Out on the Sound

by R. E. Bradshaw

  Another thing Decky liked about Molly was the way she had incorporated every electronic device necessary to compete in today’s global market, yet kept the ambience of the old south intact. Decky was glad to see they would be able to videoconference and send and receive documents with ease. A lawyer in your living room wasn’t a bad thing at a time like this.

  The three women were escorted straight into Molly’s office. She had been waiting only a few minutes, but was already elbow deep in their case. Decky couldn’t believe the resemblance to Jodie Foster. She could have walked right out of The Panic Room, right down to the cute little dimple. She even had that self-assured air Ms. Foster exudes. Decky had always adored Jodie Foster.

  After Brenda and Charlie caught up with Molly, the attention turned to the case against them. Molly asked Brenda to wait in the outer room, while they discussed the details. Even though Charlie and Decky had nothing to say to Molly that they wouldn’t say in front of Brenda, Molly assured them it was necessary for attorney client privilege to remain intact.

  The details of the event were examined from both women’s perspective. Charlie telling what had happened before Decky arrived and Decky filling in the parts Charlie was unable to see, while behind the counter. Decky gave contact information for the twins and R.C. She reluctantly handed over Lizzie’s cell number, too.

  “About your mother,” Molly began. Decky was watching in amazement, as Molly’s mouth actually moved like Jodie’s when she uses a southern accent. Molly snapped her out of it with the word mother.

  “Your mother is the only person you haven’t spoken about. Did she actually see the shooting?” Molly was writing on a legal pad.

  Decky answered quietly, her eyes cast to the floor, “I don’t know what she saw. I haven’t spoken to her.”

  “You know she was there, but you haven’t spoken to her. Is there a problem I should know about?” Molly was looking at Decky. Decky could feel Molly’s eyes on her while she was still counting the colors in the Oriental rug under her chair.

  Decky finally looked up after she heard Charlie sigh. “My mother and I have a unique relationship. We have spent our lives talking and not talking. She has ideas about how I should live my life and, for that matter, everyone else in the world. She ran her mouth about my relationship with Charlie and I see that as the inciting incident. I told her so that night. I wasn’t nice about it. I haven’t spoken to her since.”

  “I will talk to her. I understand about the mom who flips out when you’re gay and do not fit the image she has for you. Let’s just say, I am experienced in that area. The only other thing I wanted to cover with you is a name I see here on the potential witness list that you haven’t mentioned. She is not with any of the responding agencies, I checked. The name is…Lynne Harper.”

  Charlie bolted upright in the chair, “She doesn’t even live here!”

  Decky followed suit, “She was back in Louisiana when this happened as far as we know.”

  Molly was intrigued. Anybody that could make these two react like this might be a problem. “Who is she?”

  Decky and Charlie relayed the whole story. How they met. The party. The punch. The whole sordid mess. When Molly learned, Brenda had seen the whole thing she asked her to rejoin them.

  Brenda was as shocked as Decky and Charlie had been. “I can’t believe that bitch has reared her ugly head again. I thought we were done with her.”

  Molly sized up the situation. She must have seen how uptight Charlie and especially Decky were behaving. “I’ve dealt with her kind before, she’ll be no problem. But still, I think you should have sent the private jet for the cat. Write that down for future reference.”

  They thought she was serious for a second, then Decky caught the grin on Molly’s face and relaxed into painful laughter. Charlie joined her. A huge wave of relief swept over the room.

  Except for Brenda, who looked at Decky. “I didn’t know you had a private jet!”

  More laughter was followed by arrangements for Molly to come down and view the “crime scene” so to speak. She would interview R.C., the twins, and Lizzie. Decky felt so much better when they left Molly’s office, she offered to drive the first leg of the trip home. The boot made moving around so much easier and the pain had dissipated some. She was good for at least sixty miles she was sure.

  For an hour, they sang to the radio at the top of their lungs. Charlie and Brenda stopped occasionally to listen as Decky sang some of the ballads. After Brenda started driving again, they talked some about the things that Molly had said. Decky knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. It certainly wasn’t going to be comfortable airing her private life in front of everyone she knew and some she didn’t.

  Charlie decided she would call her sister with the details and let her choose how and what to tell her parents. Brenda had suggested it was such an interesting story FOX or CNN might run it. Molly had spoken with the University Systems Board of Governor’s attorney. Molly related that the attorney would not only prevent any action to be taken in regard to Charlie’s job, but that he offered to be of service in any way possible. At least there were some people not living in the dark ages.

  The trip home went quickly even though they took the long way around at Decky’s insistence. Decky pointed out landmarks and historical homes as they passed. She had Brenda veer off the main road at Plymouth to show Charlie houses with cannon balls lodged in chimneys from wars past. Charlie was impressed with the history, but not the smell. Plymouth’s two pulp mills made the air smell like rotten eggs on a bad day. This was a bad day.

