FRIENDS
By R. L. Keller
A couple notes:
First, this follows my story “Katya”.
It will make a bit more sense if you’ve read that first.
Also, I would like to apologize in advance for any errors
in the description of the Beverly Beach, Oregon area. It was a favorite camping spot for my family
during the 1980’s, but I’ve been back only once since, and that was just to
drive through. I’m sure many changes
have been made.
Lee
Crane was in a particularly foul mood.
He’d been banished from his beloved ‘Lady’, the submarine Seaview, for
the next two weeks. True, Seaview’s last
mission had been brutal, especially on her captain, and Lee knew he needed time
to heal. But he’d anticipated being placed
on light duty and spending the time in his office at the Nelson Institute of
Marine Research getting caught up on the stacks of paperwork he never seemed to
have time to finish. However his boss,
Admiral Harriman Nelson, and Seaview’s CMO, Dr. Will Jamison, had conspired
against him. Jamie had placed Lee on
Medical Leave and the Admiral had banned him from the Institute grounds. Angry, Lee had stalked out of the Admiral’s office,
slamming the door behind him. Once home
he had slammed around there too, a hazard to small inanimate objects. Finally, exhausted, he collapsed in his
favorite chair in the living room. Not
bothering to turn on any lights as it got dark outside, Lee also didn’t bother
to answer the knock at his door. Whoever
it was finally left, and Lee eventually fell into a restless sleep.
He
awoke about 0200, turned on a light, and let his eyes wander around the room as
he slowly refocused, trying to figure out how to keep from going crazy. Lee was not an inactive man, and the thought of
spending the next two weeks doing nothing was intolerable.
Pictures
on the mantle caught his attention: he and Chip on a fishing trip; he and the
Admiral at an Institute picnic; one of the entire Seaview crew taken at a
‘Crossing the Equator’ party. A smile
crossed Lee’s face – that had been some party!
One
of the few pictures that didn’t involve members of the crew was a snap that had
come in last year’s Christmas card from old friends, Tim and Annie Hughes. Lee had graduated Annapolis with Tim, and
been Best Man at their wedding two days later.
Unfortunately, Lee had seen little of them since. Tim had gone on to SEAL training, was injured
on a training mission, left the Navy, and he and Annie now ran a Bed and
Breakfast on the Oregon coast. Later,
Lee couldn’t quite remember how the idea came to him, but once there it
stuck. If Lee couldn’t work, why not
drive up and spend a few days with his old friends. And since he was now wide-awake he got up,
showered, packed, and was ready to leave by 0400. Because of Doc’s imposed ‘Medically Unfit for
Duty’ status, Lee didn’t have to report his whereabouts to Security, nor did he
want to. Still angry, all he wanted at
that particular moment was to be gone! But
Chip, and he closed his eyes a second.
Can’t take my anger out on him, and made a mental note to call
later and leave a note so his XO and friend wouldn’t be worried.
* *
* *
Energy
reserves almost nil Lee made it only until 1400, as far as Santa Rosa, before
realizing if he didn’t stop he’d crash his car.
Checking into the first motel he found he didn’t even bother to undress,
just laid wearily on the bed and pulled the spread over himself, his body
aching. Doc had given him meds:
painkillers that he chose to ignore, and antibiotics he knew he should take but
was just too tired to bother looking for.
He slept fitfully, as he frequently did on land, but at least his body
had a chance to recover somewhat before he took off early the next morning.
Ten
hours later Lee hit the outskirts of Newport, Oregon. Tired, but not the total exhaustion of the
day before, he pulled over and reached for his cell phone. A soft, melodic voice answered his call.
“Spindrift
Inn, how may I help you?”
“Annie?”
“Yes?” Lee heard puzzlement in the familiar voice,
and chuckled.
“Hi,
gorgeous. It’s Lee.”
“Lee!” He almost had to hold the phone away from his
ear, and laughed again. “You haven’t
called in forever. It’s so good to hear
your voice.”
“Good
to hear yours, too, Annie. And I’m sorry
it’s been so long. I just get so
busy…oh, you know how it goes.”
“Lee,
dear, we run a B&B. You do not have
to tell us anything about being busy.”
“Is
Tim there?”
“No,
and he’s going to be so disappointed he missed you. He’ll be back in about an hour. Are you home?
I’ll have him call you.”
“Actually,
Annie, I’m in Newport.”
“What? You rat! Get your tail out here – NOW! That’s an order, Mister.”
Lee
couldn’t keep from laughing. Annie had
always ordered he and Tim around that way.
She claimed, with all their Navy training, it was the only thing they
understood.”
“Tomorrow,
Annie. I’m bushed. Going to find a place to crash. Just wanted to make sure you were still
speaking to me, and get directions.”
“Lee,
we’re only 10 minutes north of Newport.
We have an empty room; you will not motel it, period. Got a pencil?” and she proceeded to give him
directions to the Beverly Beach area.
Most
of the last two days Lee had concentrated on driving, not sightseeing. With his destination now so close Lee took
the time to enjoy the short drive north.
Hwy 101 stayed close to the ocean for the most part, offering up a view
of wide, flat, sandy beaches interrupted only occasionally by the odd rock
formation and the entrance to Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Natural Area. A few miles further, close to the entrance to
Beverly Beach State Park, Lee saw the sign for his friends’ B&B.
Lee
knew the history of the 3-story plus basement structure that came in sight at
the crest of the hill. It had originally
been built in the late 1880’s by the owner of a fleet of ships sailing to China
and back. After a particularly bad year,
loosing several ships to pirates and storms, he’d been forced to sell out and
move away. The house had gone through
several owners, falling further and further into disrepair, at least on the
outside. When Tim had first seen it the
inspector he’d hired had been amazed at how well the house had been
constructed, and in what good shape a lot of it still was. Remodeled with wrap-around covered verandas
on both the ground and second floors and private enclosed balconies for the two
3rd floor rooms, it was surrounded by lawns and flowerbeds on all
sides and commanded a magnificent view of ocean and beach below.
Behind
and to one side sat a detached garage with several parking spaces provided next
to it. Pulling into one, Lee was getting
out when he heard a screen door slam and looked up to see Annie coming toward
him, wiping her hands on an apron, huge smile on her face. A good foot shorter than Lee, she didn’t see
him flinch as she gave him a big hug, then stepped back to hold him at arm’s
length.
“Don’t
they ever feed you?” she admonished.
“Not
you, too,” Lee groaned, then laughed at Annie’s puzzled expression. “Old joke, gorgeous. It’s good to see you, too. And I love the house. The pictures you’ve sent really don’t do it
justice.”
“Thanks. Sometimes we can’t believe our good fortune
in finding it. Oh, it needed a lot of
work but it’s really amazing no one else had grabbed it up. Come on, grab your stuff and I’ll give you
the tour while it’s quiet.” Lee reached
back into the car for his duffle.
“That’s it?”
“Enough
for now. Mostly I’d just like to sit and
relax. It’s been a long drive.”
“Oh,
of course. Dumb me, you said you were
tired. Come along. The coffee’s hot, unless you’d rather have
something stronger,” and they headed for the back door Annie had come out of.
“Coffee
would be great. Why so quiet?” Lee was hoping things weren’t going badly for
his friends. He’d been surprised when
Annie had said there was a room free.
“All
the guests are either at the beach or out sightseeing. Some should be up shortly to change before
going out to dinner. The others will be
back later. We just serve a big
breakfast, of course. They’re free to
come and go as they please the rest of the day, but we don’t offer any other
meals. Except for ‘special’ guests,” she
added with eyes twinkling.
“Ah. Oh, this is wonderful.” The back door opened into a light, airy
kitchen with a small dining nook, which Annie waved him towards as she poured
him a cup of coffee, then went back to preparing dinner, explaining the rest of
the house’s arrangements. Lee knew most
of it from previous letters and phone calls, but now he could put the pieces together. Besides the kitchen, the ground floor held a
large living/dining room across the front.
Tim and Annie’s quarters were mostly in the basement. There were 4 large guest rooms, all with
private baths, on the second floor, and 1 large one on the third floor, along
with a smaller one. It was this small
one that was empty, the only vacancy at the moment.
“We
don’t often rent it,” Annie explained.
“We find we have quite enough to do keeping up with the other five. So don’t go thinking you’re doing us out of
paying customers.”
“Yes,
Ma’am,” and Lee gave her a sideways salute, smiling. She was about to throw a towel at him when
they heard a car drive in, and Annie glanced out the window.
“The
Stevens’ – newlyweds. Been out whale
watching. We have all the guests come in
the front door. I’ll just go see how
their day went. Even though we don’t
feed them, we like to make them feel welcome.
You just sit and relax. I’ll be
right back.”
Lee
leaned his head back against the wall, closed his eyes, and listened to Annie
greet her guests. Always an outgoing,
friendly person, she had an easy way about her.
Tim was the same, making this profession a good one for them. Lee was glad they had found each other, and
found their rightful place in the world.
He thought he’d found his, too.
Actually, he didn’t doubt that he had.
He loved Seaview, and his duties at the Institute. He worked with the best crew in the world;
had the greatest respect for Admiral Nelson and the work they did. Just sometimes…
Lee
heard another car door slam, but assuming it was more returning guests didn’t
bother opening his eyes.
“Holy
hell!” and a startled Lee opened his eyes to see Tim looking through the screen
door, hands full of grocery bags.
“What
kind of talk is that for a respectable innkeeper?” Lee laughed, rose, walked over and pushed
open the door. “It’s good to see you,
too.”
“What
are you doing here? Why didn’t you let
us know you were coming?” Tim dropped
the bags on the counter and grabbed Lee’s shoulders. “God, it’s good to see you.”
“Same
here. And to answer your question, had
some time off and just got in the car and started driving.” It wasn’t quite a lie.
But
the expression on his friend’s face was one of disbelief. He leaned back against the counter and
crossed arms over his chest. “Not buying
it Lee. Not you. It would take an act of God to get you off
that tub of yours,” and both men smiled.
“Not
an act of God, but almost.” Lee glanced
toward the front of the house, where voices could still be heard, and dropped
his a bit further. “I didn’t tell Annie, and I’d appreciate you not
either. I know how she gets.” He had Tim’s full attention now, and raised
his hand. “I’m ok. At least, I will be. The last cruise got a little hairy and the
Admiral ordered R&R.”
“You’ve
come to the right place then. You’ll
like the Driftwood room.” At Lee’s
puzzled look Tim smiled. “You remember
we named all the rooms after beach things.
Driftwood is the smallest, and we don’t use it much.”
“Annie
didn’t give it a name, just wanted me to know I wasn’t costing you income by
showing up unannounced.”
“Not
at all. Just glad you’re here.”
“You
bet.” Annie walked back in and pointed to the grocery bags, forgotten on the
counter. “While it’s all well and good
to visit with old friends, you’d better not be letting the frozen stuff thaw.”
Tim rolled his eyes at Lee. “Work, work, work. That’s all she ever thinks about,” but he
smiled as he said it, and gave his wife a hug.
As Tim started putting things away and Annie went back to what she’d
been doing, Tim asked about Chip.
“Ornery
as ever,” Lee quipped. “It’s such a
pleasure working with him. I couldn’t
ask for a better XO.” The three
continued to visit until Tim was done, then he glanced at Lee’s feet where his
duffle still lay.
“That
all you brought?”
“There’s
another bag in the car – nothing I need right now.”
“Toss
me your keys. I’ll grab it and take you
up to your room. If we hang around here
much longer Annie will put us both to work.”
While
waiting for Tim to come back in Lee finished his coffee, rinsed out the cup,
and put it in the dishwasher. Turning,
he saw Annie smiling at him.
“What?”
“Bachelors. God love them. I can barely get Tim to put his dirty dishes
in the sink,” and they were sill chuckling together as Tim came back in with
Lee’s other bag. Lee snatched up his
duffle as Tim made a grab for it too and they walked toward the front of the
house. Lee hadn’t really been looking
forward to climbing two flights of stairs, but having had a chance to sit for a
bit he kept up quite nicely as Tim led the way, pointing out the house’s main
features. The staircase started just
past the entrance to the kitchen and before entering the large front room, and
went up through the center of the house.
Off the 2nd floor landing were 4 doors with hand painted
nameplates on each: Sand Piper front South, Sand Dollar front North, Sea Star
back North, and Anemone back South. The
third floor was smaller in square feet than the first two, giving a nice ‘cap’
to the house. Lighthouse Suite took up
the whole front of the house, with its private balcony opening onto the
ocean. Tim led Lee to the other ‘room’,
and Lee gasped as he stepped through the door
There was a large window on the back side of the house and sliders on
the south wall leading to an enclosed balcony that gave an excellent view of
the ocean and beach, with Yaquina Head Lighthouse in the distance. The north side housed a large bathroom with
dressing area, Jacuzzi tub, and separate shower. The room itself was off-white. The headboard
of the queen sized bed and various chairs were made to look like they had been
fashioned out of driftwood. There was a
small TV in one corner, and a radio/stereo in another. “This is small?”
Tim
laughed. “As we have guests check out
I’ll take you into the other rooms. When
we planned it, we wanted a few large, spacious rooms instead of a lot of small
cramped ones. That keeps the guests happy
and the numbers down so that Annie and I can handle almost everything
ourselves. We have a local couple that
runs the place when we need to get away, and they come in to help when we have
heavy cleaning to do. You remember how
much Annie loved to cook. She has a
blast thinking up new treats for breakfast.
Just wait.”
“My
mouth was watering just watching her doing the prep for dinner, remembering
that party a couple weeks before graduation.
Why aren’t you 300 pounds by now?”
“Lots
and lots of running up and down the stairs,” and Tim laughed. “Oh, oh, I hear more returning guests. Better go play host.”
“Do
you stay pretty full?”
“Almost
all the time from early April until well into October, and around all
holidays. Even the rest of the year it’s
rare we don’t have at least one room occupied.
Relax and get settled in. Dinner
will be 6-ish,” and Tim left.
Lee
walked out to the porch, big enough for two comfortable-looking chairs and a
small table with room to spare, and just gazed out at the ocean for a
while. If he had to be away from
Seaview, at least he still had his beloved ocean. The beach below was wide and long, and Lee
could envision spending most days there, walking, jogging eventually, and
getting his strength back.
Turning
back to the room to unpack Lee noticed a phone next to the bed, reminding him
he still hadn’t called Chip. The first
time his cell phone had rung yesterday he’d turned it off, not wanting to be
bothered. And now? Lee wasn’t sure what stopped him. Pure stubbornness on my part, most likely,
and he laughed at himself. It still
smarted a bit that Doc and Nelson had ousted him but that was no reason to take
it out on Chip. Lee knew his friend
would be worried, and he decided he’d call Chip’s office late, after he knew
Chip would have left, and leave a message on Chip’s machine just to say he was
ok.
As
he unpacked, the sound of car doors and voices came and went. Lee tried not to spy but was curious about
the other guests. He saw whom he assumed
were the newlyweds leaving for dinner, then a middle-aged couple arrive, and
leave shortly after with another couple.
He assumed he’d meet most of them later.
Annie had said that most evenings there was a relaxed gathering in the
large living room. They kept tea, coffee,
and soft drinks available, and though they didn’t supply alcoholic drinks of
any kind except for themselves, didn’t object if guests chose to bring down
drinks from their own rooms. Lee
questioned his friends about this over an excellent dinner served at the small
dining nook in the kitchen.
“It’s
a lot easier than trying to get a liquor license. We occasionally have children here, and since
we serve only breakfast we don’t have to worry about drinks with dinner,” Annie
answered between bites of lasagna.
“Except
for us,” Tim added as he refilled Lee’s glass with an excellent local
wine. Lee was glad he’d avoided taking
any of the painkillers. He knew well
enough the two didn’t mix.
“You
never get tired of what amounts to strangers always in your house?” Lee asked.
“Never,”
Annie answered. “Most guests are great;
interesting, friendly. And we have as
much privacy as we want or need. We
don’t join the evening gatherings every night, just maybe check on the coffee,
etc. There’s a small fridge for soft
drinks, and lots of times if the coffee runs out one of the guests will make
more. We keep all the supplies in a
cabinet out there.”
“Just
to clarify,” Tim added, “while we never get tired of the guests per se, we do
occasionally get tired of a particular guest.
It’s unavoidable in this business.”
“I’ll
be good,” Lee said quickly, albeit with a twinkle in his eye, and ducked as
Annie threatened to throw a roll at him.
They all laughed.
“Relax,
Lee,” Tim continued. “We just have a couple
here now, the Keeleys, who are a bit snobbish.
Thankfully we see very little of them.
They eat early, leave right after, and don’t get back until almost
11pm.”
“And
no one misses them,” quipped Annie.
“How
long are you stuck with them,” Lee commiserated.
“That’s
the other thing,” Annie continued. “They
don’t leave until Monday, something to do with better rates on their airline
tickets, and because of that I’ve had to turn two different couples away who
wanted to arrive Sunday and didn’t want to wait. That means the room stands empty until next
Sunday.”
“Didn’t
you want to give that room a thorough going over?” Tim asked. “Would be a good chance.”
“True. I’ll call Michelle and we’ll give it a good
tossing.”
Lee’s
earlier curiosity about the other guests led him to ask who else was there
besides the honeymooners. “A couple from
Nebraska,” Tim supplied, “and two lawyers and their wives from the Bay
area. As I recall they all leave
Saturday.”
“And
the rooms fill right back up?” Lee always
liked to know what was happening around him, whether he was on his boat or not.
“Just
about,” Annie supplied. “Two couples
come Sunday for a week, another couple come Monday, and a couple college girls
come Tuesday and leave Friday.”
“Around
and around and around,” Lee laughed.
“How do you keep it all straight?”
“Good
paperwork,” Annie answered, was interrupted by the phone ringing, and left to
answer it in the front room.
“Mostly,”
Tim added, “Annie keeps it all together.
Oh, I could muddle through, but she’s the genius.”
“You
two have been good for each other,” Lee smiled.
“Thanks. We think so,” and Tim winked.
“Do
you ever miss the Navy?”
“Honestly,”
and Tim sighed, “I did, for awhile. Not
so much anymore. I really enjoy the
B&B, meeting the diversity of people we do.
It’s great. And you? Still in love with that crazy sub?”
Lee
laughed. “Always and forever. Can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“Even
when it bites you?”
“Seaview
didn’t bite me,” and Lee grimaced. “One
of the passengers did.”
Tim
raised his eyebrows, willing Lee to continue, but Annie came back into the
room. “So much for overhauling
Lighthouse,” she said as she sat back down.
“That was a lady from Portland.
Apparently knows the area, but she’s never stayed here before. Told her the only thing available was
Lighthouse, our most expensive, and when it was open. She didn’t seem to mind, said it would be
great, and she’d be down Monday afternoon.”
“Good
thing you hadn’t called Michelle yet,” Tim offered.
“Still
think I will, though. I want to go
through it good and proper. No telling
what Mrs. Keeley’s done to the place,” Annie groused, and the men laughed.
“You
don’t go into the rooms while they’re occupied?” Lee asked.
“Not
usually,” Annie explained. “The guests
are responsible for making their own beds, etc.
If they need anything done, vacuuming, whatever, we’re more than happy
to do it. But mostly we just clean and
change linen between guests. Oh, when we
have people staying longer that a few days we go up and clean out the towel
hamper and make sure there are plenty of fresh ones, that sort of thing.
“And
while she’s at it, Annie usually takes a few swipes through the bathrooms, does
a bit of dusting…whatever,” Tim added with a hug to his wife.
“Never
a dull moment?” Lee asked. Finished
eating he started stacking plates together, earning a laugh and a wink from
Annie.
“Something
like that,” Tim answered, with a puzzled expression.
“Just
earning my keep,” Lee replied quietly and continued to help clear the table
until Annie chased the two men into the front room. Tim started a pot of coffee and another with
hot water for either tea or cocoa, and Lee wandered around looking at the
various pictures and paintings on the walls, most featuring ocean views of one
sort or another. Comfortable-looking
furniture was scattered around: sofas, recliner chairs, and a love seat. There was also a small game table and chairs
for playing cards or working puzzles.
Several book shelves were well stocked with all sorts of subjects, both
fiction and non-fiction, and cabinets held games and puzzles. A stereo with a good diversity of musical
styles on CD was in one corner, and nearby was a TV and VCR set up with a
selection of new and old movie tapes.
“Looks
like you’ve got something for everyone,” Lee commented.
“We
don’t want anyone to get bored on stormy days,” Tim chuckled. “Anything I can interest you in this
evening?”
Lee’s
reply was interrupted by a huge yawn.
“Maybe just my bed,” he laughed. “Or
would I be guilty of a huge faux pas by not sticking around to meet the
other guests?”
“Not
at all. Go crash, we’ll see you in the
morning. Annie serves breakfast from 7
to 8:30 on weekdays, and 8 to 9 Saturday and Sunday.”
“Then
I’ll go say goodnight to Annie and see you in the morning.”
“You
ok?” Lee could hear the genuine concern
in his friend’s voice, and smiled.
“Just
tired,” he answered, and headed for the kitchen.
As
he got to the door Lee could smell onions and peppers cooking. Annie was at the stove stirring something in
a large skillet and Lee went to sneak a peek over her shoulder.
Annie
smiled and handed him the wooden spoon.
“Stir,” she ordered, and started cutting a large crusty loaf of bread
into 1-inch cubes. Lee quietly continued
to stir the mixture in the skillet, looking questioningly at his hostess. “Onion, scallion, mushrooms, and green and
red bell peppers.” Annie finished
cutting up the bread, buttered a large shallow baking dish, and dumped in the
bread cubes. Checking on the veggies she
decided they needed a bit more cooking and got down a bowl into which she
whisked eggs, milk, Dijon mustard, a bit of Tabasco, and salt and pepper. Into another dish she coarsely grated extra sharp
cheddar cheese and mixed it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. By this time the veggies were done to her
satisfaction and she took over, spreading them over the bread cubes. Next went the cheese mix on top of that, and
then the egg mixture over everything.
Covering the dish she put it in the fridge. “Breakfast,” she smiled, and started cleaning
up.
“Can’t
wait. Actually, I originally came in to
say goodnight.”
“So early? I
expected you and Tim to be up talking half the night.”
“Maybe
tomorrow.”
“Are
you sure you’re ok?” and her look was definitely an assessment.
Lee
put on his most sincere expression.
“Yes, Mother, I’m just fine.”
Relaxing with a smile, he added, “it was a long drive up and I was tired
before I left. The last cruise was a
pain.” To put it mildly he thought to himself. He momentarily relived the staged ‘accidents’
that had culminated in a bullet wound to his side, and his being forced to kill
a passenger. “Ok?” and he opened his arms, intending to
give her a goodnight hug. He noticed her
slight hesitation but she finally smiled too, and returned the hug. “Thanks for insisting I come out this
afternoon. See you in the morning. Tim gave me breakfast times.”
