by Abigail Keam
When River didn’t respond, she pulled herself to the front of the kayaks and began hauling both behind her. Her feet slid in the sand, so she tried swimming with the rope tied around her waist. That didn’t work well either. It was taking too much time and wearing her out.
Increasingly frantic and not knowing what to do, Jenny finally spotted a house with a small dock at the water’s edge. It was all she could do to drag both kayaks to the dock and secure them. After checking on River, Jenny ran to the house and pounded on the back door.
But no one answered.
As the sky continued to darken, it began to rain in earnest as Jenny burst into tears from frustration. Looking beyond the house’s shrubs, she spied a tee shirt business next door that seemed to be open. Shoving through bushes that scratched her arms and legs, Jenny ran and burst through the business’s door, yelling.
A cashier and a customer paying for a shirt both looked up, startled.
“Help, please!” cried Jenny. “My friend is sick.”
The cashier quickly called for someone to watch the register while she and the customer ran after Jenny into the rainstorm. They followed her to the neighbor’s dock and down to the bay where they met a terrifying sight.
River’s kayak had turned over, and he was floating facedown in the water!
11
Eva paced back and forth, occasionally looking out the office window. In between waiting on a guest and answering the phone, she made repeated trips to the lagoon and waded out into the water, looking west.
Jenny’s failure to come back with Mr. Egan made her very anxious. Returning to the office, she poked her head inside the attached manager’s apartment, where Lillian was sitting at a table going over that month’s invoices.
Lillian looked up from her work and recognized Eva’s panic. “Anything yet?” asked Lillian.
“No sign of them,” confided Eva, “and I don’t want to go rushing after them, but the storm is coming in.”
“Didn’t Mr. Egan promise to be back before the storm?”
“He assured me that they would be back in plenty of time.”
Lillian smiled as she reached out and gently touched Eva’s arm. “Then he’ll be back.”
Eva impulsively turned to look out the office window and nervously chewed her nails. “I know, I know, but what if something happened?”
Lillian got up from the table and joined Eva at the window. “I know we mothers are conditioned to always think the worst, but nine times out of ten, it turns out there’s a simple explanation, like they stopped off and got some lemonade, and then lost track of time.”
“They can’t lose track of the sky. It’s really getting nasty-looking out there, and the wind is way up,” Eva argued.
“Maybe they stopped off at Mary’s?”
Eva shook her head. “Mary’s house is five miles away. Way too far for them to paddle, and even if they got to it somehow, they would have to stash the kayaks somewhere and then walk up the embankment to the highway and cross it. That would be too much for Mr. Egan.”
“Let’s call Mike. Maybe he’s heard from them.”
“He’s all the way down on Big Pine Key working on a house. I hate to bother him with this. After all, I was supposed to watch her. Oh gosh, what have I done letting her go with Mr. Egan? I don’t even know the man. What if he’s a . . .?”
“Don’t be silly. I have a nose for trouble like that, and he’s a gentleman through and through. You’re starting to imagine all sorts of outlandish things.”
Growing strain showed on Eva’s face as she tried to dismiss all sorts of nightmares from her mind.
Lillian shut off her adding machine. “Eva, you are driving yourself into a tizzy. Listen, I’ll watch the front desk. These bills can wait. Go on and search for them. I’m sure you’ll find them as soon as you round the first bend, and they will only be too glad to get a tow back to the motel.”
Eva grinned and grabbed the boat keys out of her pocket. “Thanks, Lillian.”
As she was running out the office door, she heard Lillian yell, “Call me when you find them.”
Looking up at the threatening sky, Eva murmured, “Let’s hope I find them.”
12
Eva slowly edged the boat forward, looking through her binoculars. After not finding them in the first mile, Eva became ultra-concerned, and waved down some fishing boats coming in.
No, they hadn’t seen a little girl and an older man kayaking.
Grimacing at the replies, Eva began to really panic. She thanked the fishermen and continued down the bay side of Key Largo.
