Death on the Wind

by M. J. Mandrake

  “Well, no. But Heather’s dad owns CityPower. They’re like, billionaires, so it’s like I was rich by association.”

  Kitty felt her eyes go wide. “Oh, right.” CityPower provided the electricity for several states and Otto Jousmal was a big political donor in the last presidential campaign. She wasn’t sure ‘rich by association’ was actually a thing, but she wasn’t going to argue.

  Settling back in her lounge chair, she reached for her margarita, only to find it empty. She shot a glance at Chica. “Did you finish this off while I was distracted?”

  Chica grinned, black eyes sparkling.

  “Bad Chica. What if it had alcohol in it? Then where would you be?” It was very much against the service dog ethic to eat or drink anything without permission but Kitty couldn’t scold her too badly. It was swelteringly hot in the sun and Chica had been pushed out of the shade to accommodate all their visitors.

  “A little crushed ice and strawberry flavoring shouldn’t be too bad for her.” Zoe reached out and rubbed Chica’s ears.

  “Just don’t end up like those dogs that snatch whole chickens off counters and sandwiches from plates,” Kitty warned. “We have enough badly behaved animals around as it is. And try to be a good influence on Tink, if you can.”

  Glancing at Zoe, it occurred to her that she was missing her own service dog. “Where’s Duke?”

  “I left him with the Rubios. He and Rosie are having a doggy playdate.” She shrugged, looking at the water bottle beside them. Juan and Anne Rubio were a young family with two deaf parents and two hearing children. They had a beautiful red setter named Rosie who had been part of their family for over six years.

  “Doggy play date? I think he gets enough playtime,” Kitty said gently. “Is it because of Tink?”

  Zoe nodded. Heather’s Pomeranian and Zoe’s golden retriever didn’t get along. More precisely, Tink took the presence of any other dog as a threat.

  “You shouldn’t let her separate you from Duke,” Kitty said. “He’s highly trained and you deserve to have him with you when you need him.”

  “It’s not a big deal. I feel a little nervous without him, but it’s fine.” Zoe stood up. “Well, thanks for the water. I’d better get back before Heather gets upset. She wants us to try on some outfits before dinner tonight. She says we should all be matching when we go parasailing tomorrow. It’ll look better on her Instagram page.”

  “See you at dinner.” As Zoe walked away, Kitty wondered what she’d meant by ‘upset’. If there was worse to come from Heather, she didn’t want to be there when it arrived.

  As she picked up her book and flipped through the pages until she found her place, Kitty wondered whether it was possible for anyone to be a good influence on Heather, too. The girl seemed destined to alienate everyone around her. But then again, maybe that kind of money changed all the rules. Maybe a person could be as ugly as possible to others and they would still stick by them.

  Or not. Kitty wasn’t an expert in the human heart, but she had seen enough of fractured relationships to know that there was a point where a person simply couldn’t take the abuse any longer. It might be year away, or it might be days, but Kitty was certain that Heather’s friends wouldn’t put up with her poisonous personality forever. She was headed for a very painful experience if she didn’t change her ways.

  Kitty just hoped it would happen after the cruise had docked back in Miami. She wasn’t sure she―or the tour group―could handle the drama of all those girls in a full-scale war.

  Chapter Two

  “It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”

  ― Victor Hugo

  Kitty seated herself at the large banquet table and counted heads. On Kitty’s left were Ralph and Judy Barney, who looked unhappy, but that was probably a permanent state. Their service dog, Reggie, sat between them, dark eyes assessing each one of the guests in turn. Kitty wondered if Reggie was born a serious sort of puppy, or if living with the perpetually complaining Barneys had made him that way.

  The Four Heathers were present, plus Tink and Duke on opposite sides of their little group. The girls were dressed in similar summer slip dresses that emphasized their dark tans and unblemished skin.

  Elaine and Penny sat across from them, expensive gowns and jewelry on display. Kitty saw more than one of the girls eyeing the jewels. She always felt a little drab next to Penny and Elaine, but she was more interested in comfort than style. Once upon a time she had worried about what color brought out the blue in her eyes, or whether a bright pattern made her look fat, but now she wore what made her happy―within reason.

