"Leave him be," said Selma with a sharp glance at Ike. There was something different this year-she could feel it. "Mr. LeJeune, may be best you go on back to the other side."
"It"s all right, Selma," said Ronald in a rather bored tone. "It"s a shame that some people have to spoil things for everyone else." He turned toward Ike as if to deliver a lecture. "And as for you-"
He did not get to finish his sentence because Ike lunged at him, a flash of metal in his fist.
"Ike, no!" Selma screamed.
Ronald roared in pain and surprise, one hand clamped to his cheek. Blood flowed between his fingers. Violet crumpled in a faint, and no one was quick enough to catch her. Two of the men somehow managed to bring Ike down. He thrashed like a rabid dog under their weight, eyes rolling back in his head.
While he was thus restrained, Ronald took the opportunity to land a vicious punch on Ike"s belly. "You worthless piece of s.h.i.t!" He kicked Ike in the face. "I wish my granddaddy had finished the job when he had a chance!"
The men exchanged a glance and released Ike"s arms. He flew at Ronald, swinging. They fell to the sand, Ike on top with his hands around Ronald"s throat. Blood from Ronald"s face stained the sand all around.
The crack of a pistol shot startled everyone, including Ike and Ronald. Dwayne holstered his weapon and stepped over the barrier in one long stride, the visiting policemen close behind.
"Ike," he said, "you gone too far this time. I"m taking you in. Get him to the station. I"ll be along directly."
One of the cops pulled Ike"s hands behind his back and snapped on the handcuffs.
"Oh, Ronnie!" cried Cynthia, dropping to her knees beside him. She tried to mop the blood with the hem of her dress. "Someone help my husband!"
Sand caked a long gash in Ronald"s cheek. Doc Williams came running with his medical bag.
"That lunatic belongs in jail!" yelled Ronald, blood spraying with every word. "I want him put away for good!"
"Keep quiet, Ronald," said Doc. "This is a bad cut." He stood up and wiped his hands. "I need to get him back to my office, going to require st.i.tches." He helped Ronald to stand. The man"s skin had gone gray, and he shivered in the heat. "Help me get him to the car." The men who had restrained Ike half carried, half dragged Ronald back toward the road, with Doc and Cynthia behind.
"Excitement"s over, folks," said Dwayne. "Go back to your party. Cyril, get those fireworks going."
Someone started the gramophone. The music wafted over to Selma on the breeze, a jaunty tune she could not place. "You heard the man," she said. "Y"all go have fun." Flies settled on the mound of pork, undisturbed in its lake of sauce.
On the other side of the barrier, the sound of Selma"s scream almost came as a relief to Hilda. She had been standing next to Nelson with a smile so fixed it might have been stapled to her face, slowly sinking into the sand and despair. A mosquito stung her neck, but she did not bother to swat it. Her body was already covered in red bites, which would bloom into big welts by the morning. She could not understand why Florida had ever been settled, as everything in the cursed state seemed designed to make her uncomfortable. Everywhere she turned, peril lay in wait, creatures determined to bite, sting, or poison. The very land itself was infested with gra.s.ses that cut her tender flesh, innocuous vines that caused painful rashes. The sun was evil, its scorching rays constantly attacking her smooth complexion. The insects nearly drove her insane.
Hilda had downed three mint juleps in quick succession, thinking they would dull the pain of the evening, but they had somehow intensified it. No one spoke to her, so she cast herself adrift from the flow of conversation around her. Everything was magnified and slowed down, so her senses registered each excruciating detail: Dolores"s secret smile, the way her hand brushed Nelson"s arm oh so casually. The others hung off him like wasps on a peach and he loved it. She could tell, from his half-closed eyes, his lazy grin. Each glance, each touch revealed more of the truth. It cut like a shard of gla.s.s being slowly pushed into her flesh. These women, they had once been her friends. Now she understood. It was suddenly clear to her: they were all in on it. Every one of them. Where did they do it? Clearly not in her house, since she had barely left it since Nathan was born. And then she realized. Of course: the Caddy. It had worked for him before.
