Claire Gulliver #02 - Washington Weirdos

by Gayle Wigglesworth

“Start with the bib. Trust me on this. It’s the right way to start.”

  They all laughed at Doug’s droll statement, and then everyone tied on the big bibs and layered their laps with the matching napkins. Masie ladled the melted butter into the little dishes and passed them around while Marian’s husband, who had joined them, dipped the first clam into the butter before popping it in his mouth.

  “Yum. Nothing better. Helps get us through the end of summer. Labor Day is always such a paradox. The joy of a holiday hampered by knowing winter is just around the corner. And, of course, for the kids it means time to go back to school.”

  Then they all began to eat in earnest. This kind of meal required full attention. Wiley and Jack stopped by on their way to the buffet table but when they offered to squeeze closer to make room for them at the table, they declined. They needed to talk to some other folks and promised they’d see them around. Then Percy Imamura stopped by to introduce his wife to Claire. She stood, but was confused when she realized her hands were covered in butter and so she didn’t dare shake hands.

  Mary, Percy’s wife, laughed. “Don’t worry, Claire. I’d prefer not to shake hands with you right now, but I’m very glad to meet you. Percy told me how much you admired the gardens. I always like people who appreciate plants and flowers. Sit down, sit down; don’t let your dinner get cold. I’ll get back to you before the day is over and we can talk then.”

  Claire got a variety of instructions on how to deal with her lobster. When she finally cracked the large resisting claw and the shell flew three tables over to land in the lap of another guest, everyone applauded. The woman held it up, good-naturedly, for everyone to see. Claire hoped this kind of thing happened with some frequency at a lobster and clambake.

  Neil stopped by their table and schmoozed with the Yacht Club members. It didn’t surprise Claire to learn that one of the men was on the Club’s membership committee.

  * * *

  “Claire, Great Auntie Maude is going to teach me how to play poker. Wanna play?”

  Claire was so full, she didn’t know if she could move. After saying her good-byes, she had found a secluded chair for a little rest. But obviously it wasn’t as secluded as she thought. “I don’t think so, but aren’t you a little young for poker?”

  “No, Great Auntie Maude and I are going to play together. We’re going to win everyone’s money. Come on, it’ll be fun.” She pulled at Claire’s limp arm.

  “I’m sure it will be, but I think I’m too full of lobster to even hold my cards.”

  “Jack’s gonna play, and Hal. JoJo is playing with Hal. And Grandpap said he’d play later. But we need some more people and almost everyone is leaving. Pl...lease.” She tugged at Claire’s arm again.

  “All right. Okay. Sur’ nough. Just help me get out of this chair.” She was only gong to be here another day and if Great Auntie Maude had enough energy to play cards then, by gosh, she could too.

  “You will?” The smile on Amy’s face was worth the struggle to escape the clutches of the chaise lounge. Amy was already headed toward the house tossing over her shoulder, “We’re going to play in the solarium so we’re out of the way of the people leaving.”

  When they arrived the card players were already settling in. David’s cousin Boyd was there, “Hey, Claire, do you know this game?”

  She nodded.

  “Then get your money because it’ll cost you to play here.” He grinned, obviously anticipating easy pickings.

  She turned to head for her room and her purse, but Jack waved her back. “I’ll spot you twenty and you can pay me back out of your winnings.” He grinned at Boyd. “You think twenty will be enough?”

  Boyd looked at Great Auntie Maude and said seriously, “You never know playing with the big guys.”

  Great Auntie Maude just sat there shuffling the deck with professional ease while she instructed Amy on how to arrange the poker chips they had sitting in front of them. JoJo and Hal were whispering, and two spaces at the table were still open.

  “Isn’t David playing?” Claire asked while stacking the chips Hal and JoJo had shoved across the table in exchange for Jack’s twenty.

  “He’ll be here soon, after he says goodbye to everyone. And MiMi might join us for a while then.” Maude looked around the table, then announced dryly, “Watch out for MiMi. She’s a card shark if there ever was one.” Amy giggled at that.