  Juan and Anne Rubio sat on Kitty’s right side, their two little children between them. Rosie’s black bowtie looked dashing against her glossy red fur.

  A team of waiters appeared bearing dishes and Kitty translated as they double-checked orders. One of the many perks of a luxury cruise was that the chefs would make a dish to exact specifications as long as the guest could supply the recipe. Kitty tried not to take advantage of it, but she was thankful for their flexibility when she wanted some of her grandmother’s chicken soup several months ago. Battling a cold while scuba diving or parasailing wasn’t fun, and her Grammy’s soup always put a cold in check.

  “Kraft Macaroni and cheese?”

  Juan pointed to his five year old girl. She was a sweet little thing, more interested in the sparkling chandeliers than what was on her plate. “Nicky, no dessert unless you eat some dinner,” he signed.

  “Okay, Papa. I like mac and cheese,” she said and signed at the same time. It always made Kitty feel warm inside when she saw little children signing. Maybe it was like how some people felt when they heard toddlers singing Christmas carols, it made her think of the fleeting innocence of childhood. Someday Nicky’s signs would sharpen and be more exact, not losing personality, but becoming more distinctive to the speaker. Her sign for ‘cheese’ was a little bit hard to decipher, like a lisp in a speaking child.

  Aaron Rubio was seven and much less interested in the grilled cheese and carrot sticks he received. As Kitty watched him signing with his parents, she felt a sudden sadness. Aaron and Nicky reminded her of growing up with her older brother as two hearing children of deaf parents. It had been months since she’d talked to her brother. At Christmas there had been a tense discussion about the cochlear implant, and Kitty had insisted that her future was her own to decide. She’d never wanted their choices to come between them, but it clearly had. She hoped these two little children would survive the battlefield of being a hearing child in a deaf community, and heaven help them if they were one of the unfortunate ones who would go from a hearing child to a deaf adult. No matter what they chose, someone would be sure they had chosen wrong.

  “Kitty?” Penny waved to get her attention.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” She flushed as she helped the waiters match the rest of the plates to the guests. Maybe her recent near-death experience had her feeling more contemplative than usual. She needed to shrug off her anxiety and focus on her job. An email to her brother might be in order, too.

  Most of her group ordered normal menu items, but both Ralph and Judy Barney had an extensively complicated dish that needed to be verified. No nuts, no corn, no gluten, no grains, no pepper, no eggs, no cheese, no meat, and no GMO products. The first time Kitty had heard their list of allergies and restrictions, she wondered if they were going to survive on water and air. But at each meal the chefs managed to create some delicious masterpiece. Tonight was Thai green curry grilled vegetable dish paired with an arugula salad, carrot ginger dressing on the side.

  The Heathers all had a baby salad with pomegranate seeds and feta, and three of the girls looked longingly at Kitty’s white sauce lasagna. She felt a little sad for Reagan, Zoe and Lacy, but not sad enough to give them her dish. They would just have to get up the nerve to tell Heather they were ordering their own food next time.

  Chica sat up beside her and gave Kitty a meaningful glance.

/>   “One bite,” she whispered and snuck her a bit of sausage.

  To her surprise, Chica didn’t turn her head to take it. She was focused on the Heathers.

  “I’m just saying that I think there should be dinners just for adults. I mean, why do we have to eat with kids when we don’t have any?” Heather asked.

  “Our favorite restaurant in Philadelphia has a no-child policy,” Ralph offered.

  Judy nodded. “It’s why it’s our favorite.”

  Anne Rubio had gone red in the face. Kitty could see her struggling with a response. She admired her restraint. Kitty sometimes wondered if what she felt for Chica was just a little bit like what parents felt about their children. If anyone criticized her, Kitty felt an instinctual desire to beat that person into silence. Just like she’d felt last night when Heather had called Chica “rude and slobbery”. Just thinking about it made her angry. She took a deep breath and tried to let it go. Again.

  “I enjoy children. Especially well-behaved ones like these two,” Penny said, smiling at Nicky and Aaron.

