Captains Outrageous (8 page)

“No,” I said. “It isn’t. Fact is, I haven’t had all that much myself. It’s my fault. You can want too much, but you can want too little as well. I think I’ve wanted too little. Your father, he seems content, and that’s fine. But it’s all right you want something more. I think he could do without you, he had to. He seems independent.”

She smiled at me, reached to take my glass, touched my hand. She leaned forward, stared at me. “Would you kiss me?”

It didn’t seem like a chore. “Yes I would,” I said, and did. I liked it so much, I did it again. I don’t know exactly how it happened, but the next moment she was out of her chair and in my lap, and we were kissing deeply. She smelled good, her hair was soft, and her lips were sweet.

Still, part of me felt bad about the whole thing. Sort of like I was cheating on Brett. But Brett had gone her own way. I had no reason to feel guilt. No reason at all.

Another part of me felt as if I were taking advantage of a lonely woman who had had too much wine, but that part wasn’t speaking too loudly. Hell, I had had too much wine.

I kissed her deeply. She ran her hand between my legs and took hold of me and squeezed, and soon I had her in my arms and was carrying her to the empty bedroom. I laid her on the bed and helped her undress, pulling her shoes off, her jeans, her sweatshirt over her head, unfastening her bra and removing her panties.

I stood by the bed and removed my clothes and removed my wallet and took out a prophylactic and gave it to her. She laid it beside her. I climbed onto the bed. She stroked me and finally took the rubber from the package and slipped it over me, then she spread her legs and took hold of her knees and pulled them up so that they were damn near touching her ears.

I entered into her, and in spite of the prophylactic, it felt so good, and it had been so long, I almost came on the spot. It was tempting to just go ahead and let it go, but I fought being selfish. I did the times tables for a while, till they got beyond me, then I tried to remember how to cook a couple of Mexican dishes and thought about the theme songs from favorite TV shows, finally got hold of myself. Then I was relaxed, making love, keeping control on my needs, administering to hers. She knew just how to coax me along, knew what to whisper in my ear, where to put her fingers, how to touch me.

We did it in that position for a while, then she rolled over and I took her from the rear.

Finally, to both our satisfaction, we finished in the traditional position, her letting go first, then me.

It wasn’t as wild as it was with Brett, who could do more tricks with a six-inch dick than a monkey could with a hundred feet of grapevine, but Beatrice’s love-making was slyer than Brett’s, calculated as if by script.

She was certainly a woman of experience, and it was exactly what I needed, and from all observation, what she needed as well. As that ol’ Merle Haggard song goes, “It ain’t love, but it ain’t bad.”

We lay together and I thought about the day. I had been on a cruise, off a cruise, seen famous ruins, been in a fight. My best friend had been knifed, we had been saved by a wild old Mexican with a machete who turned out to be very nice and had a lovely daughter, and Leonard’s awful hat had been destroyed. The lovely daughter had fed me and fucked me, and now I lay me down to sleep.

I wondered what Brett was doing.

Maybe what I had been doing.

Wrong approach.

I closed my eyes.

I pulled Beatrice close.

And wondered again what Brett was doing.

No future in that.

Finally, I slept.

13

N
EXT MORNING
I
ROSE
while Beatrice slept, dressed, went in to check on Leonard. He opened his eyes when I walked into the room.

“Morning,” I said.

“Morning. My, you look happy. Been poundin’ the possum, ain’t you?”

“Now that you mention it, yes.”

“I can always tell. You have that smug look and the eyes get hooded, like Robert Mitchum.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. I said, “Now what?”

“Well, now that you’ve had what you need, have taken advantage of a poor peasant girl—”

“Hah.”

“—I don’t think we want to stay here.”

“Very good. But that isn’t exactly a plan. How’re you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been wiped, flushed, and I’m on my way out to sea. I’m bored enough to collect farts and name them, yet I don’t feel like I could do much. I’m lucky I had good stomach muscles, or I’d be dead.”

“You’re lucky he had a short knife,” I said. “Your stomach muscles aren’t that good.”

“And yours aren’t good at all.”

“What I have are table muscles. They’re more subtle. Look, I’ll see if Beatrice will take us into town. Maybe we can make a phone call there.”

“How would we get out of here? Get back to the U.S. Pontoon boat?”

“I haven’t a clue. Question is, are you up to it?”

Leonard tried to rise, said, “You know what? I’m not up to it.”

“Then we better not arrange a way out yet. You don’t need to travel, you feel that bad.”

“You don’t hear me fighting with you.”

“Then you are hurt,” I said. “I’ve never known you to give in to me that easy.”

“You got a point, bucko.”

“Lie down. I’ll see I can rustle you up some breakfast.”

I left out of there, discovered Beatrice was up and moving toward the kitchen. I followed. She smiled at me.

“Last night was very good,” she said.

“Yes it was.”

“It meant something to me, but I do not want you to think it meant everything. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“Good. Are you hungry?”

“I am. And so is Leonard.”

“How is he?”

“Better, but not up to snuff. I know you want us to leave out, Beatrice. And we will. But maybe another day or two for Leonard to rest.”

Suddenly she became very hard. “One more day. No more than that.”