“Remember,
you can always eat here in the kitchen if you don’t want to tackle the rest of
the pack. Speaking of which,” as they
heard car doors slam, “I’d better finish up,” and Lee headed to his room.
As
he entered, he glanced at his watch.
Only 1945 – too early to try leaving Chip a message. He could easily still be in his office and
Lee wasn’t really sure what he’d say to him.
Instead, he kicked off shoes and socks and sat out on the balcony. With the windows open, the sounds of a light
surf came easily up to him. He heard
further sounds of returning guests but didn’t realize he had fallen asleep
until startled awake by loud voices outside his door on the upper landing. Sounds like the Keeleys didn’t have a very
pleasant evening he mused. Waiting
until the voices were inside their own door he got up, retrieved his cell
phone, and went back to the balcony.
Anticipating Chip’s office answering machine, Lee was surprised when
Chip himself answered.
“Commander
Morton.” Lee didn’t say anything for a
second and Chip continued, puzzled.
“This is Morton, anyone there?”
“Chip,
it’s Lee,” Lee said softly.
“Lee,”
Chip practically yelled. “Where are you?
Are you ok? Why haven’t you called?
We’ve all been worried sick.”
“None
of your business, yes, didn’t feel like it, and sorry about that,” Lee answered
with a smile.
It
took Chip a second to translate, then his voice came back much softer. “Are you home?”
“No. I was told to get lost, so I did.”
“That’s
not exactly how I heard it, buddy, although Angie did say you could hear the
door slam in the next building.” Lee
heard the smile in his friend’s voice.
“Yeah,
well, that’s how I took it. How come
you’re working so late?”
“Finishing
your reports. The Admiral felt so bad
about your abrupt departure he decided to take care of all your records and
logs. Of course, that meant I get to
help.”
“I had
intended to deal with it myself, until outvoted.”
“Anyway,
Nelson went by your place that evening to apologize but you didn’t answer. He decided not to push the issue until the
next morning.”
“To
give me time to cool off,” Lee interpreted.
“Whatever. But when he stopped your car was gone and
your cell phone wasn’t working.”
“Turned
it off.”
“Oh. Well, anyway, that’s when he decided he, and
I as it turned out, would take care of your workload until you reappeared. May I ask when that will be?”
“The
time table he and Jamie put together stipulated two weeks.”
“And
you’re not going to tell me where you are, or how to get in touch with
you.” Lee didn’t answer immediately, and
Chip continued. “Not a problem. I think I understand. I’m just glad to know you’re ok.” Voices - happy, excited, party-like - floated
up from the front porch and were picked up by the cell phone. “I see.
Blond, brunette or redhead?” Chip laughed.
“Brunette,
both of them.” Lee didn’t bother to
explain he was referring to Tim and Annie.
“Both? And you’re not inviting me? You scoundrel!”
“Sorry,
Chip. Full house.”
“You’re
supposed to be getting some rest,” and both men laughed.
“R&R. Rest and Recreation. I have every intention of recreating as much
as possible.”
“While
I’m stuck doing your work. I will
get you for this.”
“Hey,
don’t blame me.” The easy, familiar
banter was more relaxing than even the sound of the surf, and Lee felt himself
yawning again. “Got to go, Chip.”
“I’ll
tell the Admiral and Jamie you called,” and Chip paused. “Will you at least let me know if you need
anything?”
“Of
course, Chip. But things are under
control here. I’m fine.”
“I’d
like a dime for every time I’ve heard that line,” Chip muttered, but cut off
Lee’s retort. “Ok, I’ll take your word
for it. Just do me a favor and keep in
touch. Ok?”
Lee
was not unmoved by the sincerity he heard in his friend’s voice. “Sure,” and the two said goodnight. Lee left the windows and slider open,
changed, and crawled under the comforter on the bed, asleep almost immediately.
* *
* *
Lee
awoke Friday morning slightly disoriented, and it took him a few minutes to
remember where he was. It was still quite
early, only 0545, and Lee took advantage of the unusual opportunity to stay
snuggled under the comforter, enjoying the sounds of early morning birds and
gentle surf coming through the open windows.
Finally fully awake he made his bed, showered, changed the bandage on
the still-healing wound in his side, and got dressed.
It
was a few minutes after 0700 when he came down the stairs. Tim was sitting in the dining area visiting
with a couple not exactly dressed for a beach vacation. Lee guessed they must be the Keeleys,
confirmed as he walked over and was introduced. Tim referred to Lee only as an
old friend from Tim’s Annapolis days but apparently that wasn’t satisfactory.
“You’re
still in the Navy,” Mr. Keeley said brusquely, making it a statement.
“Naval
Reserve, actually,” Lee answered casually, pouring himself a cup of coffee and
looking over the selection of breakfast items on the sideboard. Besides the dish he’d watched Annie put
together the night before, now baked and in a warming tray, there were hash
browns, crisp bacon, and sausage patties, also in warming trays, pitchers of
several different kinds of juice and bowls of seasonal fruit resting in a tray
of ice, and several different kinds of muffins.
“I work for Admiral Harriman Nelson,” he continued, turning back to the
table. “Nelson Institute of Marine
Research, in Santa Barbara.”
“You
don’t look like a scientist,” said Mrs. Keeley, giving Lee an appraising look
that earned a frown from her husband.
“I’m
not,” Lee said as he put down his coffee cup and picked up a plate. “I work on Seaview, the Institute’s research
submarine,” and he turned back to start dishing up his breakfast.
“Sounds
utterly boring,” Mr. Keeley grumbled.
“Not
from what I hear,” and Lee turned to see a middle-aged couple coming down the
stairs. Tim introduced them as Kyle and
Mary Masterson. It was he who had
spoken, and now continued. “We have friends
whose daughter works at the Institute.”
He named her, but it was no-one Lee recognized.
“It’s
a big place,” Lee apologized, and continued filling his plate.
“That’s
what I understand. Anyway, LeAnn’s
related several rather interesting stories concerning the activities of your
submarine.”
Lee
kept his face noncommittal but made a mental note to speak to Personnel. The Institute tried to keep that kind of
scuttlebutt to a minimum.
“Don’t
believe everything you hear, Sir,” Lee replied pleasantly and sat down at the
table. “Most of the time things are
pretty tame.” Masterson accepted the
gentle correction with a small nod as he and his wife turned to fill their own
plates. Lee had a feeling Mr. Keeley
wasn’t ready to give it up but Tim rather adroitly changed the subject and the
Keeleys soon left.
Over
the next hour Lee met the rest of the guests as he and Tim held court over
breakfast. Annie came in just after the
Keeleys left and Lee had a hard time keeping a smile off his face. Annie caught the effort and gave him a small
kick under the table.
After everyone else had left Lee helped Tim and Annie
clean up. Annie tried to convince Lee
that he was taking the ‘earning his keep’ routine to extremes but Lee persisted
and eventually Annie surrendered.
Afterwards, with instructions on where to park his car, Lee drove down
to the State Park just down the hill.
The beach was accessed from the day-use parking lot by a pathway under
Hwy 101. The sun was shining brightly,
there was just enough breeze to make the people flying kites – of which there
were quite a few – happy, and Lee found a spot against a large log to sit and
watch. Several people were flying
brightly colored stunt kites, shaped a bit like a stealth bomber. Handled by double lines leading to wooden
handles held one in each hand they could, in the hands of experts, be made to
do almost anything, and Lee enjoyed watching their antics.
As
did others. With the State Park just
across the road the beach filled up rapidly.
Eventually the noise from too many small children playing in the surf
got to Lee and he walked further south.
The tide was low and it was easy walking in the hard damp sand close to
the edge of the water. He didn’t go
fast, just enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells. He was totally amazed when he finally glanced
at his watch and discovered it was after 1300. No, Lee mentally corrected himself,
for the time being you’re on civilian time.
1pm. Turning back, he
estimated he had ambled over a mile.
Thoroughly enjoying himself, he didn’t get back to the Spindrift until
just after 3:30.
“I
was beginning to think the seagulls got you,” Annie called from the front room
as Lee came in the back, and he walked through the kitchen to find her washing
the front windows.
“Not
a chance. However, I was nearly done in
by a couple of pint-sized tornadoes. I
seem to recall you and Tim talking about having half a dozen or so,” and was
immediately sorry as he saw a very hurt expression flash briefly across Annie’s
face. She recovered quickly, but not
before she realized Lee had seen it.
“Sorry. Yes, we’d have liked to have kids. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
“Please…I
didn’t mean to pry.”
She
turned and faced him, a smile back on her face.
“Hey, no problem, just one of those things. And the way things have turned out it’s not
so bad. Sometimes I watch the news at
night, with all the violence going on in schools, all the drugs everywhere, and
I’m almost glad I don’t have to worry about raising children in that kind of
atmosphere. It’s scary what goes on
these days. I think I’ll take my nice
quiet B&B…” and was interrupted by a crash and loud oath coming from one
floor up.
“Quiet?”
Lee grinned, recognizing the voice.
“Should I go up and see if Tim’s still in one piece?”
“Only
at your own risk. He’s fixing a shelf in
Sea Star – for the 4th time this month. The blasted thing just won’t stay where it’s
supposed to and he’s not in a good mood.
Are you hungry? You missed
lunch. There’s sandwich fixings in the
fridge.”
“Not
after that huge breakfast I packed away.
Could stand something to drink, though.”
“There’s
milk and juice in the fridge. Pop, too.
And I can fix coffee – won’t take a second.”
“Don’t
bother, I’ll find something,” and he walked back into the kitchen. Checking the refrigerator he found a pitcher
of orange juice, poured a large glassful, and against advice went up the stairs
to track down Tim. Annie gave him a smile and mouthed ‘be careful’. As he got to the first landing he noticed the
door standing open to the back left room and walked over, stopping just outside. “Tim?”
“Come
on in, Lee. I’m in the bathroom.” Lee entered the bright airy room, similar to
his own but with white wicker furniture, a printed border of starfish around
the top of the walls, and sliders leading to the second floor deck. Another door was standing open to his right
and he walked over. Tim was in a
dressing area working on a bracket holding up a wooden shelf. “How are you at carpentry?” he asked.
“Lousy. Everything on the boat is metal,” and Lee
laughed.
“There
is no way,” Tim indicated the bracket, “that one rotten little screw is going
to defeat me.”
“What’s
the problem?”
“The
original screws worked loose, and now the holes are too big to hold
properly. The hardware store sold me
these winged nuts that fold until they get inside the wall, then spread out to hold
solid. I have the first one in and just
about have the other one under control.
It’s just a matter of pulling and turning them at the same time.” He returned to the project, and with only one
more oath had the screw tight. He put a
bit of weight on the shelf and it held firm.
“There, got the little sucker.”
He picked up his tools and the two went back downstairs. Annie was on the phone, Tim went to put his
tools away and Lee took his glass out to the deck facing the ocean. Sitting sideways on the railing, his back
against a post, he was soon joined by Tim carrying a beer. “Private stash – there’s a small fridge in
the garage. Feel free to help yourself,”
and he sat down in one of the deck chairs.
“I’m
fine for now but I’ll keep it in mind.” They
visited amiably, Tim asking how Lee had spent his day.
“A
little advice,” Tim cautioned. “If you
walk north you’ll eventually get stopped by the rocks that form part of the
Devil’s Punchbowl, a pretty spectacular blowhole. However, to see it properly you’re better off
driving down to the parking lot and watching from the regular areas. South on the beach is no problem, with one
exception. When you get almost to
Yaquina Head the beach takes a turn around one of the higher cliffs in the
area. At low tide it looks just like the
rest of the beach, but the water comes up to the cliff at high tide and if you
get caught on the other side, it’s safest to just wait it out.”
Lee
acknowledged the warnings just as some of the guests came back to change for dinner
and the evening progressed much as the previous one had, except Lee stayed
downstairs much longer. He was beginning
to understand what his friends saw in this kind of life: relaxed, laid back,
easy conversation with a variety of people.
Oh, Lee admitted he would never be able to handle it for any length of
time. But for right now it was exactly
what he was craving. No pressures, no
demands, just time to relax.
* *
* *
Lee
spent the next few days much as he had Friday: breakfast with everyone, several
hours walking on the beach, then back for dinner with Tim and Annie, more
visiting in the front room, and bed usually about 11pm. Saturday Annie offered to pack Lee a lunch
since he didn’t come back in time, and Lee cringed. “Good grief, no! After the breakfast I just put away it’s
amazing I eat anything at all at dinner!”
That day saw the departure of the Mastersons, Ortings and Laceys, and
Annie called in her friend Michelle to go through all three rooms, getting them
ready for new guests. Sunday saw the
departure of the Stevens, and the arrival of two new couples: the Craigs,
teachers from Seattle, and the Garretts, a retired couple from Phoenix. Everyone was glad to see the last of
the Keeleys on Monday and Michelle again appeared, to help Annie go through
Lighthouse in preparation for the woman from Portland. Also arriving were the Bruces, a college
professor from Salem, Oregon, and his wife.
Lee
got a late start to the beach that morning.
He was finally getting some strength back and decided to alternate
walking with a bit of jogging. Lee hated
inactivity. Even on board Seaview he
tried to find time each day for some form of exercise. He loved diving, but if that particular
activity was not available he’d work out in the exercise room or jog on the
small track around Sherwood Forest, the name given to the missile silo
area. Today he added short jogging
sections to his normal walk, releasing some of the demons that had built up
with his forced inactivity. He didn’t
realize how far he had gotten down the beach until a sharp stab of pain
reminded him he was far from healed, and he was forced to stop. Looking around, he realized he was almost to
the point Tim had warned him about. The
tide was out and Lee could see how easily he could have run right past it
without noticing. The tides shouldn’t be
a problem over the next 10 days or so, as long as he continued to be here
during the middle of the day, but he was still glad Tim had mentioned it.
With
the extra expenditure of energy came a peace of emotions but also a tiredness
of body, and Lee was regretting he had such a long walk back. Really dumb, Lee! he muttered to himself, and turned around.
He
was still a good 100 yards from the passageway when total exhaustion set in and
he sat down in the sand above the high tide line, his back against an old
driftwood stump. Nearby several people
were flying their stunt kites, and again he enjoyed watching them. It was almost 1750 – no, Lee, civilian
time. 5:50pm he chided himself. The
tide was coming in but still a couple hours away from high tide. Besides the kite flyers the beach was full of
kids playing in the surf, families coming down to picnic as dinnertime
approached, individuals and couples walking and jogging now that their workday
was over, and, Lee noted, one very lonely figure standing off by herself,
staring out at the sea. Lee guessed her
to be in her mid-thirties, shoulder length hair the color of wet sand, dressed
casually in loose fitting blouse and slacks, looking more like she was dressed
for dinner than the beach. The thought
stopped Lee, realizing he was going to be late for his own dinner. His legs were still feeling too weak to
finish the walk to his car. He wished
he’d remembered to bring his cell phone but Tim and Annie knew where he was,
and though he was expected to appear at dinner was under no real mandate to do
so. He went back to watching the kites,
enjoying the expertise needed to make them maneuver in such intricate patterns. He glanced back once to see the solitary
figure still where she’d been, still just staring toward the water, then lost
interest as he heard a shout, and voices calling out directions, as two kites
started to perform together. They were
matching movements beautifully in a complicated double pattern in the sky when
all of a sudden one flyer made a slight mistake that brought both kites
crashing down, to much laughter from the participants. Lee, too, was enjoying the humor of the
situation when he heard a whistle and turned to see Tim walking toward him,
cell phone to his ear. Lee got slowly to
his feet and glanced at his watch, surprised that almost an hour had passed,
and headed in Tim’s direction. Tim
closed the phone just as the two met.
“I
know I’m late,” Lee said casually, “but I didn’t expect the cavalry.”
“Small
problem,” Tim answered, and instantly Lee’s face turned serous, causing Tim to
laugh. “Easy, Lee. No big deal.
Just, Annie’s royally ticked at you.
That was her I was just talking to, letting her know I found you.”
“All
for missing dinner? Give me a
break. I got sidetracked,” and the two
walked back along the beach.
“That’s
not exactly the problem. We got a letter
today. From Chip.”
Lee
stopped dead and glared at his friend, who didn’t make matters any better by
grinning. “He didn’t,” Lee growled.
“He
did. No details, but enough to let Annie
know this isn’t just a simple vacation.
When you didn’t show up at your usual time she was all set to call out
the Coast Guard.” He was still smiling
broadly.
“I’ll
keelhaul that, that…” and didn’t finish as Tim burst out laughing.
“First
you have to placate Annie. Ah,” and he
suddenly got serious, “you are alright, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,”
Lee grumbled, still ticked, and continued walking. Taking a deep breath, he gave Tim a small
grin. “Actually, I was feeling so good I
added some short jogs to my walk, and ended up further down the beach than I
planned…”
“And
it was a long trip back,” Tim finished for him.
At Lee’s glance, he grinned.
“Been there. When we first came
here I was still recovering from the crash.”
Lee remembered the accident that had cost Tim his naval career was the
crash of a helicopter taking Tim’s SEAL team to a training exercise. “I did the same thing, and not just once,” he
chuckled. “Slow learner. Found out the hard way about that place I
mentioned down by the lighthouse.”
“I
got far enough today to see it. Spend a
few hours on the other side, did you?”
Lee’s good humor was slowly returning.
“In
the days before cell phones became so popular.
Annie was a basket case.” He
chuckled again. “I was grounded for a
week,” and both men laughed.
They
continued an amiable conversation as they returned to their cars. Lee figured Tim had had another conversation
with his wife on the short drive home because Annie met them at the back door,
not saying a word, just holding out several sheets of paper to Lee. He recognized Chip’s neat crisp handwriting
and leaned his back against the counter as he scanned the lines, finally
finding what he was looking for. “…And I
don’t even have Lee here to harass.
There was an incident on the last cruise, Lee got the worst of it and is
on medical leave. Angry that the Admiral
wouldn’t even let him come into the office, he took off. He called a couple days later and seemed ok
but I’m still a little worried about him, and I know Doc is, too. But you know Lee – stubborn as ever. Right now I could use his input on the new…”
and Chip went on to talk about some of the refitting he was overseeing while
Seaview was in port. Lee looked up to
find Annie putting dinner on the table.
Tim was already seated.
“Like
I said,” Tim smiled, “no details. You
told me more than that the day you got here.”
There
was a loud bang as a lid was smacked back on a pan. “You knew about this all along?” and Annie
sent a murderous glance toward her husband.
Lee couldn’t help himself, and laughed.
“Down,
Annie,” Lee walked over and gave her a hug.
She looked ready to smack him with the pan lid. “Tim knew I was hurting, that’s all. The details are classified, couldn’t tell you
if I wanted to. I just needed to get
away and relax for awhile. You guys keep
telling me how restful this place is so I decided to come see for myself,” and
he gave her one of his most disarming smiles.
Annie
however wasn’t convinced. She stepped
back and crossed her arms. “Damage
report,” she demanded, and Lee knew she wasn’t going to let him off the hook. A quick glance showed Tim studying the design
on the dinner plates. No help
there. Lee took a deep breath.
“A
few bumps and bruises,” he glossed over the minor injuries, all healed now
anyway, and took another deep breath, “and bullet wound,” Lee admitted.
Annie
glared at him a few more moments but finally gave him a small smile. “Sit,” she ordered. “Dinner’s ready,” and she turned back to the
stove. As Lee took his place at the
table he and Tim shared a grin and Lee said quietly, “I’m still going to kill
my XO. You interested in the job?” Tim laughed as Annie set halibut steaks,
baked potatoes and hot rolls on the table, which already held a bowl of green
salad. Talk was somewhat subdued, but
friendly. Lee knew Annie was watching
him, and he was careful to eat a substantial amount. That seemed to placate her somewhat but she
flatly refused his help with dishes and he didn’t argue, making known his
intention to finally clean up after his day at the beach and re-join them in
the front room. Annie gave him a look at
that but couldn’t very well say anything since he’d been doing it since he got
there, and he headed for his room.
Showered
and changed, Lee grabbed his cell phone and went out onto the balcony, dialing
a familiar number.
“Commander
Morton,” came Chip’s voice, sounding a bit harried.
“Refit
not going well? You sound frustrated.”
“Lee! Hey, good to hear your voice. And no, the refit’s going fine. It’s just been one of those days. How are you?”
“Fine. Actually felt good enough to jog a
little.” He didn’t say how
little. “Be back in shape in no time.”
“Good
to hear it. Don’t suppose you’d want to
call the Admiral and tell him.”
“That’s
what I have you for, to pass on the message.”
“Yeah,
but you know him – he all too frequently kills the messenger.”
“Still
ticked that I took off?”
“How’d
you guess? Asks me at least twice a day
if I’ve heard from you and I don’t think he believes me when I tell him no,
just that once.”
“Well,
now you have something to talk about.”
“You’re
not going to help me out here, are you?”
Lee could hear the amusement in Chip’s voice, the complaint
notwithstanding.
“Actually,
I’d like you to pass some information on to Security. It seems we have a couple information leaks
at the Institute.”
Chip
instantly went serious. “What? Who?
What are you talking about?”
“Long
story, but there’s a young lady named LeAnn Cope, can’t tell you which
department. Seems she likes to relate
Institute stories to her parents, who in turn relate them to friends.”
“How
did you find out?”
“Met
one of the friends.”
“Oh.” Lee could here the sound of a keyboard and
knew Chip was already checking Personnel.
“Cope, LeAnn. Dr. Kramer’s lab
tech.” Kramer worked in the microbiology
lab. “I know one of the secretaries
there. Maybe we can handle this
quietly.”
“Is
there a secretary anywhere in the Institute you don’t know?” Lee asked, and
Chip just chuckled.
“You
said two,” Chip got serious again. “Who
else?”
Lee
kept his voice under control. “You.”
“What?”
Chip practically choked. “What are you
talking about?” and Lee could hear that Chip was seriously upset. He stayed calm as he continued.
“I’m
staying with Tim and Annie.”
There
was dead silence on the other end of the line.
Lee just waited, not saying a word.
There actually hadn’t been anything at all sensitive in what Chip had
written. But Chip knew how very carefully Lee guarded his privacy, and under
the circumstances…
Lee
heard a soft oath, then Chip’s voice, sounding apologetic. “Oops?”
But
Lee had no intention of letting Chip off the hook. There was still one thing he wanted, and he
knew the only way to get it at this point was to feign continued anger. “That’s all you have to say? Oops?”
Chip apparently had nothing to add because there was silence at his end,
and Lee continued. “However, I’ll give you
a chance to make amends.”
“Name
it,” Chip agreed readily.
“Don’t
tell Nelson or Jamie.” Lee heard a gasp,
and smiled.