  “So do I,” Kitty said. “Children and dogs are my favorite sort of people.” So, that may have been a stretch since she didn’t actually know that many children, but the ones she’d met had always filled her with a feeling of fuzzy warmth.

  “Well, I’ve never met any that could sit through a whole dinner,” Heather signed. Tink was on her lap now, nosing Heather’s plate. It was possibly the only time Kitty had felt sad for Tink. There weren’t any tasty treats to be had in that salad.

  “Well, maybe it wasn’t the dinner, but the people at the table they were trying to escape.” Anne didn’t look at Heather as she signed, but it was clear to everybody what she meant.

  “It’s true they don’t like two-hour-long meals,” Juan said, attempting to smooth over the situation.

  “And―And they never have anything interesting to say,” Reagan chimed in.

  “Eye of the beholder,” Elaine said. “Perhaps you’re not listening hard enough.”

  Reagan straightened up with a shocked expression. “Are you mocking me for being deaf?”

  Penny snorted. “Because an old deaf woman is going to make fun of your deafness.”

  “Kitty, I expected more from you as a tour guide,” Heather said, rounding on her. “You allow this kind of behavior?”

  Tink slipped from Heather’s hands and trotted to Duke. She growled surprisingly loudly for such a little dog and bared her little teeth. Zoe tried to shoo Tink away, but she started to bark. Other diners turned to stare at them and Kitty felt herself flush with embarrassment. Service dogs were a highly contested issue in some places and it had taken a federal law to make sure disabled people could bring them into restaurants and businesses. Tink was everything people said they hated about service dogs, especially since she wasn’t trained in anything except antagonizing the other animals.

  Duke didn’t move a muscle and Kitty made a mental note to give him a big treat the next time she saw him.

  “Let’s take a moment to regroup and start over. It’s been a long day,” Kitty said.

  “I want an apology,” Heather said.

  Kitty looked around the table. Did Heather want an apology for what Elaine had said to Reagan, or for what Anne had said about Heather, or because Duke didn’t seem to find Tink intimidating enough to even growl?

  “I’m not sure who offended you, but I do know everyone here would appreciate spending the dinner in a peaceful surrounding,” Kitty said. “And that includes our services animals.”

  “Well!” Heather scooted her chair back from the table. “I can see we’re not wanted here.” She grabbed Tink under one arm and signed, “Girls, come on.”

  “Now, I don’t think anybody needs to leave,” Kitty said. “I think I―

  Heather wasn’t paying any attention to her. Lacy, Reagan, and Zoe all glanced longingly at their salads, but only two girls stood up. Zoe remained seated.

  “I said we’re leaving,” Heather signed, her face screwed up in anger.

  “I’ll be along in a little bit.” Zoe took a bite of salad.

  Kitty would have laughed at the way all three of them stood there with their eyes open wide and mouths agape, but she was too anxious about the way the group was fracturing. “Heather, please. Sit down and finish―”

  She was signing into the void as Heather and her two loyal minions turned away. Watching them stride out of the dining room, Kitty let out a sigh. This wasn’t going to go over well, she was sure of it. Owning a bookstore was only a hobby. A delightfully enchanting hobby, but still a hobby. She needed this job to live as she’d become accustomed, as they said. It was always an option to move back to the States, but she much preferred to be living far away from her cheating ex-fiancé. Far away as in “an entirely different country”. Although her boss was an understanding and gracious woman, she wouldn’t enjoy hearing any complaints, even more so from someone as wealthy as Heather.

  “I’m sorry,” Anne said. “I just…” She shook her head, staring down at her plate. Clearly her appetite had gone missing. “We lost a child last year to leukemia. James would have been three in a few weeks. And I would do anything to have him here making noise and getting into trouble.”

  Juan put his arm around her and kissed her hair as her eyes filled with tears.

  “Oh, dear,” Penny said. Her sarcasm had gone in a flash. “I’m so sorry.”

  The group echoed her, all signing words of sorrow and encouragement.

  “I miss him,” said Aaron. “He was a great little brother.”

