Butterflies in Heat

by Darwin Porter

  Numie called the Garden of Delights. Joan answered. He handed the receiver to Leonora, his last official duty as her employee.

  At the door, he looked back.

  Leonora was no longer paying attention to him. "My darling," she was saying into her 1920s phone, "I might as well inform you, I've sold the Garden of Delights. From now on, your bosses will be Lola and the commodore's sister. Mainly Lola. Of course, she'll fire you as soon as the papers are signed. That will leave you out in the cold. I should let you starve—or go on welfare. However, I'm dismissing Anne tonight and taking you back as my secretary. You can answer the phone and type, the only talents you ever had. As an actress, you were ludicrous. I'm allowing you to return with me to New York. All your years of treachery, the thousand and one betrayals, I've decided to forgive."

  The bus to the mainland was ready to pullout. Numie was squeezing Anne's hand. Coming out of the station, Castor Q. Combes was zipping up. Trailing him was his calico cat.

  "Just a minute," Numie said, getting up. "Somebody I have to say goodbye to."

  In front of the station, Numie confronted Castor.

  "You again, white boy," Castor said. "Good for me I was out of the toilet this time before you came in to try to molest me."

  "The cat," Numie said. "It's okay?"

  "Of course, it's okay."

  "I thought..." The memory of that early morning ride, the calico fur lifeless at the side of the road, came back. Obviously it hadn't been Castor's cat. Thank God for that.

  The driver called to Numie.

  "I'm leaving, Castor," Numie said. "Take good care of that cat. A cat could get run over, you know."

  "Always trying to interfere in somebody else's business, ain't you?"

  "Not really," Numie said. "And take care of yourself, too."

  "Get on that bus," Castor said. "I ain't got no time to fool with you."

  Numie reached down and petted the cat, who was rubbing against his leg. Then he turned to Castor. "Give me a quick hug, 'cause you're the only friend I'm leaving on this island." He reached out and hugged the boy close.

  For one brief second, Castor almost responded, then broke away. "You get away from me, you pervert," he said. "Come on, cat." He looked back at Numie. "My mama told me never to trust a man with violet eyes."

  Back in his seat, Numie was reaching for Anne again.

  "Who was that?" she asked.

  "Just someone who showed me a little kindness my first day in town," he said.

  The bus screeched into gear.

  Numie looked back only once.

  It was growing dark.

  Castor and his calico cat walked under a crescent sign marking the end of the highway in continental U.S.A. In faded letters, it proclaimed, "The End of the Rainbow."