“You
want me to lie to the Admiral?” Chip
sounded truly unnerved and Lee could understand why. Found out, Nelson would have the younger
man’s head, XO or not.
“Who
said anything about lying,” Lee kept his voice serious. “Just don’t admit I told you where I am.”
“I
don’t know if I can pull it off…” and Chip hesitated. Lee just kept silent, enjoying his friend’s discomfort
immensely. It was very rare to get Chip
this far off balance. Chip was the
undisputed champion at doing it to everyone else. “Ok.
I’ll try,” and Lee heard a heavy sigh.
“I’d
suggest you try very, very hard,” Lee continued to be firm, then noticing
someone walking around the house toward the front door, cut off his
friend. “I’m doing fine, Chip. I like it here. I don’t want to have to leave,” meaning he
would if not left alone.
There
was silence for a second, then Chip’s soft voice. “At least now I know who the brunettes
are.” Lee almost laughed out loud. “You’ll stay in touch?” The sincerity was real, and Lee relented slightly.
“Sure,
Chip. Goodnight,” and he disconnected
before getting a response. Quickly
heading down the stairs, he wanted to see if he’d been right. The person he’d seen walking under his window
looked remarkably like the woman he’d seen standing so forlornly that afternoon
on the beach.
Coming
down the last flight of stairs, his impression was confirmed as he recognized
the woman’s clothing first, then her face as she turned at the sound of his
steps and Annie’s welcome.
“Chip
still have a head?” Tim asked.
“Barely,”
Lee grumbled, albeit with a smile as he got to the bottom of the stairs.
“Lee,”
and he turned toward Annie, “this is Rebecca Duval. She’s staying in Lighthouse. Came while you were down on the beach. Ms. Duval, Lee Crane, an old friend. He’s in Driftwood, across the landing from
your room.”
While
cordial as she acknowledged Lee, the newcomer declined an invitation to remain
downstairs and left for her room. Lee
poured himself a cup of coffee and settled into one of the big chairs. Several other guests returning from dinner
did stay down to visit, and Lee found himself enjoying a game of chess with Jim
Bruce. His wife Katy was in the corner
with Annie and Lisa Craig. Mark Craig
and Tim were discussing some of the local sights. Lee had come to enjoy these evenings,
sometimes just listening, sometimes like tonight an active participant. He enjoyed the mental challenge of chess but
had so few opportunities to indulge.
Chip didn’t play, and while it was the Admiral who had originally taught
Lee, there was just never enough quiet time anymore. He and Professor Bruce were well matched, and
though Lee put up a valiant effort was eventually checkmated after a long
struggle. Another game was mentioned but
by then it was almost 10pm and Lee decided he’d pushed Annie’s patience about
as far as he could. He excused himself
and headed for bed.
* *
* *
For
the first time since he’d been here Lee’s sleep was disturbed by nightmares and
he found himself wide awake at 1:45am.
Badly shaken by the vision he went out to one of the chairs on the
balcony, propping his feet on the window ledge.
It was all so frustrating. Why
tonight? The evening had been peaceful
and he’d gone right to sleep. He didn’t
think anything had been bothering him.
But then, he’d gotten frustrated earlier in the day at his lack of
physical reserves and the sharp pain that had stopped him so abruptly on the
beach. And he’d had to deal with it
again because of Chip’s letter. Damn. No, he stopped himself and took a deep
breath. Can’t blame Chip. This is my problem. I have to come to grips with it. He’d had a rough time following the mishaps on
the last cruise. Duty had forced him to
kill a woman he’d been rapidly falling in love with, and he hadn’t handled the
mental repercussions well. There had also
been a couple times lately when unexplained anger had suddenly overwhelmed him. Like now, it had been very unsettling.
Knowing
he’d get no more sleep this night he thought about going downstairs for a drink
but decided against it, afraid he’d wake someone. Making himself as comfortable as possible in
the chair, he hoped the sounds of the surf coming through the open windows
would allow his frazzled nerves some peace.
But this time it didn’t happen.
Night was just beginning to give way to morning when, glancing into the
bedroom at the digital clock by his bed, he almost missed the slight movement
under his window. There was just enough
light for Lee to identify the shape of the newest guest, Ms. Duval, headed for
her car. 4:45am seemed an odd time to be
leaving the B&B, and Lee gave half a thought to her destination, finally admitting
it was after all none of his business.
He sat quietly watching night turn into morning, and just before 5:30
decided to go down and start the coffee pot.
Planning on coming back up to shower and shave before breakfast, he just
pulled on sweat pants and a t-shirt, not even bothering with shoes.
Tim
had installed small lights to illuminate every third step as well as each of
the stair landings so getting down to the kitchen was no problem, and Lee
quickly got the coffee going. It wasn’t
long before he heard noises, then the sounds of a shower running, coming from
his host’s quarters.
He
was sitting sideways on the bench seat of the breakfast nook, back against the
wall, long legs pulled up to his chest, coffee cup resting on his knee, when
Annie came in.
“You’re
not on duty, Lee. It’s ok to sleep in,”
she chided.
“Old
habits,” Lee answered lightly, and watched as Annie took a large baking dish
out of the fridge, loosened the cover, and left it sitting on the counter as
she started the oven. Pouring herself a
cup of coffee, she took a sip and leaned back against the counter.
“So,
you want to talk about it?” she asked quietly.
“About
what?” Lee responded cautiously.
“About
the reason you didn’t sleep last night.”
“What
makes you think I didn’t sleep?”
“Just
recognize the symptoms. Don’t know how
many times I’ve caught Tim in that same corner, same position, eyes
blurry.” Lee tried to keep his face calm
but realized it wasn’t working as Annie smiled softly. “It’s ok, Lee. Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Just…it usually helps to talk about it. Trust me, keeping the demons buried won’t
help.”
Lee
stared into his coffee cup a bit, glanced up briefly, then spoke more to his
cup than to Annie. “These demons aren’t
ready to come out yet,” then gave her a small smile. “But thanks anyway.”
“No
problem. Just remember…that’s what
friends are for.” Movement overhead
announced that others in the house were up, and Annie turned to put the
breakfast casserole in the oven. Lee
uncurled himself and got up. Pouring
another cup of coffee to take with him, he started to go up to shower and
change.
“Oh,”
and he turned back. “You might be
missing a guest for breakfast.” At
Annie’s raised eyebrows he shook his head.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.
But I saw Ms. Duval leave shortly before 5am.”
“Not
a problem. She said when she checked in
she likes to run first thing in the morning.
She’ll be back before breakfast is over.”
“Oh,”
and Lee headed up the stairs.
* *
* *
“And
it pulled your mask and air hose off?
How scary. I thought octopus were
fairly harmless, that they stayed away from people.” Katy Bruce was responding to a diving story
Tim had been relating. It was just after
8am and the Bruce’s, Tim, Annie, and Lee were enjoying a last cup of
coffee. The other guests had come and
gone, making short work of the excellent breakfast consisting this day of a
casserole of hash brown potatoes, diced ham, eggs, a bit of onion, and topped
with pepper jack cheese, along with the usual extras of various muffins and
seasonal fruit.
“The
little ones are,” Lee answered. “This
one…”
“…wasn’t
exactly little,” finished Tim, grinning.
“Lee found out the hard way.”
“What
happened?” Katy wanted to know. “I mean,
obviously you got away, but…”
“Oh,”
and Lee grinned, “it got a little hairy for a bit. Tim helped pry her off and she went back into
her cave.”
“No
doubt got just enough of a taste to spit you out,” Annie interjected with a
smile. “Oh, there you are,” and switched
gears as Rebecca Duval came in. “Have a
good run? Sit down, I’ll just warm up
the casserole for you, everything else is still out.”
The
Bruces excused themselves to leave for a day of sightseeing, Tim had yard work
to do, and Lee found himself alone at the table with the newest guest. Normally an easy conversationalist Lee felt
strangely uncomfortable in the woman’s presence and put it down to the fact
that she didn’t seem to want to chitchat either. She chose a muffin, juice and fruit, and
thanked Annie as she returned with the warmed casserole.
“Didn’t
mean to be so late. It was so quiet and
peaceful this morning I lost track of time.”
“There
seems to be a lot of that going around,” Annie responded, looking at Lee.
He
smiled sheepishly back, reached down, and pulled the cell phone free from its
waist tab. “Standard equipment,
Annie. Promise,” and he put it
back. Noticing the quizzical expression
on Ms Duval’s face, he added, “don’t worry, she only yells at friends.” He grinned broadly, then ducked as Annie
threatened to take a swing at him.
She
turned to her newest guest. “And just to
get the story straight, I didn’t yell,” and she walked toward the kitchen,
Lee’s laughter following her.
“You’ve
been friends a long time,” Rebecca said as Lee quieted.
“Tim
and I were at Annapolis together,” Lee answered.
“Still
in the Navy?” It seemed to Lee her
interest was forced but Lee remained amiable.
If she wanted to make the effort, the least he could do was oblige.
“Reserve. I work for the Nelson Institute of Marine
Research.”
“Isn’t
that the place with the huge submarine?”
“That’s
the place. I work on Seaview. And you?”
“Nothing
nearly as interesting.” She paused to
finish a bite of her breakfast. Lee, aware
she hadn’t really answered his question, didn’t interrupt. He hadn’t totally answered hers, either. “I suppose you’ve been playing tourist,” she
continued finally, “or have you been here enough you’ve seen everything.”
“First
trip, actually. I kept meaning to come
up for a visit but just never made it until now. And no, I’ve just spent my days on the beach,
enjoying the peace and quiet.” He added,
almost to himself, “Seaview gets…complicated…on occasion.” A little more firmly, “Annie mentioned you
were familiar with the area. I guess
living in Portland you get a chance to come down quite often.”
“Actually,
I was born and raised just north of here, in Depot Bay. This whole area is like coming home.” She looked at Lee with an odd smile and added,
“Thomas Wolfe wasn’t always right,” and the two shared a soft chuckle. “Well, I’d better go get cleaned up,” and she
stood to leave. Lee stood as well. He was momentarily tempted to ask if she
wanted to take a drive with him and show him some of the sights but she walked
away as if he wasn’t even there, conversation obviously over, and Lee started
to gather up the dishes.
“My
job, Lee,” and Annie walked back in.
Lee
gave her one of his better command glares.
“You’ve been standing back there listening, haven’t you?”
Annie
was totally unrepentant. “Of
course. You two have a lot in
common. Roughly the same age, good
looking, unattached. Nothing wrong with
a little matchmaking.”
“How
do you know she’s unattached?”
“I
asked. Really, Lee, you need to get off
that tub of yours more often. You’re
loosing your touch,” and she smiled over her shoulder as she headed for the
kitchen.
Lee
just shook his head at her and headed for the beach.
* *
* *
Lee
was a good deal smarter about his exercise this day. He still added some short jogs to his walk
but didn’t try to push himself too hard.
Still feeling pretty good where he’d been forced to stop the day before
he none-the-less turned around and headed back, even adding a couple short jogs
on the return leg. With no breeze today
there were no kites up and Lee chose to go back to the house, intending to get
some rest before dinner. His body was
beginning to remind him he’d had little sleep the night before. He’d given a thought to staying on the beach
but was unwilling to risk having a nightmare in public. He came in the back door as always and ran
into Tim just downing the last of a can of pop.
“Oh
come on, Lee. She didn’t scare you that
bad.” At Lee’s totally puzzled look Tim
laughed. “Getting back a good 4 hours
before dinner?” and they both laughed.
“Learned
my lesson yesterday,” Lee told his friend, reaching into the fridge for the
orange juice, “and managed my time a bit better. And, there weren’t any kites to watch,” he
grinned.
They
were interrupted by giggles coming from the front room and someone calling
“Mrs. Hughes?” Both men walked toward
the sound.
“Annie’s
gone shopping, ladies. Is there
something I can do for you?” Tim smiled,
and Lee remembered there were two new guests arriving today, college girls from
Billings, Montana. One blond, one
redhead, slender, tanned, dressed in shorts and tank tops, and obviously
enjoying themselves. Lee envied their
youthful high spirits. It was apparently
the blond who had called out since it was she who continued.
“We
were just headed out and wanted to double-check about when we needed to be
back, Mr. Hughes.”
“First
of all, it’s Tim. And most guests are
back by 11pm, although we allow fudging privileges,” and he smiled. “If you know you’re going to be out late just
let us know.”
“Oh,
no problem, Mr. …ah…Tim,” and the blond blushed slightly. “We won’t be nearly that late.”
Lee
had hung back during the conversation, and noticed the redhead giving him the
once over. Apparently Tim noticed as
well.
“Lee,”
he motioned him forward, “may I introduce Carol Michaels and Gayle
Ferrell. An old friend, Lee Crane. He’s also staying here for awhile.” Greetings were exchanged and the girls left,
not without a couple backward glances and a good deal more giggling after they
left the house.
“Ah,
the old Crane charm,” Tim chuckled, embarrassing Lee.
“Good
grief, Tim. I’m practically old enough
to be their father,” he said gruffly.
“Don’t
tell me, tell them. Me thinks it’s going
to be an interesting next few days,” and Lee stalked upstairs to the sounds of
Tim’s laughter.
* *
* *
The
sound of his gun echoed in his ears, drowning out the sound of hers. He was amazed at what a small neat hole had appeared
in her forehead, almost like someone had painted it there. It didn’t seen real somehow, yet it
fascinated him – mesmerized him. He
couldn’t take his eyes off it.
“Lee” That can’t be. Her mouth didn’t move. The hole was forming lips, and it spoke
again. “Lee”. NO! and he woke from the dream, shaken and shaking,
unseeing, drenched in a cold sweat.
Tired
when he’d reached his room earlier, Lee had slipped off his shoes and lay down
across the bed, not really intending to fall asleep. Between not sleeping the night before and the
fresh air from his jog/walk this morning, his body had other ideas. Now, startled awake by the nightmare, it took
a bit to come fully awake, realize where he was, and notice Annie sitting
quietly on the edge of the bed next to him.
She said nothing, just let Lee get his bearings back, and smiled as he
finally sat up and acknowledged her.
“Sorry,
Annie.”
“The
one nice thing about demons, they’re non-contagious. Just came to see if you were coming down to
dinner,” and Lee glanced at his watch.
Late
again. “Sorry, Annie,” Lee repeated with a small
grin, and she grinned back.
“Take
your time,” and she left.
Lee
felt a slight catch in his side as he rose, and once in the shower noticed the bullet
wound, though not an angry red, still looked worse than it had. After rebandaging it and dressing, he
searched his duffle for the antibiotics Doc had sent and swallowed a double
dose. Really dumb, Crane he
chastised himself, and left the bottle on the bathroom sink as a reminder. The house was quiet as he went downstairs and
entered the kitchen. If Annie had said
anything to Tim about the nightmare he hid it well, and joshed Lee that the
reason Lee was always so slender was he could never remember to show up
for meals. Lee tried to do justice to
Annie’s simple but delicious dinner of Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus
and Waldorf salad, then sat with Tim on the front porch, visiting. They were joined shortly by Annie, and as the
evening progressed, several of the guests.
Tim gave Lee a quick wink as the two college students returned and
joined the gathering.
Suddenly
feeling nervous and uncomfortable in the young ladies’ presence, Lee excused
himself and went upstairs saying he had a call to make. Annie smiled and told him to tell Chip Hi
from she and Tim. Lee was almost to the
top of the stairs before he finally realized what was wrong, and berated
himself. It’s not the Michaels girl’s
fault she reminds me of ‘her’. I know
it’s just a combination of body build and hair color. Now get a grip, Crane. She’s dead.
You killed her. You’ve killed
before when necessary. You cannot let
this destroy you. With a shudder
Lee continued on to his room, kicked off his shoes, and went out to sit on the
porch. Conversation and occasional
laughter reached him through the open windows and Lee toyed with the idea of
rejoining the group. But by now it was
getting quite dark and, figuring things would break up shortly anyway, used
that as an excuse to stay where he was.
He didn’t even remember closing his eyes, and was therefore very
surprised to wake up and find that it was starting to get light. At least no nightmares, he muttered to
himself. However, sleeping in the chair
all night had left him cramped and stiff, and getting up was difficult. A longer than usual shower helped somewhat.
Figuring he could walk the rest of the kinks out on the beach he dressed and
headed downstairs shortly before 7am.
His
hosts were in the kitchen, Tim just starting to set things out for breakfast
and Annie working on what Lee assumed was the entrée. Muffin tins had been lined with a shredded
potato mixture, baked, and set aside to keep warm. A large bowl of as yet uncooked scrambled
eggs sat by the stove, along with smaller containers of diced, roasted red
peppers, and smoked salmon. There were
two other small dishes but they still had covers on and Lee couldn’t
immediately identify what was in them.
He poured himself a glass of orange juice before Tim carried the
pitchers out to the dining area and sat for a moment at the small breakfast
area, not without both Tim and Annie noticing his stilted movements. Lee sheepishly admitted where he had spent
the night, and continued on lightly that he wasn’t particularly hungry and
intended to hit the beach early, walk off the stiffness, then maybe go for a
drive and do a little sightseeing.
“Excuse
me,” Annie lit into him. “You may have
avoided the bed part of this establishment last night but you don’t leave this
house without breakfast. You got that,
Plebe?” using the term for a first year Annapolis student. Tim made a hasty retreat with the juice
pitchers. “These,” Annie continued,
indicating the potato cups, “have to be made individually anyway so I’ll just
start with yours.” Lee surrendered with
a smile and watched as Annie put a measured portion of eggs into a non-stick
fry pan, stirring as they cooked, and adding some of the peppers and salmon. She transferred the cooked mixture to a
potato cup and topped it from the two covered dishes with what Lee then learned
was sour cream and caviar.
As
Tim made another trip through the kitchen he gave Lee a muffin. “You have to try one of these. They’re maple cornmeal.” Taking a bite of each of the offerings Lee decided
he was hungry after all, and didn’t argue as Annie placed a small bowl of melon
compote, made from watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew, in front of him as
well.
“Cell
phone?” Annie asked with a smile, and Lee had to admit he’d forgotten it
upstairs. “No one else is up yet. I’ll get it,” she offered. “I need to get the used towels out of the
hamper anyway.”
“Phone’s
in the bathroom,” Lee mumbled through a mouthful of food. At Annie’s raised eyebrows, he
swallowed. “That’s where I plugged in
the charger.” He was finishing his
coffee and visiting with Tim when she came back, handed Lee the phone, and with
a stern look held up the container of antibiotics.
“Would
you like to explain, Mister, why the date on the prescription doesn’t jibe with
how many are still left in the bottle?”
For
a split second there was a return of the anger he’d felt toward Doc and Nelson
when they’d banished him, only this time it was directed at Annie. Just as quickly it vanished as he
acknowledged her reason was the same as theirs – they cared about him – and he
relaxed. “Because,” and he sighed
heavily, “until yesterday I kept forgetting to take them.” Lee had a feeling some glint of the momentary
anger must have shown on his face because Annie dropped the bottle in her apron
pocket with a small smile.
“Not
a problem. We’ll help you remember,” and
she squeezed her husband’s shoulder. Any
other conversation was interrupted as voices were heard on the stairs. Tim left for the dining room and Lee made his
exit.
* *
* *
It
was not going to be a particularly good day weather wise, Lee noted as he left
the house and drove to the park. The sun
was shining but there was a cold wind blowing in off the ocean, bringing with
it stormy looking clouds. Glad that he’d
left a jacket in his car he turned up the collar, stuffed hands in pockets, and
started walking south on the almost deserted beach.
Unlike
other days when the sights and sounds of the ocean would clear his mind, today
he couldn’t get past his illogical reactions of the previous evening. Well, maybe not illogical he forced
himself to admit. But definitely
unacceptable. He knew he’d been
affected badly by what had happened on the last cruise. But why?
Considering all the craziness that he’d been involved in since taking
over command of Seaview, this one was in fact pretty straightforward. What made this time so different?
Physical
stiffness now coupled with an inability to clear his mind was giving Lee a
headache. The cold wind in his face wasn’t
helping either and he was tempted to turn around and go back to the house. Instead, he spotted a large driftwood log up
against a mound of sand by the cliff.
Figuring it would give him some protection he sat down in the sand, his
back against the log, and tried to concentrate on just what was troubling him
so much about this particular mission.
Anger. There it was again, and again it surprised
Lee. It had happened several times on
Seaview during the mission and each time had startled him. Lee pulled his legs up to his chest, circling
them with his arms, trying to make sense of the puzzle. Admittedly he’d had every right to be angry
but each time it had come it had been unbidden and inappropriate to the situation.
Like now, and Lee was at a loss to explain it.
The harder he worked at it the worse his headache got and the more
frustrated he became with himself until finally, grabbing a handful of sand, he
threw it toward the water. The voice
startled him.
“Temper
tantrum, this early in the morning?” and Lee looked up to see Rebecca Duval,
apparently just coming back from her morning run. Lee had been so wrapped up in his own
thoughts he hadn’t realized there was anyone else around.
“Seemed
like a good idea at the time,” Lee answered, ashamed of himself, and started to
unbend. She waved him back and sat down
a few feet away, looking out at the ocean.
“Had
mine down the beach a ways. 14 seagulls
may never land again.” They glanced at
each other, and Lee smiled.
“Screamer
type,” Lee said, re-curling, and looked back out to sea. “Don’t worry too much about the
seagulls. It’s been my experience
they’re a pretty resilient lot.”
“Thanks. Don’t often get such a glorious chance. Empty beach.
Wind blowing. Felt good.” There was silence for a bit as each was lost
in his or her own thoughts. “I gather
you like to throw things.”
“Not
usually. Throw something at the wrong
time on a submarine, or into the wrong piece of equipment, it would be the last
thing you ever did.”
“Ah,
the ‘bottle it up inside’ type. Keep a
tight rein, don’t let it show, keep it all buried until you blow your brains
out. Healthier my way.”
“Maybe,
but you don’t take 125 people down with you.”
Just 3 – this time, and shuddered at the memory. He knew he’d not spoken that last bit out
loud but as he glanced over she was giving him a rather speculative look. It disappeared immediately and she got up.
“Better
get going or I’ll be late for breakfast.”
When Lee didn’t move, she asked, “Coming?”
“Had
mine early. Guess I’ll stay here
awhile.” His gaze returned to the ocean
and he was barely aware that she left.
Lee
had to admit he did occasionally throw things – usually his fist into a
bulkhead. That way the only thing that
got hurt was himself. Lee grimaced as he
realized what the Admiral would have to say about that. Nelson, Jamie, hell, even Chip, was always on
his case about taking care of everyone except himself. Yet he’d always felt that that was his job,
his responsibility. What’s wrong with
that? Unbidden the anger started again to rise. No, Lee.
There’s no reason to be angry.