  “I bet he was,” Kitty said. For the tenth time, she wondered whether the tour group operator could send her a cheat sheet before the cruise left Miami. It would be so helpful to know who had recently lost a family member. She thought back to what her conversations with Anne and Juan, hoping that she hadn’t said anything hurtful.

  “He always ate the Halloween candy I didn’t like,” Nicky said.

  “What? I thought children loved all candy,” Elaine said, pretending to be shocked.

  “No. Some of it is bad. Like Tootsie Rolls.”

  “My favorite,” Penny said. “We should go trick-or-treating together this year.”

  Kitty smiled as the children jumped at the idea of meeting up again in October, making plans that would most likely never come to fruition. She was a logical, cautious person by nature, but there was something lovely about the way children imagined anything at all was possible. It was strange that it annoyed her so completely when an adult was uninhibitedly optimistic. The difference? Adults should know better. If they didn’t act cautiously, their lives would be upended in the most painful ways. But in children, this capability of embracing anything as possible was heart-warming.

  When did that disappear? In the teens? And when had her life begun to be ruled by order and being prepared for any eventuality? She wasn’t sure. She wanted to think it had been a normal step in her transition to adulthood, influenced by her unique personality traits. But something deep down whispered that she hadn’t always been so dismissive and pessimistic.

  Once upon a time, maybe she’d believed that wonderful things just happened to a person, little gifts falling out of the sky like autumn leaves. Perhaps long ago she would have started to plan to meet a faraway friend.

  Meet me at the cliffs of Tulum. I’ll be the one with the big German Shepherd and you’ll be the man in the dark suit…

  “Kitty?” Zoe made an exaggerated wave in her direction. It was clear that Kitty hadn’t been following the conversation.

  “Yes?” Her face went warm. She wasn’t going to see Leander again. He didn’t even respond to her letter.

  “I asked if everyone was going parasailing tomorrow? Or just a few of us?”

  “Oh, most, I think. Not the children, of course. It’s 18 and over. Judy won’t go without Ralph, and although the rides are tandem, the second person is the instructor. Our tour insurance won’t cover single rides. Penny will, but El
aine says she’d rather throw herself off a cliff and be done with it.” Kitty had to think back to the sign-up sheet. “That’s four staying on the ground. Plus dogs. Ten are taking the ride. It will be about four hours using three different boats.”

  Zoe nodded. “Great.” Her expression didn’t look like she thought it was great at all.

  “You know you don’t have to go,” Kitty said. “I can make up some excuse for you.”

  “Me? Oh, I’m looking forward to it.” She flashed a bright smile. “I’ve never even been on a plane.”

  It took quite a bit for a modern young woman to have reached her mid-twenties without having gotten on an airplane. Kitty suspected it was because Zoe was afraid of heights, but was too embarrassed to say so. “Well, let me know. I’m the queen of coming up with believable excuses.”

  Zoe smiled. “Thanks. It’ll be fun, I think.” She’d finished her salad and was glancing longingly at Kitty’s lasagna.

  “Would you like a bite? I had some cheesecake when I was at Bingo earlier. Jorge had the dining staff bring in an enormous spread of cheesecakes, heavy on the chocolate. He’s trying to make us all fat, I’m sure of it.” Kitty pushed her plate toward Zoe. She’d also won twice on her lucky scorecard, which meant the cheesecake had no calories. It was a little game she played with her psyche. Someday it was going to catch up with her in the way of needing a whole new wardrobe.

  “Oh, I can’t…”

  “Sure you can,” Kitty said, slicing it in half and giving her the end Kitty hadn’t nibbled on yet. “Bechamel sauce, perfectly seasoned sausage, fresh parsley, pasta noodles made right here in the kitchen.”

  Zoe’s eyes went wide and Kitty could see the moment she gave in to temptation. “Well, Heather won’t know if we don’t tell her.”

  As Zoe took a bite and then fed a little bit to Duke, Kitty tried to find the words to frame her question.

  “Everyone needs support when they’re on a diet,” she said.

  Zoe rolled her eyes. “She’s not on a diet. She’s just a picky eater.”