Water slapped the sides of the boat, and it began to rain in earnest. Now fear began to gnaw at Eva’s stomach. Maybe Jenny had drowned.
Tears burned Eva’s eyes, as she could no longer keep terrible thoughts from her mind. If something had happened to Jenny, Eva’s life would be over. Not only would she have lost the only child she would ever raise, but her marriage to Mike would be over. He would never forgive her–and she could never forgive herself.
Increasing the boat’s speed, Eva checked every rocky bank, every tiny beach, every mangrove, every dock, and circled every tiny island for the next several miles.
“They can’t have gotten this far,” she muttered.
After looking at her sea charts, Eva turned the boat around and headed back. After going for a half mile, she noticed two kayaks tied up and pushed under a small dock for safekeeping. She pulled out her binoculars and crossed her fingers for luck.
They had the Pink Flamingo logo on their sides!
No wonder she hadn’t spotted them when she was coming from the east. They could only be seen on the west side of the dock. As quickly as she could in the choppy water, Eva guided her boat to the dock, jumped out, and tied it up. She ran through the yard to the house and banged on the back door.
The door opened slowly and an elderly woman answered. “Yes?”
“Have you seen the people that were in those kayaks?” asked Eva, pointing to the tied-up kayaks.
“Goodness,” said the woman, opening her door. “Let’s get out of this rain.”
Eva gratefully stepped inside.
“John, get this woman a towel. She’s dripping on my kitchen floor.”
Eva grabbed the woman’s hand. “The people in the kayaks. A little girl and an older man. Do you know what happened to them?”
The woman pulled away. “Yes, the ambulance took them away, oh, must have been fifteen, twenty minutes ago. They were taken to the hospital.” She looked at Eva’s panicked face.
“Oh, that was my little girl. That’s my Jenny!”
“If you would just calm down, we’ll dry you off, and John will drive you.”
“What happened?” asked Eva.
The elderly woman beckoned to the kitchen table and chairs. She pushed some newspapers out of the way and sat down, while John, her husband, toddled in and handed Eva a beach towel.
“We had just gotten back from the store and pulled up . . .” her husband began.
“Only to discover an ambulance in our driveway,” interrupted the woman.
Eva cried, “Oh no! What about the little girl?”
“She’s all right, but the man had a heart attack or something like that,” said the woman, looking at her husband for confirmation.
John nodded. “Yep. Something like that. The ambulance took them both. Here now, dry off, and I’ll take you there straightaway.”
“I hate to bother you,” replied Eva.
“No bother a’tall. We like the excitement, don’t we, Hazel?”
Hazel grinned. “Yes. Nothing else to do at our age, but walk the beach and watch TV.”
“So it’s good for us to be needed again. Yep. You dry off, and I’ll take you.”
Eva hastily dried off and neatly folded the towel. “I’m ready if you are,” she said. Eva was desperate to get to the hospital.
“Okay. Now where did I put my keys?” murmured John.
“A
re they in the bowl by the door?” asked Hazel. “That’s where you always put them.”
“Nope. They’re not there.”
Hazel thought for a moment. “Maybe you left them in the car?”
John went outside to the car and returned with the keys. “I did, and we left the groceries in the car, too. I bet the ice cream’s all melted.”
“Oh, dear,” added Hazel.
“Let me,” offered Eva before hurrying out to an old Cadillac.
True enough, John and Hazel had forgotten to bring in their groceries.
Eva gathered the bags and brought them into the kitchen. With quick efficiency, she put all the chilled and frozen foods away.
“Well, that about does it,” replied John, looking at the empty bags. “Let’s get going.”
Eva patiently followed him out to the car, hoping that his driving would be a lot faster than his walking.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
It seemed to take forever to get to the hospital, but they finally arrived. The car had barely stopped before Eva jumped out and slammed the car door. “Thanks,” she yelled, hurrying to the emergency room door.
John was clearly disappointed. He had been hoping to go in with Eva, but now he had nothing new to tell his wife.
