A Flash of Green

by John D. MacDonald

  In all this, he thought, in all this which diminishes me, no act of mine, or of anyone else, has consequence. Morality is a self-conscious posture. Dedication is delusion, based on a fraudulent interpretation of fact, a wishful projection of our present velocity. The only valid role is that of observer. Soon we will all eat stones.

  He turned into the parking lot at the bank just as Kat was walking toward her little car. The lot was almost empty. He touched the horn ring. She turned and stared, then came swiftly toward him, such a smiling welcome on her face his heart seemed to move higher in his chest.

  She looked in the car window at him. “Golly, Jimmy, I’ve been saving up so many things to talk to you about, I know I’m going to forget half of them.”

  “How was yesterday? You have a very red nose.”

  “And my forehead is getting crusty, and I have ten billion little pinhead blisters on my back and shoulders. Yesterday was okay. It got bad a couple of times. When it did, I’d run into the water and swim as hard as I could as far as I could. So along with the blisters, I’m lame. Where were you today?”

  “Working on that feature I told you about.”

  “Are you busy now?”

  “Later would be better.”

  “I promised Jackie I’d do two hours on the phone as soon as I get home. Can you come out about six and have a drink and stay to dinner?”

  “Sure. What’s going on?”

  “Dozens of things, most of them bad. I want to tell you all of it, not just bits and pieces.”

  He arrived at her house at a little after six. She was in shorts and a halter, her sore back and shoulders greased. “Excuse how I look,” she said. “Clothes hurt. And excuse how I sound. I’m hoarse from arguing and arguing over the phone. Jackie and Ross are coming to dinner too, but they won’t be here until after seven. Now, sit down and I’ll get your drink and I’m going to talk you blind.”

  She told him about Dial Sinnat quitting. She told him somebody had gotten at Dial through Natalie. It surprised him that Elmo had been able to move so quickly and effectively. It puzzled him that it had worked at all. Kat gave no details about Natalie. She merely said, “The girl did something that could be made to look pretty awful.”

  For a few moments his mind wandered. He did not hear what she was saying. He realized she was looking at him expectantly.

  “I know it’s a lot to ask of you, Jimmy.”

  “Sorry, dear. I wasn’t tracking. What are you asking me to do?”

  “Find out who is being so ugly about all this! Somebody spied on Nat, Jimmy. And two men talked to Di on the phone and scared him right off the committee, and he didn’t recognize the voices of either of them. You know everybody, Jimmy. If you could find out who is being so terribly rough, maybe we could do something about it. Couldn’t you sort of ask around, in a quiet way?”

  “But people know I was on your side last time, and they know it will be the same again. If I start asking questions, why should anybody answer me?”

  She sat on a foot stool, glowering into her drink. “Buck Flake, Leroy Shannard, Doc Aigan, Bill Gormin, Burt Lesser. Jimmy, maybe one of them is in real bad financial condition. You could find that out, couldn’t you? If a man was worried, he might do terrible things. I saw that Buckland Flake with a very spectacular girl.”

  “I suppose I can ask around.”

  She stared at him. “Well, don’t be overcome with enthusiasm.”

  “I don’t know exactly where to start, Kat. But … I’ll see if I can figure out something.”

  “When are they going to petition for a change in the bulkhead line?”

  “At the County Commission meeting tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”

  “So soon!”

  “It’ll be an open battle from then on.”

  “Excuse me. I thought it had already started.” She tilted her head and listened. “Here’s Jackie and Ross.”

  Jackie came striding in first, gawky, flamboyant and slightly drunk, wearing a denim dress, carrying half a drink in a huge old-fashioned glass. “Unless you had a lot better luck than I did on the phone, Katty love, let’s not talk about it, because I find it extremely distressing. Hello, Wing. What have you done for us lately? Excuse me, dear. You probably have some adorable ideas. Meager but adorable.”

  “She’s been working on this since about quarter of six,” Ross said. “She’s a swinging thing tonight.”