Clear your mind. Let the ocean do
what it has always done, and he willed himself to relax. Several seagulls were scrapping over
something the waves had carried in and he concentrated on them.
Eventually
Lee became aware that the wind was increasing, the sky getting darker, but he
chose to stay where he was until the first raindrops hit. As he rose slowly to his feet the drops
became many, and he’d not walked 10 yards before it was pouring hard. Lee was thoroughly soaked by the time he
reached his car. So much for
sightseeing, and he returned to the house.
Annie
had apparently seen him drive in because she met him at the back door with a
towel. “You’re lending new meaning to the
term ‘Drowned Rat’,” and chuckled as Lee just hung his head. “At least you have sense enough to come
in. Tim’s down at the lighthouse. He loves watching storms come in.”
“Once
a part of the sea, always a part,” Lee laughed, drying himself off as best he
could. “If I’d thought to take a rain
coat I’d probably still be down on the beach myself. It’s…”
“I
know, Lee. I get that way, too. There’s just something magical about the
ocean, in all her forms,” and the two shared a knowing smile.
“However,”
Lee said, handing back the towel, “I believe I’ll watch this one from my
balcony,” and headed upstairs. Annie’s
“don’t drip on my carpets” followed him toward the stairs and he chuckled all
the way up.
Changing
into dry clothes and leaving the wet stuff laying over the edge of the tub, Lee
went out to sit on the porch. With
windows open just a crack each, the sounds and smells of the ocean storm
assailed him. The air crackled with
lightning all of a sudden and he was glad to be inside. He hoped Tim would come in, too. This one was going to be nasty.
He
hadn’t been sitting long when there was a knock on his door, then Annie’s
voice. “Are you decent?”
“I
try to be at all times,” he answered with a chuckle. “Come on in.
I’m on the balcony.” She was
carrying a tray that she set on the small table between the chairs. Lee saw sandwiches, applesauce, cookies,
orange juice, and a large mug of hot chocolate, and glanced at his watch. He’d had no idea it was just past noon. “I could have come down, you know.”
“Easier
this way,” Annie laughed, snagged one of the cookies, and sat in the other
chair. “From past experience on days
like this, any minute now all the guests will be returning, whatever they had
planned for the day ruined by the weather.
Even with an amiable group like we have at the moment, I figured you’d
prefer the peace and quiet up here,” and was interrupted by a loud clap of
thunder. “Relatively speaking, of
course,” and they both laughed.
“Read
minds now, do you?” Lee asked fondly, reaching for the mug.
“Of
course,” she retorted smugly and winked.
“Let me know what you think about these cookies. It’s a new recipe,” and she rose. “And, if you’ll give me your laundry, I’ll do
it with ours this afternoon.”
“That’s
not necessary,” Lee said adamantly.
“I
know. Neither was bringing you
lunch. I just have my own ways of
staying out of the line of fire. Now,
where’s your laundry bag?”
“In
the closet,” Lee surrendered, “and the wet stuff’s in the bathroom. At least let me carry it downstairs for you,”
and he started to rise. From outside
they heard car doors slam and several squeals of laughter as the two college
students raced for the deck. Lee
involuntarily hesitated.
“Those
two are pistols,” Annie chuckled. “No,
Lee. Eat your lunch. I can manage quite nicely,” and she did.
Lee
heard more car doors as he sat eating, thankful that Annie somehow knew he
wanted to be alone. He was surprised
that he was actually hungry, considering how much he’d been eating while he was
here. Jamie will be pleased, and
knew he should call the CMO. Nelson,
too, for that matter. They both, for
all their slightly underhanded way of doing it, were only thinking of his
health when they made him leave. Deep down he acknowledged it was probably for
the best that he had. Nightmares
notwithstanding he was enjoying the chance to get away for a while, enjoying
his friends’ company, and knew he wouldn’t have gone on his own. Right now, however, he missed Chip’s company:
his humor, his friendship, his ability to make sense when nothing else did, and
reached for the phone. Not wanting to go
through the switchboard he tried Chip’s cell phone. It rang several times and Lee was about to
hang up when Chip finally answered, sounding a bit harried.
“Morton.”
“Hi,
Chip. Sounds like I caught you at a bad
time.”
“Ah,
oh, Toby,” Chip said far too loudly.
“Damn, I was supposed to meet you for lunch, wasn’t I?”
“I
gather you’re not alone.” Lee was
grateful at Chip’s covering for him and wondered who was there.
“Sorry,
Toby. I got tied up with the Admiral
over some problems with the refit.”
“What
problems?” Suddenly Lee was all
business.
“No,
it’s ok. Oh, hang on a second,” and Lee
could hear Nelson’s voice in the background, but not clearly enough to know what
he was saying. From Chip’s end of the
conversation Lee gathered Nelson was leaving, and finally Chip came back. “Whew, that was close. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“What
problems?” Lee enunciated slowly and carefully, and Chip laughed.
“Ok,
ok, it’s like this,” and the two spent the next 20 minutes going over the
changes. Lee knew Chip sometimes had a
difficult time dealing with the Admiral, especially on these kinds of things. Not that Lee had any greater success. Chip just felt, right or wrong, that Nelson
didn’t always give the XO’s ideas enough credit.
“Lee,
I’m so glad you called. This will help a
lot.”
“Your
ideas are sound, Chip. You just have to
make him listen to you.”
“Easy
for you to say,” and Chip sounded discouraged.
“No,
not easy for me to either say or do,” Lee corrected. “Just be patient. He’s not unreasonable – at least most of the
time,” and heard Chip snort, then get serious again.
“Lee,
can I ask a gigantic favor?”
“Name
it.”
“Call
Jamie. Please?”
“I gather
he’s been on your case big time.”
“Actually,
he hasn’t said a word. However, this
morning there was a reminder on my desk that senior staff physicals are coming
up shortly.” Lee realized later he’d
not laughed that hard in a very, very long time – much to Chip’s discomfort.
“Ok,”
he finally settled down, “I’ll call ‘Mother Hen’,” and didn’t bother to add
he’d sort of been planning to do it anyway.
“I’d
really appreciate it,” and they rang off.
Lee
sat for a bit, realizing how much the talk with Chip had helped. Stretching lazily, he dialed a number he knew
almost as well.
“Jamison.”
“I
was pleaded with to get you off my XO’s back,” and Lee heard a soft chuckle.
“He actually begged?
I’ll have to remember that one.”
Jamie’s voice was low and relaxed.
“How are you, Skipper?”
“Fine,
Jamie.”
There
was a slight pause, then a good deal more firmly, “Skipper, how are you?” and
it was Lee’s turn to chuckle.
“Eating
well, walking every day, even jogging a little,” once again Lee didn’t mention how
little, “and resting well.” At least
for the most part.
“The
meds I sent with you?”
“Haven’t
needed any of the pain pills.” He paused
and took a deep breath, knowing Jamie wasn’t going to like the next part. “Sort of forgot to take the others, until
now.”
“Why
now? What’s wrong?” Doc’s voice was instantly full of concern.
“Nothing. Just have someone now reminding me.”
“Good. I gather Chip knows where you are,” and
Jamie’s voice was again relaxed.
Lee’s
suddenly wasn’t. “Jamie, stay off his
case. I called him,” and it was the doctor’s turn to pause slightly.
“Ok,
Skipper. You should be just about due to
get the stitches out.”
“Not
a problem,” and Lee relaxed again, knowing he could get Tim to do it. Wouldn’t be the first time. “This evening, tomorrow latest.”
“Good.”
“Don’t
worry, Jamie, if I need anything you’ll be the first to know.”
“That’ll
be the day,” Lee heard Jamie mutter under his breath, and laughed. Jamie did, too. “See you when you get back.”
“Doubt
seriously I’ll have a choice in the matter,” but Lee was still chuckling and
the conversation ended amiably.
* *
* *
The
storm seemed to have stalled once it reached the coast. The wind wasn’t nearly as strong now, leaving
the thunder and lightning crashing steadily just off shore, if anything more
intense now than it had been earlier.
Lee knew there was one more call he should make, but wasn’t sure he’d
know what to say. He was gearing himself
up for the chewing out he suspected he’d get, and knew he deserved, when he
heard a giggle behind him during a lull in the thunder, and a double “Hi”
greeted him as he rose and took a step into the bedroom.
“We
were just looking around,” Carol Michaels started shyly.
“Your
door was open,” finished Gayle Ferrell, giving it a further shove and starting
to walk in.
“Ladies,”
Lee started stiffly, uncomfortably, and wasn’t sure how he would have continued
if Annie hadn’t appeared suddenly behind them, arms full of towels.
“Oh,
there you two are. I just checked your
room – wanted to let you know there’s a big bowl of popcorn and fresh apple and
cherry turnovers in the living room.
Special treat. Thought I’d try
and make up for the lousy weather.”
“Thanks,
that’s great,” came the double response.
“Will you join us?” This last
came from Ms Ferrell, directed at Lee.
“Perhaps
later,” Lee said, still uncomfortable in their presence, a feeling not made any
better by their almost intrusion. Annie
stepped back to let them pass and waited until their voices were well down the
stairs before turning back to Lee.
“And
before you start,” she smiled, “I did not leave your door open.” Lee forced himself to relax.
“Didn’t
think you had. Are those for here?”
indicating the towels. “I’ll take them.”
“Not
all. Here,” and she divided out half for
Lee. “The rest are Rebecca’s. Sorry about that,” and she indicated down the
stairs. “They’ve already followed me
down to the laundry room twice. We’ve
had small children get nosy before, but I don’t expect it at their age.” She laughed.
“Then again, maybe I should. The
way some parents raise their kids these days…”
“Don’t
worry about it, Annie. Not your
fault. However, I think maybe I’ll lock
my door from now on,” and he smiled down at her.
“Not
a bad idea,” she agreed. “At least until
Friday when they leave. Speaking of
which, you haven’t said when you have to leave.”
“Trying
to get rid of me?” he said with obvious false hurt in his voice, and she took a
swing at him. With his arms full of
towels he was unable to defend himself and she connected with his side,
unfortunately right on top of the still tender wound. Lee was unable to keep from flinching, or
stopping the small groan.
“Damn,”
they both muttered at the same time, for different reasons, and then looked at
each other.
“I’m
so sorry, Lee,” Annie apologized.
“Relax,
Annie,” Lee said softly. “Had that one
coming. Your aim was just a bit too
good. Still somewhat sore, that’s all.”
“Let
me look at it anyway. I just want to
make sure. Ok?” she added, as Lee didn’t
move. He continued to hesitate and Annie
took another step inside the room and closed the door. “Please.”
Lee
finally smiled a surrender. He dropped the towels on a chair, sat on the edge
of the bed, and pulled up his shirt. He
knew it didn’t look that bad, having checked it again when he changed out of
his wet clothes earlier. As Annie sat
next to him and pealed back the bandage, he told her about having just talked
to Jamie, that the doctor had told him he’d be needing the stitches out, and
Lee’s intention to ask Tim. At that
Annie gave him a dirty look but smiled almost immediately.
“You
two,” and shook her head. “Well, it
doesn’t look too bad but I suspect you’re regretting not taking the meds like
you were supposed to. Seems to me this
should have been healed better than it is,” and Lee frowned.
“Don’t
start, Annie. I get quite enough of that
from Jamie.”
“Probably
because you deserve it,” she snapped back, then smiled again. She put the bandage back in place and stood
up as Lee put his shirt down, also standing.
“And while you may trust Tim to have at you with a pair of scissors I
don’t – not after watching him annihilate my forsythia bush this spring with
the hedge shears, and especially not after seeing how fine those stitches
are. Your Jamie does neat work.”
“He’s
had a lot a practice,” Lee admitted sheepishly.
They both laughed, and Annie picked up the towels she’d laid down.
“I’ll
take care of it a bit later. Hopefully
things will calm down for awhile when everyone leaves for dinner. In the meantime…” and she nodded toward the
door. Lee opened it for her, then
closed, and with a smile, locked it behind her.
Putting his towels away, he returned to the balcony.
His
thoughts wandered back to the unplaced phone call, and in doing so, also to the
fact he hadn’t answered Annie’s question.
Technically he supposed he should show up back to work on Monday, when
the imposed exile would be up. But do
I want to? As uncomfortable as it
made him to admit it, he wasn’t sure he was ready to go back. Nor, really, was there any reason to. Heaven knew he had enough leave time coming
since he so rarely used any. Chip was
handling the refit just fine, whether he thought so or not, and in any case
Seaview wasn’t scheduled out for several more weeks thanks to the abrupt
interruption of the last cruise. And
Annie had been right. Lee wasn’t healing
as well as he’d expected. Either
physically or mentally, he admitted to himself. If he went back now Jamie would fuss over him,
Nelson would fuss over him. Hell,
even Chip would, and his fist slammed down on the chair arm. Damn! There’s the anger again. I don’t understand. Frustrated, Lee jumped up and stalked the
spacious room, suddenly feeling like a caged tiger and not understanding
why. A soft rap on his door was the only
thing that stopped him from hurling the small cushion he had absolutely no
memory of picking up off one of the chairs against god only knew what. Swearing softly and still clutching the
cushion in his fist, he yanked open the door.
Rebecca
Duval took in the angry expression and clutched cushion, and a small smile
spread across her face. “Still throwing
things, I see.”
Embarrassment
instantly replaced anger. “Caught
again,” Lee chuckled and invited her in.
She hesitated a moment, then held out the plate she was carrying.
“Annie
saw me headed in this direction and asked if I’d mind bringing these up to
you.” On the plate was a glass of milk
surrounded by 4 large turnovers. “She
said to tell you these should keep you until dinnertime.”
Lee
tossed the cushion back onto a chair and took the plate. “There’s enough here to last me ‘til next
week. Annie…” and he stood there shaking
his head slowly. Finally, “will you join
me?” and again motioned her in. Just
then there was a tremendous clap of thunder and Lee saw Rebecca shudder. “What?” he teased. “You don’t like it when Mother Nature
yells? Reserve that privilege for
yourself?” He saw her startle, then the
smile returned.
“Just
a second. I’ll be right back,” and she
crossed to her room, returning in moments with a container of bottled
water. “There’s a small fridge in
there. This place is incredible.” Lee motioned her ahead of him out to the
balcony, purposely leaving the door open.
They were about to sit down when there was another clap of thunder,
right over the house, and Lee saw her jump again.
“That
really gets to you.”
“It
doesn’t bother you at all, does it?”
They sat and Lee put the plate on the table between them, picking up the
milk in one hand and a turnover in the other.
“There’s
nothing about it that frightens me, if that’s what you mean,” and he took a
bite of the turnover. Cherry filling
oozed out of the flaky pastry and he concentrated a moment on making sure it
ended up in his mouth, not in his lap.
He finally looked up to see Rebecca grinning at him. “You try eating one of these neatly,” he
challenged.
“One
normally uses a fork,” and Lee belatedly saw one lying on the plate.
“Takes
all the fun out of it,” he mumbled through another bite, eyes sparkling. She regarded him thoughtfully a moment then
picked one up, to soft chuckles from Lee.
Hers was apple but just as gooey, and she had to concentrate to keep
from making a mess. Lee never let up on
the teasing glances until he finally said softly “Bingo,” and to her puzzled expression
explained. “That’s the third clap of
thunder that you haven’t reacted to - probably didn’t even hear,” and he
laughed.
Her
response was interrupted by another clap of thunder and she gave the sky a
dirty look, then turned it on Lee. “You
did that on purpose,” she accused.
“Guilty
as charged.” He popped the last of the
turnover in his mouth and licked his fingers.
“You
rat! That was dirty pool.”
“Why?”
Lee challenged.
“Because…” she started, then hesitated. “Because…oh, give me a second, I’ll think of
something,” and Lee burst out laughing.
Rebecca continued to glare at him a moment, then got thoughtful as she
polished off the last of her turnover.
Lee had stopped laughing but was still smiling, casting sideways glances
at her as he watched out the windows.
“Thanks,” she said finally, quietly.
“You’re
welcome,” he answered, paused a moment, then continued. “Can I ask a dumb question?”
“Shoot.”
That
word! Lee hesitated ever so slightly, then
continued. “You said you grew up around
here. On a rotten day like today, when
you can’t do much but sit around, why are you doing it here? I mean, don’t you have family or friends
still in the area to visit?” Lee saw a
momentary cloud of, what – despair? – cross her face, before she answered.
“No
family. There are a few friends I went
to school with still here.” She paused,
and sighed. “Mostly, I just came back
for me. I know that doesn’t make any
sense.”
“Why
not? We all have our own well.” At her puzzled expression, he continued. “When you’re running on empty, for whatever
reason, you need a place to recharge, to refill yourself from the well. Doesn’t have to be a place, even. Just whatever it takes to get things back in
focus.”
She
thought about that for a second. “What’s
yours?”
Lee
smiled. “Anywhere there’s an
ocean.” He paused a second, then added
impishly, “thunder and all.”
Any
reply Rebecca would have made was cut off by a “knock knock”, and Annie came in
through the open door.
“Out
here, Annie,” Lee called. As she joined
them on the balcony he continued.
“Making sure you don’t have to fix dinner?” and he indicated the
turnovers. Annie laughed and it wasn’t until
then Lee noticed scissors, tweezers, and a small tube of antibiotic ointment in
her hand. She carried them casually and
made no mention of them.
“Actually,
I was just coming to tell you that dinner wouldn’t be until about 6:45. Tim just called. He’s down at a friend’s house helping put
tarps over a leaky motor home.”
“How
can you expect me to eat anything else after these?” Lee complained. “Do Tim and his friend need any help? Maybe I can go work up an appetite.”
“Oh
no you don’t, Mister. One man with
pneumonia in this house is quite enough, thank you.” To Rebecca she said, “Tim’s been out in this
stuff all day.” Back to Lee, “I’m just
fixing a simple dinner. I don’t know how
you stay alive, what little you eat.”
Lee
turned to Rebecca. “Annie’s version of a
simple dinner is four courses plus a 3000 calorie dessert.” He endured an absolutely wicked glare from
Annie and laughter from Rebecca.
Eventually
Annie returned her gaze to Rebecca. “I
was also looking for you. How serious
were you about staying longer?”
“I
thought you were booked solid.”
“We
were. Unfortunately, the couple that
booked Lighthouse for a week starting Sunday has had to cancel. I can give you a great rate – half what it
usually goes for.”
“That’s
hardly fair to you.”
“Better
booked at half rate than empty. It’s
yours if you want it.”
Rebecca
hesitated a moment. “I’ll need to make a
phone call. I can let you know when I
get back from dinner. That’s assuming,”
and she glanced at Lee, “that I have room for any,” and she and Lee
shared a laugh.
“Perfect,”
Annie smiled. “I’d better get back
downstairs. The natives are definitely
restless this afternoon.” She left but,
Lee noted, not before dropping what she’d had in her hand in Lee’s
bathroom. He and Rebecca continued to
visit a bit longer before she excused herself to change for dinner. Lee escorted her to the door, this time
closing it and, with a shudder, flipping the lock.
Lee
had gone back out on the balcony, taking note as guests left for dinner, and was
not surprised when just after 5:30 there was a knock on the door. Letting Annie in, he lay down on his side on
the bed and raised his shirt. Annie
collected her equipment from the bathroom and made short work of the stitches,
then spent a few minutes rubbing the wound with ointment. The area was tender and Lee had to work hard
not to give voice to the discomfort, no matter how gentle Annie tried to
be. When she was done Annie replaced the
larger bandage with a smaller one, and was just finishing when they heard a car
door and looked out to see Tim headed for the house.
“The
first sneeze and I kill him,” Annie muttered and headed downstairs. Lee followed shortly after and found Annie in
the kitchen just starting supper. He’d
brought down the two remaining turnovers and Annie had him put them on the
table. “Tim can start on those while I
fix the rest.” Tim joined them soon
after and, as predicted, made short work of the turnovers. Annie heated previously made and frozen
chicken vegetable soup, then topped it with freshly made dumpling dough and let
it cook. “And there’s no dessert,” she
told Lee firmly, putting the finished product on the table and ladling out a
bowl full for each of them, explaining the remark to Tim.
“Actually
there was,” Tim grinned. “You just gave
it to him first,” and they all laughed.
As
they chatted over coffee one thing led to another and Tim asked Lee, “when do
you have to report back to the Institute?”
“You,
too?” Lee teased. “Annie was trying to
get rid of me earlier.” Annie said
something rude and all three laughed.
“Actually, I was going to ask if I’d be wearing out my welcome to stay
another week or so.”
“You
know you can stay as long as you want, Lee,” Annie assured him, and turned to
Tim. “Actually I was expecting this, now
that it looks like Rebecca will also be staying through next week,” and it was
Lee’s turn to say something rude. As the
laughter subsided Annie turned back to Lee.
“That was a good thing you did this afternoon, taking her mind off the
thunder.” At Lee’s surprised look she
added, “She told me about it on her way out to dinner. Said it was the first time in a very long
time she wasn’t afraid to go out in a thunderstorm,” and went on to explain to
Tim. Lee just looked embarrassed.
“No
big deal,” he mumbled.
“It
was to her. Oh,” and she reached into
her pocket. “Almost forgot,” and she
handed Lee his pill. Tim started
laughing as Lee groaned and swallowed the medication. “And just what are you laughing about?” She turned on her husband, reaching into her
pocket for a different bottle. “After
how you spent the day you’re getting a double dose.”
* *
* *
As
nightmares go, this one was pretty tame.
In fact, Lee wasn’t even sure he wanted to call it a nightmare. Mostly it had been just plain weird.
After
supper he, Annie and Tim had sat around the living room, relaxing and
visiting. None of the guests returned
very early from dinner and when they did, went to their rooms instead of
staying down to visit, apparently talked and gamed out from being cooped up
most of the day. Lee was surprised at
himself that he wasn’t antsy from the inactivity. Instead, he’d lazily stretched out in one of
the large overstuffed chairs, totally relaxed.
He’d wondered briefly if it had anything to do with his decision not to
return just yet to the Institute, but dismissed that as too ludicrous. Dismissed also was any correlation to
Rebecca’s announcement when she returned that she also would be staying
over. No, Lee couldn’t quite put his
finger on it. For right now he was
just…comfortable here. Surprisingly he
wasn’t even upset when the two exceptions to guests not staying to visit turned
out to be the college students. Part of
it could have been that by the time they came back Lee was half asleep in his
chair, he and Tim discussing old Annapolis buddies. Both men acknowledged the girls’ arrival but
left any conversation with them up to Annie.
Lee smiled to himself when he realized Tim had fallen asleep in his
chair, and had no idea he’d done the same thing until a small pillow landing on
his chest startled him awake and he heard Annie laugh. Apparently she’d launched one at Tim as well
because he was also struggling to wake up.
