by James Ross
“As much hard work that it was you still had fun, didn’t you?” Justin asked.
“ . . . Heavens yes, Mister Justin. I wouldn’t trade it for anythin’ in the world. I remember all of those jammin’ sessions trying to figure out new ways to get the crowd to go crazy. And stayin’ up all night and sleepin’ ’til the sun went down like it was yesterday.” He tweaked the strings to make the banjo talk to the boys. “It’s funny what you can make this thin’ do.” BowTye let his right hand pick out specific notes as he plucked a catchy tune.
“That is so neat to watch you do that,” Justin said, amazed by BowTye’s talent.
BowTye worked both hands in tandem. “You can do a li’l of this,” he said as he tweaked the strings, “and a li’l of that,” as he bent down and searched for a chord. “I’ve had the opportunity to play a lot of honky tonks all up and down the river and the nicest music halls in the nation,” BowTye said. “And what I’ve come to find out is that’s it’s all about the people.” He smiled and put the banjo down. Then BowTye strolled over and sat between the two boys. “Now it’s your turn Mister Justin.”
“My turn for what?” Justin questioned him.
“Your turn to tell me about you and Mister Curt.”
“Oh,” Justin said as he felt a lump swell in his throat. “He’s not my dad,” he paused, “but he really is.”
It was BowTye’s turn to ask the questions. “How can that be?”
“My real dad was killed in a car wreck when my mom was pregnant with me.”
“I’m so sorry,” BowTye said in a consoling tone.
“It’s okay,” Justin said as he reached over and tapped on BowTye’s knee. “Curt’s been there since I was a little bitty baby,” Justin continued as he searched for the right words. “As far as I’m concerned he’s my dad. He always jokes that my butt was the first baby’s butt he ever wiped.”
“Be glad that you’ve got someone like Mister Curt,” BowTye reflected. “I never had the opportunity to have someone like that to help my momma.”
“Oh, I am so grateful,” Justin said upbeat. “I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
“Well it would be tough. I promise you that,” BowTye followed. “It made me search for other stuff to replace that with.” The moisture in his eyes started to form as he remembered the days growing up without a dad.
“That’s why I’m so worried about his cancer,” Justin continued. His face changed as he fought back the emotion. Finally, he just let loose and allowed the tears to fall. “I don’t want to lose him, BowTye.”
BowTye placed his arms around Justin’s shoulders and comforted him. “You’re not goin’ to lose him,” BowTye assured him. “Mister Curt isn’t goin’ anywhere. He’s too strong and proud to leave any of us right now.”
“Yeah, but I’m so worried about his cancer coming back,” Justin whimpered in the circle of the tiny man’s arms. “I never want him to leave me. If he did, then I just don’t know what I’d do. More than anything else, he’s my best friend, BowTye.”
“Well, if somethin’ did happen, then you’d still have a momma to care for you,” BowTye said as he calmed Justin down, “and a step-daddy.”
“He doesn’t love me like his own kid,” Justin fought back. “I almost hate being in the same room with him. I’d much rather be with Curt.”
Keith laid his pole down and went to the cart to fetch some Powerade out of the coolers. He returned with Mountain Blast, Green Squall, and Jagged Ice. “Here, maybe these will do all of us some good. Take your pick.” He handed out the drinks.
A sip from the cold Jagged Ice calmed Justin down a bit. “Curt really cares about me, BowTye. Even though this is a summer job, he’s let us do pretty much what we’ve wanted to do all summer.”
“Except run at dawn every day,” Keith interrupted. “I never have much cared for that.”
“Yeah, but he told us that if we were going to get punished for what we did then that was what we had to do to pay the price. At least he’s made it fun for us.”
“I guess,” Keith relented. “But you’re more of a runner than me. I struggle to make it around the lake once, let alone six times.”
BowTye lowered the Green Squall from his lips and exclaimed, “Look whose comin’!” Curt was steering the utility vehicle in the direction of the lake.
