Out on the Sound

by R. E. Bradshaw

  “Is this your family tree?” She asked Decky.

  “It’s part of it. Genealogy is a hobby and sort of a side business. The tree on the door represents my father and mother’s first ancestors to settle in the new country, beginning in the 1600’s.”

  Charlie read a few names and dates out loud, adding, “It’s beautiful.” She turned the brass handles and entered the pantry.

  Decky called out to her, “It’s a very southern thing to do.”

  “What is?” came from inside the pantry.

  “To trace your roots. To prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are a true Southerner, who gave up family in the Great War, and have remained true to the cause. It’s even better if you can go back to the revolution. A membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution can go a long way in social standing.”

  Charlie emerged from the pantry with a freezer bag and a package of sourdough bread. “And are you?”

  Decky bowed at the waist, drawling in her best Southern accent, “You have before you a true Southern Belle and a paying dues member of the Dare County D.A.R. By the way, you’re not from one of those families in Indian Territory, who sided with the Yankees? That would definitely throw a wrench in things.”

  “Oh lord, no! My family came from Georgia. Burned out by Sherman. I know, because my daddy carries a deep seeded grudge, handed down through the generations.”

  “Sounds like we would get along. Although Sherman was a brilliant military strategist.”

  “Don’t ever let daddy hear you say that.”

  “I’ll try to remember. Tell me more about your family.”

  “Well, Momma and Daddy have been married for fifty two years. They are both seventy-two. You were right; I am the baby in a family of six boys and four girls. The oldest, Mary is fifty-one, married with three grown children; Bobby is fifty, and has two blond girls in college and his second blond wife; David, forty-nine, married with two boys and three girls; John, forty-seven, also married with four, two and two; Debra, forty-six, Andy, forty-five, Jimmy, forty-four, Joseph, forty-two, and Francine forty-one, all have wonderful marriages and three kids each. Then there’s unmarried, childless, poor old Aunt Charlene, who sticks out like a sore thumb in the family photo album.”

  “Wow! How do you remember all that?”

  “You should try remembering all the kids’ names. And now the kids are having kids.”

  “Do you all get along? With that many people, some personalities must clash.” Decky was enthralled. She had a brother she couldn’t stay in the room with more than ten minutes, and a mother who could make the Pope cry for mercy.

  “Yes, we all get along quite well. I am closest to Francine, Franny we call her. Momma said Franny adopted me like a pet when I was born. She’s always been there for me. She’s the only one in my family I told about being gay. She’s okay with it. She thinks it makes her cool to have a lesbian sister. I think she watches too much Oprah.”

  “I like Dr. Phil myself.”

  Charlie continued to work on lunch while they talked. Decky removed a bottle of white wine from the wine cooler under the island. Charlie brought over two wine glasses from the rack over the sink. Decky poured the wine. Charlie talked and chopped vegetables, taking the glass from Decky’s extended hand without stopping either one.

  To Decky, the whole scene was as it should be. The two of them moved fluidly together, like two people who were very familiar with each other. Anticipating moves and words so frequently, Decky thought it almost dreamlike. The little voice said, “Please, don’t wake up, don’t wake up.”

  “Okay, now all you have to do is watch the shrimp while I take a quick shower.” Charlie was saying, when Decky stopped listening to the voice in her head and rejoined the room. “Where did you go, your mind was somewhere else?”

  “Nowhere. Hey, come here a second before you go.” Decky held out her hand for Charlie to take.

  Charlie hesitated, “I’m coming right back, I swear.”

  “Just come here a second.”

  “Are you going to kiss me? Because I really need a shower and the lunch is almost ready. Like you said I can’t keep my hands off you, and I would truly hate to overcook the shrimp, it being your favorite and all.” She was laying on the Okie accent pretty thick when she batted her long lashes at Decky.

  The bottom of Decky’s stomach hit the floor. Her knees went weak and she knew that if this woman ever batted her eyes at her she could have anything she wanted. She knew that for a fact, like Gettysburg was the key to who had won the war.

  Still Decky proceeded, “I promise to only touch you with two fingers.”

  “Where?” Charlie took a step back and lowered her gaze, one eyebrow questioning.

  Decky laughed, “On the arm.”

  Charlie moved in closer, but not too close. Decky reached out with her forefinger and thumb and promptly pinched Charlie on the arm. To which, Charlie responded by smacking Decky’s hand and jumping backwards.

  Rubbing her arm, Charlie gushed, “What in the hell was that?”

  Decky smiled. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”

  Charlie reached out and pinched Decky on the arm, “You are supposed to pinch yourself.”

  “Ouch,” holding up her bruised ankle, “but I’m already wounded.”

  Charlie pinched her again.

  “Okay, it’s real, it’s real.”

  They started to laugh, exchanged a quick kiss, and then Charlie was off to shower.