“Good night, Lee,” Annie had said firmly, and he’d headed
upstairs. He’d fallen back to sleep
quickly, then been awakened shortly after 0200 by the wacky dream. Most of it was just a blur but he could
remember something about standing in Seaview’s control room, hurling cherry
turnovers as hard as he could against the main computer console. The console was getting redder and redder,
trails of cherry juice running down the face… and that’s when he woke up, and
walked out to the balcony. He noticed
the rain had finally stopped and opened the windows wider, enjoying the smell
of air scrubbed fresh by the storm.
Finally deciding to lay back down, he was still wondering if he’d have
trouble falling asleep again when he woke up shortly before 0700.
Annie
laughed at him as he came yawning down the stairs after a quick shower and
shave. “I was just thinking about
sending out the troop after you but he’s not up yet, either.”
“Am,
too,” came a sleepy voice from the kitchen, followed by a sneeze.
“I am
going to kill him,” Annie muttered, reaching into her pocket as she headed for
the kitchen. Chuckling, Lee poured
himself orange juice and coffee, and was just sitting down to a plate of
scrambled eggs with ham and green peppers, hash browns, and lemon-poppy seed
muffin when the two joined him. Other
voices were heard shortly coming down the stairs, and Lee was exchanging
greetings with the Bruces and Garretts when Tim sneezed again, earning him
another glare from his wife.
Jim
Bruce picked up on the byplay. “There’s
a really cool cold remedy I heard about once, if you’re interested,” he said to
Tim.
“I’ll
try anything if it will keep Annie off my back,” Tim muttered, albeit with a
smile. “What is it?”
“Warm
peppermint schnapps.” At everyone’s
raised eyebrows he continued with a smile.
“Not sure if it really works, but if you take enough of it you don’t
really care.” Everyone laughed, and the
morning followed as others had.
Lee
hit the beach about 0900. 9am, Lee he chided himself. You’re a temporary landlubber and he
chuckled as he stretched before starting out.
Whether from the enforced inactivity of the day before or because he was
actually getting his strength back he wasn’t sure, but he jogged almost as much
as he walked, both directions, and was surprised to get back to the B&B right
at noon. Fending off Annie’s attempts to
feed him lunch he showered, changed, and headed out to do some sightseeing.
Flipping
a mental coin, Lee drove north the few miles to Depot Bay, billed as the
smallest deepwater port in the world.
Fishing and whale watching boats could enter and exit only through a
small channel with high rock walls on either side. Lee stood on the bridge above watching for a
while, then played tourist in several of the shops. He was in a small store dealing in local
products, trying to decide between two pairs of myrtlewood earrings as a gift
for Admiral Nelson’s secretary, when a voice interrupted his thoughts.
“I
don’t think either of them is really your style,” and he turned to see Rebecca
standing behind him, smiling.
“Actually,”
he commented dryly, “myrtlewood should look quite nice with khaki,” then
chuckled and explained the gift. Rebecca
asked a few questions about Angie’s tastes, then chose an entirely different
pair. Lee agreed the alternate was
lovely, and bought them. The two made
their way back outside onto the sidewalk and Lee asked how Rebecca happened to
be there.
“I
was just wandering around. Been doing a
lot of that. I was across the street
when I saw you go into the store.”
“Got
back early from the beach and decided to go do a bit of wandering around,
too. Have to admit, though, that playing
tourist has never held much of an appeal.”
“More
of a doer than a watcher.”
“Always
have been.”
“I
don’t suppose the Oregon Coast Aquarium or Hatfield Marine Science Center in
Newport would hold much interest.”
“A
bit tame, considering some of the things that have happened on Seaview.”
“Well
then, I guess we’ll just have to find something you do like.” She thought for a second. “We could start by you joining me in the
morning for a long run.”
Lee
was surprised, and knew it showed on his face by the slight smile that appeared
on hers. But surprise was followed by
reality, and watched her smile turn to surprise as his face registered the
disappointment.
“What,
I get up too early for you?” and she laughed.
“I suppose I could adjust.”
“No,
that’s not it. Normally I’d be up about
the same time.” He sighed heavily. “I’m afraid right now I’d never keep up with
you.” They were silent for a bit.
“Forced
vacation,” Rebecca commented gently.
“That explains a few things,” and Lee looked at her sharply. “Oh, just, I’ve noticed you seemed to move
stiffly at times, that’s all,” she quickly explained.
Lee
nodded, but didn’t say anything for a bit.
They had ambled down the main street, back toward the bridge over the
entrance to the port. Lee finally
answered as they reached mid span and stopped to watch a boat navigate the
narrow channel.
“The
last cruise got a little…complicated,” he said quietly, with what he hoped was
a smile. But he wasn’t sure how
effective it was and returned his gaze to the boat.
“None
of my business,” she responded, just as quietly.
“Mostly
classified, anyway.”
“Ah,”
she said, giving a slight nod. “Dull
reading.”
Lee
grinned despite himself. “Suppose it
depends on your point of view.”
“Good
point,” she agreed. “Ok, so jogging is
out.”
“Been
doing a little,” Lee defended himself.
“Ok,
so like I said, I can adjust.”
“Still
screaming?” Lee grinned mischievously.
“Still
throwing things?” she countered.
“When
we get as far as I want to go on the beach,” Lee offered, “you could jog
another 100 yards or so, scream your head off, and catch up with me on the way
back.”
“That
should put me out of your throwing range,” she agreed, and they both burst out
laughing. “How are you at eating?” she
continued.
Lee
cringed, then realized where she was headed with the question. “Getting hungry?” and glanced at his watch –
almost 4:30.
“Haven’t
been eating much lunch, Annie serves such a humongous breakfast.”
“Know
that feeling,” Lee agreed heartily. “I
suppose you know all the best places to eat around here.”
“Actually,
my favorite is in Newport.” She looked a
bit embarrassed. “It’s seafood.”
“So?”
“You
don’t have a problem with that?” She
seemed surprised.
“Not
at all. I enjoy the chance to get even,”
and Rebecca laughed.
“Meet
you back at the Spindrift, then,” she said.
“No sense taking both cars.”
* *
* *
“Can
I ask a question?” Rebecca asked somewhat cautiously. The two were enjoying the last of their
coffee after an excellent dinner of salad, baked potatoes, rolls, and a shared
bucket of steamer clams. Neither was in
any big hurry to move. At the request
Lee gave her a smile and raised his eyebrows, and she continued. “When I originally asked you about dinner,
you…I don’t know, you just looked funny.”
She was so serious, Lee knew she was totally unprepared for his burst of
laughter.
“Sorry,”
he finally settled down. “You have no
way of knowing what an old joke that is.”
“I
gather you get teased about not eating enough.
I remember Annie saying something yesterday.”
“Harassed
is more like it,” Lee grumbled, then smiled again. “Annie hates anyone not eating what she fixes. My Exec, Chip, takes great delight in giving
me a bad time. But the main culprit is
the CMO.”
“CMO? Is that anything like an HMO?”
Lee
almost choked on his coffee, but ended up chuckling as much as coughing. “Actually, now that I think about it, you’re
not that far off. However, our Health
Maintenance Organization is Dr. Jamison, Chief Medical Officer.” Lee chuckled again, then got serious. “They mean well.”
“They
care about you.”
“What
makes you say that? Except for Annie
you’ve never met them.”
“Don’t
have to. You strike me as a very private
person, someone who’s careful about who they let close. Yet when you talk about these people your
face softens and you smile. They’re
friends,” she finished confidently.
“You’re
very good at reading people.”
“Usually.” Her smile faded and she seemed lost in her
own thoughts for a moment. Finally she
gave a small shake and looked up at Lee with an enigmatic little smile. “We all make mistakes.”
It
was Lee’s turn to concentrate on his own thoughts for a moment. Looking up, they smiled at each other. “Nobody’s perfect?” Lee said teasingly, and
Rebecca laughed.
* *
* *
What
with dawdling over dinner, then belatedly deciding to share a piece of
boysenberry pie, it was almost 9:00 before they got back to the B&B. Annie was in the living room visiting with
the Bruces and Lee noted a definite smirk on her face as Rebecca and he walked
in, quickly replaced by a simple smile as she greeted them.
“Rebecca,”
she continued, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small folded sheet of
paper, “there was a call for you earlier.
They asked that you call back, no matter when you got in.” Rebecca thanked her, took the paper, and
headed upstairs. Lee stayed down, invited
to another game of chess with Jim Bruce.
They’d barely got the board set up when Rebecca came back down.
“Annie,”
she announced, sounding frazzled, “I need to run back to Portland. Something’s come up. It shouldn’t take long to straighten
out. I’d still like to stay, and in fact
I’m leaving all my stuff in the room, if that’s alright. I’ll either be back late tomorrow evening, or
by noon Saturday, latest.”
“Of
course. Not a problem. But it’s late. Why don’t you spend the night here and get a
fresh start in the morning?”
“No,
I’m not tired, and the faster I get it taken care of the faster I can get
back.”
Annie
gave Lee a quick glance, much to his discomfort. “Well, just drive carefully. We’ll see you when you get back,” and Rebecca
quickly left.
Lee
was mildly concerned at how upset Rebecca had seemed and wondered again what it
was she did for a living. Or maybe
it’s personal business he chided himself.
Just because your life revolves around work doesn’t mean everyone
else’s does, and he willed himself to drop the subject and enjoy the
game. Tim soon appeared and kibitzed
with the players, this evening ending with Lee winning. By then it was nearly 10:30, all the other
guests had returned and gone to their rooms, and those still downstairs decided
that sounded like a good idea.
* *
* *
The
nightmares came harder and stronger than ever, lending a decidedly sour note to
what had otherwise been a very pleasant day.
Unlike other times the images were very clear. No red cherry tarts, no speaking bullet
holes, just a very clear, very chilling, reminder of what had taken place on
Seaview’s last cruise. Lee woke abruptly
from the remembered pain, got up, and went out onto the balcony. But once again the sounds and smells did
nothing to relax him as they usually did and he found himself starting to pace
the bedroom. Afraid he might awaken
those in the rooms below he quietly dressed, left the house, and drove down to
the beach. Anger and frustration
combined to close his mind and he walked and jogged with no thoughts except
putting one foot in front of the other as rapidly as possible. The only thing that finally stopped him was a
wall of rock. Looking up, Lee’s first
realization was that he had somehow managed to get all the way to the base of
Yaquina Head lighthouse. Almost
immediately came the second realization – he was in a great deal of pain! At least his thoughts were clear, and Lee
decided he’d accept the tradeoff. He
held his arm against his injured side, getting his breathing back under
control, and watched the waves roll in under the moonlight. Belatedly he realized that the tide was
coming in and he was beyond the point on the beach that closed off at high
tide. He started walking back, but
hindered by the burning in his side was unable to travel very fast, and found
his way blocked by water around the bend in the cliffs. He was tempted to walk through – it didn’t
look that deep. However, Tim’s earlier
warning and his own years of dealing with unpredictable undertows made him back
off. He chose a spot just above the high water mark and sat down to wait,
glancing at his watch. Almost 4am. Even if he were able to continue right now it
would be well after 7am before he got back.
And no cell phone – Annie will have my head and was able to
chuckle at the thought. What he couldn’t
chuckle at was what had caused his current predicament. He’d been troubled occasionally with
nightmares, but they never lasted long and had rarely been this intense. Even worse were the moments of
uncontrollable, unexplainable anger. It
was all so frustrating. But always
before he had been able to get past the troubled moments, and felt sure he could
get through this as well. He just needed
a little more time.
* *
* *
By 4:45
Lee could see that the tide was starting to recede, and by 6:30 was able to get
past the corner. Still in enough pain to
keep him at a walk, it was almost 9:30 before he got back to the B&B. The house was quiet as Lee came in the
kitchen door. He’d noted Tim’s car was
gone but expected to see Annie. Not
until the second floor landing did he hear her in the process of cleaning
Anemone and remembered the college girls were leaving this morning. He continued quietly up to his room. If Annie hadn’t heard him already she’d
shortly spot his car, but Lee decided to avoid that particular confrontation as
long as possible. Once in his room he
showered and pulled on clean slacks and t-shirt. The wound didn’t look too bad and the intense
burning pain had abated, thankfully, but he knew he’d abused his body
badly. Stepping back into the bedroom
from the dressing area he smiled as he spotted the plate sitting on top of the
stereo. On it were glasses of orange
juice and milk, a large cinnamon roll, a bowl of fruit, and his meds. Carrying the plate out to the porch he gave
half a thought to why there was no anger to Annie’s ministrations when other
times lately someone fussing at him had triggered it instantaneously. Halfway through the roll he realized she hadn’t
fussed. After that first time in the
kitchen Annie had come at him sideways – no confrontation.
Finishing
the belated breakfast Lee put the plate back on the stereo where he’d found it,
intending to take it downstairs later, and lay down a bit. Between the hot shower and sitting to eat he
was pretty well relaxed, but had no intentions of falling asleep. He was therefore greatly surprised the next
time he glanced at the clock to note it was almost 5:30. He was shaking his head slightly, chuckling
softly to and at himself, when his door opened and Tim’s head appeared.
“Ah,
Sleeping Beauty finally awakens.”
“Sorry,”
and Lee rubbed a hand through his hair.
“What
for?” Tim came the rest of the way into
the room, closed the door, and settled in one of the chairs. Lee didn’t answer, just glanced up,
embarrassed, and Tim continued, relaxing back.
“Hey, Lee. Been there. After the accident, for a while there, I was
a mess. I lost five very good friends in
that crash. Two of them I literally
watched die while I lay pinned under part of the wreckage, not able to do a
damn thing. I still have nightmares
about it. Oh, not so bad or so many
anymore but believe me, you don’t have to apologize to me for
anything. Or Annie either, for that
matter,” he added.
“Thanks. But neither of you should have to be putting
up with me right now. That’s not why I
came. I feel…”
“Hold
it right there,” Tim interrupted. “If
you’re headed where I think you are, forget it.
Period! Obviously you need down
time, and what better place than here.
Annie and I both love having you here.
We’ve seen far too little of you over the years and we’ve missed
you. Come and go as you please, stay as
long as you want – or need,” he added sincerely.
Lee
looked at Tim intently a moment, but seeing nothing but honest friendship
relaxed and smiled, and with another glance at his watch stood up. “Thanks,” and meant it.
“No
problem.” Tim smiled. “What will be is being late for dinner. Annie’s making seafood fettuccini.”
“Then
we’d better get going,” and they did.
Annie was on the phone when they got to the living room and the two went
on into the kitchen. Lee noted a large
pan of water was just coming to a boil on the back of the stove. A heavy stainless steel frying pan sat on a
not yet turned on front burner.
Annie
walked in behind them. “Tim, did you
ever call Martin about re-paving the driveway?”
“No,
blast it. I keep forgetting. I’ll do it right now. Doesn’t look like dinner’s ready yet anyway.”
“Nope. About 20 minutes,” and she gave Lee a wink,
at which he looked back sheepishly. She
just laughed. “Watch closely. Even you ought to be able to fix this for
yourself.”
“I do
eat, Annie, honest,” Lee defended himself with a smile.
“Not
enough,” Annie countered firmly, but also smiled. Lee poured himself a cup of coffee and
dutifully watched Annie fix the simple but delicious meal.
A
loaf of French bread had already been spread with garlic butter, wrapped in
foil, and was now popped into the oven to warm.
Annie measured out fettuccini noodles for three and put them in the
boiling water. Starting the burner under
the frying pan she put in a couple tablespoons of butter. As that melted she finely chopped a clove of
garlic and tossed that in, gave a stir, then added small bay scallops, stirring
fairly constantly until they turned opaque/white. In next went several chopped green onions,
some of the green part as well as the bulbs.
As she added a tablespoon of flour for thickener she told Lee that
normally she’d also add the shrimp meat now but what she had was already cooked
so it could go in last, just to heat.
When the flour was well mixed with the butter she started pouring in
Half-and-Half, whisking it in to mix well with the flour/butter to make a sauce. The shrimp meat, a little salt, a bit more
pepper, and Lee’s mouth was watering.
Tim had returned and set the table except for plates, which he left next
to the stove. He also took a bowl of
green salad out of the fridge. Annie
took the first plate, piled fettuccini noodles on it, spooned a portion of the
seafood sauce on top, and set it down in front of Lee as Tim took the warm
garlic bread out of the oven and put it on the table. Tim joined him shortly with his own plateful
and Annie followed. Talk was minimal as
all three devoured the excellent meal.
Annie did mention that she sometimes added already cooked cauliflower,
asparagus, peas, whatever she happened to have on hand, as an excellent use for
leftover veggies, and Lee promised he’d remember how to fix it, accented by
wiping up the last bit of sauce off his plate with a piece of bread. Annie went off to answer the again-ringing
phone and Tim and Lee started gathering up the dishes. She came back shortly, put a hand on Lee’s
shoulder, and all serious said “sorry Lee.
That was Rebecca. She won’t be
back until late tomorrow afternoon,” then spoiled it by laughing, as did
Tim. Lee just closed his eyes, slowly
shook his head, then very swiftly reached out and swatted Annie on the
backside, a wicked gleam in his eye, and they all laughed. “Out, you two,” Annie said when she finally
stopped laughing. Tim headed for the
living room and Lee excused himself to make some phone calls he’d put off long
enough.
He
was relieved when the answering machines picked up in both the Admiral’s and
Jamie’s offices. Doc wouldn’t have been
so bad but Lee still wasn’t sure what he would have said to the OOM. As it was, he simply left messages to both
that he was enjoying visiting with old friends and as he wasn’t needed at the
Institute or on Seaview at the moment would be taking extra leave time and see
them in a week or two. When Chip’s
machine also answered Lee quickly hung up and tried his house, not holding out
much hope of catching him there, either. It was after all Friday evening and the XO
kept a fairly active social life while in port.
Lee was therefore surprised when a very tired Chip eventually answered.
“Morton”
was followed by a long yawn, and Lee laughed.
“You’re
supposed to be tired after a Friday night on the town, not before,” and
Lee heard Chip chuckle.
“Sorry. Tina had tickets to a concert last night, and
with one thing and another, well…”
“Did
you make it to work this morning?”
“Just
barely,” and Chip chuckled again.
Lee
tsked a couple times. “You’ll never learn, will you?”
“But
I have a whole lot of fun,” Chip countered.
“Try it sometime,” and he laughed harder. Lee did, too, then got down to the business
of the call.
“I
just left voice mails for the Admiral and Jamie which they may or may not get
before Monday.”
“Not
sure about Doc,” and Chip yawned again, “but the Admiral left at noon for
meetings in San Diego all weekend.
What’s up?”
“Wanted
to give you a head start in case you’d like to leave town. I, ah, won’t be back on Monday.”
There
was dead silence a moment, then Chip exploded.
“Lee Crane,” he practically yelled, “if you’ve taken an ONI assignment
before coming back here you won’t have to worry about the Admiral. I’ll kill you myself.”
Lee
laughed. “Relax, Chip. ONI would be the last people I’d tell where I
am. Just taking another week or two off,
that’s all.”
Chip
was quiet for a bit then his voice came back, this time tinged with
concern. “Lee, are you ok?”
It
was Lee’s turn to pause. “Working on
it,” he finally said softly.
“Anything
I can do to help?”
“Nothing
you aren’t already doing. And I mean it,
Chip, about getting out of the line of fire.
Nelson could really land on you, and I’m very sorry for putting you in
that position.”
“Hey,
don’t worry about it, Lee. I’m just
grateful you did let me know where you were, even if it was only after I stuck
my foot in my mouth – again,” and they both laughed. “Doc won’t be a problem,” Chip
continued. “I don’t know what you said
to him the other day but he’s been a pussycat.”
Chip paused and Lee knew he was waiting for an explanation. Lee didn’t oblige. “Anyway,” Chip eventually continued, “I’ll
talk to him before the Admiral gets back.
The OOM’s always on your case about taking all your leave time
anyway. Between Doc and I, we’ll take
care of it.”
“Thanks,”
was all Lee could think to say, for the second time that day.
“Anytime,”
came back the reply. “Tell Annie and Tim
Hi for me,” and they disconnected.
It
was still quiet downstairs when Lee joined Tim in the living room. None of the guests were back yet. Tim disappeared for a bit after Annie joined
them, and came back with three tall rum and colas. Lee took a sip and choked. “I see you still haven’t gotten the formula
right,” he commented dryly. “I keep
telling you, it’s one part rum to two parts cola.”
“I
knew I got something wrong,” Tim replied with a grin and Lee stretched out in
his chair, nursing the strong drink. The
Craigs and Bruces came back but only stayed down a few minutes as both couples
were leaving the next day and wanted to pack.
The Garretts stayed to visit for a bit but also went up early, shortly
before 9:30. Annie and Tim discussed the
next week’s schedule as Lee listened quietly.
There were three couples plus a single arriving Sunday, two couples
staying until the following Saturday and the other couple and the single
leaving Wednesday, those two rooms staying empty until the following Sunday.
“Going
to be quiet around here for a change,” Annie commented.
Tim
winked at Lee. “We’ll just have to see
what we can do about that,” and Lee laughed.
Annie gave them both a dirty look and Tim got up and gave her a hug. Lee polished off the last of his drink, Tim
took the glass, they said goodnight, and Lee headed upstairs, hoping he could
stay there all night but not holding out much hope.
* *
* *
Whether
because of the previous night, the strong drink, or a combination, Lee slept
soundly until waking shortly after 6am, as much surprised as relieved. After showering and dressing he joined Tim
holding court at breakfast, and after wishing safe travel to the Craigs and
Bruces headed for the beach. Still
somewhat sore he walked only about a mile before turning back, not even trying
to jog. Tim was busy doing yard work
when Lee got back. He showed Lee how to
use the riding lawnmower while he went back to weeding flowerbeds. Lee let Annie talk him into a sandwich for
lunch, then went with Tim to run errands. They got back about 5:30, just as the
Garretts were leaving for dinner, and made short work of the fried chicken,
mashed potatoes, asparagus, and an apple and raisin salad Annie had prepared,
then took their coffee and peach cobbler out to the front porch. They were just finishing when the phone rang. Annie went off to answer it and came back
shortly to say that friends were inviting she and Tim to come over for the
evening, and of course Lee was invited as well.
There would be no problem leaving the house open for the Garretts, and
Rebecca, who was still expected back.
But Lee declined, preferring not to intrude even if both Annie and Tim
insisted he wouldn’t be, and told them he’d hold the fort here. He sent them off with chuckles as he cleaned
up the coffee cups and cobbler plates, then refilled his cup and went back out
on the porch. Sitting there, enveloped
by a light breeze and the sounds of the ocean below, he wondered briefly at
this…what, need almost?…lately for solitude.
A private man, he was none-the-less happiest surrounded by staff at the
Institute, and Seaview’s crew in particular.
