifts she’d bought with Edmund, Ella dug into her pocketbook and produced the sharks’ teeth and bracelet, which thrilled the three to no end. Once all the excitement was over and Goldie had said the bracelet was the most beautiful she’d ever owned, Ella was generally her normal talkative self. If, on the other hand, she was led by Sal or Elizabeth to relate more facts about the Lowcountry, or reminisce about her background in Charleston, or kid Tyler about some aspect of his growing up in Charlotte, her thoughts could drift unchecked, giving the others the impression that she was a little disoriented or momentarily living in another world.