A houseboat. Finegan Fine

by Nancy Lieder

  I paid them well but they wanted more, had a

  better offer. I’ll pay you plenty. You’d be set

  for life after this all blows over. I’m worth

  billions. . . Billions.

  Finegan again holds his ground.

  I told you, paper’s no good. That includes

  stocks, bonds, cash. So what you gonna do now?

  How you gonna live?

  The former billionaire is deflated but still trying to act in charge.

  You tell me. What’ll it take?

  The former billionaire is jerking his chin at the young women lounging

  in the corner, indicating they should go over to Finegan. Seeing them

  start to rise from their chairs, Finegan rejects the offer.

  And I ain’t interested in that either. There’s

  plenty of tail being offered, but food is worth

  more. You can’t beg, borrow, or steal these

  days. Those growing food work too hard for what

  they get. . . But there is one thing you can

  do.

  The former billionaire is fuming again, but glances up through angry

  brows at Finegan, too astute at business to pass up a tip. Finegan

  says,

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  Too late to start a garden but there’s grass

  and weeds to eat. Fish or set traps if you know

  how. And you know, rats aren’t half bad in the

  stew pot.

  Joey can’t hold it in any more and break out in a guffaw, then slaps

  his hand over his mouth and runs up the stairs. Finegan follows him,

  barely suppressing a smile himself.

  ______________________________

  The houseboat is pulling away from the resort shoreline. Up on the

  hill, in the former golf course, two young women are running after

  sheep, their hands outstretched, trying to corral a lamb. The sheep of

  course are way ahead of them, flowing like water up and over the hill.

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  Rust Belt

  A factory is on the horizon, partially flooded. Metal cranes and

  storage silos are among the metal-framed factory buildings. The windows

  are smashed and some buildings tilted sideways, but most of the

  structures are intact. The parking lots are underwater, only some

  gateposts and the rooftop of a guard hut visible sticking up above the

  water. Joey is on the roof of the houseboat, taking measure of the

  clearance over the parking lot fence. He says,

  A good 4 feet I think.

  The main factory building has a slightly sloping flat metal roof, with

  the walls coming up over the roof edge for a couple feet as a guardrail

  around the edge of the rooftop. The rooftop is covered with greenery,

  some kind of rooftop garden, with wines hanging down over the edges of

  the roof. There is the sound of a metal door opening on the roof, the

  access door to the rooftop from a stairwell.

  A bent little man emerges from the stairwell door, letting the creaking

  door close slowly by itself. He heads over to a row of what looks like

  cabbage, bending over it to weed the row, not noticing the approaching

  houseboat. The gardener is bent, a back curved from years of working in

  this position and from malnutrition, though he is not that old. He has

  black hair and pale skin, a gaunt look, and appears to be small boned.

  All is still except for the sound of water splashing against the side

  of the houseboat.

  Finegan hops up to the houseboat rooftop, standing next to Joey, for a

  better look. Finegan calls out a greeting.

  Yo, the gardens! Good day to you. Finegan Fine

  here, trader. . . How you manage that, on the

  rooftop?

  The gardener freezes at the sound of a voice so close, and so

  unexpected. He straightens up, as much as his bent back will allow, and

  looks in Finegan’s direction. Then he puts his handful of weeds plucked

  from the row down, and shuffles over to the rooftop edge. The gardener

  puts a hand up to shield his eyes against the morning sun, taking a

  moment before he responds in a high nasal voice.

  What kind’a contraption is that?

  Finegan replies,

  It’s a houseboat. Floats. I got a water wheel

  in the back to push it along. Slow, but steady.

  The gardener says,

  A trader you say?

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  To which Finegan pitches his line.

  What might you need?

  ______________________________

  The houseboat is tied to a post at the corner of the factory rooftop. A

  knotted rope ladder is hanging down onto the deck of the houseboat.

  Finegan and Joey are being given a tour of the rooftop gardens by the

  gardener.

  . . We seen the water’s a’rising and dug some

  good soil before it was covered. Those of us

  ain’t never had no land in our name. Cain’t run

  off with the house, but them landlords not

  gonna miss some soil from a flooded yard. . .

  We use rainwater here.

  The gardener is motioning along the rows as they walk.

  Tomatoes do well . . greens of many kinds . .

  Potatoes if you keep ‘em wet . . can’t get

  those carrots to grow unless they’s the stubby

  kind . .

  They come to the watering system where there are hoses with holes

  running down the length of the soil troughs, in the center of each

  trough. There is a water tank on the roof which had been used by the

  factory, raised above the roof so there is water pressure.

