The Pirate Queen

by Patricia Hickman

“God hears,” said Bender, surprising them both.

  That was a surprise.

  21

  There is no such thing as a simple act of compassion or an inconsequential act of service. Everything we do for another person has infinite consequences.

  CAROLINE MYSS

  A shipping box arrived just as Saphora made coffee the next morning for Bender. It was a small, flat parcel. The label was handwritten by Sherry. She had forwarded it from Davidson. Abigail Weed’s name was taped in the upper left corner—the journalist from Southern Living.

  Saphora opened the package and pulled out the fall issue. Abigail had stuck a note to the magazine that read, You made the cover! Congrats, Abigail.

  Bender lay in the hospital bed in the library. She walked in to show him the magazine. She opened the blinds. Sunlight turned the tree bark red like cinnamon. “Bender, we made the cover of SL. Look. You have to see this!”

  Bender was still and his face the color of shale.

  “Bender? Beloved, wake up and see,” she said. She felt his hands. “You’re cold.” She bent and kissed his cheek. His eyes opened. “Look and see,” she said. She pulled the magazine wide open to the lawn party spread. Most of the photographs were of Sherry’s food or the gardens. But there was one picture of Saphora and some of the guests.

  “Saphora,” he said.

  “Yes, it’s me and Vicki, Bernie Mae, and Pansy. We’re on the dock with our feet in the water. Isn’t that fun?”

  “Saphora,” he said, pointing to her.

  “It’s all of us,” she said.

  “My. Love,” said Bender.

  It took an hour to get him out of the bed and dressed in his khakis and a pullover shirt.

  “Out,” he said.

  “Out on the deck. I know,” she said.

  “River,” said Bender.

  She figured that meant he wanted his chair moved close to the riverbank. “I’ll get Turner up. He’ll move it for us.”

  Turner and Eddie were sleeping in the same bed. She cajoled her son awake. “Your daddy has need of you,” she said.

  Turner walked barefoot onto the deck, one side of his hair sticking out like a cat had licked it. It did not take long for Turner to hoist the blue dolphin chair down to the riverbank. He came back grinning. “I’m getting Eddie up to fish,” he told Saphora. “A trout as big as my arm’s hiding out in the marsh grass.”

  “That’s Big Indifferent. Eddie tried to catch him before,” she said. “There’s a reason he’s gotten so big.”

  “Funny name, Mama. But me and Eddie, we’ll catch him.”

  Turner got under his daddy’s right arm and lifted him up. “Let’s go down to the river, Daddy. We’ll catch ol’ Indifferent.”

  Bender groaned. He was saying, “No. Not,” but Turner just kept walking him until he put him into his blue chair.

  “Mama, coffee?” asked Turner.

  “Of course,” she said, noticing how much Turner looked like his daddy.

  Turner went inside to dress and wake up Eddie.

  “How about I make some eggs? You take Daddy his coffee.”

  He had lost some weight and looked young again, like when he was seventeen and on the tennis team, complaining how it ate into his social calendar.

  “I’m glad you came back,” she said.

  He would rather use up his accrued leave, he said, while he still had his daddy.

  “We’ll stay through Sunday,” he said. He went upstairs to raise Eddie out of bed.

  Saphora got the coffee for Bender. She kept it black like he liked it. Then she opened the SL magazine. She saw the women that she had decidedly hated since the morning she had packed her suitcase. Vicki had her arm around Saphora’s neck. There was admiration in her eyes. Bernie Mae and Pansy were laughing. But now none of them looked the same to Saphora. Maybe they had had designs on her husband, but he did not belong to them.

  Bender would need a table for his coffee. She put his coffee on a tray she had bought once when she imagined the two of them having breakfast in bed. She put a rolled copy of the morning newspaper on the side as if he would read it. The texture and smell of the newspaper was enough for him. He would close his eyes, and the familiarity of it might draw him back into the comfort of a simple remembrance. Saphora backed out through the french door. She turned around and saw Bender in his chair, holding something. He was laughing. She set the tray on the table. “Bender?”

  He kept laughing, throwing back his head.

