Out on the Sound

by R. E. Bradshaw

  “I think Dixie is upset she missed all the action,” Charlie said hopping down from the last stair.

  “I think she thrives on Lizzie’s tirades. She seems so happy afterward.” Decky rubbed Dixie’s head, “Thought it better to let you sit this one out, princess. I’ll tell you all the details later.”

  Dixie accepted the proposal and moved on over to her food bowl to top off for the evening. Decky and Charlie made coffee, decaf. They didn’t need the caffeine. The buzz from the excitement was enough to keep them awake talking into the night. Decky made Charlie promise to stay with her for a while.

  “Won’t that just make your mother more angry?”

  “Lizzie is as angry as she can get, I think. I would feel better if you were here with me at night. When you’re at the U, you’ll have to watch your back. She’s not above coming to visit you at your office.”

  “To my office? Are you kidding me? If she’s worried about what people think, why on earth would she come to my office?” Charlie’s eyes were getting wider as she spoke.

  “Lizzie’s brain doesn’t work like that. Right now, you are the prey. She is a focused hunter. She will not rest until she meets you face to face. When she can’t get to you at home, she will go there.”

  “If she comes to my office, I will refuse to have that conversation there. She can’t cause a commotion if I don’t let her draw me into one. I will appeal to her southern manners to keep this a private matter.”

  Decky laughed. “You are using reason. That will not work. Lizzie gets tunnel vision. She will stalk her prey and attack as soon as it is in her sights. She won’t care who’s listening, because in her mind everybody is on her side anyway.”

  “What exactly do you suggest I do?”

  “Vary your schedule. Take different routes to and from classes. Make office hours by appointment only. It’s summer, everybody does it.” Decky was serious, but she grinned to try and make this easier for Charlie to deal with.

  “How have you lived your life like this? I mean I know I come from Ozzie and Harriet land, but this is way off the charts of dysfunctional families.”

  “I learned to adapt the stories I told her, to disguise the real truth. Not lying, per se, just filtering. Like with Trey, she didn’t need to know the truth. She would have set about ruining his life. I didn’t want that to happen.”

  “And you couldn’t have hidden us away from her, is that what you’re saying?”

  “Not after I just slugged your ex-girlfriend in front of half the county.”

  They both laughed.

  “Okay, but what if she corners me in my office?” Charlie asked when the laughter subsided.

  “Walk as quickly to your car as possible. It will minimize the damage. Get in the car and come straight home. Don’t speed, but don’t stop if she follows you. Call me on the cell phone. I will call R.C. to intercept her. She drives like a bat out of hell, so be careful.”

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?” Charlie looked slightly amused, but more worried. “What do I do if she starts shooting?”

  “R.C. is locking up all the guns. He’ll call around to the local shops and alert the clerks not to sell Lizzie another one. He has a little routine he does when she gets like this. Sort of blocking avenues of destruction she may take. He’s been doing this a long time. He’s gotten very good. Learned from his mistakes. He should have never shown Lizzie how to hot-wire a car. He learned that the hard way.”

  Charlie yawned, “How have you turned out so well? I mean from what I can tell you’re pretty sane.”

  Decky took the cue and stood up stretching, “Survival instincts I guess and the Boy Scout code.”

  Charlie held Decky’s hand, as Decky turned off the lights downstairs. She stopped Decky in the dark.

  “Always be prepared.”

  Decky nodded her head, “Yep, why do you think I put on the boot.”

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning, Charlie drove Decky’s car to the cottage, grabbed as many clothes as she could, her materials for school, and headed to campus. Decky had decided her car would be safer, since Lizzie would be focused on the BMW, and a couple of other Lexus that looked like Decky’s were on campus.

  Once Decky was alone, she called Brenda. The grapevine was in full bloom and had already gotten the news of Lizzie’s little shoot ‘em up. The twins, though loyal, had a mother that was thrilled to pass on every move Decky made to anyone who listened. She was one of Lizzie’s primary sources.

  Brenda was laughing hysterically on the other end of the phone, while Decky relayed her version of what had happened.

  “It isn’t funny, Brenda. She could have killed one or both of us.”

  “Oh, I’m not laughing at what she did. I’m laughing at how different the story is than what’s going around.”

  “What, what did you hear?” Decky knew this would be entertaining.

  “I heard she shot out everyone of those expensive windows of yours, while you, on crutches, and R.C. chased her around the yard. You didn’t get control of her until she tried to reload.” Brenda was cackling so hard, Decky had to wait to answer.

  “Jesus, people need to get lives of their own,” Decky finally said. “I’m starring in my own soap opera, ‘Days of Decky’s Life’.”

  Brenda’s laughter finally subsided enough to say, “It really is fun to watch Lizzie go off. I mean it’s funny for those of us that don’t have to participate, this time.”

  “Oh, you just wait. She hasn’t gotten around to you yet. Remember you are the one that recommended Charlie for the job. Your time will come.”