  This here’s how we water. Wears me out hauling

  the rainwater up there every time, though.

  Collects in the drains over there, which’n we

  blocked.

  The rooftop door opens again and the gardeners’s wife and 10 year old

  daughter emerge. The wife has more meat on her bones than her husband,

  though it is clear she has lost most of her fat in recent months. Her

  long skirt is held up by cloth strips up over her shoulders like

  suspenders, sewn onto the waist front and back. The daughter is scrawny

  and wears a combination of her parent’s clothing, one of her father’s

  shirts and a pair of her mother’s pantaloons, also held up by

  suspenders. Her pantaloons are tied at the ankle, they are so

  voluminous. They have dressed for company, and have brushed their hair

  for the occasion too. The gardener turns toward them and to introduce

  them to Finegan.

  My wife and darlin daughter.

  Finegan has been looking around, appraising the setup.

  We might ought fix a pumping system to lift

  that rainwater. Can you give me a tour to look

  for parts?

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  The gardener says,

  They took ‘bout everything. Common.

  ______________________________

  The gardener is walking Finegan through their living quarters on the

  floor below the gardens. He is walking just ahead of Finegan, gesturing

  to the right and left, turning to walk backwards at times, pointing at

  this and that.

  We brung just the personals. Dragged a couple

  mattress. Plain livin but we’re making do.

  They return to the stairwell, as the gardener wants to show Finegan

  that the lower floors are inaccessible. Finegan follows the gardener

  down to the next landi
ng where the water level is visible.

  . . risen to this level, and lately slowed . .

  Finegan points to the rust just under the water level.

  Salt water . . salt water is corrosive. This

  plant was never built for salt water. . .

  Finegan turns to face the gardener. He barely gets his words out before

  the building starts to collapse.

  You had any settling problems?

  There is a sound of metal screeching onmetal. The stairwell shutters

  and both men lose their footing.

  ______________________________

  A frantic scene ensues, as the gardener and his family are evacuating.

  The wife and daughter are tossing bundles of personal items out the

  window of their living quarters down to Joey, who is on the roof of the

  houseboat. Finegan is on the roof of the factory with the gardener,

  trying to harvest his crop. Finegan drops a rope with hook down to

  Joey.

  Snag me that bundle of plastic bags . . thanks.

  The gardener is harvesting potatoes, shaking the soil off when he

  wrenches a plant up out of the trough, and plucking potatoes off the

  roots. He tosses the filled plastic bag onto a pile to be lowered to

  Joey. Finegan is doing the same to carrots, starting to tear the greens

  off them. The gardener cries out,

  No, no, leave some! I’ll replant ‘em for the

  seed. . . Gotta have the seed.

  Finegan is hooking potatoe bags on the hook used to lower produce from

  the rooftop to Joey. He swings the bag of potatoes out over the

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  houseboat rooftop and holds the rope while Joey catches the swinging

  mess. Joey says,

  Got it.

  The wife and daughter are now climbing out the window of their living

  quarters below the factory roof, the daughter dropping down and then

  reaching up to help her more portly mother, standing beneath her to

  soften her fall. Her mother says,

  Child! Out’en the way! I’ll squash you flat.

  The wife falls on her butt, but rolls to stand up and brush herself

  off.

  Finegan and the gardener are now harvesting green cabbage, cutting this

  off at the root and discarding the brown and tattered outer leaves. The

  gardener cries out again,

  Leave that’en. I’ll replant for seed. . . Just

  those half dozen will do.

  They have a pile of bagged vegetables at the side of the factory roof,

  ready to be lowered down. Just then the sound of metal screeching again

  cuts through the air, as the factory visibly shutters and lowers again

  by a few feet. Only inches remain until the flood waters will pour over

  the rooftop guard walls.

  Finegan rushes over to the pile of plastic bags packed and tied and

  ready to be lowered. He hooks and swings this to Joey as though they

  only have seconds to spare. Joey signals Finegan as soon as the hook is

  clear.

  Got it.

  The daughter is now helping Joey, moving the bags to the edge of the

  roof and out of his way, and lowering the bags into her mother’s eager

  hands during the off moments.

  The water starts lapping over one edge of the rooftop guard. The

  gardener rushes over to the far side of the factory rooftop, tearing

  off his shift. He picks seed shoots from carrot and cabbage plants

  being used to grow seed and ties them into his shift, tying the sleeves

  together so it is a bundle. He staggers and sloshes back to the

  houseboat side through the rising water and tosses this into his

  daughter’s hands.

  Finegan is hooking the harvested and bagged tomatoes, lowering them

  carefully rather than swinging them out.