“I hope he doesn’t make us run in this heat,” Keith joked. “We’ve pretty much wasted the whole day.”
“Are you feeling better?” Justin asked as Curt pulled to a stop.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I just had to take a pill to get rid of the nausea. My whole world was spinning and I thought that I would throw up. That little nap helped me out,” Curt answered. He looked at the poles and saw the lines in the water. “How many have you caught?”
“We haven’t even gotten a nibble,” Justin declared.
“You’re fishing in the deepest part of the lake.” Curt pointed to their left. “You’re right next to the dam wall.”
“Then they’re not biting,” Justin said with disappointment. “It’s just not our day I guess.”
Curt peered over at the cart and saw BowTye’s banjo. “What else have you been doing out here?”
“BowTye’s been playing his banjo and telling us about when he was growing up,” Justin said. A tug on the line nearly pulled the pole out of Justin’s hands. “Whoa! I think we have one!” The bob disappeared under the water.
“Yank the pole skyward, Mister Justin! Set the hook!” BowTye shouted.
The pole bent in a severe arc. “This is a big one!” Justin yelled.
“Let him run with the hook a li’l,” BowTye said calmly. “When he quits tuggin’ then tighten the slack in the line.”
“He’s strong,” Justin shouted. “I don’t know if I can hang onto this pole.”
“You’ll be okay. Reel the line in with your right hand,” BowTye instructed.
“Keith, grab the net,” Curt hollered, “and when he gets near the bank scoop him up.”
Keith ran back to the cart and grabbed the net. Rip rap had been placed on the bank of the lake to cut down on erosion and protect the shoreline. He ran over to the rocks. “What do you want me to do now?” Keith shouted.
“Inch your way down to the water,” Curt instructed. “When Justin reels the fish in close to the rocks, get him in the net so he won’t spit the hook out and get away.”
Keith carefully navigated the rocks so that he wouldn’t slip. Several of them were loose and would gently roll over when he applied weight to them. As he neared the water a creature stuck his head up from the rocks and slithered in his direction. “ . . . Snake!” Keith yelled at the top of his lungs. He took a quick step, found a wobbly rock, lost his balance and flipped into the lake. Splash! When he surfaced he yelled, “Help!”
BowTye immediately ran to the rescue. He scurried down the bank as Keith splashed around in the water. “Be careful, BowTye!” Curt shouted.
Four large boulders rolled away from the weight that BowTye placed on them. They cascaded into the water and catapulted BowTye into the lake. Splash! Quickly he went under. When he surfaced he screamed, “I can’t swim! Help me!” Arms were flailing. Water was splashing. BowTye was in a state of panic and swallowing water.
“Justin, forget that fish for now. I’ve got to help them,” Curt cried out as he scurried to the bank. In an instant he was in the water and swimming toward BowTye. He turned and yelled back to Keith. “Tread water until I get there! I have to help BowTye first!” Arms were thrown skyward. Out and out panic enveloped BowTye. He went under again. Finally Curt reached him and pulled him up for air. “BowTye! BowTye! Calm down! I have you!” Curt slipped his arm under BowTye’s underarm and kept his head above water. With his free arm and his legs, he slowly pulled them through the water and back to the shore.
BowTye was frazzled and hung onto a rock on the shoreline. “Thank you Mister Curt.”
“Keith, are you alright?” Curt yelled. He could see t
hat Keith had been treading water.
“I’ve been swimming in the pool long enough to know how to keep my head above water,” he answered. “Make sure that snake doesn’t come out here and get me.”
“Oh, heaven help us all!” Curt hollered. “That’s the least of our worries right now. Swim on over here. I’m out of gas and too tired to help you.” Keith made his way to Curt and climbed out of the water and onto the rip rap. Curt helped BowTye out of the water and slowly pulled himself out of the lake.
“Are you okay, Curt?” Justin said as he reached out to help him.