“Fine,” I said. “One more day.”

She put some grounds in a pot and started coffee. It was so dark and rich with aroma it made my nose hairs quiver. I had a feeling it wasn’t decaf. She located some more bread and cheese and took it to Leonard. We sat in the room with him and ate the same. Beatrice brought us cups of coffee. After two cups I felt as if I had been blackjacked and ass-kicked.

In spite of the food and coffee, Leonard drifted back to sleep. Beatrice smiled at me. She wiggled her finger for me to come, stood up, and went out of the room.

We went back to her bedroom and went to bed. We made love one more time. I was lucky she wasn’t like Brett. I wouldn’t have had enough rubbers.

At least it had been that way for a while.

After we lay together for a while, Beatrice led me out on the back porch and showed me how a shower was set up there with a pull chain. The water was in a big tin reservoir. It was put there by the rain and sometimes brought in from outside, but there was only so much water, she said, so we showered together. Which wasn’t something I considered a drawback.

As I soaped her up in the pink morning light her breasts, damp with the water from the homemade shower, were dark and slick under my touch, and the thick nipples were tantalizing. I liked the way the soap foamed over them and the way the water plastered her hair to her head, which in the light of day I could see held streaks of gray. I liked the way the water beaded in her pubic hair. Her eyes were deep and dark, her face was full of an expression that showed me there was plenty to like and a lot that was hard to understand. She was a real mystery. I liked that. I liked it so much I kissed her.

*    *    *

About two that afternoon I helped Leonard make it out to the outdoor convenience, stood by outside while he finished, trying to stand far enough away I didn’t have to hear the usual bathroom sounds.

“It’s great to have a valet,” Leonard called through the toilet walls.

“Yeah, well, just don’t ask me to wipe your ass for you.”

“Hap?”

“What?”

“There’s a Mexican catalogue in here.”

“It’s Mexico, you moron.”

“I mean, that’s what you wipe your ass with. Pages from it.”

“Ouch.”

Back in the house, Beatrice, dressed in a simple white cotton dress with red and purple flowers stitched on it, searched through her shelf of books, found Leonard a book in English, Andrew Vachss’s
Dead and Gone
, left it with him along with a bottle of water, bread and cheese, and a cup of coffee.

She and I drove into town so I could try and make some kind of arrangements to get home. As we drove along with the sand blowing up and making clouds on the road, she said, “I was supposed to be at the boat this morning, to help.”

“What are you going to tell your father?”

“I will not tell him that I was servicing you.”

“I hear that. Hey. Wasn’t I servicing you too?”

“You were. You did good.”

“Great. Good dog. Want me to fetch your slippers?”

Beatrice laughed her musical laugh.

“Will he be mad?” I asked.

“No. He does not make me work on the boat. It is as I said last night. I feel obligated.”

“Thanks for going against your obligation this morning.”

“That is all right. Even the obligated must have, how do you say it, ashes hauled?”

“Close enough. But, you know, I hate it for your father. I mean, he helps us out, then we mess up his schedule. I make love to his daughter.”

“He likes to take José out. José goes with him often. José or his brothers. He enjoys being able to give them a little money. They are even poorer than we are. Father catches quite a few fish. But if he caught all the fish in the ocean, he would only make so much money. It is not a rich life, the life of a fisherman.”

“I hear that.”

In town we stopped at a little café near the dock. Outside the café the smell was briny and strong of fish. Inside the café there was the smell of cooking fish, and that unique smell of hot sauces and fresh tortillas.

I used some of the money I had to treat Beatrice to lunch, reminded myself to stop by later and get something for Leonard.

We had spicy fish with beans and rice and tortillas. As we ate, I halfway expected one of the cops from across the bay to come in, but that was probably just fearful thinking. Even though the towns of Playa del Carmen and Cozumel were separated only by water, it was enough water unless the renegade cops made regular pilgrimages here.

When we finished, Beatrice had coffee while I found a pay phone that worked near the restaurant and called John’s number using my calling card. I got the answering machine. I left a message outlining briefly what had happened. Where we were.

I called Charlie.

“Yes.”

“Hey, Hap. You gettin’ any cruise ship pussy?”

“No. Actually I’m in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.”

“Hey, getting any señorita pussy?”

“Actually, yes.”

“Female chihuahuas don’t count.”

“You’re just as funny as clown shoes.”

“Hey, I know it.”

“Listen. I got a little problem.”

“Oh, shit.”

“No. Nothing like that. Not the usual.”

“Anybody dead?”

“Not yet.”

I gave him the shortened version of events.

“Damn. Is Leonard bad?”

“Not bad, but hell, he took a knife. No little thing. It could have been a lot worse. It’s a small cut, not too deep. Which is a good thing. This isn’t exactly a medical Mecca here.”

“You guys. You’re somethin’. You could fuck up a wet dream. What do you need?”

“Well, mainly I wanted you to know what happened to us. And I think I’m going to need some money wired until I can get to my money on board the ship. Then I can pay you back.”

“How much you need?”

“Well, we’ll have to arrange for plane tickets. Stuff like that. I’ve got some money. But, since I’m not certain how long Leonard’s going to have to recoup, if we’re going to have to take a hotel or not, maybe a couple thousand. Three would be better.”