  Claire was a little nervous. She remembered playing croquet with Maude and Hal. She could only imagine how they played poker. But then she reasoned, with Amy and JoJo there, how bad could it get?

  And she approved of the girls getting an early education in poker. She had only recently learned to play. When Mrs. B discovered Claire had never played, she immediately rectified that lapse in her education. Mrs. B said all children should learn poker as it taught them risk analysis and math. And a child who learned to maintain a poker face would go far in the world. Claire had come to agree, and it looked like Great Auntie Maude shared that philosophy.

  “Hey, have room for one more?” Neil came in the solarium and headed for one of the empty chairs.

  “Plenty of room for suckers willing to donate,” Hal said with a sly grin. “It’ll cost you twenty.”

  Neil fished his twenty out of his wallet and passed it to Hal while JoJo eagerly counted out another stack of chips.

  “All right, ladies and gentlemen, this is a friendly game of Dealer’s Choice. Chips are dimes, quarters and dollars.” Maude pointed to white, red and blue chips before continuing with her instructions. “Minimum first bid is a dime, and we’ll see where we go from there. Remember we have young ears with us and so the language should be appropriate. Now shall we draw for deal?” Maude slapped the deck in the center of the table and everyone drew for high card.

  “Hoo, and I’m hot.” Boyd flashed his king around the table. “I’m gong for Five Card Stud, jacks or better to open. Ante a dime.”

  Amy was so excited when she put Maude’s dime in the center of the table, Claire thought she was going to fall off her chair.

  Boyd took that pot and became even more enthused as he passed the deal to Jack. Jack quietly played the same game but the pot went to Neil. The deal passed to Hal and after he shuffled, he let JoJo deal out five cards to each player. This time it was Five Card Draw, low card in the hand and all like it were wild. Maude and Amy selected a game of No Peeky, and then it got to Neil who introduced Texas Roll’em. Claire won that pot and the deal. Her shuffling was adequate but not flashy as was Maude’s. After Neil cut the cards she announced her favorite, Seven Card Stud, low card in the hole and all like them wild. She had to repeat it twice, but then they started to play.“Eight of clubs, no help. There’s Boyd’s ace. Three of diamonds, possible straight flush. Hal, pair of sixes, still bets.” She waited until everyone decided if they were in or not and dealt another round.”

  “Hey, Neil, it was good to see you again today. It’s been a while. Let’s see, I think it was the end of May, or was it the first of June. Anyway, London, wasn’t it?” Boyd asked.

  Claire dealt a new card to Neil and saw how the tick in his eye jumped, but his face remained calm as he studied his cards.

  “Yep, I’m sure.” Boyd nodded certain of his facts. “It was London!” He directed his comments to the entire table. “It’s so strange when you run into someone you know clear across the world.” Then he peered with interest at Neil. “How did your trip go? Business, was it?”

  “Humm, that’s right.” Neil’s face was partially obscured by the cards. “I was on my way to Brussels and stopped over a couple of nights at Claridge’s. Actually, I’m on the road so much it’s hard to remember which trip is which.” He tossed two chips in the pot. “I’ll raise a quarter.”

  “So, you were in London when Claire was there?” Jack asked while he deliberated whether or not to fold his cards.

  Neil sat up straighter. “No, as a matter of fact, I had just arrived in Istanbul when I was notified. I was going to
head straight back to London, but David said he had it covered. So I finished up my trip as planned.” He smiled at Claire as he folded his cards, unwilling to gamble on the final card.

  Claire dealt the last card and amidst the groans around the table discovered the low pair of fours she had down had been neutralized by a three. But Great Auntie Maude and Amy gleefully raked in the huge pot and, while Amy was busy sorting and stacking the chips, Boyd started shuffling the cards for the next game.

  “Boyd, do you visit London frequently?” Jack asked.

  “Well, as a matter of fact, we do. Edie’s sister married a Limey and they live there. So, of course, we have to visit often or the girls will break us with the phone bills. Those girls have to talk and talk.” He grinned wryly as he announced his game and began dealing.