“Yeah, I’ll make it. But I’m whipped right now. That took a lot out of me.” Curt let out a loud burp then turned his head and threw up all over the rocks.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
“What in the world happened to you?” Tina yelled at Keith as he started to climb into her SUV. “You’re not about to get in here looking like that!”
“I sort of went swimming in the lake today,” Keith said.
“Sort of?” Tina questioned. “It looks to me like you did go swimming. Go dry off and put on some clean clothes.”
“I don’t have anything else to wear,” Keith protested.
“I don’t care!” Tina yelled. “Borrow something or get some clothes out of your duffel bag.” She sent him back to the clubhouse.
Justin was busy adjusting the blowers on the air conditioner. “He fell in the lake today, Mom.”
“How did he do that?” Tina asked.
“Helping me catch a fish,” Justin replied.
“I thought that you guys were supposed to be over here working?”
“We went fishing after we finished our work. Curt wasn’t feeling too well after the chemo so he let us go out with BowTye,” Justin offered an explanation.
“Who’s BowTye?” Tina asked.
“He’s that black man that shines everyone’s shoes,” Justin stated matter-of-factly. “I told you about him.”
Tina looked at her son in amazement. “Curt let you and Keith go fishing with a black man on the golf course?”
Justin nodded his head up and down. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
“You told me once that a black man was around the golf course, but I didn’t know that Curt let you associate with him too much,” Tina commented.
“Yeah,” Justin admitted. “He’s a real nice man. He goes by Peel It Backe when he’s performing.”
“Justin Ventimiglia! You know what the good Lord does with people that lie!” Tina shouted.
“I’m not lying, Mom.”
“Do you know who Peel It Backe is?”
Justin shook his head affirmatively. “He’s some rock-a-billy blues star.”
“How did you know that?” Tina pressed.
“Because he played music for Keith and me all day while we were fishing,” Justin said as plain as day.
“Justin Ventimiglia!”
“There’s his bicycle up against the wall,” Justin said. “Do you want to meet him?” Tina looked at her son skeptically. “He’s still here.”
“Let’s go. I’m going to prove to you that liars don’t go anywhere in life!” Tina said as she unbuckled her seat belt. “There is no way that Peel It Backe is in the clubhouse right now! Not THE Peel It Backe whose music I grew up with as a teenager!”
The two of them exited the SUV and Tina stormed into the clubhouse. Sitting barefoot and inconspicuously in the corner was BowTye shining a pair of shoes. He was wrapped in a white, terry cloth robe that he had borrowed from Curt’s locker while his clothes were being dried. “BowTye, sorry to bother you, but my mom doesn’t believe me,” Justin apologized.
“About what Mister Justin?”
“That you’re really Peel It Backe,” Justin answered as Curt came out of the office and stood behind the counter.
Tina stood in the middle of the room and turned to Curt. “Don’t be feeding all of that nonsense into his head.”
“What nonsense?” Curt protested.
“That the man in the corner is Peel It Backe,” Tina whispered.
Curt stopped and let her comment register. Then he roared with laughter. “Well he is!”
Justin grabbed his mother’s arm and led her to the corner. “Mom, I’d like for you to meet Mister Peel It Backe.”
Still covered with a robe, BowTye stood and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. I apologize for the way I’m dressed. We had an unscheduled swim this afternoon.” He smiled from ear to ear and flashed his pearly whites.
“We call him BowTye around here, but his real name is . . .” Justin stopped and wrinkled his nose. “What’s your real name, BowTye?”
“Tyrone Munroe. All the way from New Orleans,” BowTye replied as his smile beamed even larger.
Tina shook her head back and forth. “I just don’t know. I think you guys are pulling my leg.”
Justin tried his best to persuade her. “No, Mom. It’s true.”
“I’m from the Show-Me state. You’re just going to have to prove it to me,” Tina stated vigorously. “Do you have your banjo here?”
BowTye nodded his head up and down. “I’ve been playin’ for Mister Justin and Mister Keith all afternoon.”
“Then I want to hear you play ‘Smack-Jackin’ Back-Crackin’,’” Tina blurted. “I grew up dancing to that song.”