Selma"s scream brought everyone rushing over to the barrier to get a good view of the fight. Hilda had the chance to observe them all, as if from an airplane high above. The women, with their cute, tennis-honed figures, their manicured nails, their lacquered lips... How could she blame him? She had done nothing but stay home and get fat. Was it any wonder he sought satisfaction elsewhere? She went to fill a plate with Key lime pie while they were otherwise occupied. On the way, she picked up another mint julep.
The excitement of the fight over, the crowd dispersed toward the water for fireworks of another kind. Cyril sank the final rocket into the sand at the surf line, pointing out to sea. Zeke stood by, offering encouragement-or at least what sounded like encouragement. "Good!" he cried, bouncing with excitement, Poncho struggling to retain his grip on Zeke"s shoulder. "Throw everything you got at him! That"ll show the c.o.c.ksucker!" There were giggles from the small spectators. "Get going," he implored Cyril. "Blast it out of the sky!"
The sunset had been stunningly beautiful that evening, as if the cosmos was determined to outdo any display of spectacle planned by the humans. The horizon still glowed with embers of gold, orange, and crimson, but the sky had darkened enough for a few stars to show through. Torches had been lit, their flames buffeted by the breeze, casting jerky shadows across the beach. Spectators, white and black, gathered at the ocean.
"Stand back, everyone!" called Cyril, the long match clamped in his claw. The crowd went quiet in antic.i.p.ation, faces turned toward the sky. He touched the match to the fuse of the first rocket. It charred the end of the fuse and went out with a quiet phut.
There was a collective groan of disappointment. This happened every year, as Cyril bought the fireworks cheap to make the budget go farther. This year had been especially hard, with the budget cut almost to nothing.
"Ain"t you got a flamethrower, Cyril?" came a voice from the crowd.
"Maybe Doc Williams can install one for you!" cackled another.
Cyril struck another match on his claw, hurrying to get the flame to the fuse in the stiff breeze. The fuse fizzled with a disappointing sssss. And again. Same result. In frustration, he tried every fuse, to no avail. "Sorry, folks, must have got damp." He rose off his knees. "Or those crooks up in Brooksville sold me a load of duds. Sorry." He put the matches away but left the rockets where they were.
People shuffled back up the beach. Zeke growled his unhappiness. Poncho let out a quiet, disappointed, "Caw."
Deprived of the promised spectacle, the crowd seemed caught in a state of suspended antic.i.p.ation. It was too early to go home, but the engine of the party had stalled. People freshened their drinks, scolded their children, and cast dismayed glances at the line of impotent rockets by the sea"s edge.
Then came, from the road, a noise that at first sounded like loud rushing water. It resolved itself as it came closer into the sound of booted feet, marching in formation, crunching over the oyster-sh.e.l.l path to the beach. The veterans appeared from around the bend in the road, Henry at the lead. They came smartly to a halt with a stamp of feet where the path met the sand.
Henry surveyed the scene with a soldier"s eye. On the colored side, people seemed to be spooked by something, and there were tearful women being comforted. There was also a great mound of fly-covered meat. Selma looked both tired and angry. Missy, barefoot in a pretty yellow dress, waited alone at the water. On the white side of the beach, there were long drag marks in the sand, coming from the colored side, spotted with what looked like blood. And at the water, a line of unattended, unfired rockets. "Good evening, everyone," he said in his best officer voice. "Looks like we missed quite a party."
Chapter 8.
Hilda observed the veterans" arrival with little interest. Her feet hurt. Nelson was clearly in no hurry to go home. There was sand in her hair and in her teeth. G.o.d only knew how it got there. Nelson whispered in Dolores"s ear, his mouth up close to her glossy black hair. They looked like two thoroughbred horses together. Dolores flung her head back to laugh, exposing the strong lines of her throat. Hilda pictured them in the back of the Caddy, Dolores"s toned legs wrapped around him, his hands at her narrow waist, his mouth on hers. The pain was overwhelming, like she was drowning in it.
Her eyes rested on the veterans" leader, the one with the big scar on his neck. He was clearly in command, carried himself straight and tall and the others followed. Hilda recognized him. She struggled to focus. Harold? Horace? No...Henry. Selma"s brother, been away a long time, back now with the veterans to build that bridge. He had done some work at the house to make extra money, repairing one of the hurricane shutters. A good-looking man, or he would be, she thought, if he got some decent food in him. An idea began to crystallize.