  “Give my little husband a weak drink, somebody,” Jackie said. “Leave him in shape to take me home over his shoulder. Honest to God, Kat, this Dial Sinnat thing floored me. After you called Tom from the bank this afternoon to tell him definitely no dice, he spread the bad word. I never heard Tom sound so low. So I phoned Dial. He’d just gotten home. The son of a gun thanked me for my interest in his personal decisions. He brushed me off like an expert. Then poor Wally Lime phoned me and we wept together, and then I started belting these lovely things. Are we mice or people? Are we a committee or a burial detail? I’ve got the general idea, kids. Somebody pressured Di. So let’s us pressure some of their boys. Walk me to a bay filler, fellas. I’ll lunge at his jugular. Bring me a big one. Like Flake, or a little one like Aigan. Makes no difference to Killer Halley tonight.”

  “Can’t she fill a room, though?” Ross said with awe and pride.

  Kat’s children came home from the Sinnats. Kat filled their plates and said they could stay up until nine-thirty if they played quietly in Roy’s room, and didn’t spill any food in there. Jimmy guessed that Kat was serving the small buffet sooner than she had planned. Jackie needed food and coffee.

  “The trouble with us,” Jackie said as they were all eating, “we’re too damn nice. Even you, Wing. Perfect little gennlemen. What have we got left? A couple army types, you and me, Kat, a darling art gallery type, little Wally—our Madison Avenue South—and who else? Oh. Fat Doris. You know, it comforted me having Di on the squad. I thought he was the one with cojones, but he turns out to be a capon.”

  “Down, Jackie!” Kat said firmly.

  “What? What’s the matter?”

  “You don’t know all the facts or all the reasons or how Di feels. Maybe you’d do the same thing. How can you tell?”

  Jackie looked at her with one eyebrow tilted abruptly. “Sweet Katherine,” she said. “Sweet, gentle, forgiving, understanding Katherine.”

  “Now, honey,” Ross said.

  “The thing,” Jackie said, “is to see him in proper perspective. Okay? He could fool around with our little project as long as it didn’t cost him anything except time and money.” She turned her bright stare toward Jimmy. “The wise old owl that doesn’t say a word turned out to be a pretty stupid bird.”

  “Am I supposed to say something significant?” he asked.

  “You could give it a try.”

  “I said it last week when I was talking to Kat about this. I said people were going to play rough.”

  “And so are we!” Jackie said, banging her plate down.

  “Fight, team, fight,” Ross said.

  Jackie stood up and looked solemnly at her husband. “Funny man,” she said, and walked out of the house.

  “Should you … go with her?” Katherine asked, worried.

  “She’s okay,” Ross said. “Good groceries, Kat. Oh, she’ll hike around with steam coming out of her ears. She gets sore. She works it off. She’ll be back.”

  They finished eating. Jimmy helped Kat take the dishes out to the kitchen. Jackie came back, as noisy as before, with Burt Lesser in tow. “See what I got!” Jackie said. “A hunk of the opposition. He was home alone, helpless and apologetic.”

  Burt Lesser acted as though it was some sort of party game, as if he were the permissive, good-humored trophy in a scavenger hunt. He wore a pale blue coverall suit with short sleeves and a tricky brass buckle and his initials in dark red on the breast pocket.

  “Well, well, well,” he said, and took out a handkerchief and took off his heavy glasses, huffed on the lenses, and s
tood wiping them, looking at them all with an uncertain yet jolly look, his oval fleshy face naked without his glasses, and his belly thrusting the brass buckle forward with a look of comfortable arrogance.

  Kat went to him quickly and said, “Burt, you know you’re welcome here any time. We didn’t send Jackie out to bring you back.”

  “Cowards,” Jackie said. “Sit right there, Burt boy. This is an inquisition. We’re getting tough. We’ve got some questions to ask.”

  Burt sat on the couch. He put his glasses on and looked hesitantly at Jimmy Wing. “I’m not in a position to make any official statement.”

  “This is off the record,” Jimmy said, “whatever you say, Burt.”

  “Get him a drink, Kat,” Jackie said. “Then you all sit down. I’ll be Perry Mason.”

  Jackie stalked slowly back and forth in front of Burt Lesser, scowling, darting fierce looks at him from time to time. She was the only one who didn’t seem to sense the awkwardness of the situation.

  “Now then,” she said, “are you the president of the Palmland Development Company?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Is it the purpose and intent of this company to fill Grassy Bay and make a lot of money?”

  “Uh … to make a lot of money for everyone. Yes indeed.”

  “You were not in favor of the Grassy Bay fill two years ago, Mr. Lesser. Is that true?”