  #

  It started to rain after lunch, cooling off considerably. A soft drizzle set in for the afternoon. Rain frogs could be heard singing through the open deck doors. Decky selected her chick music c.d. for the stereo. Bonnie Raitt crooned out, from the hidden acoustic system. She set the window glass surrounding the room to allow the soft gray light from outdoors to filter in through blue frosting. The baseboards emitted a soft blue light upward on the walls.

  Countering the cooling effect of the light from the windows, she added amber glow from the ceiling lights and the reading lamps around the couch. Light from the small fire in the fireplace radiated from the hearth. A touch of rose on the floorboards and the picture was finished. Decky had been a theatrical scenic and lighting designer at one point in her career. The lighting in this house was a source of pride and endless hours of fun. The effect isolated the couch where she and Charlie had spent the bulk of the afternoon, wrapped up in a lightweight down comforter, searching Internet real estate sites on Decky’s laptop.

  A giant plasma screen descended from its hidden compartment in the ceiling in front of the picture window that looked out over the deck and sound. When they found a house that looked promising, Decky would put the image up on the big screen, while Charlie got up and down off the couch to get a closer look.

  “Maybe I should build a house. I sold my house in Louisiana, so money isn’t the issue. What about land? Maybe a waterfront lot, what do you think?”

  “I’ve got plenty of land out here. I could extend the lane and you could build on the next rise over.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t do that. There’s a reason you plopped yourself in the middle of this dense little oasis alone. I wouldn’t want you to give that up and regret it later.”

  “I have a cottage another mile down the main road. It’s on the water. The land floods quite often, but the house is on stilts. It’s small, a vacation house really, nothing special about it. I liked it though, or I wouldn’t have bought it.” Decky couldn’t believe it had taken her this long to think about it.

  “We’ve been looking for hours and you just remembered you had a cottage on the water. Are you trying to sell it?”

  “Well, not until a minute ago, I wasn’t. We use it when guests come in or Zack has a party he thinks I don’t know about.”

  “So you’re not interested in selling it?”

  “Not to just anybody, but I would sell it to you. I really think you should live in it for a while. It will give you time to
look around, buy some land if you want to build, or buy the cottage if you decide to. Like I said, it floods, it can get pretty muddy.”

  Charlie sat down between Decky’s one leg propped up on the couch and the other touching the floor. “Are you trying to tell me I need a four wheel drive to get to it?”

  “No, I just want you to have all the facts.”

  “When can I see it?”

  Decky snuck a hand in the small of Charlie’s back. “I’ll take you tomorrow. Are you busy?”

  “I don’t start teaching summer school for another week, so I’m available all day. I had planned to use this week for house hunting anyway.”

  Decky pushed a button on the remote control and the plasma screen disappeared into the ceiling. She closed the laptop and sat it on the coffee table. “Okay, we’re done with that, now what do you want to do?” She had now begun to rub her hand up Charlie’s shirt.

  “Well, I think I know what you want to do. My God, you’re insatiable,” Charlie said unable to help melting into Decky’s chest.

  The first notes of Allison Krauss’s “When you say nothing at all” came through the speakers. Decky, remote still in hand, turned the volume up. “I want to dance with you.”

  Charlie sat up, “But you’re crippled.”

  “I can lean on you.”

  Charlie stood up and walked to the center of the room. Decky hopped over with one crutch, placing one hand in the small of Charlie’s back. Charlie’s arms went up and around Decky’s neck as she pressed her body in close. They swayed back and forth without moving their feet, as the resonance washed over them. Sometimes looking at each other or exchanging a sweet kiss, but mostly they just held on. The outside world would soon come calling, but for now, it was just the two of them and Decky was in heaven.

  The phone rang just as the song was ending. Decky sighed and reached for the receiver on the table. It was Brenda, checking on Charlie. Charlie took the receiver and walked out onto the deck. Decky guessed she needed some privacy, so she busied herself emptying the last of their second bottle of wine into the glasses. She hobbled into the kitchen to dispose of the empty bottle.

  She was studying the selections in the wine cooler when Charlie sat the phone down at the island. “She knows,” Charlie said matter-of-factly.

  Decky looked up from the cooler. “What does she know? What did you tell her?”

  Charlie headed back to the couch. “I need a drink.”

  “Charlie, tell me what she said.”

  Charlie came back with both glasses and handed one to Decky insisting, “You’re going to need a drink, too.”

  Decky unconsciously took a drink and waited for the rest of the story.

  “I didn’t have to say anything. She said she knew what was going on over here. She said she had never seen two people so attracted to each other and we weren’t fooling anybody. Evidently, after we left the other night, we were quite the talk amongst your friends. She even said some of the locals were a little upset that it took an outsider to finally get you in bed.”

  Decky’s mouth was open, but no sound came out.

  Charlie took a drink and eyed Decky, before she continued, “Brenda insists that we ‘not shut ourselves up in your fortress.’ We are summoned to dinner tomorrow night. I reminded her of your ankle, but she said she had seen you walk on worse, so no excuses.”