  They drove past Fort Raleigh national park, where Decky told Charlie about The Lost Colony, and how the outdoor drama performed there tells its story. It also contained an Elizabethan Garden of extraordinary beauty, in which Decky had been married on a hot June day, Brenda pointed out. Decky talked about new discoveries being made on a daily basis within the various architectural digs in the area, including one on Hatteras Island that may lead to more clues about the fate of the colonists.

  They drove through downtown Manteo to get a glimpse of the Elizabeth II, a composite design replica of a 16th-century ship, named after one of the vessels that sailed the ocean when Sir Walter Raleigh first brought colonists to Roanoke Island in 1587. Again, Decky promised to take Charlie to see all of this up-close as soon as they were well enough.

  They stopped at Daniel’s restaurant where Decky introduced Charlie to fried shrimp sandwiches. Then they were back on the road approaching the Wright Brothers’ Memorial. In Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers had changed the world forever in 1903 by completing the first successful sustained powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. Decky pointed out the monument rising high from atop a hill. The Wright Brothers' Beacon was designed and built by the U.S. Lighthouse Service, as a lighthouse for airplanes. It had been off for years until re-lighted in 1998.

  They crossed the Wright Memorial Bridge over the Sound back into Currituck County. They were almost home. They stopped for gas in Grandy. Decky and Charlie did not get out of the car. Decky noted several people she knew stare and point at them. Decky was anxious to be out from under the harsh lights of the pumps.

  For a while, they had been three friends touring the roads. Now they were back under the prying eyes of a divided community. This was undoubtedly a divided community because as some people smiled and waved at her, one of the women in a group of trailer trash clearly mouthed dyke at Decky, as they left the parking lot.

  Decky was elated to be home when she finally exited the elevator on the main floor. Miss Kitty had met them downstairs, with loud cries that only meant one thing. There were dead socks somewhere in the house. Decky found them when she plopped onto the couch.

  Decky called out to Charlie, who was in the kitchen, “I think there must have been a mass uprising of socks while we were away. How does she get them out of the drawer is my only question?”

  “The girl has skills.” Charlie said, handing Decky pills and
a bottle of water.

  Charlie had started keeping up with Decky’s pain meds when Decky couldn’t remember when she had taken the last one. It was probably for the best. Brenda decided she would go home to Chip, after Charlie convinced her they were able to take care of themselves now. She had hated giving up her nurse duties and promised to be back the next day to check on them.

  Charlie went to change and brought Decky something comfortable to wear, so she wouldn’t have to go upstairs. Decky checked her email, while Charlie called her sister. She heard Charlie laugh, so she knew the phone call was going well. There was a message from her editor. The local news hounds were calling her for a statement and she wanted to know what to say. Decky replied with only two words, “No, comment,” and passed on her attorney’s contact info. Let them work it out, Decky thought.

  Most of her email messages were from people she barely knew or spam and were immediately deleted. Decky jotted a few notes to well-wishers she truly cared about. She was on Fowler’s email list, so there was a note from Mr. Fowler wishing her a speedy recovery. Mr. Fowler went down on Decky’s list of the good guys.

  She had been compiling a list in her head of the good guys and bad guys. On one side were the people you could count on and on the other were the one’s she knew were against her. No matter what the truth was, those people wouldn’t care. Then there were the gray area people. The one’s she wasn’t sure about. She had discovered that people’s reactions to her being a lesbian could not be predicted. Now that she was a lesbian murder defendant, she was sure at least some of them had been swayed to the bad guy’s category.

  Decky had read John Grisham’s Innocent Man last year. She had followed the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence cases, as one wrongfully accused person after another was released from prison. The fact that the justice system did work in the end delighted Decky. The fact that they went to prison in the first place scared the shit out of her. She had to remember to make a donation to the center.

  Charlie finished her call. She sat down in the chair across from Decky, letting out an immense breath of air.

  “Are you glad that’s over? How did it go?” Decky asked, shutting the laptop.

  “I just started at the beginning. By the time I got to you popping Lynne in the nose she was laughing so hard I had to stop and let her catch her breath. She said, ‘Good job!’ by the way.”

  Decky made herself comfortable. This was obviously going to be a long story. “I think I like your sister.”

  “Well, you have a fan. She said I should have done it years ago. It softened her up for the rest of the story. Franny was much calmer than I expected. She said she would handle the family and for me to concentrate on getting better. She offered to come out here, but I told her no, that would definitely set off alarm bells at home, in the middle of summer league baseball. She has two boys.”

  “I heard you laugh. I was hoping it was going well.”

  Charlie smiled. “She said I should walk around with a sign that says I have six very large, older brothers. She thought it might frighten future attackers.”

  Decky thought to herself, the fact that the last guy who attacked you is dead ought to take care of that. She said instead, “I’ll have to remember that.”

  Charlie went on for a while about her conversation with Franny. It was obvious the sisters had few secrets. Decky had wished for a relationship like that with a sibling, but seeing how her brother was the only candidate, she settled for a series of best friends.