  “I wasn’t in favor of it. I didn’t … uh … actively oppose it, but I wasn’t in favor of it either. But this is a different situation.” He smiled at Kat and Ross and Jimmy, the smile of someone who is going along with a joke and wants to be appreciated.

  “What’s so different about it?”

  “Several things, Mrs. Halley. Several important things. We’re in a little business slump in Palm County, and we weren’t two years ago. This could be a tremendous shot in the arm. Also, having local people in control of it assures a real tasteful development. We don’t want to foul our own nest, you might say. Palmland Isles will be a credit to the area in every sense of the word.”

  “Is that what you’re calling it? Ugh!”

  “In every sense of the word. And we shall place all possible contracts and orders right here in Palm County. I have close contact with all the businessmen in the area, Mrs. Halley. I can assure you that the support for Palmland Isles is overwhelming. I think that you people are … uh … doing a disservice to the community by trying to oppose it.”

  Jackie paced for a few silent moments. She stopped, whirled, pointed her finger so energetically at Burt that it made him flinch. “You have the feeling that this project will go through?”

  “Oh, yes! There’ll be a clear majority in favor of it.”

  “And you think we are wasting our time and energy?”

  “I guess you could put it that way.”

  She moved closer to him and lowered her voice. “Then answer this, Mr. Palmland Lesser! If you are so bloody sure of winning, why is your side pulling dirty despicable tricks on us, like blackmailing Dial Sinnat into pulling out?”

  Jimmy saw that Burt Lesser was genuinely shocked and astonished.

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “I don’t know the details. But you probably do.”

  Burt Lesser flushed. “I don’t like your tone of voice, Jackie. I don’t know anything about Dial Sinnat and I don’t know anything about blackmail. That’s a damned dangeous word to throw around unless you know what you’re talking about, and I’m not sure you do.”

  Jackie stared at him. “Now just one cotton-pickin’ minute, Mr. President!”

  Lesser stood up. “I’m a little tired of this game.”

  “Somebody on your team is playing dirty,” Jackie said sternly. “If you don’t know about it, you should. And if you don’t believe me, ask Kat here, or Jimmy, or phone Tom Jennings. Who have you got on your team who’d pull such a stinking trick?”

  Jimmy saw the momentary uncertainty on Burt Lesser’s face. It disappeared quickly. “You know the five of us who have majority interests in this project, I’m sure. As far as the others who are on our team, as you prefer to call it, I can name Martin Cable, Ben Killian, Gerold Tucker, Willis Bry … in fact a long list of the influential men in this area. Every … uh … worthwhile project attracts support from all … uh … segments of society. I can’t be responsible, or be held responsible, if somebody in favor of the bay fill gets too anxious.” He turned to Kat. “Thanks for the drink, Katherine.”

  “Well,” Jackie said thinly, “you better check out your folks, because if they get too anxious, some of our people might get too anxious too.”

  “Is that some sort of a threat?” Burt asked her coldly.

  “It’s a promise, pal.”

  Kat said, “Burt, I’m sorry that this—”

  “I know it isn’t your fault, my dear. No harm done. See you tomorrow morning, Jimmy. Goodnight, Ross. Jackie, I think you make a mistake in combining alcohol with your … civic activities.”

  Kat went out with Burt. As soon as the door closed behind them, Jackie said, “The great white father! He’s doing it all to help the poor. Honest to God, men, if there’s anything I hate it’s a hypocrite.”

  “You messed up pretty good, honey,” Ross said.

  “Messed up? What did I mess up? I believe him when he says he doesn’t know anything about what they did to Di. So maybe he’ll go find out who did it and raise hell. Big fat phonies like Burt Lesser get real upset about appearances. They don’t mind stealing as long as it doesn’t look like stealing. Right, Jimmy?”

  “Burt has a good reputation in the real estate business.”

  “How would he do if he didn’t have Sally Ann’s money in back of him?”

  Kat came back in and said, “He isn’t really sore. He’s just sort of hurt, I guess.”

  “What a dreadful shame!” Jackie said.

  “Honey, I’m taking you home,” Ross said.

  “Oh, the hell you are! Not on your life, boy! I’m just beginning to swing.”

  Ross smiled and stood up and took her by the wrists. She tried to pull away. He kept smiling. She looked at him gravely. “Really? I’m due to go home?”