Henry stooped to kiss his sister"s cheek. The atmosphere hummed with electric tension, like there was a great big generator buried in the sand beneath their feet. "Jesus, Selma, what"s been going on here?" he asked as he looked around.
"A black jacka.s.s attacked a white jacka.s.s. Same as every year, but then you wouldn"t know about that, would you?" Before he could reply, she said, "Henry, your boys better not make no trouble. We had our fill for one night, I can tell you."
"Don"t you worry about my boys," he said with a sideways glance at the men. Sonny twirled a pet.i.te, giggly woman to the music on the gramophone. Franklin was in conversation with a pretty girl too, showing her some of his driftwood carvings. Everyone was behaving like civilized people. So far. "They just here to have a good time. Any food left?" He patted his flat stomach. "I"m starvin"."
She regarded him through narrowed, tired eyes. "Henry Roberts, what the h.e.l.l"s wrong with you?"
"What you mean, Sister?"
Selma gestured toward the figure of Missy, down by the surf. Her dress glowed against the dark blue of the water, which was streaked with the orange and red fragments of the sunset.
She looked so pretty. Had he been anywhere else, had she been anyone else, he most certainly would have been intending some private time with her. He could feel her waiting but did not want to disturb the picture she made.
"I don"t know, Selma," he said, suddenly at a loss. Unused to polite company, after so long on the road, he had forgotten how to be with people. Everything felt temporary, like it could all be washed away by the next wave. His former friends and neighbors studied him with guarded smiles. Their curious stares tingled on his back. "I don"t think it"s a good-"
Selma planted her feet, folded her arms, and leaned very close. Her breath, scented slightly with beer, was hot in his face. "You listen to me now. I put up with you comin" back here after so long, with barely a word for me or your mama, the good Lord rest her soul. I put up with you livin" out at the camp, showin" you care more for those...men"-she fairly spat the word-"than for your own people. But I will not"-she leaned even closer, her finger pushed into his chest-"I repeat, not put up with you breakin" that girl"s heart for a second time." Her voice went quiet. "You read me, Henry?"
"Now, Sunny, you just-"
"Don"t call me that. I ain"t in the mood."
"All right, Selma." He looked again at the figure in the yellow dress. "The whole truth is I ain"t the person she remembers." He recalled that little girl, who believed him capable of anything, who trusted him completely. The way she used to look at him, like he was some kind of hero because he knew stuff and could read stories...it made him believe too. All that was gone, everything she knew of him, burned away at a shantytown in Washington. He had nothing to offer someone like her. "You don"t realize how I"ve changed-"
"We all changed, Henry!" Selma"s nostrils flared, her hands spread wide, taking in the whole beach, Missy included. "S"what eighteen years will do to a body. She been waitin", all that time. For you. Now go on, say whatever you got to say. But be a man. It time you take responsibility for what you done."
When Dwayne returned to the beach, having settled Ike in his cell for the night, he was greeted by an unexpected scene. A group of veterans chatted amiably with the townspeople. Everyone had a beer in hand, but no one was obviously drunk. A big guy with a goofy grin was doing a shambling shuffle. Even the rather scary one with the eye patch seemed to be getting on well with Violet. Some of the white folks had drifted over to get a better look at them. Maybe Doc was right, and it will be okay after all.
Something akin to disappointment settled over him. A good fight would be a welcome distraction from the words overheard earlier, which had twined around his brain like a strangler fig: baby Roy"s daddy...Henry, Henry Roberts. They slithered through his consciousness to the point where he could barely wrest his thoughts away. Could that be the answer? After so long, wondering, torturing himself and Noreen, was the answer as simple as that?
He forced himself to focus on what he could be sure of: Mabel was the worst kind of fool and an inveterate gossip. She slavered over a hot rumor the way he did a sirloin steak. Yet he also knew that, in small towns, this was exactly how news got around. It was often just a kernel of truth, wrapped in layers of speculation and even pure fantasy.