  She came off the deck and ran down the lawn to the riverbank. She could see him better. He had his arms around a boy who was holding on to him.

  “Tobias?” she said, not trusting her own eyes.

  There was a school bag next to Bender’s chair.

  “Mrs. Warren, I found him. He’s here,” said Tobias. “That Dora said he had died and you had gone back to Davidson. But he’s here.” He could not stop giggling. “I found you!”

  Bender took to Tobias’s cuddling so fondly that he was still laughing out loud. Tobias held on to his neck. He pressed his face into Bender’s chest.

  “Tobias!” Saphora shouted toward the house. “Turner! Eddie! Come see!” She ran to meet him and he threw his arms around her.

  “I couldn’t stay at Dora’s,” he said.

  “I know, honey, I know. I haven’t slept since you took off. What happened?” she asked.

  “I made a plan and worked it, just like Dr. Warren taught me. I took my pills with water from the bottle Eddie gave me. The pillow from Gwennie, it helped me sleep. I prayed like Pastor John said, to keep the rain from coming. Dr. Warren was right. You can live off oranges and apples for a few days.” He pulled out Mabel’s wooden cross. “Luke gave me this. He said it would bless my way.”

  Saphora must have held her breath the whole time he talked. She let it out slowly when he got to the end of his words as if she could slow down time and make it stand still right then.

  “Don’t send me back to Dora,” said Tobias. “She doesn’t know how to love.”

  “That’s a shame,” said Saphora. “You’re so easy to love.”

  To Saphora’s great relief, it took Sheriff Langford three days to realize she had stopped calling him. Turner and Eddie had just left for Charlotte. Tobias sat on the floor playing his video game using both player devices; he could be the monster and kill it at the same time.

  The doorbell rang.

  Saphora said, “Tobias, go upstairs.”

  “Mrs. Warren, I’m not going with those cops. They believe everything Dora says.”

  “Wait upstairs.”

  Sheriff Langford was examining the bicycle propped against the side of the house. “Have you had company, Mrs. Warren?”

  “My grandson Eddie, as you well know, Sheriff. His daddy just took him back to Charlotte.”

  “Mind if I come in, look around?”

  “Might as well,” she said.

  “You’ve stopped calling me.”

  “There’s no need,” she told him. “You informed me you couldn’t tell me anything.” She opened the door for him.

  He looked beyond her, seeing Bender out on the deck, his eyes closed.

  “Glad to see Dr. Warren’s on the mend,” he said.

  “Would you have some coffee?” she asked.

  “None for me.”

  A soft thud came from overhead.

  “Sounds like your company’s still here,” he said.

  “Can’t you just go on and act like you didn’t see me?” she asked.

  “That would be a crime,” he said.

  “Sending him back to Dora’s is the crime,” she said.

  “I don’t know the woman. But Melvin Linker’s signed temporary guardianship over to Dora Flaherty.”

  “She just wants the money.”

  “She’s made an emotional plea in the public arena. She’ll get her money. Mrs. Warren, harboring a runaway’s also a crime.”

  “You take him and it’s back to hell. Give us one d
ay.”

  “If I come back here tomorrow and he’s gone, I’m arresting you.”

  “I’ll make sure he’s here.”

  She showed Langford out. She had a headache coming on when she got back to the den.

  Tobias had come downstairs. “What do we do now?” he asked.

  “You prayed back the rain, Tobias. Do you have a prayer left in you?”

  Saphora tried all afternoon to reach Gwennie. She watched as Tobias stayed with Bender into the afternoon, sitting at his side under the umbrella shade. He talked to him as if Bender might start spouting back his funny sayings and advice. He even made him a sandwich. Bender looked at it as if he did not quite know what to make of it.

  Saphora had stepped into the library to tidy up when Tobias ran into the house saying, “Mrs. Warren, Dr. Warren’s messed himself.” He ran and got Bender’s robe, then raced past Saphora going in the other direction. “It’s all right, Dr. Warren. I do that all the time,” said Tobias. He got him up on his walker and put his robe around him.