  Decky thought about it, then making up her mind she spoke, “Well, I guess it’s settled then. We are a couple and I am out of the closet, ready or not.”

  “Are you ready?” Charlie asked with genuine concern.

  “Well, the hinges are still smoking so I don’t think I can climb back in.”

  “No, I think you have basically burned that closet down.” Charlie added.

  “Okay then, tomorrow night we introduce ourselves to the world.”

  “Not the world, just Brenda and Chip.”

  “You obviously haven’t been to dinner at Brenda’s lately. It’s never just Brenda and Chip.”

  “At least your first trip out will be among a more accepting crowd.”

  “Do you really think it’s going to change things that much?” Decky was rationalizing now, “I’ve been around gay people all my life. I never judged them, or even really thought that much about it. They just were and I wasn’t.”

  “Decky, listen to yourself. You called gay people ‘them.’ You grouped them and by grouping them you set them apart, labeled them different. Now you are one of ‘them.’ You’ll see it’s quite unsettling to be labeled, just because of who you choose to love.”

  “Oh hell, these people around here have thought I was gay for years, so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock to them that I really am. I will tell the truth to those that matter. I don’t think it’s going to be easy, Lord knows, just keeping my mother out of this is challenge enough. Lizzie’s going to have a stroke or worse, if she finds out.”

  “It’s not if she finds out, but when.” Charlie was just being honest.

  “But you said only your sister knew you were gay.” Decky was confused.

  “I said my sister was the only one in my family I told I was gay. The rest of them, well, we just don’t talk about it. It seems to work for them, so I don’t have a problem with it.”

  “So your mom knows, you just don’t talk about it, and that’s okay with you?”

  Charlie finished off her wine before answering, “Momma told me once that you couldn’t find love, it found you and when my love found me, she only wished me many years to enjoy it. I think it was her way of saying she wanted me to be happy. She has made it her policy not to ask questions she really doesn’t want the answer to. So, that’s about as close as we ever got to having ‘the conversation’.”

  “Do you think your mom would adopt me?” Decky flashed her best grin.

  “I think my mother would adore you.”

  “You know, usually when I have a problem, I like to think about it while I’m swimming. I have some of my best ideas underwater.” Decky grabbed another bottle of wine, “I think this might be a three bottle day.” She started toward the elevator.

  Charlie followed with the glasses, protesting only slightly, “You know, I don’t think us in the pool naked is going to help you think.”

  “No, but it might give me some new ideas. Underwater ideas.”

  They mounted the elevator together as Charlie went on, pretending badly to not have noticed the innuendo, “I’m starving again. I need a snack. I can’t remember eating like this, ever. Thank God we’re burning off the calories.”

  “I know what you mean. The fridge behind the bar has cheese, fruit and yogurt, with some Gatorade and other fluids. I got on a health kick after I quit teaching full time. I had always said that only rich people could afford to be healthy, so I had to put up or shut up.”

  “That’s why you built the gym and the lap pool.”

  “No, I built them because I am naturally lazy. I knew if I had to drive somewhere to work-out or run around a track, it wouldn’t happen.” Decky slid the elevator door open. “Now, it’s just part of my daily routine. I spend so much time sitting in front of a computer; I have to exercise. I have a healthy fear of blood clots. I might as well tell you, I’m a bit of a hypochondriac.”

  “You and everyone else. We’re bombarded daily with images from drug companies. I’m afraid they put subliminal messages in them. You know, negative thoughts can cause cancer.” Charlie looked at Decky and burst out laughing. She could tell Decky had never thought about that before.

  “Jesus, Decky, I was just kidding. You really are a hypochondriac.”

  Decky was still thinking about the drug companies controlling her thoughts, while she set about frosting the windows and pouring the wine. Charlie walked to the other side of the bar and began rummaging in the cooler. Decky hopped around the bar and stood behind Charlie. They ate standing in the open cooler door. They didn’t bother with taking the food to the bar. Decky sucked down a large bottle of water. Betw
een the alcohol and the sex, she was dehydrated.

  When their needs for nourishment and hydration had been met, the feeding became more playful and soon they were stuffing fruit in each other’s clothes.

  “No fair, I can’t chase you,” Decky cried as Charlie ran to the other side of the bar.

  “I’ve seen you motor on along when properly motivated,” Charlie said playfully.

  Decky feigned indifference to Charlie’s obvious flirting. “I’ve always said you can’t motivate people. They have to motivate themselves.”

  Charlie stepped back from the bar so that Decky could see her from head to toe. She slowly slid the sweats from her waist and let them fall to the floor. The baseball shirt she was wearing hung down just far enough to make Decky want to see more. Charlie still said nothing when she stepped forward, grabbing Decky’s open bottle of water from the bar. Before Decky knew what was happening, Charlie turned the bottle up and slowly poured it down the white front of her shirt. When she was done, she threw the bottle at Decky.