  “Are you and Edie staying tonight?” Claire asked Boyd in an effort to direct the conversation away from London last spring. While Jack and Neil knew about the incident, she was certain Boyd and Hal didn’t, and thought Maude probably only knew a little. And besides, she didn’t want to talk about it.

  “No, we’re leaving tonight. But we only live a half hour away and with me retired, we don’t have to worry about getting up tomorrow to go to work.”

  “Hal and I are staying because neither of us is good at night driving. We’re leaving early tomorrow. Hal is dropping me off,” Maude offered as she smiled at Hal.

  Claire wondered suddenly if their relationship was more than distant cousins.

  “Well, I’m working. But I’m not going in until the afternoon. I have an appointment in Annapolis in the morning.” Neil grinned with obvious anticipation of that meeting.

  “Well, well, well. Does that pile of chips in front of Boyd mean that he’s winning again?” David came into the solarium and headed straight for the empty chair. He handed over his twenty and stacked his chips.

  “Grandpap look how much we have. Great Auntie Maude and I are going to get it all, aren’t we, Great Auntie Maude?”

  Her great aunt nodded in agreement, her eyes twinkling.

  “Well, you’re going to have to hurry, because Gramimi said you have a bedtime coming up.”

  “Oh, no. We were gonna win it all. Can’t we stay up later?” Amy’s face was woebegone and JoJo couldn’t hide her disappointment either.

  “Tell you what. We’ll play around the table once, which means each person will deal once more. Then you have to go get ready for bed. Agreed?”

  They all agreed despite the sad look on the two young faces. “Don’t worry, Amy,” Auntie Maude whispered. “It’s the one who wins the last few pots who wins the most. You’ll see.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Claire admired the Lickmans’ library while she scanned the book titles. MiMi had told her to help herself when she mentioned she thought she would relax on the terrace and read. She felt tired. Too much food, she thought, remembering the feast provided yesterday. And of course her dreams didn’t help. All these discussions of the happenings last spring kept her mind in turmoil. This was the second night she had dreamed about Liz. That was disturbing. Liz had been difficult enough in real life. She had been the one member of the tour who didn’t fit. And, in fact, her presence and her antics caused Claire no end of problems until she was sent back home after taking a nasty fall and breaking her collarbone. Claire never wished her harm, but couldn’t help feeling relieved when she was gone. Maybe her guilt over that was haunting her; because she knew there had to be a reason for the dreams.

  That was perhaps what was most disturbing about them. Subconsciously she was processing something that had to do with Liz, or that time. Claire shook her head in frustration, as if she could fling all those disturbing memories into their correct slots and come up with the right answer. She was going to talk to Jack about this when she saw him. Maybe they should review all the pictures from that trip. Maybe something would trigger a memory for her to solve this mystery.

  But now she reached for a book on the shelf in front of her. She had heard about this book; it might be an interesting enough read to distract her.

  She paused, staring dreamily out the window. Life was just full of surprises, she mused, and probably none more surprising than finding two handsome, exciting men suddenly interested in her. She grinned; the forties, it seemed, was going to be a good decade for her.

  Jack had stayed late, supposedly to make sure the security was in place after all the guests were gone. Claire smiled to herself remembering his good-bye kiss – well, if she was honest, kisses. No pecks on the cheek last night, and Claire suspected that might have been one of the reasons he had lingered to the last.

  She snapped out of her daydream when she noticed the big boat approaching the Lickmans’. It cautiously nosed up to the dock. Someone jumped down to tie the bowline tightly to the dock, then the stern. The man then turned and headed toward the house.

  It was Neil.

  What a gorgeous boat. Gleaming white in the hot sun it dwarfed the other craft tied to the dock. In fact, it carried its own little boat suspended from arms on the back. And it looked like the kind of boat Neil would own.

  She remembered seeing him in his Porsche; he obviously liked the best. Well, more power to him. He had a responsible position, earned top salary and with no family to support, he may as well spend his money and his time on the toys he enjoyed.

  She watched him a minute, once more puzzled by that nagging thought she knew him from somewhere. It was very annoying that she couldn’t quite place him.