He jabbed the toe of his boot into the sand, hands sunk deep into his pockets. The timing of Roberts"s arrival at the camp fit. Everyone knew the colored soldiers got a taste for white women overseas. And he was well aware of Roberts"s reputation for causing trouble with his ideas. In every way, Roberts was the kind of man who could do such a thing.
The sand spilled over his boot. Millions of grains of it, in only a few inches of s.p.a.ce. Was there even the tiniest grain of truth in what Mabel said? He had to find out.
His eyes were drawn to the other side of the beach, where Roberts was deep in conversation with his sister. The man clearly thought a lot of himself, just from the way he was standing, back straight, shoulders square. Like he was in charge of something. Dwayne could not help himself, despite all the rational arguments against it. He studied Henry"s face, looking for the resemblance. The longer he looked, the more uncertain he felt. There were things that reminded him of Roy in the shape of Henry"s face, the tilt of his head. But nothing definitive, nothing that would serve as conclusive proof.
More confused than ever, he was about to turn away, determined to master the turmoil in his head, when he saw something that fixed him to the spot. Henry and Selma were arguing. From their posture, Dwayne could tell it was about something important. Then Selma"s lips formed the words that made up his mind. She said to Henry, "Now go on, say whatever you got to say. But be a man. It time you take responsibility for what you done."
Hilda watched and waited for Henry to finish talking with his sister. When he set off down the beach, she saw her chance and rushed around to meet him. She hugged him with a cheery, "Welcome home, Henry!"
With deliberate care, he removed her hands and stepped away. "Evenin", Missus Kincaid."
"Call me Hilda, silly!" She gave him a playful slap.
"Now, Hilda, I mean Missus Kincaid-"
"Dance with me, Henry, c"mon." And she began to shuffle around him in a stumbling approximation of the beat coming from the gramophone. She tried to put his arms around her but he held her away stiffly, his smile taut. She was acutely aware that everyone had stopped to watch the display.
The shocked stares on both sides of the barrier fueled her determination. Now she had their attention. Now they would see. She was not someone to be mocked and ignored. After all, she had been Miss Palmetto. Two years running. "No one else will dance with me," she said, loud enough for Nelson to hear. "Not even my own husband." She switched to a stage whisper. ""Cause he likes those other girls better."
Nelson flung his cigarette aside, separated himself from the group, and strode toward her. He took Hilda by the arm and began to drag her back across the barrier. His fingers dug painfully into the soft flesh of her arm. She caught Henry"s eye.
Henry said mildly, "Hey, you don"t need to hurt the lady."
"You," growled Nelson, "keep your hands off her. And keep off our property." To the crowd, he said, "Pay no mind. My wife"s not used to being in public." Quietly to her, he said, "You"re embarra.s.sing yourself. Quit it."
"Oh, pardon me," she said as she jerked free. "I meant to embarra.s.s you."
They stood there, glaring at each other, breathing hard. Nelson broke away. "Fine," he said and turned to go. "Do what you want."
"I want," she said with a tremor of the lips, "to go home."
"Feel free," he said over his shoulder.
"When...when will you be back?"
"When I d.a.m.n well choose to, woman," he said and returned to the group on the other side. One of the men patted his back. Dolores just shrugged at Hilda and sent her a look that said "game, set, match."
Hilda looked around at the faces, black and white. She saw sadness and disgust there, compa.s.sion and disapproval. Her pretty sandals were stained and stretched. Her dress was awry, caught in the sweaty folds of her stomach. Damp hair stuck to her forehead. There was only one thing left to do. With a last look at Nelson, she began walking toward the road and home.
Down at the water, Missy affected an air of cool at Henry"s approach, just like in her daydreams. She thought of the last time she had seen him before he left, in his uniform with his duffel bag, waiting for the train that would take him somewhere she could not imagine. He had shown her the place on the map: Iowa. It was a funny shape, surrounded by other funny shapes, several shapes away from the fingerlike projection she knew to be Florida. She had hopscotched her fingers across the map. It didn"t look very far away. She and Mama could go visit him. They could bring him some of Mama"s corn bread, which he loved so much. He had said there was no ocean in Iowa. She had frowned at this. "That crazy talk," she had said. "Crazy" had been her favorite word at the time. "How the people go fishing?"