Maybe he did need to go back to work, to get back to some semblance of
normalcy. But…something…stopped him. Stubbornness. He’d said he was staying away, and be
damned if I’ll crawl back, and slammed his fist into the arm of the chair.
“I
see things haven’t changed much around here,” and Lee turned to see Rebecca
just coming around the corner of the house.
He didn’t immediately reply, trying to get himself back under control,
and Rebecca continued on to the front steps.
“Tell me what you just hit,” she asked quietly.
“The
chair arm,” Lee growled, not yet ready, for reasons he didn’t understand, to
make polite conversation.
“That’s
not what I meant. What were you
hitting?” Lee just glared at her so she
rephrased the question. “Who were
you hitting?”
“No
one,” came the again growled response.
“Why
were you hitting?”
“I don’t know,” Lee practically yelled and started to
stalk off, upset at the invasion and, if truth were told, not a little embarrassed.
“Yes,”
Rebecca said quietly, “I think you do.”
Lee turned and glared at her, a look that could send junior officers
scurrying for their lives. Rebecca
ignored it and continued. “At that
particular instant there was a specific reason you were angry. If you identify it you can deal with it. Continue to deny it and it will just come
back.” She paused, smiled, and said
softly, “That’s what’s been happening, isn’t it?” Lee just continued to glare at her. “Look, I’m not trying to interfere with your
life, just trying to help. If you don’t
want to talk about it to me, that’s fine.
I don’t mind. But do yourself a
favor and talk to you. You’re the
only one with the answers,” and she started to walk up the couple steps to go
inside.
“Wait. Please.”
Lee was beginning to get himself back under control, but spoke so softly
he wasn’t sure for a moment if Rebecca had heard. But she turned and settled herself in one of
the chairs. He continued to stand where
he was, unconsciously rubbing his hand.
“Hurt
yourself?” Rebecca asked, not unkindly.
“It’s
fine,” came the automatic response, but he continued to rub it.
“Who
are you lying to, me or yourself?” she asked quietly, and Lee gave her another
glare. “It obviously hurts. Who are you trying to convince it
doesn’t?”
The
honesty in her voice made him pause, and with a sheepish half-smile,
half-grimace, he shrugged his shoulders.
“S.O.P.” he admitted.
“Unmanly
to admit pain?”
“No!” Instant anger, and Lee paused and took a deep
breath before continuing. “Just, oh, I
don’t know. Never have been one to admit
when I’m hurt. Drives Jamie crazy.” He gave her another half-smile, and finally
sat down. Almost immediately he started
to get up. “There’s coffee and peach
cobbler. Can I get you some?”
“I
ate on the way down but coffee sounds great, thanks.” and Lee took his cup, now
too cool, along as well. He thought
about the previous few minutes’ conversation but had no answers as he returned
to the front porch and handed Rebecca her cup before sitting down again.
“Why,
then?” Rebecca continued softly.
Lee
didn’t answer, just stared out to sea pondering the question. When he really thought about it he wasn’t
sure how it had started, or even when.
It just seemed like he’d always done it.
Minor bumps and bruises or major injuries, it didn’t matter. Either he downplayed them royally or totally
ignored them. Finally he admitted as
much to Rebecca who had just sat quietly, not interrupting Lee’s thoughts.
“What
happens when you do admit injury?”
“I
get stuck in Sick Bay,” came the immediate growl.
“And
what happens in Sick Bay?” Rebecca egged him on softly.
“Nothing! I can’t run a boat from Sick Bay.”
“And
that’s important to you.”
“Of
course it is,” Lee said angrily. “It’s
what I do. It’s who I am,” and he rose
and stalked the porch again.
“Surely
there’s someone who can cover for you.”
“Of
course. But it’s my responsibility. I’m responsible for seeing to it that Seaview
completes her assignments and gets home safely, as well as the 125 others
aboard her. I can’t do that from Sick
Bay.”
“But
if you don’t take care of yourself first, how are you supposed to take care of
them?”
Lee’s
first reaction was anger – immediate, powerful, and aimed at Rebecca. He swung around to blast a retort then
stopped, realizing what was happening. Anger
again. He paused with fists
clenched.
“Do
you resent the others who take over for you?” Rebecca persisted gently.
“No!” Then more softly, “no, of course not.” Lee hesitated, then continued. “But they have their own duties. They shouldn’t have to be doing my job as
well.”
“But
surely that’s part of their job, too.
I’d think that with the limited manpower on board a submarine there’s an
awful lot of cross-training that goes on with the crew.”
“Of
course,” and Lee willed himself to relax.
“That’s not the point.”
“Maybe,”
Rebecca commented and smiled. “So, back
to my original question. What
specifically caused you to punch out the chair?”
Lee
closed his eyes a moment, then collapsed back into the chair. “I don’t know,” he admitted tiredly, and
again stared out to sea.
“Ok,
but just a bit ago, when I asked how you could take care of your ship and crew
if you don’t take care of yourself first you were angry at me. Why?”
By
this time Lee was mentally exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to forget
the whole conversation. “Guess I just
got tired of the cross-examination,” he muttered. “And it’s boat, not ship,” he added. “Submarines are always referred to as
boats.” The correction was given flatly,
automatically, and Lee continued to look out to sea.
“Ok,”
Rebecca said lightly, and stood up. Lee
was aware that she left to go inside but didn’t acknowledge it. His head pounded with a sudden headache and
he wanted nothing more at that moment than to be left alone. He had no idea how long he’d sat there when
he was interrupted by the Garrett’s return, but it was getting dark and his
coffee, forgotten on the table, was again cold.
Relieved to have something besides Rebecca’s questions to think about he
offered to make fresh coffee and sat visiting with the couple a bit. Rebecca was nowhere around and had presumably
gone to her room. The Garretts, claiming
an early departure in the morning, didn’t stay down long either, but Lee
suspected it might also have had something to do with his own somewhat
distracted attitude. The headache had if
anything worsened and Lee feared he’d not been good company. He cleaned up and put the dirty dishes in the
dishwasher, then followed the couple upstairs.
Downing a couple ibuprofen he sat on his porch for awhile, then finally
tried to lie down.
But
sleep wouldn’t come this night. The
headache refused to go away as Rebecca’s questions, gently though they’d been
asked, continued to haunt him. Still
wide awake at 11:30 when he heard Tim and Annie return he rose, dressed quietly
and left for the beach, hoping to walk away whatever it was that was bothering
him. His emotions were still all in a
jumble. If you don’t take care of
yourself, who takes care of them… He shoved it to the back as he parked his
car and headed for the almost deserted beach.
The weather was far too nice on this Saturday evening for it to be
completely empty. There were still
several beach parties going on, as well as some couples and small groups
scattered around.
The
questions re-invaded as he walked slowly southward, refusing to be ignored any
longer. Who takes care of them if you
can’t… Lee felt his headache’s steady throb, but also realized that Rebecca
had been right when she said ignoring the problem was only making it
worse. He’d said as much to himself,
just not been able to do anything about it.
There was a soft breeze blowing in his face bringing to him the usually
calming, comforting sounds and smells of his beloved ocean. But they weren’t making much headway this
night.
So
ok. Prioritize. What was the most pressing problem? That was an easy one. Unexplained, uncontrollable anger. The nightmares were troublesome, but Lee still
felt they would go away, given sufficient time.
Ok, so when does the anger happen? What causes it? NO!
Two questions. Back up. When? Lee walked along, analyzing that one for a
bit. The first time he’d had a
noticeable problem was in Sick Bay. So,
what’s so special about that – I hate being there he muttered aloud, then
glanced around nervously to make sure no one had heard him. By this time, however, he was well beyond
anyone he could see. Time to break it
down even farther. He’d never had this
strong a reaction, no matter how much he disliked Sick Bay, and unfortunately
he ended up there all too frequently.
What had caused it this time?
Most stays were precipitated by either an accident or an ONI mission not
going quite as planned. This one had
started out as the latter.
No,
Lee, that’s not right either. This one had started out as
a normal Seaview mission. There had been
no indication of a problem until later.
The first temper tantrum, and Lee cringed slightly to admit that that’s
what it had been, had occurred when he’d thought a member of the crew had
attacked him, and Lee felt himself make a tight fist. That’s what ticked you off, Crane. You spend all your time taking care of them,
and you thought one of them turned on you!
The revelation startled him and stopped him in his tracks. Could that be right? It doesn’t feel right. But where then did that thought come from?
So
maybe that explained the first time. But
that certainly didn’t explain the anger directed at Annie, Rebecca earlier or,
worst of all, the Admiral. All the man
had done was bring him lunch, for pete’s sake!
Lee’s head was beginning to pound even harder than before. He realized he was getting nauseous and his
eyes were beginning to burn, his vision blurring. Logic dictated he take himself home before he
passed out on the beach. Sorry,
Rebecca. I tried. I really did.
But Lee knew he had to give it up for the moment. Somehow he managed to get back to his
room. He started to reach for more
ibuprofen, then remembered the pain pills Doc had sent. Maybe they’ll work on this headache. Nothing else seems to, and he tracked
them down, still in his duffle bag. He
didn’t bother reading the label, just assumed a standard dosage of 2 pills and
figured three would work even better.
Not bothering to undress he just lay down across the bed, pillowing his
aching head in his arms.
* *
* *
The
next time Lee opened his eyes, or rather tried to, the sun shining through the
windows nearly blinded him. Groaning softly
he rolled over and realized he’d somehow ended up under the comforter, dressed
only in his underwear. A soft sound
reached his ears, belatedly identified as curtains being closed, and the room
darkened. With somewhat more success he
again opened his eyes. Annie was
standing next to the bed.
“So,
you’re not dead after all,” she said softly.
“That’s
your opinion,” Lee grumbled and closed his eyes again. The headache had disappeared, or at least he
thought it had. It was difficult to
tell. His eyes hurt, his mouth felt like
he’d been eating cotton balls, and his brain refused to work properly. “Guess I missed breakfast again.”
“And
lunch,” Annie chuckled. “Dinner, too, if
you’re not careful.”
It
took a second for that to sink in. Lee
forced his eyes open again. “What time
is it?” and he tried to see the clock on the bedside table.
“Almost
5pm,” Annie answered. “How many pain
pills did you take? I assume that’s the
problem since the bottle’s still on the bathroom counter.”
“Only
three, why?” Lee again closed his
eyes. “Damn. Feels like I’ve been run over by a steam
roller.”
“Probably
because the pill bottle says to take no more than one every eight hours.” Lee heard the accusation in Annie’s voice and
groaned again, waiting for the lecture.
Instead, he felt her pull the comforter a bit higher over him. “Go back to sleep,” she said, her voice
softer. “I’ll send Tim up later with
some soup.” Lee raised his head to
attempt a protest, decided better of the effort, and resettled his head on the
pillow. The last thing he heard was
Annie’s soft laughter.
A
hand on his shoulder brought Lee back to consciousness. “Up and at ‘em, slacker,” and Lee opened his
eyes. Tim was sitting on the edge of the
bed, a large mug in his hand.
“Not
sure I can,” Lee admitted groggily but sat up, adjusted the pillow, and leaned
back against the headboard. “Damn. Don’t think I’ve felt like this since the
morning after your bachelor party.”
Tim
laughed and handed Lee the mug. “That
will teach you not to read labels. What
happened?”
Lee
took a sip from the mug before answering.
It held a beefy vegetable soup, run through the blender making it easy
to eat in this manner. “Got a wicked
headache after you guys left. Tried to
walk it off on the beach and when that didn’t work, tried Doc’s pills.” Lee looked up from the mug sheepishly. “I don’t even remember crawling into bed.”
“Actually,
you didn’t. When you missed breakfast I
came up and found you sprawled across it.
Since you seemed to be breathing ok I just made you a bit more
comfortable.”
“Sorry.”
“Hey,
no big deal. Besides, I seem to recall
you pouring me into bed a time or two,” and both men smiled. “Like spring leave our senior year, and that
long weekend in Alexandria, Virginia.”
“Not
to mention Rich Hastings’s graduation party when we were juniors, or the bash
at the ‘Quarter Deck’. And how about…”
“Enough,”
Tim complained loudly, and both men snickered.
“Obviously you’re feeling better.”
“Getting
there.” Lee had been making steady
progress on the soup and now polished off the last of it, handing the mug back
to Tim.
“Want
some more?” Tim asked.
“Not
right now, thanks. If I want something
later I’ll come down.” He started to get
out of bed but as he stood up a wave of dizziness hit him hard. He closed his eyes, then felt Tim’s hand on
his arm.
“Steady
there, buddy.”
“I’m
fine” came out before Lee could stop it.
He shook his head sadly at himself and looked at Tim. “At least, I will be once I finally wake up.”
Tim
smiled. “Hardly seems worth the
effort. It’s already nearly 7
o’clock. By the time the fog clears it
will be time to go back to bed.”
“Good
point. However, I need a shower. I feel like a slug.”
“Maybe
I’ll hang around and make sure you don’t drown.”
“Out,”
Lee used the best command voice he could muster under the circumstances.
“Aye
aye, Sir,” then Tim spoiled it by laughing, as did Lee, and left.
Lee
stayed in the shower a long time, gradually turning the water temperature
cooler trying to wake up. Still a little
foggy but figuring he was as awake as he was likely to get, he pulled on sweat
pants and t-shirt and went out to sit on the balcony for awhile. Some of the disturbing questions tried to
work their way into his thoughts but he made a conscious effort to keep them
away, allowing the breeze and sounds of the ocean to keep him relaxed. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of last
night’s fiasco. He told himself he’d try
again. He wasn’t giving up. He just didn’t have the strength to try again
so soon. He felt his eyes close and was
unable to stop them, until a soft knock penetrated the once again increasing
fog. “Come,” he called out, expecting
Tim, or more likely Annie. Instead,
Rebecca poked her head through the door.
“Still
speaking to me?” she said hesitantly.
“Why
wouldn’t I be,” and Lee rose – too quickly he realized as some of the dizziness
returned. He steadied himself with a
hand on the edge of the slider but continued to look at her quizzically.
“Annie
told me what happened. I figure I’m
responsible for the headache.”
“No,
not at all.” As Rebecca continued to
stand in the doorway looking skeptical, Lee rephrased. “Well, maybe a little.” He smiled and motioned toward the other chair
on the balcony, returning to his own as she came in and sat.
“Sorry,”
she said, still seeming unsure.
“Don’t
be, please,” Lee felt slightly nervous, and wasn’t sure why. “You were only trying to help. It’s not your fault I couldn’t handle the
questions.”
“Would
you like to talk about what happened?” she asked softly.
Lee
hesitated. “I don’t know,” he finally
responded. “I can’t make anything make
sense. I tried what you said, to work
through it. I thought if I broke it
down, tried not to analyze too much at one time…” and he just shook his head.
“That
was an excellent idea,” Rebecca encouraged him.
“But
it still didn’t work. Or,” he hesitated
again, “at least I couldn’t make it work.
All I did was give myself a splitting headache,” and he gave her a
half-smile. She smiled back.
“Nobody
said it was going to be easy. Sorry,”
she continued quickly as Lee cringed at the bad joke. “But it’s the truth. Everything we chose to do well, we have to
work hard at. You know that. But that doesn’t mean we have to do it
alone. If you’ll let me, I’d still like
to help.”
Lee
didn’t answer immediately, just sat watching out the windows, and Rebecca sat
quietly also. Finally he looked at
her. “Are you sure you want to? Lately it’s been friends offering help that
has triggered the worst of the outbursts.”
He shuddered. “Or have you
already forgotten last night.”
She
smiled. “I have a feeling last night was
just an accumulation of previous episodes.
Can you tell me when it started?”
“I’m
not sure. Maybe. Sort of.
Oh, hell!” and he sighed heavily.
“Try
to let your logic take over, not your emotions.
It’s not easy – believe me, I know.
Just ask the neighborhood seagulls.”
Lee chuckled softly but continued to look out the windows,
unmoving. Rebecca just waited quietly.
“Anger,”
Lee said finally, almost to himself.
“All of a sudden I can’t seem to control it.”
“And
normally you do.” Lee just nodded. “So, tell me about the first time you
couldn’t.”
“Sick
Bay…”
“You
were in Sick Bay.” Lee just nodded. “Were you sick or injured?”
“Injured,”
Lee answered flatly. He could feel
himself withdrawing…remembering…
“How?”
“Hit
on the knee and knocked down a flight of stairs.”
“You
boys play rough.” When Lee didn’t
respond, she continued. “I gathered from
last night’s conversation you don’t like being in Sick Bay. Aren’t you usually angry to be there?”
“Not
like this,” Lee muttered darkly, then sighed.
“I…I’m not sure I can explain.”
“Just
give it a try,” came the soft encouragement.
“Normally
I just want out. I badger Jamie until he
releases me, or I just leave.” He smiled
sheepishly, “Escape – that’s what Chip
calls it. He’s even better at it than I
am.”
“You
make it sound like a game,” Rebecca said.
Lee just looked at her and smiled.
“It is a game, isn’t it?”
“Sort
of, I guess. We give Jamie a bad time,
and he gives it right back. We all know
he has the authority to end it at any time, or have the Admiral do it – order
us to stay.” Lee laughed. “I sometimes think Jamie enjoys it as much as
we do, even if he doesn’t act like it.”
“But
this time was different.”
Lee
just nodded, feeling himself withdraw again.
“I don’t know. I just got angry…”
“At
what?” Rebecca encouraged again, when Lee didn’t continue.
“That’s
the point,” and Lee laid his head back against the wall with a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. I couldn’t make sense of it then, and I still
can’t. Besides, none of the later
episodes had anything to do with the first time.”
“That
you know of,” Rebecca said softly, and Lee looked at her sharply. “Since you don’t know what caused the first
time you can’t say for sure, can you, about the others?”
“You’re trying to tell me that my getting mad
at you last night, or the Admiral bringing me lunch, had something to do with
being in Sick Bay?” He snorted
softly. “That makes no sense
whatsoever,” and he put his head back against the wall.
“For
the moment.” Rebecca agreed.
Lee
didn’t respond, just closed his eyes.
The fog was trying to settle back in and he was just about to let it
when he heard Rebecca’s voice.
“Sorry. What did you say?” and he
opened his eyes to see her start to smile at him.
“I
just asked a question, but perhaps I’d better let you go back to sleep.”
Lee
gave his head a small shake and smiled.
“Sorry,” he repeated, and waited expectantly.
“Sure?” When Lee just nodded, she continued. “I was just wondering what caused the massive
headache last night. Do you remember? I know,” as Lee got a pained expression on
his face, “that you were trying to work through the problem yourself. I just wondered if there was something
specific.”
Lee
leaned his head back again. Surprisingly
he remembered quite a bit about the previous night. “I remember not being able to get something
you said out of my mind. It just kept
pestering me.” It was Rebecca’s turn to
say “Sorry,” and Lee smiled at her.
“Don’t be. I needed the
kick-start – I think,” and his gaze narrowed briefly before shrugging his
shoulders and continuing. “It was what
you said about taking care of myself, and if I didn’t, how was I supposed to
take care of the rest of the crew. I
couldn’t get rid of it.”
“And
did you ever come up with an answer?”
“No,
just a splitting headache,” he grumbled.
His eyes narrowed again. “And
something else, just before…” and Lee’s voice trailed off as he remembered.
“What?”
Rebecca prodded gently, and Lee turned to look at her, puzzled.
“It
was weird. No matter what I did, that
kept coming back. Just before I almost
passed out from the headache and gave up, I remember thinking that what had
ticked me off in Sick Bay was that I spend all my time taking care of the crew,
and we thought at the time – turned out we were wrong,” he clarified for
Rebecca, “but at the time, we thought one of the crew had attacked me.”
“What’s
so weird about that? If I thought
someone close to me, someone I cared about, was out to hurt me intentionally,
I’d be mad as hell.”
“But…”
and Lee just sat there, looking at Rebecca, totally puzzled.
“But
what?”
“I remember
thinking, just before…” Lee could almost feel the pain from last night
returning, and shook his head. “Even if
that did explain the first time, it still has nothing to do with the times
after.”
“Oh,
Lee. Bingo,” Rebecca laughed. Lee glared at her and she laughed harder,
before finally settling back. “I told
you before, Lee. Logic, not
emotions. Work it out. You almost had it last night. And again, just a little while ago. You said it.
You just didn’t realize it. I
didn’t either until right now. But then,
I didn’t have all the pieces. You
do.” As Lee continued to scowl at her,
she laughed again. “I repeat, Lee. Logic.
Don’t feel – think,” and she sat back, crossed her arms and ankles, and
waited.
Lee
continued to glare at her a bit longer but as she showed no sign of further
help he sat back with his head once again against the wall and closed his
eyes. He tried to work through what
they’d just been talking about.
Obviously something in what he’d said gave Rebecca the answers that had
so far eluded him. That alone was
frustrating, and Lee felt his right hand start to close into a fist. Refusing to take the bait of a soft snort
from Rebecca he forced his hand to relax, took a deep breath, and tried
again. If you don’t take care of
yourself, who takes care of them when you can’t. That was one of the pieces, Lee was
sure. Where it fit he had no idea. I spend all my time taking care of the
crew, and I thought one of them had sent me to Sick Bay. From Rebecca’s reaction, that had to be
another piece. He kept going over the
conversation as best he could remember it, but for the life of him could not
come up with anything else. Feeling the
frustration starting to build again, as well as a headache, he finally
surrendered, looked at Rebecca, and pleaded.
“Help?” It came out a bit more
shakily than he had intended, and he smiled weakly.
Rebecca
just laughed. “Tell me how far you got,”
and Lee gave her the two pieces he was sure of, or at least thought he was sure
of. To his relief Rebecca congratulated
him. “There’s only one more,” she
encouraged.
“Sorry. All I’m doing is getting a headache,” Lee
apologized.
“Ok.
Against my better judgment I’ll help.
What did you tell me when I first came in a little while ago?” Lee closed his eyes and tried to
remember. When he didn’t answer, Rebecca
prodded slightly. “You asked if I was
sure I wanted to be here because…”
Lee
hesitated then opened his eyes, finally remembering. “Because lately it’s been friends trying to
help that have caused the worst of the outbursts…” and he just looked at her,
the puzzlement he still felt showing on his face.
“Like
I said – Bingo.”
“I
don’t understand,” and Rebecca laughed, causing Lee to glare at her, then watch
her work hard to control the laughter.
“You
originally got royally ticked that one of the people you spend a lot of time
protecting – your words – hurt you, and put you someplace you hate – again your
words.” Lee just continued to look at
her. “That anger got buried because
these are crewmates – friends – people you care about, therefore you couldn’t
get angry at them.” Lee just shook his
head, still not understanding. “So, it
came out backwards. Every time one of
your friends tried to help you, you got ticked all over again because it should
have been you helping them.”