  When he disappeared from her view she took the book she had selected and moved out through the solarium to the terrace. She found a chair in the shade of the balcony, got comfortable and was immediately absorbed in the author’s world.

  “Oh, Claire, there you are.” Amy was always seeking Claire out. “Did you sleep well?” Her solicitous manner was a parody of her grandmother’s, but she couldn’t contain her exuberance long. “Wasn’t that a great poker game?”

  Amy and Maude had managed to win about ten dollars, which Maude generously donated to Amy’s piggy bank. Now Amy was enthralled with the game. Claire had won about a dollar and a half so she was able to easily repay Jack his twenty. She wasn’t sure about everyone else but, of course, somebody lost or Amy and Maude couldn’t have won.

  “I was really good, wasn’t I?”

  Claire laid the book on her lap realizing Amy wanted to have a conversation. “I think so, maybe because of your skill in playing Yahtzee. It’s kind of like poker, don’t you think?”

  Amy nodded, very serious. “Great Auntie Maude said I’d be able to play by myself when I can count better.” Then she added, parroting Maude’s rules, “And when I play with my own money and I don’t cry when I lose. But you didn’t play with your own money, did you? I saw Jack give you some.”

  “Well, really I did. He was just loaning it to me so I didn’t have to go upstairs to get my purse. And I did pay it back, didn’t you see?”

  “Oh yeah! Well, I can’t wait for school to start. We get to learn to add this year, so it won’t be long until I can play. I really like poker.”

  Claire just nodded as Amy rattled on with her perception of the nuances of last night’s game.

  “Ooh, Claire, look!” She was pointing. “Neil is going to give Grandpap a ride on his new boat and JoJo is going too. Can I go? Can I?” She was jumping up and down with excitement. She wanted to go really bad.

  Claire saw Neil and David heading for the dock and JoJo was right behind them. Amy was right; it appeared as if they were going out on the boat. For some reason she felt a stab of alarm and without even thinking why, she stood up and grabbed Amy’s arm just in time to prevent her from dashing after her sister.

  “No, Amy, wait! You know your mother doesn’t allow you to go out on the water without her.” She pulled that out of her memory and it sounded good.

  “But JoJo’s going.” Amy wailed. “If she goes, why can’t I?”

  “JoJo is not going!”
Claire was firm. “I’ll go down and send her back. You better go check with your Gramimi to see if she needs help getting ready for Tuffy. I’ll go talk to JoJo.”

  Glumly, Amy turned to go back in the house, casting one last disappointed glance at her sister, who had already reached the dock.

  Claire hurried across the lawn, waving her hand at the trio. “Hey, guys, where are you going?” She was breathless, partly from alarm and partly from running to the dock.

  “Hey Claire, see my new boat.” Neil, already halfway up the ladder to the steering platform, gestured expansively at the gleaming cabin cruiser. “David is going out with me for a little test run before I make the final commitment. Want to join us?”

  “Oh, but David, Jack called and said he was on the way out. He had something he wanted to show us. He said it was important.” She lied but it was the only thing she could think of on such short notice.

  “We’ll be back before he gets here. We’re just going out on the Bay and try a few maneuvers. Come on, it will be fun.” Neil urged her, eager to show off his new possession.

  She was torn. She didn’t want David to go out on this boat with Neil, but she didn’t have a good reason why he shouldn’t. And it was apparent that he was going to go.

  “David,” she called out over the sound of the motor Neil had just started, “MiMi doesn’t want JoJo to go. She has something she wants her to do.”

  JoJo’s face fell from her disappointment.

  “JoJo, you heard Claire. Gramimi wants you.” His smile for JoJo was a promise as he projected his voice over the sound of the motor. “Don’t worry, Neil will come back and take you out some other time, won’t you, Neil?”

  “Sure. After I buy it, I’ll come and we’ll take the whole family. Maybe we’ll motor over to the Club for lunch.”

  JoJo climbed onto the platform on the back and jumped to the dock.

  Claire took her arm and bent her head over hers. “Listen, JoJo, I need you to do something important. Can you do it?”