“I think that we can manage that,” BowTye said as he reached for his banjo. “Please excuse me for the way I’m dressed.”
Tina was still not convinced. “Let me hear you play that and you’ll be excused.”
BowTye put the banjo over his knee and struck a few chords. Tina couldn’t help herself; she instantly started moving to the music. The more he played; the more she danced. “I can’t believe this!”
“See, Mom,” Justin said as her bluff was called. “I wasn’t lying.”
Tina danced all around the clubhouse. She started moving like she did in her teenage years. Then she stopped and marveled at the private performance. “You were my idol growing up! I just can’t believe this!” She turned and gave Justin a big hug. “Will you play ‘Diddle Me, Do Diddle Me’?”
BowTye smiled. “I’d love to ma’am.” He broke into a rendition of the hit song that had spread across America during Tina’s teenage years. She couldn’t stop moving once again and danced with whoever wanted to move along with her, taking turns with Justin and then Curt.
“This is just too much!” Tina shouted as the music ended. “Where can I come see you?” Her excitement and enthusiasm filled the room.
“He’s here every day, Mom,” Justin said in a way that indicated that she must have missed the obvious.
BowTye understood the question a different way. “I always play at the Aqua Mermaid, Ma’am.” Her excitement tickled BowTye. His smile beamed in her direction.
Tina rushed up to shake BowTye’s hand. “I still can’t believe this! Let’s go Justin! Grab Keith! I can’t wait to get home and tell my girlfriends!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
The boys showed up right on time the next morning. The smell of fresh coffee permeated the air as the pair walked through the front door. Curt had already gotten the cash register ready and had been sitting at the counter working a crossword puzzle when they came in. “Did your mom ever calm down last night?” he asked Justin.
“She was on the phone talking to every girlfriend she has,” Justin revealed. He placed his duffel bag on the floor. “What do you have planned for us today?”
“We’ll go out and do our run,” Curt began, “then I’ll have you guys do some small errands. After that we’ll go and . . .”
“Are you going to run with us?” Justin interrupted.
“I don’t think so,” Curt complained. “I hardly slept last night. All I did was toss and turn. If I didn’t have to be here so early I would have taken a sleeping pill to get some rest.” He made a cup of hot chocolate for himself. “I’ll go out and walk around the lake and try to get some exercise that way. At
this time of year, morning is the prettiest part of the day.”
“What kind of errands are you going to have us do?” Justin asked.
“Just a couple of small ones,” Curt answered. “Then I thought that you two can play golf with us today. You’ve only got two weeks before school starts back up.”
“ . . . Yeah!” Justin shouted. “How neat is that going to be?” He and Keith gave each other a high-five.
“We’ll let you tee it up with some of the guys and see how you handle the water and sand and trees,” Curt proposed.
“I want to see how my putting stroke works. I’ve been practicing a lot on that,” Justin said.
“The summer is winding down and you boys have been working hard on your swings. Plus you’ve had the opportunity to watch the guys play several rounds. I think that you have a decent understanding of the game. Let’s see how well you do on the test. Today’s the day.” Curt put a lid on his hot chocolate. “Let’s get out to the lake.” The threesome scampered out the door and boarded the utility vehicle.
It was over seventy degrees at six in the morning. Curt wasn’t joking when he said that it was the prettiest time of the day. The geese had moved on to another watering hole after Curt put the fake owl out by the lake. However the martins darted and weaved for the insects that hovered above the water. Two deer bounced across the fairway as the sound of the utility vehicle indicated that visitors had arrived. Morning dew covered the grassy areas. The systematic rotation of the sprinklers soaked the zoysia grass and provided for a therapeutic reverberation.
“Okay, you guys can hit it. I’ll be walking along at my own pace,” Curt announced as he pulled the John Deere to a stop. The boys took off and Curt started to walk at a brisk pace. Even though the side effects of chemo left him feeling lethargic, he was determined to get the cancer out of his body.