  Saphora knew the task was too adult for Tobias to handle. She said, “Tobias, you go and play in the tree house. I’ll take care of it.”

  “I know what to do,” he said. He took down Bender’s pants and helped him step out of them. “Off to the shower,” he said. “Not a big deal, Dr. Warren.”

  Tobias walked Bender back into the library. He pulled out the latex gloves from the box on the nightstand. Then he got the shower water warmed up so he could walk Bender into it. “Just go in, walker and all,” said Tobias. He followed him in, guiding him to turn his backside to the warm water. Tobias walked right in wearing his flip-flops.

  “You’re getting soaked,” said Saphora. She laughed at Tobias standing in the shower in his shirt and denim shorts next to naked Bender.

  “You get to wash all these clothes,” said Tobias.

  “Like you said, no big deal,” said Saphora, still laughing. Together, she and Tobias helped Bender shower and then dress into lounging clothes.

  By nightfall, Saphora had gotten in touch with Ramsey. “Ramsey, you’ll never guess who’s here. It’s Tobias.”

  Ramsey told her she should take him back to his daddy and be done with it. Ramsey did not understand Mel’s tendency to stick his head in the sand. Next she called Turner, who she knew to be sympathetic.

  Eddie had gone back to his mother’s house. School was in session. Turner said, “He wanted Tobias to come and live with him.” He was going off break so had to end the call.

  Tobias was happy to sleep in Eddie’s room. He told Saphora, “Aunt Dora was making me sleep on a kitchen table. She doesn’t know that’s not how you put kids to bed.”

  Saphora stood at the bedroom door with her hand on the light switch. She knew that time was passing too fast and that tomorrow would bring another round of sorrow down on Tobias’s sweet head. “I’m so glad you’re here. You get some rest.” She turned off the light, fearing the pain of his situation might show in her face.

  She went downstairs to check on Bender. The light was on in the kitchen. To her surprise, he was standing in the kitchen with his walker. “Honey, what are you doing? You could fall and then what would I do with Turner already gone?”

  He was holding a small book in his hands. She looked and there was her tote bag dropped onto the floor. She had left it there probably the entire time since coming back from the hospital, what with having to come and go so much, running back and forth from the pharmacy.

  Bender was holding the book out, the pages flopping open. At first she thought he had gone and gotten his Bible. Then she saw that it was the poetry book Evelyn had left in his hospital room. She’d forgotten it in her tote bag all this time. “You don’t need that,” she said, irritated with what he had done. Her keys were on the floor along with the checkbook and other items that had all spilled onto the floor.

  Bender was crying. “Sorrow,” he said. “Saphora. Sorrow.”

  She took the poetry book from his hand and said, “Yes, sorrow, Bender. I understand.” Her anger was subsiding. Even with his limited vocabulary, he sounded so contrite.

  He grasped her arm and squeezed it. “Saphora. Forgive.”

  Bender had come out of his coma sorry for the life he had made for them. That had been a sort of blanket apology. But this was specific.

  “I forgive you, Bender.” She took the book and dropped it into the garbage bin. “Completely.” She helped him back to bed and turned out the lights.

  She was just getting back to her room when Gwennie called. She told her mother, “I’m flying back tomorrow morning. Don’t let Sheriff Langford take Tobias.”

  Tobias came out of Eddie’s room sometime in the night. He made a bed in the lounge chair next to Bender in the library, and that was how Saphora found him the next morning. He was still asleep when the doorbell rang. She closed the door behind her, not quite ready to rouse them both.

  Saphora let Sheriff Langford into the house. She had a speech ready but did not get to give it. Two Wilmington cops came in the door right behind Langford.

  “I’ve not gotten Tobias up yet,” she said.

  “We’ve got orders,” said one of the cops.

  “I know this is hard, ma’am,” said the other cop. “It’s good the boy trusted you enough to come here.”

  “If you will, Mrs. Warren, it’s time to bring him out,” said Langford.

  “Give them a moment,” the benevolent policeman told Langford. “We’ll take some coffee. When you’re ready to bring him out, we’ll escort him back to his aunt.”