“But
that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Actually, in a convoluted sort of way, it does. You have to remember, minds don’t always work
the way we want them to. Then I come
along and hit you with ‘if you don’t take care of yourself’ etc, and it started
to drive you a little crazy, because how could you take care of yourself when
your friends are trying to hurt you all the time.”
Lee
closed his eyes and again laid his head against the wall, trying desperately to
understand. Rebecca seemed to read his
thoughts.
“Don’t
try to analyze it, Lee. Just own it –
accept that it happened, and that it happened to you. The mind works under it’s own set of
rules. You try to make it make sense and
it will just tell you where to ‘stuff it’, like it’s been doing by causing the
severe headaches.”
“Hard
thing to do,” Lee replied, unmoving.
“Boy,
do I know that one.” Rebecca muttered as if to herself, and Lee looked at
her. She grinned. “I’m still trying to figure out a way to
apologize to a whole lot of seagulls.”
“Lots
and lots of bread cubes,” Lee chuckled, but even he could hear the weariness in
his voice, and he yawned broadly.
“Sounds
like its time for me to leave,” and she rose.
Lee did too, slowly. The fog was
beginning to settle in his brain again, although this time recognizable as
mental exhaustion. Rebecca gave him
another smile as she pulled the door closed on her way out and Lee later wasn’t
sure he even remembered his head hitting the pillow.
* *
* *
“It’s
alive!!” Sounding like something from a
monster movie, the old joke greeted Lee the next morning as he came down the
stairs shortly before 7am, then Tim chuckled.
“Don’t
be so sure.” Lee grumbled as he headed
for the coffee pot and nothing more was said until he had downed his first
cupful. Tim was going back and forth
from the kitchen bringing out fruit, juice and muffins, and Annie joined them
as Lee poured his second cupful.
“Tim,
you should be ashamed of yourself,” Annie chided, putting the pan she was carrying
into a warming tray. “You know perfectly
well it’s unfair to harass a Navy man after a 24-hour binge until he’s at least
through his third cup of coffee.” Lee
just hung his head as Tim burst out laughing.
Footsteps on the stairs and both Annie’s and Tim’s calls of “Good
morning, Brad” made Lee look up and turn to see a man dressed in slacks and
sports jacket joining them. Lee was
momentarily disoriented until he realized that he’d slept through almost a
complete change of occupancy at the B&B.
The thought was decidedly embarrassing.
Some part of the feeling must have shown on his face, even through his
naturally dark Mediterranean coloration, because he saw the newcomer give him
an odd look before being distracted by Tim.
“Brad
Spencer, Lee Crane. Brad’s a sales rep
from Los Angeles. Stays with us several
times a year when he’s in the area.
Lee’s an old friend.” As the two
shook hands Tim chuckled again, and Lee glared at him. “Sorry,” he apologized to Lee and explained
to Brad. “Lee hasn’t had the best last
day or so.”
“And
he’s going to flatten you if you don’t quit rubbing it in,” Annie had made
another trip to the kitchen and returned now with another pan which she placed
in a warmer. “Eat.” Though the soup last night had tasted good,
Lee found this morning that the last thing on his mind was food, and
gave serious consideration to taking his coffee back to his room. He hung back as Brad and Tim filled their
plates with sausage patties, fresh fruit and something in triangles that Lee
didn’t recognize but Brad obviously did.
“Ah,
you always remember,” he said gleefully as he put several on his plate and
covered them with something from a side dish.
“Just
figured that’s what keeps you coming back,” Annie answered from just behind and
to one side of Lee. He’d had no idea she
was standing there and startled slightly.
As he looked at her she smiled.
“Stuffed French toast. I spread
bread slices with a mixture of cream cheese, vanilla and walnuts, put them
together into a sandwich, dip the whole thing in eggs mixed with a bit of
half-and-half and nutmeg, then grill, cut into quarters, and make apricot sauce
as a topping.” She must have guessed
what Lee had been planning because she said softly “just go try it,” and put a
hand lightly on his back before continuing a bit louder “before those two eat
them all.”
As
had happened several times already, once Lee actually sat down with food in
front of him he discovered he was hungry.
He’d only taken one triangle of French toast and a small amount of fruit
the first time, and good-naturedly endured another round of badgering from Tim
when he went back for seconds. As on so
many other mornings while he’d been here he and Tim stayed at the table
visiting as guests came and went, this particular morning allowing Lee to meet
everyone who had come the day before.
Besides Brad Spencer there was a couple from Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, Dave and Laurie Tressault, who were on a buying trip for
their antiques store; two sixty-ish widows from Spokane, Washington, Melissa
Bender and Claire Danberg, who vacationed together each year, and this year
chose the Oregon coast; and Keith and Mary Dean, a retired couple from Sydney,
Australia, on an extended visit to the United States. Lee enjoyed listening to the couple’s
impressions of the various parts of the country they had already visited. Annie as always visited as well, but kept a
close eye on the food and made quick trips to the kitchen for anything needing
to be replenished.
The
Deans were just getting up from the table as Rebecca came in from her early
morning run. Lee glanced at his watch to
discover it was almost 8:30. “Cut that a
bit close,” he commented dryly, then smiled.
“Have
apologies to make to a few more seagulls.”
“Saved
one stuffed French toast I didn’t grill,” Annie interjected. “Knew if I put it out Tim would polish it
off. Even Lee had seconds this morning,”
and both men grinned. “Get the
rest. I’ll fix it for you.”
Tim
excused himself and Lee finished the last of his 5th cup of
coffee. He almost felt human again and
grinned at the thought. “Guess it’s my
turn for the beach.”
“Feeling
better?” Rebecca asked over her shoulder as she filled her plate. “You definitely look better,” and she turned
and smiled.
“Not
sure I’m totally ready to buy into your theory,” Lee admitted. “But yes, definitely feeling better. At least,” and he hung his head, “better than
last night,” and listened to Rebecca’s soft laughter.
“Just
an observation on what I saw and heard.”
She sat down opposite Lee as Annie came back in with the French toast,
cut into quarters. “Annie, no way can I
eat all that,” she fussed. Her plate
already held a large helping of cantaloupe, two small sausage patties and some
yogurt.
“Not
a problem,” Annie grinned and put two of the pieces on Rebecca’s plate. The other two she deposited in front of
Lee.
“Where’s
Tim?” Lee grumbled, but reluctantly smiled as both Annie and Rebecca laughed at
him. Somehow he managed to down both
pieces while the two ladies visited, joining in occasionally. When Rebecca finished she went upstairs,
Annie started cleaning up, and Lee headed for the beach.
* *
* *
It
was nearly 4pm before Lee returned to Spindrift. It had been a remarkably peaceful day and Lee
was somewhat at a loss to explain why.
After all the emotional turmoil of the last couple weeks Lee was
beginning to think he’d lost his connections to the tranquility the ocean had
always given him. But today all had been
back to normal. He’d kept to a walk, not
so much unwilling to push himself, but more a sense that he didn’t need
to. He’d spent a lot of time thinking
about the last few days, about the nightmares, the headaches, the anger. Where before there had been conflict there
was peace; confusion, now acceptance. It
bothered him somewhat that he still didn’t understand what had been happening,
but finally came to the conclusion that maybe he didn’t need to. Perhaps Rebecca had been right. It wasn’t necessary to understand why it had
happened, just accept that it had. This
tended to go very much against the grain for him. He always needed to have definite, understandable
answers. Yet even these thoughts could
cause no frustration this day and Lee laughed at himself. Whatever the reasons for the changes, he knew
he owed Rebecca big time.
Dinner
would be a start but he met her leaving as he was just turning in the
drive. Guess not tonight. The house was quiet and Lee found a note
from Annie propped up on the kitchen counter.
“Lee, Tim’s gone to Newport and I’m down at the neighbors. We should both be back about 4:30. Whatever you do, don’t answer the
phone. That’s why we left!” He’d heard the phone ringing as he came in
the back door and heard the answering machine pick up. Grabbing his usual glass of orange juice he
wasn’t halfway up the first flight of stairs before it rang again and he
laughed all the way to his room. It did,
however, remind him he needed to make sure Chip was still in one piece. Lee was concerned that Admiral Nelson would
land hard on the younger man, pressuring Chip for Lee’s whereabouts. Even with Chip’s assurances on Friday that
all would be well, Lee needed to make sure.
He was, therefore, totally unprepared for the sounds of raucous laughter
in the background as Chip answered his cell phone.
“Commander
Morton,” and Lee heard him struggle to control his own laughter.
“And
here I was worried about you,” Lee laughed too.
“Oh,
ah, Hi. Hang on a second,” and Lee could
tell from the sounds Chip had taken the phone away from his head before yelling
“Kowalski, make sure he’s still alive in there,” but continued to laugh as Lee
heard footsteps and the background sounds faded. “Sorry.
Sharkey’s not had a very good day.
He spent most of the morning walking around on the hull supervising the
maintenance crew, and reminding them to be careful not to fall in the
drink. Just before lunch, guess who fell
in,” and Chip started laughing all over again.
“Having decided he’d be safer on the dock, he’s spent all afternoon
having several of the ratings check all the fire extinguishers on board,
bringing them out here to test and recharge.”
Chip apparently couldn’t help himself and continued to chuckle. “You know the Chief. Nobody can do anything right except him. Just now he decided he knew a better way to
recharge the foaming units. Any guesses
about what happened?”
“Oh
no.”
“Yep. It exploded.
Sharkey ended up looking a whole lot like the Pillsbury Doughboy.” Chip could barely finish, he was again
laughing so hard. All Lee could do was
shake his head. “Anyway,” Chip finally
got himself back under control, “what’s up?
I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”
“Like
I said, I was concerned. I half expected
Nelson to have your head.”
“Not
to worry. Told you I’d take care of
everything,” Chip sounded smug.
“Chip!”
Lee countered. “I could have sworn it
was you complaining just the other day you couldn’t communicate with the
Admiral.”
“Ok,
ok,” Chip backed off, chuckling. “So I
took care of it by having Jamie talk to him.”
“No
tantrums?”
“Not
a one. I have no idea what Doc said or
did. Just know that the Admiral came in
first thing this morning, walked into your office and took everything out of
your ‘In’ basket, and headed for his own office. Haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since.”
“Sounds
like that’s another couple dinners I have to buy,” Lee muttered to himself.
“What
was that, buddy?”
“Just
talking to myself, Chip. Glad everything’s
going ok.”
“How
is it at your end?” and Lee heard the hesitancy in Chip’s voice, as if he were
almost afraid to ask.
“Better,
Chip,” he answered, and meant it. He
heard what sounded like a sigh of relief.
“Good!”
and Lee could hear the elation in that one word.
“I
should be back next Monday morning,” Lee continued.
“You
sure?”
“Sort
of,” Lee amended. “I’ll call the end of
the week.”
“Ok. I won’t say anything until I hear from
you. Hopefully see you in a week. The Admiral may have taken over your
paperwork, but I’ve been saving a few things.”
“On
second thought…” and heard Chip start to laugh.
“Knew
I should have kept my mouth shut,” and they ended the conversation as it had
started, with laughter. Lee noticed the
Deans returning and, not knowing if Annie was back yet, headed downstairs.
* *
* *
The
evening progressed quietly. Only the
Deans returned to change for dinner, and after they left Annie got their own
meal ready. The phone had quieted somewhat
and Lee asked what all the calls had been.
“Oh,
a little of everything. Friends calling,
calls for reservations – it’s going to be a busy year. Rebecca got a couple calls. Did you happen to talk to her after you came
back?” Lee explained he’d been late and
she was just leaving. “Oh. Just wondered, after that other call. At least she didn’t take off this time. Anyway, Martin called about when he could
come to do the driveway. Just one of
those days.”
“What
did you and Martin decide?” Tim asked.
“Or do I need to call him back?”
“Told
him the schedule and we agreed Saturday sounded like the best. Brad and the Deans are leaving Wednesday and
everyone else except Rebecca leave Saturday morning. There’s one couple coming, but they said they
wouldn’t be here until late in the day.
We can work around it and Martin said he should be done by 3:30, 4
o’clock latest.”
Lee
thought about mentioning he’d probably be leaving Saturday as well, if he
planned to be back to work Monday. But
he ended up keeping quiet. Yes, today
had seen the return of a peace he hadn’t known in quite awhile. He hoped it stayed that way but decided he’d
better leave his options open.
“Earth
to Lee,” Tim chided, and Lee brought his thoughts back to the table.
“Sorry,”
and he shook his head.
“I
was just asking if you wanted ice cream on your pie for desert,” Annie
said. Lee groaned and both Tim and Annie
laughed.
“That’s
a yes,” Tim answered for him and Annie headed for the freezer. Lee ended up complimenting Annie. The pie was delicious. He did, however, have to ask what kind it
was. Between layers of very flaky pastry
were berries of a kind Lee couldn’t immediately identify. Tim laughed and Annie explained.
“When
I went to the freezer this morning I could only find one package of
blackberries. There wasn’t enough so I
just added a package of raspberries. I
do it all the time. Tim loves it.”
“So
do I, even though I’m not sure how I’m going to finish it.” But he did.
Later,
stretched out in one of the wicker chairs on the porch, Lee sat quietly while
the Deans and Brad Spencer discussed Australia’s more intriguing vacation
spots. This was one of the nights he
chose not to involve himself in the conversation, just sat back and enjoyed
it. Tim and Annie had not joined the
group and the older women had gone to their room earlier. At one point Lee had glanced at his watch,
noting it was nearly 9:30, and wondered what had become of Rebecca. Smiling, he’d chided himself. Just chill, Lee. She’s a big girl. She can keep any time schedule she wants
to. Even after everyone else went
upstairs shortly after 10pm he told himself he was not waiting up for
her. He just wasn’t ready to crash
yet. About 10:30 Tim came up to give the
house one more check, but Lee sent him to bed with a chuckle as Lee had already
cleaned everything up.
It
wasn’t until a few minutes before 11 that Lee heard the sound of a car coming
up the drive, and presently Rebecca came around the corner, Lee startling her
as he said “Good evening.”
“Oh!”
and she jumped before finally seeing him.
“Didn’t expect anyone to still be up.”
She finished walking up onto the porch.
“Just
enjoying the peace and quiet,” and Lee smiled at his little private joke. Rebecca smiled, catching the jibe, but just
turned and looked out toward the ocean.
“Care to talk about it?” Lee asked gently, and watched as Rebecca seemed
to shake herself.
“Not
really,” she said, turning back. “Good
night,” and she went inside. Startled,
Lee could only sit and watch her leave, wondering at the abrupt change. Twenty minutes later, after making sure
everything was set for the night, he followed her upstairs.
* *
* *
The
nightmares hit about 1:30, waking him abruptly.
But Lee was quick to note the difference. Where before he had felt terror and shame,
this night there was only sadness and an acknowledgment of regret that he’d had
no other choice of action. He got up and
walked out to the balcony for a few minutes, but soon lay back down and did not
awaken again until shortly after 6am.
Noting Rebecca’s car was as usual already gone, he showered and shaved
and went down to breakfast a few minutes before 7.
The
morning progressed as so many had. Lee
and Tim good-naturedly badgered each other, both of them aided and abetted by Annie,
and enjoyed amiable conversations with the other guests. This morning’s entrée was thick Belgian
waffles with either strawberries or blueberries, along with whipped cream, for
toppings. Lean Canadian bacon and all
the usuals rounded out the menu. Lee
couldn’t decide between the two waffle toppings and was harassed endlessly by
Tim when he ended up taking some of both.
But he was able to get even when Tim went back for thirds.
There
was one notable exception, however, to the morning’s routine: Rebecca never showed up. 8:30 came and went, all the other guests were
on their way before 9, but still she didn’t come.
“Losing
your touch, Annie,” Tim teased his wife.
“All of a sudden you’ve got guests walking out on your cooking.”
Annie
laughed and took a half-hearted swing at her husband, but turned to Lee. “She did come back last night, didn’t she?”
Lee
assured her that Rebecca had indeed gotten home, but avoided mentioning she’d
seemed not in the best of moods. “She
was almost late yesterday morning,” Lee reminded his hosts. “Maybe I’ll run into her at the beach.”
“If
you do, tell her I’ll make it up to her by fixing lunch.”
“Annie, Annie, Annie,” Lee chuckled. “You know, some people are perfectly capable
of feeding themselves,” and laughed out loud as Annie just harrumphed and
started cleaning up. But Lee, too, was
bothered by the absence, particularly in light of his brief conversation with
Rebecca the previous evening. He checked
the lot carefully for her car as he parked and headed for the beach and was
relieved to see it, although that still didn’t answer the question of where she
was.
Lee
jogged a bit this morning, not so much because he felt the need, but simply to
stretch out unused muscles. The wound
was feeling so much better he could basically forget about it and just enjoy
himself. He kept an eye out for Rebecca
but had just about decided if she was on the beach she’d gone north when,
rounding the last bend before the rocks at the base of Yaquina Head lighthouse,
he saw her sitting with her back against a driftwood log. He started to turn and leave, not wanting to
intrude since she so obviously wanted to be alone, but she looked up and
spotted him.
“I
was rude last night,” she offered with a hesitant smile.
Lee
didn’t answer for a moment, then smiled back and held up thumb and forefinger a
bare inch apart. “A little bit. No more than I’ve been a couple times
lately.” He came over and sat down a few
feet from her, his back against the same log, not saying anything, just looking
out at the sea.
“Life
really sucks sometimes,” she said finally, dejectedly.
“And
your first clue was…?”
Rebecca
turned and sent a murderous glare his way but he just went back to watching the
waves. Nothing was said between them for
several minutes. Lee stretched out and
made himself a little more comfortable.
Finally he heard Rebecca heave a gigantic sigh.
“My
parents were killed in a car crash when I was 16,” Rebecca started
quietly. “They were driving up the coast
toward Tillamook. It was stormy. Thunder and lightning…” She hesitated, apparently expecting Lee to
say something. But he remained quiet,
instinctively knowing this was her story, and needed to be told her way.
“Anyway,
my Dad’s sister lived in Forest Grove, southwest of Portland. There were some cousins back east somewhere
but nobody had ever kept in touch. Aunt
Theresa had never married, didn’t have kids.
We had never hit it off well, but there wasn’t anyone else – I ended up
living with her. It was pretty
bad.” She gave Lee an apologetic little
smile. “I didn’t help much. An only child, doted on, spoiled.” She just shook her head and Lee smiled. “Somehow I made it through high school. Started college that fall more to get out of
my Aunt’s house than with any real idea of what I wanted to do. My folks left enough so I could get an
apartment, didn’t have to stay in the dorm.
Maybe…” and her voice trailed off.
Lee again decided not to press.
Rebecca would tell him what she wanted to, when she wanted to.
It
was several minutes before she continued.
“Not having any direction I mostly took general studies courses and went
to a lot of parties. Met a guy…hell, met
a lot of guys,” and Lee heard her snort.
“Mike seemed different. I fell in
love, or thought I did. He wasn’t a
student, never seemed to have much of a job but always had money. I didn’t care. Let him move in. Six months later, when I was just starting my
junior year, we drove to Las Vegas and got married. For all the wrong reasons…” She hesitated again, then turned a stricken
look on Lee. “No! – not that
reason.” Lee gave her a small grim and
she continued, almost to herself. “Thank
God, not for that reason… Oh Hell!” she
blurted out. “How can one person be so
damn stupid?”
“You’re
asking me?” Lee said softly, sadly, with memories of his own to deal with, then
added, “love is blind?”
“Blind,
deaf, and dumb as an ox!” Rebecca gave the sand a kick. Lee just kept his thoughts to himself. “After two months I figured out I’d been a
dork. Unfortunately I didn’t know what
to do about it. Went over to my best
friend’s house one afternoon to cry on her shoulder. Just as I pulled up and parked across the
street Mike came out of her door, buttoning his shirt.”
“Ouch,”
Lee couldn’t help himself.
Rebecca
gave him a speculative look. “I’m
sorry. I don’t know why I’m dumping on
you.”
“Maybe
because I’m listening.”
“You
don’t mind? It gets worse.”
“Sounds
a little strange coming from the person who sat listening to me blither away.”
“I
think it’s called goading you into talking.”
Lee just smiled and snuggled a bit more comfortably into the sand. Rebecca heaved a long sigh, shaking her head.
“Where
was I? Oh yeah. Connie’s house. Drove home.
My world, or at least the world as I knew it, was once again falling
apart and I didn’t have a clue what to do about it.” She hesitated so long Lee thought she might
have changed her mind about talking it out, but eventually she continued. “I was so frightened. It took me a lot of years to realize that’s
what it was. Not anger, not sadness, not
frustration. Good old, unadulterated
fear! When Mike came home several hours
later I just started screaming.” She
gave Lee an embarrassed grin. “You think
I scared a few seagulls, you should have seen the neighbors – they called the
cops,” and Lee grinned back. “Mike took
off when he heard the siren. To this day
I have no idea what I told the cops who showed up. All I really remember is crying for four days
straight. Then on the 5th day
the cops came back. Detectives this
time. They had a search warrant for the
apartment. Seems somewhere along the
line the original complaint call got put together with a few other reports, and
they were seriously interested in getting their hands on Mike as a suspect in a
long string of burglaries. Very
interested in me, too, since I’d been living with him.” She’d been sitting with her legs drawn up,
arms around her knees, and now laid her head down against her arms. Again she was quiet for several minutes, but
Lee didn’t interrupt. Finally he heard
her mutter again “blind, deaf, dumb as an ox,” and she raised her head
again. “That police report I’ve
seen. I was such a blithering idiot at
that point they hauled me in for questioning and a drug test. And before you ask no, that’s not exactly
legal. Apparently I’d given my
consent. I knew I hadn’t taken anything,
even if that’s about all I knew. I was
never really arrested. One of the women
detectives helping with the case took pity on me and asked if there was anyone
I could call to help since I didn’t seem to be doing too well on my own. I didn’t know what else to do – I called Aunt
Theresa.” Lee saw her smile as she again
paused.
“I
have no idea why I called her. Actually,
I didn’t. The detective did. I was a basket case. Don’t know what I was expecting. Whatever it was, it wasn’t what I got,” and
again she smiled. “This gruff, grumpy,
grouchy, impatient, uncommunicative tyrant blew into the police station like a
tornado, her lawyer in her wake. I got
scooped out of there so fast I didn’t even have time to be surprised. The next thing I knew we were back at her
place. After all the bad times we’d had
when I was living there, all the yelling matches, everything, when I needed her
she was there. She gave me a place to
stay without questions, incriminations, nothing. In fact, we never really talked about
it. Her lawyer showed up a few days
later with all my stuff from the apartment and some papers to sign, and went
with me to make a more intelligent statement to the police. She was just there, you know? Maybe…hell, no maybe about it. I had done some growing up, or was in the
process of it. But I started to look at
Aunt Theresa through different eyes. I
realized that it wasn’t that she didn’t care, she just didn’t verbalize it –
didn’t know how to say what she felt. Or
it came out in ways I hadn’t recognized until then. What I had always taken for aloofness was
simply an inability to express strong emotions.