  These’ll smash. Tomatoes.

  The wife comes over to the side of the houseboat deck to catch them.

  Finegan turns to the gardener.

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  That it?

  Just then, the factory settles yet again, accompanied by the sound of

  screeching metal and splashing water, putting both Finegan and the

  gardener in the water. Finegan and the gardener climb onto the

  houseboat and stand, dripping web, looking over the flooded roof.

  Along the sides of the factory roof the vines holding summer squash can

  be seen bobbing up. The squash on the surface is bloated and yellow,

  oversized and almost rotting in appearance. The gardener cries out,

  The squash!

  He dives into the water and swims along the bobbing vines, plucking the

  overripe summer squash and tossing them to Finegan. Several of them

  shatter when caught.

  Arrrrrr! These are rotten!

  The gardener’s wife rushes up to collect the mess in a basin. She says,

  This is seed! You gotta rippen it full.

  ______________________________

  The gardener and his family are standing at the end of the gangplank.

  Finegan has donated his rusty wagon to the family, and it is piled high

  with bags of vegetables and their personal possessions. Other bags and

  bundles are piled around their feet. Finegan strides across the

  gangplank with the packet of seeds the woman at the old folks home had

  given him. He hands this to the gardener.

  Joey is right behind him on the gangplank, one of the remaining

  pumpkins in his hands. He hands this to the gardener’s daughter.

  Finegan says,

  I gather pumpkin wants a lot of room, but now

  you’ll have the room.

  The gardener is thanking Finegan.

  Don’t know what I’d a done without y’all

  stopping by.

  But Finegan says he was part of the problem.

  It was no lucky coincidence. Twas my weight

  that tripped the balance. But it was gonna go

  anyhow. . . Appreciate the potatoes and cabbage

  and all.

  ______________________________

  Finegan has the portable camping grill fired up with a small wood fire,

  a deep pot on the grill filled with burbling hot water. The lid is off

  the pot and he is brushing some chopped vegies off a cutting board into

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  the pot - carrots, an onion, several potatoes, and some cabbage. The

  houseboat is drifing offshore from where the gardener’s family had been

  dropped ashore. Finegan glances in that direction as he settles back

  onto a box, munching on a raw carrot, contemplative and exhausted. The

  vegetable bins behind him are stuffed with the new produce.

  Barney comes up to sit nearby, his nose in the air, sniffing the

  boiling vegie stew. Finegan hands a raw carrot down to Barney, who lays

  down to chew on it contentedly.

  113

  New Leaders

  The houseboat is peddling along between the shoreline and an immense

  island formed by the rising water. There appears to be water on at

  least the three sides of the island that they can see. Joey brings

  Finegan a map while he pedals along, confused about their location.

  Finegan gets off the bike seat and comes to comb over the map with

  Joey, who has spread the map out on top of a box at the rear of the

  houseboat. Their heads are together over the map, while Finegan runs

  his finger along the Ohio River.

  I think we’ve going up the Ohio by mistake.

  Hard to tell. All
one big watery mess. . . I’m

  thinking more and more these days about heading

  back. Least I knew what I was looking at.

  In the background they hear a drum set being played, then a saxophone

  bleating a few shrill notes. Finegan and Joey turn their heads in the

  direction of the island. Now they hear a guitar being strummed and

  tuned. Finegan and Joey look at each other and smile.

  ______________________________

  Finegan and Joey are going over the rise of a hill, walking along a

  dirt road lying between fallow fields. A flea market is laid out in a

  pasture, dozens of blankets or tarps spread out on the ground with

  wares laid out for inspection. Some hold pots and pans, dish sets with

  many of the dishes or glasses chipped or cracked, incomplete tableware

  sets, racks of used clothing for both children and adults, hand tools,

  bags of apples and onions and nuts, chickens and roosters in cages, a

  calf, bicycle parts, a used shoe display, non-battery key-winding

  clocks including a large coocoo clock, a hair salon where a hairdresser

  is snipping away at someone’s head, and a display of hubcaps which is

  getting zero attention.

  On one side a band is being formed, with a drum set, sax, guitar, a

  violin, harmonica, and pebbles in a tin can. The band members are

  trying out various songs, this or that member suggesting a tune and

  playing a bar, then another having an opinion. Finally they settle and

  start to play “Happy Days are Here Again” in a disjointed manner.

  Finegan and Joey are walking slowly down between the blankets laid with

  wares until they come to the shoe rack. Joey stops and begins comparing

  his shoe up against some boots and tennis shoes for children his age.

  Finegan asks,

  Your shoes getting tight?

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