  Brenda stopped laughing. “I guess the dinner plans have been cancelled.”

  The two women laughed and promised to get together again soon. Decky called the twins to put plywood over the window her mother had shattered. She then called the manufacturer to order a replacement. Feeling much more comfortable in the boot, she went to the dock after her work out. She made sure to take her cell phone with her in case Charlie called. As she passed the spot where the eel had come to rest, she laughed out loud, as the whole thing played out in her mind again. It was funnier every time she thought about it.

  Decky spent the rest of the morning cleaning the Whaler. Dixie took the hose and sprayed Decky with it, which started a fight for the hose, that ended with the two soaked from head to tail. After the boat was clean and gassed up again, she stored it in the boathouse.

  Decky decided to take Charlie for a ride in the Hunter day-sailor, when she got home from work. She would go up to the house and pack a basket with wine and cheese, some grapes and bread, with oil and balsa vinegar dip. She loved making baskets to take on the boat. It was a thing she did with pride. Probably the only Martha Stewart type thing she did, but she did like Martha’s eye for detail.

  She was thinking about what to put in the basket and whether she needed to go to the store for more supplies, when she heard the boat approaching. She was in the process of paddling the sailboat out of the boathouse. Alan Jr. was pulling up, by the time she was able to tie up the sailboat to the dock. He didn’t come all the way in and tie up as usual. He idled off the end of the dock and stared at Decky.

  “Hey Alan Jr., you been out fishing?” Decky could see rods sticking out the back of the boat. Alan Jr. was known to take a day off and go fishing for that prize bass on a regular basis. He was known for his abilities as a guide. Decky had encouraged him to start a guide business. He didn’t need to die old and poor on a farm, but he didn’t listen. He said his father, grandfather and great grandfather had farmed that piece of land and he intended to do the same.

  “No, I wasn’t fishing, just driving around thinking. I hear Lizzie took a shot at you. What’d you do this time?” He was still looking at Decky with an unfamiliar glare. It was unsettling, but this was Alan Jr. She’d been a good friend to him and he had been there when she needed him.

  “Lizzie did not take a shot at me. She only shot out one of the windows in the hou
se. People will make up the damnedest stories.” Decky tried to evade the question of why her mother had shot at the house.

  “You must have really done something this time. I’ve heard a rumor, but I don’t think it’s true.” Alan Jr. was finally getting around to it.

  Decky prepared for the inevitable, “Exactly what rumor are you referring to. There are so many people who seem concerned about what goes on in my life, I’m sure it will be entertaining.”

  “I heard you’d gone and got yourself a girlfriend. Wouldn’t be that woman I saw you with the other night? The one that’s moved into your cottage?”

  Decky was offended by his stare and his tone. “Well, Lizzie’s got nothing on you. You seem to have quite a bit of information yourself. Are you asking me as a friend or are you here to get more information for the Decky Bradshaw rumor hotline?”

  “I want to hear it from you. I want to know if what they’re saying is true. Are you fucking a woman now?”

  He was angry. She could see it. It wasn’t pretty. She knew he cared about her, maybe too much, but what she saw now was a twisted face of, what was it, hate?

  “I respect you enough not to lie to you. I hope you will respect me enough to accept the answer. Yes, I am having a relationship with a woman.”

  “Just like that, you go gay. Have you been gay all this time? Were you trying to make a fool out of me, Decky?” He was screaming at her now.

  “Alan, this has nothing to do with you. We are just friends. That’s all we were ever going to be.” Decky could not understand why he was so angry. She had made it quite clear to him that she was not in any way interested in a romantic relationship.

  Alan Jr. slammed the boat into drive and sped away. Charlie had said people would act differently. Decky could accept that, but she was shocked at how her relationship seemed to be affecting them in such a personal manner. It didn’t have anything to do with anybody other than Decky and Charlie, as far as she was concerned. She was still Decky, the same person she had always been, maybe even better.

  Now she was in love. She was happy. Why couldn’t they just be happy that she had finally found someone to love and love her back? How in the hell did Alan Jr., her mother, or anyone else think they had a right to judge her? Alan Jr. felt like a fool because he loved Decky. He would have thought no different if it was a man Decky fell in love with. Only for some reason he appeared to think this somehow reflected on his manhood.

  “That is absolutely ridiculous,” Decky said out loud to Dixie, as the two of them headed to the house for lunch. Decky tried not to think about the incidents with her mother and Alan, Jr. Not thinking about it did not work. She went to her thinking place and swam until the visions of Lizzie with the gun and Alan’s angry face moved to an appropriate spot, in the back of her mind. The rest of the swim was devoted to the plan for the sailboat ride. Maybe she should hide the gun on the boat, before Charlie got there. Decky was beginning to see that whatever reaction people had to lesbians, it was very unpredictable.

  “Be prepared,” she said to Dixie, when she got out of the lap pool.