  “Has his daddy been called?” asked Saphora.

  Langford exhaled in obvious impatience. “The last time we talked to him he was firm that the boy should live with his aunt.”

  “When was that?”

  “Yesterday afternoon.”

  Saphora showed them where to find coffee mugs. She pushed open the library door.

  Tobias stood next to Bender’s bed. He was crying.

  “I’m sorry, Tobias. I guess you heard from in here. The police have come to take you back.”

  “It’s Dr. Warren, ma’am. He’s passed.”

  Bender lay still, his hands on his chest.

  “Tobias, are you sure?” Saphora rushed into the room. “Bender.”

  “He’s dead, Mrs. Warren. I know. I’ve seen it.”

  “Oh, my love. You can’t leave me,” she said.

  “Should we do something?” he asked.

  Saphora checked his pulse. She pulled the covers back. There was the Bible Pastor John had given him.

  “He wanted it,” said Tobias. “It took me awhile to figure out his words. First I got him his socks and then his heating pad. But finally I got him what he wanted.”

  Saphora stood over Bender’s bed. She did not know how long she stood over him. She remembered how Luke had said the soul travels south after death. She imagined him walking right out onto the Neuse with the sun coming up, going south until he could catch a boat skyward. She kept taking Bender’s hand, cupping it as if she could keep the warmth intact. Then she wiped her eyes. She cried and called out to him as if he were still walking on the river. She could only imagine Jamie’s surprise when he came through the gate.

  Finally the nice-faced cop appeared at the library door. “We need to go.”

  Saphora said, “My husband, Bender, has just passed on.”

  The cop was so surprised that he opened the door all the way. He told the other officers, “We’ve got a situation here.”

  First the coroner was called. Saphora got in touch with Jim Pennington. He was down fishing and told her it would only take him forty-five minutes to get there. He asked her to put the sheriff on the phone.

  Whatever Jim told the sheriff stalled the police for the time it took Gwennie to show up.

  Her hair was pulled back, and she had not put on any makeup. She was wearing a disheveled knit shirt and flip-flops. “I got Mr. Linker to sign new papers,” she said. “I flew in to W
ilmington on the red-eye. I was up with him hours on end, but finally he agreed Dora was not the one to raise Tobias.”

  The cop took the papers from Gwennie and read them.

  Gwennie saw Tobias standing in the library door. “Where’s Daddy?” she asked him.

  Tobias looked sadder than he had since losing his mother.

  “I’m sorry, honey,” said Saphora. “We’ve lost Bender.”

  “Daddy?” she cried, and Tobias put his arms around her.

  Saphora asked the police to excuse them. She followed Tobias back inside the library and closed the door behind Gwennie.

  “When did he die?” asked Gwennie.

  “Not too long ago,” said Saphora. “Tobias slept beside him all night. He’s been such a comfort to your daddy.”

  “I think he was trying to save me,” said Tobias. “He threw the cops off my trail this morning.”

  Saphora held on to Gwennie and let her have her cry.

  The sheriff knocked at the door. “Mrs. Warren, we need to ask you some questions about the child.”

  Saphora was opening the door just as the coroner came in. Jim Pennington followed right behind. He greeted her and kissed her cheek. “I can’t believe he’s gone. My best friend, ever.”

  “Mine too,” said Saphora.

  Jim promised to see her through Bender’s arrangements in the coming days. He told the coroner, “I’m Dr. Warren’s doctor.” He followed him into the library.

  Tobias and Gwennie came out into the den.

  Sheriff Langford said, “Mrs. Warren, this document, signed by Mr. Linker, gives you temporary guardianship.”

  “Me?” she asked.

  “I meant to ask,” said Gwennie. “But nothing’s gone exactly like I thought it would. When I saw Mel Linker’s full name on the custody agreement, I suspected it was more than a coincidence.”

  “What coincidence?” asked Saphora.

  “He’s the one suing my client, Francis Pierce. Mel Linker is Robert Melvin Linker. Francis was Mel’s best friend. He trusted Mel, telling him about his software program. Mel found out my client had never filed for a patent. Mel took advantage.”