  Decky’s closest friend in the world was off in Africa shooting a documentary. Decky had known Jackie since college. They had never lived near each other after school, but visited and kept in touch with each other’s lives. Jackie was bi-sexual, which Decky never thought about one way or the other. Theirs was a true best friendship. They could pick up from anywhere, anytime, as if no time had passed. Decky couldn’t wait for Charlie to meet Jackie.

  “Well, that’s over,” Charlie was saying.

  Decky realized she had drifted away from the conversation to think about Jackie. Decky drifted away from conversations often. It was usually when someone said something that triggered her onto another “I hadn’t thought of that,” moment. Maybe she should be tested for A.D.D. She could totally identify with Dory from Finding Nemo. There she went again.

  “Charlie, I’m tired. I can’t concentrate. Can we go to bed?”

  “Are you sure this isn’t some ploy to get me in the bed, now that we’re alone?” Charlie teased.

  “No, but I have thought about it. The thought of our ribs bumping together just doesn’t appeal to me, but I’m working on another Jacuzzi plan.”

  Charlie helped Decky up from the couch. “Your plans have been interesting so far. Let’s see, you burned up my brand new mattresses, almost got us caught naked by your friend Alan Jr., and we met those nice gentleman on the boat. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next two days went by quickly. Decky changed into a brace and swam with floats on her ankles. This allowed her to let her legs glide behind her while working out her upper body. The swimming began the healing process in her aching muscles. Range of motion returned and her spirits began to lift. Charlie worked out lightly, but was unable to really do much more than stretch. She spent most of the time in the Jacuzzi, while Decky swam.

  As soon as Brenda left, after her daily check in, Decky enacted her latest plan. They were alone, and feeling a little better. Decky put on some soft music, lit the candles and turned down the lights. She didn’t bring alcohol to the Jacuzzi, Charlie had forbidden alcohol and pain meds, something about her background in first aid and not wanting to have to use it. Instead, she made some fruit smoothies and served them in plastic hurricane glasses. Decky had a thing about glass in the pool area. It was a beautiful evening and they watched the sunlight disappear turning the sky rich colors of blue and pink.

  Just as Decky was about to make her move, a screeching Miss Kitty came flying down the steps. Right behind her was the princess, who although limping had managed to escape outside, only to return with a gift of a marsh rat for her family. Dixie paraded around the floor, proud of her recent acquisition. Decky was usually calm in most situations, but not ones involving rodents. She screamed and tried to get out of the Jacuzzi. Unable to do this without crutches, she determined the best course of action was to dive. Dive deep and fast.

  Decky went underwater still holding the smoothie. From under the surface, she could see movement, but the water was moving too, she couldn’t make out what was happening. She would have to surface soon; she was running out of air. Maybe a quick breath and a peek at the scene above were in order. When Decky surfaced, she saw Charlie standing out of the Jacuzzi holding a very dead rat by the tail. Decky wasn’t sure if Charlie had killed it, but she really didn’t want to know.

  “Is my big strong girl afraid of rodents? You and Miss Kitty, my word!” Charlie said this with her hand on her hip.

  Miss Kitty was still screeching, but now she was atop the bar. The cat obviously had the same aversion as Decky to the nasty creatures. Dixie was sitting like a good girl, but eyeing the rat, if Charlie made a mistake it would be hers again.

  Decky warned, “Watch out! She’ll take it back. She does that. And then you have to chase her and hope to god the thing is dead by the time you get it from her.”

  Charlie grinned at Decky, “You really are frightened aren’t you?”

  “Yes, some people are afraid of heights. I am afraid of rodents, squirrels too. They’re just big rats with fluffy tails.”

  Charlie had Decky in a position Decky didn’t like much, in her complete control. Charlie started to allow the rat to sway slightly toward Decky. To which, Decky swayed like a fighter on the ropes.

  Charlie must have felt sorry for her. Decky truly hated rodents. Charlie went over behind the bar and dropped the rat in a plastic bag. She then carried the bag out into the garage.

&nbs
p; Decky beamed from the tropical stained Jacuzzi surrounded by pink foam and bits of fruit, “You are my hero. Thank you Lord, I got a girl who will take care of the rodents. How lucky was that?”

  #

  The twins came over and cleaned out the Jacuzzi on Tuesday. After they left, Decky and Charlie sat down and worked on their statements for Molly. She had asked them to write down exactly what they had seen and done the entire day Wednesday. They were not to compare stories. Perceptual differences made stories more believable. They were to write this on legal pads, make only one copy and give it to Molly in person. She was thorough.

  Decky also wrote Zack a detailed email keeping him up to date on all the activities at home. She told him to stay in Alaska, when she called to tell him what had happened. He seemed relieved not to have to deal with the chaos surrounding his mother. First, she calls to tell him at thirty-seven she decided she was gay. Then she called to tell him in succession: she had come out basically in front of everyone at Brenda’s party, she had been in a lesbian brawl, his grandmother had shot at her house, and then to top it all off she was now accused of murder, along with his grandfather. His grandmother was a key witness and his future was up in the air. He gladly stayed in Alaska.