She would be disappointed, too. But at least their day had included some excitement, and Eva had saved their ice cream. That was something.
13
Eva ran into the emergency room and up to the front desk. “Do you have a little girl by the name of Jenny Bishop here?” she uttered.
“Eva! Eva!”
Eva heard Jenny call from one of the exam rooms behind the nurse’s station. “That’s her. Let me in,” demanded Eva. “I’m her . . . her mother.
A clerk buzzed the door so Eva could enter the emergency room proper.
“Jenny!” she cried as she searched the cubicles.
“Here I am!” the girl yelled.
Eva followed the sound of Jenny’s voice and pushed aside some curtains.
Jenny was sitting on an exam table clutching a small pillow. A doctor was seated next to the table and looked up from a chart she had been scribbling on. Jenny grinned with delight at seeing Eva.
Eva sighed with relief. “Oh, Jenny!” She would have grabbed Jenny and twirled her about the cubicle if not for the doctor.
“You can put your shirt back on, Jenny,” the doctor said. “Hi. I’m Doctor Short.” The doctor stood and held her hand out to Eva.
“That’s my mommy,” chirped Jenny, pulling a hospital shirt over her head.
Eva asked, “Is she all right?” She held her breath.
“Oh, yes,” replied Doctor Short, smiling at Jenny. “Nothing that a good meal and a nap can’t cure.”
“Thank God,” whispered Eva. “What about River Egan, the older man Jenny was brought in with?”
“Are you family?”
“No. He’s staying at my motel. He and Jenny were caught in the storm together.”
“I’m afraid I can’t discuss him if you are not family, but I can tell you that he was admitted.”
“I think the ambulance man said he had a heart attack, Mommy,” said Jenny.
Eva noticed that Jenny had called her Mommy twice. That had never happened before. At another time she might have burst into tears of joy, but right now she had a responsibility to Mr. Egan, since he was one of her guests. Eva looked questioningly at the doctor.
“I can’t deny or confirm that,” the doctor replied, winking at Jenny, “but he will be with us for a day or so. I can say this. If your daughter had not been so level-headed and resourceful, Mr. Egan might have passed away. He apparently fell out of his kayak and was drowning when Jenny helped pull him out of the water.”
“I had to get out and push the kayak after Mr. Egan said he felt bad. Then I found help,” Jenny confirmed, basking in the attention.
Eva smiled at Jenny with such pride she thought her heart might burst. “What about Mr. Egan’s family? Has his daughter been notified?”
“You can check with the front desk. I don’t really know.” The doctor laid a friendly hand on Jenny’s shoulder, “Little Missy, you are perfectly all right and I’ve signed you out. You can go home, now. Just get something to eat as soon as you can, and get some rest.” Smiling, Doctor Short gave Jenny a light squeeze before she left the room.
“Wait here for just a minute, Jenny,” Eva instructed. “I want to talk with someone at the front desk.”
Eva hurried to the front desk and checked with the staff. She informed them that Mr. Egan’s daughter was staying at the Pink Flamingo Motel.
When the staff members looked puzzled, Eva said, “The old Last Chance Motel.”
“Ah,” replied one of the clerks. “I know where that is.”
“I don’t have my cell phone with me,” stated Eva. “Can you call the front desk of the Pink . . . I mean the Last Chance Motel and ask the front desk clerk–her name is Lillian–to notify Mr. Egan’s daughter, and to send a car for me?”
“Sure,” conveyed the clerk. “Give me the number, and I’ll call right now before we get another patient.”
Eva recited the motel’s main number and heard Lillian tell the hospital staff she would send a car pronto.
The helpful clerk put the phone down. “Your car should be here in twenty minutes. They’ll come to the back entrance, and Mr. Egan’s daughter will be notified by your staff.”
Reassured, Eva thanked the clerk and hurried back to Jenny, where she found her stepdaughter curled up and sound asleep on the gurney.
Eva picked Jenny up, even though she was getting too big to lift, and managed to carry her to the waiting room.