“Shit. Ask for ten. Same thing.”

“I know, Charlie. Maybe you could loan me some, a little from Marvin—”

“—Marvin’s in a fuckin’ wheelchair. What’s he gonna do? Run a little soapbox derby for extra bucks?”

“You know my deal. I’m actually good for it for once. And besides, even when I’m not good for it, I pay it back, don’t I?”

Charlie sighed. “I can ask.”

“Brett might loan you a little for me. Between the three of you, you might could scrape it up. Shit, man. A thousand would probably do it, we had to. Oh, and John, of course. He’s probably got the whole thing.”

“Why didn’t you call him?”

“I did. He wasn’t home.”

“So I was second choice?”

“Pretty much.”

“Look. I’ll see what I can do. Give me John’s phone number.”

I gave it to him.

“You know Brett’s?”

“I do.”

“I wouldn’t count on much there. I’m just being wistful. John’s probably the best bet.”

“All right. Who else?”

“I think that’s about all the people who like me. And some of them are a mixed bag. There’s a lawyer friend named Veil, but I have no idea where he is these days. And besides, I’m not sure he and Leonard truly like one another.”

“I know Veil,” Charlie said.

“You do?” I said.

“Everyone knows Veil. You got a number I can call you?”

“No. The lady we’re staying with doesn’t have a phone.”

“She the one you’re doing the hole punch with?”

“That’s an indelicate way of putting it. But yes. We’ll only be there today, though. Tomorrow, we have to head out.”

“Didn’t turn out so good, huh? Bad in the sack?”

“She was fine.”

“Hell, I meant you.”

“I was quite good, actually. She told me so.”

“Now there’s something you can depend on.”

“Charlie, I don’t know where to wire the money. I guess what I’ll do is call you back tomorrow, see if you could raise it, then I’ll let you know where to send it. I get the money I can book a plane flight.”

“Haven’t you got a credit card?”

“I do. But it’s one of those that has a low credit limit.”

“A kiddie card.”

“Pretty much. Something like three hundred dollars. I might even have enough with that and my cash and Leonard’s to put together two plane flights, but if we need to eat, anything goes wrong, well, we’d be screwed. Besides, I need to slip these people a little something. They didn’t ask, but the old man literally saved our lives. He patched Leonard up good and just in time. Without him and the antibiotics his daughter gave us, Leonard might be deceased.”

“All right, Hap. Give me a call tomorrow.”

“Done deal,” I said.

I went back to the café and joined Beatrice for coffee. The coffee was rich and black and almost took my breath away. Same as Beatrice’s eyes.

“When does your father come in?”

“Usually midday. And then he goes back. He used to stay on the boat all day. But now he fishes very early, comes back, goes out again late. He does not go too far. He does not have to. He seems to know where the fish are. This is one of the places he sells the fish to, this café. Perhaps the fish we ate is one he caught.”

“Doesn’t it bother you to eat a fish you know personally?”

“Not at all.”

“That seems inconsiderate.”

“Fuck the fish,” she said.

She saw me glancing at her little finger, the one with the tip missing.

“You wonder what happened?”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“Fishing line. A shark was caught. He jerked, the line tangled. It took off the tip of my finger.”

“I didn’t mean to stare.”

“It is all right.”

We wandered around Playa del Carmen, looking at the tourist shops. Actually, after one shop I was pretty much worn out. The rest were the same ol’ same ol’, but I put up with it because Beatrice seemed to think she was showing me a good time.

She suggested a ferry over to Cozumel, but I wanted to be available when her father showed and I didn’t want to give those cops the chance to see me again. I told her so.

“Of course,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking.”

All I could think about was Leonard back at their home, wounded, with nothing but bread and cheese to eat. I ought to get back there, and maybe it would be best to get him closer to town right away, one of the hotels. I might even be able to find a doctor, provided Charlie could rouse enough money.

I said, “Since you need us out tomorrow, we could walk around and see if I can find a hotel for me and Leonard. We actually had a room rented, but we didn’t show last night. We might can get a room there again.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Very well.”

We ended up at a different, cheaper, but nicer hotel. It was white stucco with a large palm near the front and a sign that translated something like the House of Siesta. Out front was a medium-sized yellow dog that looked croaked. It lay in the hot sun like a flapjack on a griddle. When we stepped over the dog, it wagged its tail, just to let us know it didn’t need burying.

Inside, Beatrice spoke Spanish to the man behind the desk. He had rooms.

“Shall I set you up?” she said.

I had been watching a couple of very large cockroaches practice sumo style shoving in the corner of the room. Kind of made me feel homesick, actually.

“Yes. Make it two nights. I want to give Leonard a little time to rest, time for the money to get here.”

She talked to the desk clerk. I gave him my charge card. Signed some papers. When he gave me back my card, Beatrice said, “Tonight, you two stay with us. I arranged for you a night after that. That is enough, is it not?”

I was surprised after what she had told me about wanting Leonard and me out, but I said, “Should be. If not, I can extend it. It doesn’t look as if people are knocking the doors off this place to get in.”