"No fishing," he had said. "They eat other stuff, Missy. Cows, mostly."
To which she had responded with a disbelieving huff. No one ate cows, she thought, else where would the milk come from?
"I"m gonna be an officer," he had said. "You know what that is?"
From the weight of the word in his voice, she had known it was important. "Means you the boss?"
He had laughed at that, head thrown back. "The day a black man is the boss won"t come in my lifetime, but yes, I will be in charge of some stuff."
"Like story reading?" There could be no job more important than that, she had thought.
"Like story reading. Officer in charge of story reading, reporting for duty, ma"am." He had saluted and placed his cap on her head, where it dropped over her eyes.
She looked out from under it. "Who gonna be in charge of story reading here till you come back?"
"That you, Missy," he had said and retrieved his cap. "That you."
He had looked so strange that day, so grown-up, his uniform beautifully pressed by his mother, Grace. She stood close by, her hands shaking with the effort not to cry, flanked by Selma and Mama. Mama whispered something in Grace"s ear. Henry sweated in the heat, unwilling to loosen his tie or roll up his sleeves as some of the others had done.
The train had lumbered to a stop in a blast of steam and a shriek of brakes. Day-trippers and returning shoppers filed off with curious glances at the black man in uniform.
Henry bent down until their eyes were level. "You be good, Missy, and mind your mama." She flung her arms around his neck.
"Come away now, Missy," Mama had said with a hand on her shoulder. "Time for Henry to go."
Grace had gripped him to her, bunching the uniform in her fists. Gently he separated himself, flung the duffel over his shoulder, and boarded the train. Just as it pulled away, Missy had run after it and yelled, "When you comin" back?"
The wind had whisked his words away, but it sounded like he said "summertime." Well, she had thought, left alone at the platform, waving until the train shrank to a black speck that got swallowed by the sky, that"s not long. Already been my birthday, which comes in April. Already plenty hot. Summertime not far away. Won"t be long.
Eighteen years. Eighteen summertimes later, and here he was, at last.
She had waited. Grace and Selma had waited. Mama had waited. When the war had ended in 1918 and Doc Williams and the others came back, Grace had fainted right there on the same platform when Henry was not among them. There was no explanation, no dreaded official telegram from the army. They knew he had left France at the end of the war. Sporadic postcards had come from Texas, California, Washington State, enough to confirm he was alive but little else. The years pa.s.sed. Grace died, like she had been holding on to something and one day just decided to let go. Selma blamed him for that, Missy knew, and a reckoning would take place, at a time of Selma"s choosing. But for now, she was just so glad to have him back...
In the meantime, there had been suitors for Missy, the few not put off by her reputation for being headstrong. After all, she was a hard worker, had learned her cooking from Mama, whose food was famed over the whole county, and she had a good, steady job. Her rounded, st.u.r.dy build, inherited from Billy, was suited to heavy lifting, and her ample hips, swaying beneath her white uniform, had prompted more than one hopeful local fella to ask her for a stroll on the moonlit beach. But after a few such outings, which always ended in sandy wrestling matches, she had declined the propositions of Heron Key"s young men.
And then, finally, the moment arrived, the one she had waited for all that time. He stood there, just a few feet away, hands in his pockets. "h.e.l.lo, Henry," she said. "Nice to see you."
He had a rather sheepish, tentative look, and she wondered what Selma had said to him. Probably told him what would happen if his boys acted up tonight.
"h.e.l.lo, Missy. You look very pretty."
She felt his eyes on her. For so long, she had dreamed of him being there, right where he stood, looking at her like that, on a beautiful night like this. Only now did she realize she had absolutely no idea what to do or what to say to him. "Oh, this old thing..." She laughed self-consciously, thought of all the high-toned fancy women he must have known, and felt very, very foolish. Was it true that even the white women in France went with the soldiers? An image of Henry in a creamy-limbed embrace sidled into her thoughts.
"Let"s walk," he said and took off his boots. He kept his eyes on the surf curling white around their toes.
They strolled to the end of the beach where the fishing boats were pulled up on the sand, washed by the waves and the warm light from the torches.
"Is Missus Kincaid always like that?" he asked.