All the while, Jenny was sleeping the sleep of the virtuous. Eva realized a bomb could go off, but Jenny would stay in that deep, deep slumber children often entered.
“She called me mommy,” murmured Eva, hugging Jenny closer. She was sorry for Mr. Egan. He was a nice man, and she hated to see him suffer, but whatever had happened had been a breakthrough for Jenny. For that, Eva was grateful, and would be for the rest of her life.
14
River was eating rice pudding and watching The Price Is Right on TV when Mary walked into the room with a bouquet of flowers. His face lit up and could hardly contain his smile. “Hey, look who the cat drug in,” he gushed, setting down his pudding.
“You look pretty good for a dead man,” retorted Mary, putting the vase of flowers on a dresser next to the bed. She leaned over and kissed River on top of his head.
“And a kiss, too. I should have a heart attack every day.”
“So it was really a heart attack?” Mary asked, pulling a chair up next to the hospital bed.
“Naw. The doctor called it a heart episode.”
“What’s that?”
“Darned if I know. I guess it’s something between indigestion and a heart attack,” River laughed. “He said my electrolytes were screwed up. Anyway, the doc is letting me out tomorrow. I will have some medication to take for a while, and that’s it. Just no more paddling a kayak in a rainstorm.”
“Well, you’ll be going home soon. Make sure your doctor there knows about this ‘episode.’”
“You keep trying to chase me out of the state of Florida. Who says I’m going home? Who says I’m going anywhere? Ya know, like I said before, I kinda like it here. Lots of fogies hanging around so I have old farts like me to shoot the breeze with. Sunshine most days, and a really big ocean to take a dip into every now and then, maybe do a little fishing. Yep, you could say this place is absolutely growing on me.”
“You’re spouting nonsense. What about your daughter? Your grandson?”
River dismissed Mary’s comment with a wave of his hand. “They don’t need me, and truth be told, I think my daughter would be relieved if I wasn’t hanging around. As for my grandson, you know how I feel about him. I’ll be happy to spend time with him when he grows up and finally becomes human.”
Mary glan
ced at her watch. “I’ve got to go. I’m needed at the motel. I’m glad it wasn’t too serious and I hope you get well real soon, River. Best of luck to you.” Mary picked up her purse and turned to leave the room.
“Wait a minute. What about what I said?”
“I think you’re daft. You want to move down here? What in heaven’s name for?”
“Whaddya mean what for? I just told you what for. Besides, what about us?”
Mary felt exasperated, and her grip on her purse tightened till her knuckles went white. She took a small step backwards toward the door. “There is no ‘us.’ I keep telling you that.”
“Why not?” implored River.
“Why not?” echoed Mary. “Because I don’t want to spend my golden years taking care of a broken-down old mule like you. That’s why not. I’m perfectly happy with my life just the way it is. I have my son, my granddaughter, and now a lovely daughter-in-law.”
“What’s to say that you won’t drop dead before I do?” River asked.
“I’m not the one lying in a bed in the hospital now, am I?”
“You’re a chicken, Mary Bishop. A coward.”
“I guess I am a little gun-shy. I’ve already had one man die on me, and lost my daughter-in-law in a freak accident. I’m not up to having my heart crushed again. I just want to hang on to what I’ve got.”
“That is so much bullshit.”
“How dare you say that!” declared Mary, incensed. She took another step toward the door. “I don’t let any man talk like that to me.”
River grinned and teased, “Well, I will talk to you like that. You’re just full of malarkey, Mary. You know that?”
“I was genuinely concerned about you, River, but I must say that now I’m sorry I came,” huffed Mary as she hurried out of the room.
“No, you’re not,” River called after her. “You know I’m right.” He would have run after her, but the tangle of wires and tubes attached to him made it impossible to get out of the bed. He leaned back on his pillows and broke into a hearty laugh that filled the room and beyond, following Mary down the hall. He could hear Mary’s hurried footfalls as she stomped away.