Gruffness, no way to tell me she loved me,” and again she seemed lost in
her own thoughts for a bit.
“Even
though she couldn’t tell me, Aunt Theresa showed me, in so many ways, how she
felt. She…just took care of things. Took care of me. The lawyer got the marriage annulled. Aunt Theresa set up appointments with a
counselor. Didn’t tell me I had to go,
but let me know there was someone to talk to if I felt like it, let me heal at
my own pace, and took care of everything around me until I did. Didn’t ever say much of anything, just gave
me the time to get my head screwed back on, and supported any decision I chose
to make…” Rebecca’s voice trailed off as
she seemed lost in thought.
“She
sounds like a very special lady,” Lee said into the silence.
“She
was,” Rebecca said finally. “She passed
away 6 weeks ago.”
“Damn,”
Lee muttered to himself, but Rebecca heard him anyway and turned to smile at
him.
“Screamed
that a lot lately,” and Lee also smiled.
“Actually,” she continued, “it was sort of ok. She was diagnosed with cancer about 8 months
ago. She had always hated doctors,” and
grinned at Lee as he cringed. “It was
pretty far along, nothing they could do, and towards the end she was in a lot
of pain. Anyway, because of her I was
able to get myself back on track.
Changed colleges and got my degree.
By then I had a direction and went on to graduate school. Ended up with a job I love, at least most of
the time. Have a great partner – we’re a
good balance for each other in the office.”
She paused and smiled, almost to herself. “You’re not the only one who got told to get
lost for awhile,” and Lee looked at her curiously. “David ‘encouraged’ me to take some time off. Actually, he said,” and she looked at Lee,
“well, never mind what he said. Suffice
it to say I took the hint.”
“He’s
who you called to clear staying longer.”
“He’s
had to cover my workload as well as his own, except for the couple days I was
gone. He didn’t want to call, but that
was my mess to clean up.” She heaved a
long sigh. “And now this…” Lee gave her a curious look. She sighed again and shook her head, lost in
her own thoughts for awhile before repeating almost to herself, “blind, deaf,
dumb as an ox.” She looked at Lee. “The ox returneth,” and Lee just raised his
eyebrows in puzzlement. “Mike,” she
answered, and returned her gaze to the sea before continuing.
“One
of the suggestions the lawyer made when I decided to go back to college was to
change my name as well as school. One,
the police had never been able to find Mike; and two, it just made more of a
break from the past. I started using my
middle name and legally changed my last name to my mother’s maiden name. I hadn’t thought about Mike in years, or if I
did, chalked it up to a miserable but ultimately enlightening learning
experience. Because of him, I ‘found’
Aunt Theresa. When I went back to
Portland last weekend I went through the mail that had been stacking up, the
stuff my secretary didn’t know what to do with.
Mike had somehow, after all these years, found me. The letter was so constructed that the
average person wouldn’t have realized, but I knew what he was up to. He was basically threatening to tell my
partner I’d been a drunk – among other things – anyway, about that time in my
life, unless I paid him off.”
“Blackmail,”
Lee breathed angrily, his fists starting to clench.
Rebecca
noticed. “Chill, Lee. Idle threats.
David’s known all about that since we first started talking about going
into pra… business together. There was a
post office box given as a contact, and David and I sat down and wrote him a
nice note, basically telling him to go to hell, and both signed it.”
“Good
for you.”
“So
we thought, too. David called yesterday
to say there had been another contact – this time Mike called, and since now
the secretaries knew what was going on as well, David took the call. He wouldn’t tell me all that was said, just
that Mike threatened to make my past public, some kind of newspaper ad or
something.”
“But
from what you’ve told me, it’s not all that bad.”
“No,
but he could make it look worse than it was… and there’s a few things I haven’t
told you,” she added apologetically.
“He
could hurt you?”
“David
and I talked about that. Yes, it could
cause some major problems. David called
the police, and also our lawyer.”
“Let
me guess – there’s nothing they can do unless this Mike character does
something and then, if he sticks to the facts, you can’t even get him for
harassment.”
“You
got it. David had the police run his
name, but apparently, wherever he’s been all these years, he’s kept himself out
of trouble. DAMN!!!”
“What
are you going to do?” Lee asked softly.
“Spent
all night down here trying to figure that out.”
They were silent for awhile, until Lee grinned.
“You
could always hold a press conference first, tell the media, whoever, that your
ex-husband is being vindictive and has threatened to expose a less than perfect
youth which you’ve long ago overcome and have no intentions of giving in to his
harassment.”
As Lee
was speaking, a surprised expression appeared on Rebecca’s face, followed by
one of almost unholy glee. “That’s
positively insidious.” She giggled. “And
I love it.” She gave Lee a speculative
look.
He
just shrugged his shoulders. “Too many
years spent hanging around my calm, cool, collected, and slightly warped XO,”
he replied to the unasked question.
“He
sounds a lot like David. I’ve always
been the serious one. David… makes me be
silly once in awhile. Keeps me leveled
off.”
“Chip
to a tee,” Lee agreed. Any reply Rebecca
may have made was interrupted by her stomach making itself heard – loudly! Lee chuckled.
“That’s what you get for missing breakfast,” and glanced at his
watch. “Lunch, too,” he added, noting it
was almost 1:30. “Promised myself I owed
you dinner. How about tonight?”
“You’re
on. Especially since I was so upset
yesterday afternoon I didn’t eat then, either.”
“Breakfast
yesterday was your last meal?” Lee asked and she just nodded shamefully. “You’re almost up to a few of my records,” he
commented, his eyes sparkling, and they rose and headed back up the beach.
* *
* *
It
turned out they didn’t go out to eat after all.
Tim was just getting the barbeque grill going as Lee and Rebecca got
back, and Annie was adamant that she still owed Rebecca a meal. They ended up stuffed with barbequed steak,
potato wedges and corn on the cob, also done on the grill, wilted spinach
salad, and great huge slices of watermelon for dessert that all four sat
outside on the lawn eating with their hands, making a mess and having an
absolutely wonderful time. As guests
returned they were invited to help finish off the watermelon, and everyone
enjoyed a relaxed evening of conversation, storytelling, and laughter. It broke up only gradually, seemingly no one
wanting the evening to end. It was
almost 10:30 before the Deans grudgingly departed for their room, sighting the
need to get at least partially ready to leave in the morning. Ms’ Bender and Danberg followed shortly, with
the Tressaults soon after. Just before
11pm Tim stretched and yawned, setting up a chain reaction in the others, and
everyone headed in. Lee was a bit
surprised that Rebecca had lasted so long after her night on the beach. He had very personal knowledge of just how
great a toll mental anguish took on physical reserves. Walking upstairs together, he smiled to
himself as Rebecca slowed perceptively the last few steps.
“Ok,
ok, rub it in,” she grumbled, turning toward him at the top.
“Yeah,
like I have the right to say anything,” he chuckled, and they said goodnight.
Lee
slept peacefully but woke early, just before 5:30, not sure for a bit why. Then he heard it, a small sound outside his
door. Since in all the time Rebecca had
been here he had yet to hear her leave for her early morning runs he grinned,
rose, and poked his head out the door.
Rebecca was doing some stretches just inside her open bedroom door and
raised her eyebrows. Lee smiled, raised
his hand with fingers outstretched, indicating 5 minutes. Changing quickly into sweats, he met her
outside and drove to the park. Talk was
minimal as both enjoyed the cool air and quiet beach. Grinning, Rebecca let Lee set the pace, a
slow jog for the most part. He teased
her as they turned around about whether she was going to continue on a ways,
but she said she thought she’d give the seagulls a break this morning. There was momentary indecision on Rebecca’s
part when they got back to the B&B just after 8am as Lee automatically
headed for the back door. Annie solved
the problem by opening the screen door and calling to Lee. “Wondered where you got to. Come on in, Rebecca,” and they went through
the kitchen to join those still at breakfast.
Lee
collected a wink from Tim as he and Rebecca filled their plates. Annie appeared from the kitchen with freshly
made apple-stuffed crepes, this day’s entrée, and also gave Lee a teasing
glance. He just shook his head and
smiled. Brad had already left, as well
as the Tressaults who had gotten an early start for Coos Bay, about 150 miles
down the coast, for the day. The Deans
were halfway through breakfast when Lee and Rebecca came in. Talk at the table revolved around everyone’s
plans for the day. The ladies from
Spokane were going to Depot Bay to shop and take a whale-watching cruise. From here, the Deans were driving north to
Seattle. Rebecca it turned out visited
there often and gave them a list of her favorite places. Eventually it was just Lee, Rebecca, and
their hosts left, and Annie took a gentle jab.
“And
what are you up to today, Lee, since you’ve already had your beach time?” Her voice and expression were all innocent,
but Lee still looked at her wearily and gave her a small kick under the table.
“Hadn’t
thought any further than my shower.”
“If
you can manage to stay out of trouble today,” Tim teased, “we’re driving up to
Netarts tomorrow to go crabbing with friends.
We’d love to have you both go along.”
“But
would your friends?” Lee quipped.
“That’s
already been discussed, smarty,” and Annie took a half-hearted swing at him,
then chuckled. “The more the merrier.”
“Actually,”
Rebecca interjected, “I’ve been thinking about going home tomorrow. My partner’s been covering for me long
enough. Not to mention a little
unfinished business he and I need to take care of,” and she gave Lee a look and
a smile.
“Why
don’t you follow us up and spend the day, anyway. We’ll be leaving here about 8am or so. I’ll fix breakfast but Michelle’s coming in
to clean up. Jan and I usually send the
boys out crabbing and we go to Tillamook for the day. A little shopping, lunch at the cheese
factory…”
“Their
freshly made ice cream for dessert,” Tim inserted with a smile.”
“Don’s
idea of crabbing,” Annie countered, “is setting the pots, dropping anchor, and
sitting around drinking beer and BSing until it’s time to pull in the pots.”
“Yeahhhhh,”
Tim breathed and stretched, and everyone laughed.
“Jan
and I have everything else ready by the time the guys get back, along with a
contingency plan in the event they don’t catch anything,” and she grinned. “We’re usually on the road back here by
7-7:30. Taking off from there you’d be
home by 9:00.”
Rebecca
didn’t say anything for a bit. “I was
just remembering the last time I went crabbing…
Yes, I’d love to come. Thank
you.”
“Good.” Annie started to clean up from the meal, and
Lee and Rebecca headed upstairs. They
were both quiet, but at the top Lee turned and asked. “Shower and a little sightseeing? I still haven’t seen much except the beach.”
Rebecca
hesitated so long Lee wasn’t sure she was going to answer. “There’s something I’ve been putting off –
haven’t had the guts. I’ll be back in a
couple hours, then sure.” And she smiled.
“You
don’t want company?” Lee asked quietly.
She
looked at him intently a second, then dropped her eyes. “I… haven’t been to the cemetery since my
parents were buried.” She looked up
again and smiled. “Not usually something
you ask someone else to do with you.”
“So
who asked? I volunteered.”
Again
she looked at him intently. “Then what?”
she asked almost mischievously. “I
thought you hated being a tourist.”
“But
I love the sea. How about the tidal
pools at the lighthouse?”
“Oh.
Ok. But the first piece of seaweed you
throw at me I’m out of there.” They both
laughed and headed for their rooms.
Getting
downstairs ahead of Rebecca Lee mentioned their plans to Annie, who supplied a
lovely selection of flowers from her garden.
Rebecca was silent for most of the drive, merely giving Lee directions. As they parked and walked through the
well-kept cemetery Lee slowed his steps and stopped altogether several yards
away from the double headstone Rebecca was walking toward, allowing her a
measure of privacy. Kneeling by the
graves for several minutes, she finally laid the flowers on the headstone, said
something too quiet for Lee to hear, and rose and walked back toward the
car. Lee joined her as she passed. As he opened the door for her she turned and
looked at him.
“I
suppose you’re wondering why I’ve never been back until now.”
“None
of my business.”
“I’ve
always felt that as long as I held them in my heart, and in my mind, that it
wasn’t necessary to visit the place that held only their shells.”
“So
why now?” Lee asked softly.
“Something
you said.”
“Uh
oh,” and Lee ducked his head, wincing.
Rebecca just laughed.
“No,
Lee, It was a good thing.” He finally
looked at her and she smiled. “The day
of the thunderstorm – now you know why I’ve always hated them – you were
talking about running on empty, and needing to refill yourself from the
well. You made me realize how stupid I’d
always been, blaming storms for the accident, and that I needed to come here
and tell them that, to continue the healing process. I have no idea why it’s taken me so long…”
“Maybe
until now you just weren’t ready,” Lee said quietly. Rebecca gave him a speculative look, then
just shook her head and got into the car.
They
didn’t say much as Lee drove south again to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural
Area. The lighthouse was Oregon’s
tallest, Lee discovered as he and Rebecca toured the 93’ structure that had
opened in 1872. Now fully automated, it
was still a very active aid to navigation.
Below
and just to the south was an old rock quarry that had been turned into man-made
tidal pools. Rebecca said when she’d
first come here as a child the only access was by way of a long flight of
wooden stairs. Now however a series of
concrete pathways made the area navigable by wheelchair. The tide was going out as they meandered down
to the pools, and they spent almost two hours wandering around enjoying all the
plant and animal life with which the pools teamed. There weren’t a lot of people around so when
Rebecca gently touched Lee’s shoulder as he was watching a starfish and said
softly, “We’re being watched,” he was startled, until he looked to where she
was pointing. Fifteen feet away, in the
middle of the pool Lee was standing on the edge of, a sea otter had poked his
head up, just observing. It was hard to
tell who was more interested in watching whom for a bit, until a noisy group of
children coming down the walkway disturbed the otter and his head slipped below
the surface. Lee and Rebecca smiled at
each other, continued their exploration for a bit longer, and eventually headed
back to the B&B. Invited to stay for
dinner the two opted instead to change and go out, ending up eating at a
Chinese restaurant and returning about 8:30.
Annie was visiting with Ms Bender and Danberg, and Rebecca joined them. Annie caught Lee’s eye and pointed down, and
Lee found Tim downstairs in the couple’s apartment watching a baseball
game. The two visited until the end of
the game, about 10:30, then returned upstairs.
The Tressaults had just returned after a long day of antique
shopping. Everyone else had already gone
upstairs and they followed shortly. Lee
helped Tim and Annie clean up, and got to bed just before 11:00.
Because
of the day’s planned activities as well as Rebecca’s eventual departure,
neither went to the beach the next morning.
Even with everything else going on Annie hadn’t scrimped on breakfast
and had made Eggs Florentine in individual ramekins, and no one was hurried to
eat. Michelle arrived about 8:00 and by
8:30 everyone was ready to go, Lee riding with Rebecca, following Tim and
Annie. They arrived at Netarts shortly
before 10am, and after introductions were made to Don and Jan Olden, retired
friends of the Hughes’, the ladies made their plans for the day and the guys
headed for Netarts Bay. As they loaded
Don’s skiff Lee was indoctrinated into the joys of crabbing.
Nine
wire crab pots were transferred from Don’s pickup to the skiff, Tim explaining
that while no license was required, they were allowed only 3 pots per
person. A large cooler was also stowed,
loaded with sandwiches and beer – and also soft drinks, Lee smiled to note – as
well as a bag full of raw chicken backs to use as bate in the crab pots.
By
10:45 they were dropping the bated and buoy-marked pots into the bay, which Don
explained was just about perfect timing.
The best time to crab, he explained, was the hour before and after high
tide, which today was at 11:28am. Lee
had to grin as Annie’s description of Don’s crabbing techniques proved quite
accurate. After the pots were placed Don
motored into a shady cove, dropped anchor, and opened the cooler. During the next two hours Lee learned that
Don was a retired Fire Fighter. He’d
started out with the Department of Natural Resources fighting forest fires,
then got a job with the city of Tillamook.
Lee also learned that Don was an almost unstoppable storyteller. By 2 pm Lee’s stomach muscles were so sore
from laughing he could barely help pull up the crab pots. Everyone pulled on heavy gloves, and as each
pot was brought into the skiff Lee and Tim handled the catch of Dungeness
crabs, determining if each was male or female, the latter being released back
into the bay. Don measured each male to
make sure it was over the legal keeping size of 5 ¾ inches across the back, and
indicated which of two water-filled holding tanks he wanted them dropped into,
dividing them roughly by size. They kept
careful count of how many were in each tank, and as the last several pots were
pulled up some of the smaller crabs were replaced with larger ones until the
limit of 12 apiece was reached, keeping the largest and releasing the rest.
They
returned to the Olden’s house shortly after 3:30. The ladies had already returned and a fire
was started in a brick fire pit. Over
the fire was hung a huge iron pot filled with fresh water and a bit of sea
salt. The men then set to work cleaning
their catch by popping off the backs, breaking the crabs in half, and washing
out the viscera and gill filaments. What
was left was shell and edible meat, and they were tossed momentarily into a
cooler with ice at the bottom. By the
time all the crabs were cleaned the water in the pot was just about boiling and
the ladies started setting out the rest of the meal on a large wooden picnic
table. The water started boiling, the
crabs were dumped in, and 20 minutes later everyone sat down to the meal, which
also included a Greek salad and hunks of crusty French bread. Don continued to regale everyone with his
stories, toned down a bit now that the ladies were present, and not all the
crab shells ended up in the large bowl set in the middle of the table as Jan
started lobbing a few at her husband after a particularly raucous joke, and
others got into the act as well. Lee
managed to ‘accidentally’ pour a glassful of ice down Annie’s back as he got up
to retrieve more crabs. The resulting
scream could have been heard in the next county, followed by “Lee Crane, you
yo-yo!!!” and everyone howled.
About
7 pm Lee noticed Rebecca start to say her goodbyes. It had taken that long to get the Olden’s back
yard policed and put back in order as everyone was so full they could barely
move. Lee walked with her to her car,
not sure how he was going to say what he needed to. Apparently she was having the same problem as
they reached the car still in silence, then both started to speak at the same
time. They chuckled, and Lee acquiesced
to Rebecca. Still she hesitated a
moment.
“I
don’t quite know how to say goodbye,” she finally sighed, looking up at
him. “I can’t remember enjoying a
vacation more – at least the last part of it.”
“Same
here,” Lee answered quietly. “Maybe…”
and he hesitated. “Maybe it’s enough
that for this point in time we were the sounding board that each other needed.
“I
can handle that,” she grinned up at him.
“Thanks for being there.”
“Same
here,” and was embarrassed at his inarticulate response. She seemed to read his thoughts and chuckled,
embarrassing him further.
“Chill,
Lee. Just be the doer I know you are and
give me a hug. If nothing else it will
drive Annie crazy,” and Lee was still laughing as he walked back toward his
friends.
* *
* *
Lee
told Tim and Annie over breakfast Friday that he’d be leaving the next morning.
Good,”
Annie said all businesslike. “While we
were gone yesterday Michelle took 7 requests for reservations – I need your
room,” but spoiled it as she burst out laughing.
“Dumped
by one lady so you’re running back to the other one,” Tim teased as well, and
Lee had to admit he was beginning to miss Seaview. He spent his last full day at the B&B
running errands with Tim, helping him do some repairs around the place, then
taking Tim and Annie out to dinner. He
did most of his packing that evening, then slept soundly. Waking early he took his bags down to the car
before enjoying another of Annie’s incredible breakfasts, this one highlighted
by vegetable omelets stuffed with onion, green pepper, zucchini, and
tomato. After the remaining guests had
left and before Martin was due to start resurfacing the drive, he took his
leave.
“Thanks
for having me,” he said as the three stood by his car, “Especially since I sort of invited myself.”
“Now
that you know the way, don’t be such a stranger,” Tim replied.
“You
got that, Mister?” Annie added adamantly, emphasized by poking Lee hard in the chest,
then giving him a huge hug, which he returned.
“Yes,
gorgeous,” Lee laughed. “I got that,”
and headed home.
EPILOG
Lee
had been back to work almost two weeks and was just taking care of a few last
minute details in the office before Seaview left on her next cruise when the
letter came. His arrival back at the
Institute had brought varied reactions.
Chip had welcomed him back heartily, then dumped all the status reports
on the refit into Lee’s ‘In’ basket, walking away merrily laughing as Lee
glared at him. Doc had sent a memo
scheduling an appointment for the next day.
Lee had kept it faithfully, much to Doc’s surprise, and merely smiled to
himself when Doc verified Lee had gained 7 pounds. Lee had been very nervous, almost dreading
his first encounter with Admiral Nelson, but he’d worried for nothing. Nelson had taken one look at him, harrumphed
and muttered, “it’s about time,” and immediately started talking about
Seaview’s next mission.
The
letter surprised him. It was addressed
to him at the Institute. The return
address on the pre-printed business envelope was Radiwan and Bassett with a
Portland, Oregon address, but neither name meant anything to him. However, to the left side of his address the
envelope had been marked ‘Personal’ and the secretary had simply slit the top,
not disturbing the letter inside.
Puzzled, he’d taken it into his office to read. The letterhead caused an immediate frown to
appear, but as he read the short message it slowly relaxed into a soft smile.
R. Lynn Radiwan, Psy.D
David M. Bassett, Psy.D
Clinical Psychologists
Dear Lee,
Hopefully you’ll
forgive the subterfuge. I was running
from my own problems and hadn’t intended on a working vacation. As it turned out, I’m not sure who helped who
more. David said to tell whoever I spent
the time with, he hasn’t seen me this relaxed in all the time he’s known
me. A simple Thank You doesn’t seem
adequate.
Mike,
cockroach that he is, has crawled back into the woodwork. I suspect he must be wanted by some law
enforcement organization somewhere, because when David and I confronted him
with what we intended to do – and whether or not I’d have had the guts to go
through with it I still don’t know – he immediately turned tail and ran. God that felt good!!! I think that’s one ghost I can finally
exorcise
I know
you don’t get away too often, but if you ever find yourself in the vicinity I
know some great restaurants in the area.
I’d take great comfort in knowing we could remain.
Friends Always
Rebecca (Duval’s my
birth name)
“Friends
would be just fine,” Lee said softly.
“What
was that?” Lee jumped sharply. He hadn’t noticed Chip come in and lean
against the doorframe.
“I
said ‘friends can be a pain’,” Lee growled, then spoiled it by laughing. “What say we get our tails on board
Seaview. I have a feeling she’s anxious
to get out of here.”
“Just
waiting for her Skipper,” Chip agreed, and the two headed for the dock.