  “That’s what the man says,” Ross said gently.

  She gave a huge shrug and looked over her shoulder at Kat and Jimmy. “All of a sudden it turned into an early night. Goodnight, darlings. The food was nifty, Kat. You call me tomorrow and tell me how horrible I was. Okay?” She yawned and leaned against Ross. “Steer me away, lover.”

  After they had gone, Kat sat beside Jimmy on the couch and said, “It got out of hand, I guess.”

  “She’s a very direct type gal.”

  “When she brought Burt in, you know the crazy thing I did? I started looking around the room for Van, knowing he’d take over and smooth things out. There was just a half a second of looking for him. I didn’t want to have to cope.”

  “You coped fine.”

  “Did I? I didn’t feel as if I was. Burt handled it pretty well, don’t you think?”

  “He kept his dignity.”

  “Which is more than you can say for Jackie, bless her.” She yawned and hitched around on the couch to face him more directly. “Jimmy?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  “What do you know about that Reverend Coombs down in Wister?”

  He looked at her in mild surprise. “Why?”

  “Oh, nothing special, really. One of the guards at the bank was talking to me about him. He goes down there every Sunday. He said I ought to go down there too.”

  Jimmy had the impression she was lying. “You don’t need him, Kat. You don’t need his brand of salvation.”

  “What’s wrong with it?”

  “He’s found a button to push. A new mixture. A kind of militant revivalism. He took over an old school in the piny woods and turned it into a church. He keeps it filled with self-righteous, beat-down people who’ve always hated anybody better off than they are, and he gives them good reasons
for the hate, and makes them feel like God’s weapons. They’re going to save all us wicked ones if they have to kill us to save us.”

  “Is that why they’ve whipped some people?”

  “Yes. And maybe some day they’ll whip the wrong one. I know of at least six cases which never even got into the papers. He works them up to a high pitch every Sunday and at least two evenings a week. They’re the good right arm of the Lord. The Army of the Lord, they call themselves. Full of holy fervor to punish the wicked. Politically they’re way to the right of the Birchers. They’re flat out against perfume, makeup, television, birth control, divorce, big cities, modern painting, fiction, jazz, public swimming, dancing, liquor, movies, magazines, candy, cigarettes. They make public confessions. Anybody who disagrees with them is un-American, a red Communist dupe. I don’t know how sincere Coombs is. If he’s after power, he’s getting it. They’ve cowed a lot of people down in the south county. He gives radio talks now, over WEVS in Everset, and I heard he’s getting a pretty good-sized audience here in Palm City. He’s a stocky guy about fifty, with huge shoulders and a great big head on him and a voice like a trombone. He claims to have spent the first forty years of his life in black sin, started reading the Good Book in jail, saw the light, started preaching on street corners and preached his way all the way across the country back to the swamps where he was born. Wherever he goes, there’s a little herd of the faithful clumping right along with him, carrying weapons, because he claims the Reds are out to get him. There must be a hundred like him, scattered around the country. There’s always a chance one of them will get to be big enough to be genuinely dangerous. I suppose his chance is as good as any of them have. No, Kat. That brand of salvation is not for you. Are you looking for some?”

  She looked down at her hands. “I guess not. Not really. You remember, I took that trip home after Van died. I knew the whole world was a dirty fraud. I knew it was all a bad joke on people, without justice or reason or … decency.” She raised her head and looked at him, frowning. “I’m more emotional than logical, Jimmy. The minister up home tried to help me. He’d sit with me and talk and talk and talk and try to make the whole thing logical. He was just fooling around with semantics. There was no logic in a world that could take Van away from me. But I … found my own way to whatever I believe, sort of in spite of him. I sat in a field on a gray stone. The leaves turn early there, you know. ’Licia came running to me with a bright red leaf. I turned it over and over. I wasn’t looking for any deep thoughts or revelations or anything. I was just blue and empty, a woman looking at a leaf. I saw the pattern of the little veins in the leaf and I remembered hearing that no two leaves out of the trillions and trillions on earth are exactly alike. ’Licia had her hand on my knee, small and warm and grubby. I took her hand and turned it over and I looked at the patterns of it, the little pads and lines in the palm. It was unique too, like the leaf.” Kat opened her own hand for him to see.