Ken Douglas - Ragged Man

She’d thought J.P. was over that horrible day. He was resilient and she’d thought, no hoped, that he’d bounced back, but apparently that story about the Ragged Man gave his memory something to hang on to. She wished he would let it go.

“ Maybe you saw a dog or something out back, but that doesn’t mean it was the Ghost Dog and who started calling it that anyway?”

“ All us kids call it that.”

“ If you and the other kids are seeing anything, it’s probably just someone’s big dog running loose.”

“ Okay, Mom, let’s not talk about it anymore.”

“ Okay.” She felt like he was shutting her out and she hated it.

“ J.P.,” came the booming voice of Wolfe Stewart, “we missed you this morning.” Judy turned and saw the bearded captain approaching.

“ I didn’t feel like getting up, Captain.”

“ Really, you?”

“ J.P. hasn’t been feeling well lately,” Judy said.

“ Well I got some news that will perk you up.”

“ What?” J.P. asked.

“ Rick called a couple of days ago. He said he’ll be back soon.”

“ Oh boy! Mom did you hear that, Rick’s coming back. He’ll know what to do about the Ghost Dog.”

“ What?”

“ It’s nothing Wolfe, just a fantasy.”

“ Is not.”

“ J.P.!”

“ It’s nothing, Captain,” the boy said, understanding the tone of his mother’s voice.

“ Coming up front, J.P.?” the captain asked as he turned to leave.

“ Mom, I’m going up front to fish with the guys. Okay?”

“ That’s fine J.P., I think I’ll get some breakfast. You want to use my rod?”

“ Okay.”

Judy handed him the rod and watched as they started for the bow.

“ Wolfe,” Judy called after the captain.

“ Yes.” He turned back to face her.

“ Where is Rick now?” She didn’t know why she wanted to know.

“ He’s visiting a friend in L.A.”

“ Christina Page?”

“ I wouldn’t know. All I do know,” he said, with an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes, “is that he called and asked how you and J.P. were doing.” He paused for a second, as if in thought. “Oh yeah, and he told me he’d be back soon.”

“ Thank you.”

“ It’s nothing,” the captain said, dodging a fisherman on his way to the bait tank.

“ Oh, Captain,” she called again.

“ Yes.”

“ Why didn’t he call me if he wanted to know how we were?”

“ That’s a good question.” He smiled his answer, then with a wave, he left and went back to the front of the boat, leaving Judy to ponder what he’d said.

She suspected that Rick was staying with Christina Page. Christina was one of his old bootleg cronies and bootleg cronies stuck together.

Having been married to one of them, Judy knew about Rick’s four big customers: Evan, the Rolling Stones collector in New York; her ex-husband, Tom, the Led Zeppelin collector in Toronto; Danny, the Bob Dylan collector in New Orleans; and Christina Page, the Beatle collector in Long Beach.

She stopped her reminiscing and made her way to the galley to replace the spilled coffee. She took the steps down to the galley, bouncing through the door, smiling at the old men playing poker in one of the four booths.

“ How’s it going, guys?”

“ Great,” a bucktoothed man named Henry said, “except for the fact that I’m losing my shirt.”

“ You guys paid to fish,” she said.

“ And we’re gonna, right after this hand.”

Judy took the booth across from the poker players and watched as Henry won the hand with a queens over tens full house. She wished them luck as they made their way topside to wrestle with the Pacific for their dinner.

“ I’ll be back in a flash.” The cook dropped a plastic menu on her table. “Nature calls and I need a break.”

“ Take your time, I’m not in a hurry.”

“ Coffee pot is behind the counter, I’ll be back in fifteen or twenty.” He took the steps two at a time, leaving Judy alone in the galley, studying the menu.

“ Mind if I join you?”

She looked up to see a big man with close cropped hair.

“ No, of course not, I’d appreciate the company.” She was drawn to his steel gray eyes.

“ I don’t like fishing,” he said.

“ Then why come out on an all day fishing boat?”

“ I’m in town awhile, kind of on vacation, and I was bored. But now instead of being bored in a nice warm motel room at six in the morning, I’m bored on a freezing cold fishing boat in the middle of the ocean.”

“ I’m a little bored myself.” Judy laughed, catching his smile.

“ Then let’s be bored together,” he said.

“ What a marvelous idea. Would you like some coffee?” She rose and walked behind the counter, without waiting for his answer, and poured two cups.

“ Black.”

“ Two black coffees coming up.” She carried the cups back to the table and set them down.

“ Thanks,” he said.

“ My name is Judy Donovan.” She held out her hand.

“ Sam Storm,” the handsome gray-eyed man said, taking her hand.

Judy hung up the phone with a smile. It had been a long time since she’d been out with a man. She was looking forward to dinner. The dinner didn’t really seem like a date, more like extending the long conversation that was interrupted when the Seawolf docked. She checked the wall clock, 4:30. An hour and a half and she had much to do.

She waltzed out of the kitchen and danced up the stairs. She was acting like a girl on her first date and it felt good. Sam Storm might be closing on sixty, but he was still a head turner, and he was a charmer. The way he looked at her made her feel wanted. Of course, she told herself, she was probably imagining it. Men didn’t go out of their way to meet a small town woman with a child.

At the top of the stairs, she entered the bathroom, whirling in front of the full length mirror, keeping her eyes on her reflection as she spun around. Her new figure looked good. She had been without sex for so long, she wondered what it would be like.

She unbuttoned her shirt and slid it off with a fluid motion. Her jeans and panties followed. She kicked them out of the bathroom and shivered into the shower. It wasn’t cold, but goosebumps ran up, down and around her body. The hot shower failed to calm her. She was excited.

She shampooed her hair and rinsed. Conditioned her hair and rinsed. Added more conditioner, shaved her legs, rinsed again. Changed blades, shaved again. Shut off the water, toweled off. Dried her hair, smiled at the mirror. She was ready.

Ready but naked, she laughed to herself.

She padded out of the bathroom to her bedroom. She thought for an instant about what to wear, then selected a lavender silk blouse and tight CK jeans. She decided against bra, panties or panty hose.

She slid her bare feet into a beige pair of low heels and dashed down the stairs. Only thirty minutes had passed since she’d hung up the phone. An hour to go. Forever.

“ Wait a minute,” she told herself out loud. “What am I doing? I’m not that kind of woman!” Never had she planned on sex before a date. And this wasn’t a real date. It was dinner, nothing more.

She marched back upstairs, unbuttoning the silk blouse as she took the steps. She shucked it off as she entered the bedroom. Then she dropped the CKs. Moving toward her dresser, she thought that maybe she was going a little crazy. A year and a half without a man was a long time. From her top drawer she found a frilly bra and matching cotton panties. The next drawer down yielded a cotton Hawaiian print dress. She put it on, then plucked an elastic out of a box on top of the dresser and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

A horn honked. He was early. Grabbing her purse on her way to the door, she hoped she wasn’t doing something stupid. All thoughts of a smooth prince vanished when she saw the dusty Ford. She put on a brave smile and jumped in the car. He honked the horn, she thought, he didn’t even come to the door.