  #

  Decky waited anxiously from the moment she had expected Charlie, until she finally pulled up. Decky didn’t wait for her to come in. She met Charlie at the car.

  “How was your first day?” Decky hoped all had gone well.

  “No sightings of Lizzie.” Charlie grabbed an armload of things out of the trunk.

  Decky breathed a sigh of relief. “So, it went okay then?”

  “Yes, my classes are full. Evidently the news hasn’t hit the student body yet and the faculty members I did see, if they knew, were polite enough not to let me know they did.”

  “Great! Are you ready to play then?” Decky was excited to have Charlie back home. It thrilled her that Charlie’s day had gone well. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

  “I have to get this stuff inside. I figured if Miss Kitty and I were living here, we would need a few things.”

  “I’ll help you, then you are going on a sail boat ride with a former sailing instructor.”

  “Another hidden talent. My but you do have varied taste.”

  “Varied taste. You know, since I’ve been gay, everything has two meanings. I think about things differently. I find humor in ordinary words. Varied taste. That just about says it all doesn’t it?”

  Charlie laughed at Decky calling over her shoulder, as she ascended the steps, “That has nothing to do with being gay, you are just horny.”

  The car unpacked and Charlie’s things stowed away, Decky led Charlie down to the sailboat. She explained what all the parts were and what they did as she prepared to launch the boat. Decky raised the mast and set the sails. Charlie loved it from the moment the wind caught the sails.

  Decky showed Charlie how to steer the boat and watched at her childlike joy, when she completed her first change of direction. Charlie had just avoided getting smacked in the head by the sail as it swung past her. She was so delighted with the whole process that Decky relaxed and let Charlie wind her way back and forth along the sound. She gave suggestions now and again, but allowed Charlie to fall in love with sailing, as Decky had done as a child.

  After about an hour, Charlie turned the boat into the wind. They dropped the sail and drifted for a while. Decky opened the picnic basket producing a silk tablecloth. She took out the wine and cheese, added the Greek bread and vinegar and oil dip along with the grapes. They floated along, eating while they talked about Charlie’s day.

  “So, I think I’m going to be happy here. I was worried after being in one place for so long, but I think the move has been good for me. I am more energized. I remembered why I loved to teach.” Charlie said this between bites of cheese.

  “I’m glad you’re happy.” Decky was glad she was happy. She would do everything in her power to keep Charlie happy forever. It made her feel so complete inside to be here with her, laughing, enjoying the sheer joy of each other’s company.

  “Oh, by the way, this morning when I was leaving I saw this truck parked out on the road near the entrance to your driveway. There was no one in it. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but when I came home, it was still there. Only it had moved to the other side of the road and there was a guy sitting in it this time.”

  Decky tried not to let her voice show any concern, “What color was it?”

  “Bright red. That’s why I noticed it in the first place. It’s really red.”

  “That’s just Alan Jr. He keeps a boat at one of the docks down the other lane.” Decky didn’t want to tell Charlie about earlier, but she would have to. No lies of omission, remember.

  “I didn’t get a good look at him the other night on the boat. I didn’t recognize him.”

  “He stopped by today while I was getting the sailboat ready. He had heard about us of course. He wasn’t very happy.”

  Charlie was interested, “What did he say?”

  Decky explained how Alan Jr. had somehow decided this was a blow to his manhood. “He actually said I had made a fool out of him.”

  Charlie looked concerned for Alan Jr., “Do you think he’ll be all right? Did you break his heart?”

  Decky thought about it. “I never gave him one reason to think there was a chance for the two of us to have more than a friendly relationship. If he’s hurt, he’s suffering under some false hope of his own making and of course a completely blown out of shape male ego.”

  Charlie was compassionate; “I hope he gets over you soon. I hope it doesn’t hurt him, too badly. No one should have to suffer a broken heart.”

  Decky smiled at Charlie. The fact that she could empathize with someone else’s pain made her even more beautiful to Decky. The more she found out about Charlie, the more she liked her. She had loved her from the first second she kissed her, but she really liked Charlie, too. She was the kind of person she would have hung out with. Maybe in another life they would have been great friends, but in this life, Charlie was the
love of her life and quickly becoming her best friend.

  They sailed for the remainder of the afternoon. They even swung by the dock and picked up Dixie who had been watching their every move from shore. Decky told Charlie about the first woman she had ever taken out on a sailboat.

  “You mean I’m not the first woman you’ve been sailing with?”

  “I’ve been sailing with other girls, sure, but not a woman, except for this one other time.”

  Decky started grinning at the memory. It had taken on a completely different look now that she was with Charlie. Decky began the story, “One year at Four-H camp, down on the coast near Wilmington, I became infatuated with one of the female swimming instructors. Looking on it now, I was gay all the way back then, but I didn’t know what it was. I just knew I was excited and wanted to be around her. The camp had sailboats, but not like this one. The ones we used were like the sunfish, with a flat deck and centerboard.”