Paulette Smalls - Come and get it!

On one of the end tables she saw the telephone, and remembered her promise to Bev back home. When she arrived safely in Miami, she was supposed to call up Bev – asking for herself – so that Bev would know everything was all right. Kicking her shoes off, Val pushed aside one of the suitcases, and sat down on the bed. On the telephone there was a complicated list of instructions for making cabs, but she was in no mood to read it. She picked up the receiver and dialed the operator.

"Operator, I'd like to place a long distance call, person-to-person, to…"

"You can dial that directly, you know."

"Yes, operator, I realize that." Val sighed with exasperation. "Would you please place the call for me anyway. It's a long distance, person-to-person call to a Mrs. Beverly Adamson, Long Island, New York."

"One moment, please."

While she was waiting for the call to go through, Val opened the wide, deep drawer of the night table on which the telephone rested. Inside was a handful of pamphlets for tourist attractions, some post cards and stationery from the hotel, and a Bible. She pushed the drawer closed with her knee.

"Hi, Bev, it's me!" Val cried out, glad to hear a familiar voice. Bev was arguing with the operator, trying to tell her that Mrs. Valerie Barstow was not in at the moment. She was so intent on following instructions that she failed to realize Val had asked for her instead of herself, as they planned. "Beverly, it's me – Val."

"Val?" Bev's voice sounded confused. "But I thought we weren't…"

The operator whined nasally.

"Take the call, Bev," Val insisted. "I'll explain in a second."

A moment later, Beverly was on the line alone, without the operator. "What's the matter, Val? Was the plane delayed or something?"

"What do you mean? I'm calling you from Florida. I'm in my hotel room right now."

"But you sound so clear," Bev insisted. "The way you sound whenever I speak to you on the phone. How could it be that you're there already? What have I been home from the airport for, an hour? An hour an a half? How could you get to Florida so quick?"

"Two hours and twenty-five minutes, Bev, from Kennedy to the airport here in Miami. Figure another half hour to get from the airport to the hotel. It's been – what?" She consulted her watch. "A little bit more than three hours since I took off."

"That's amazing. I can't believe it. You sound so close!" Bev thought for a moment.

"Say, how come you asked for me? I thought you were supposed to…"

"I felt like talking to somebody. All of a sudden I felt all alone in the world. It was a little spooky, I guess. There are good and bad things about being on your own, as I'm about to find out, I suspect."

"So tell me: how was the flight? How is it down there? What's the weather like?"

Val grinned. "The flight was spectacular. Oh, God, it was so beautiful – the sky, the clouds. So blue the sky was, and the clouds – like cotton. It was breathtaking, especially when we broke through the clouds when we were going to land. You could see everything – green patches of fields, rivers, wiggly highways with tiny little cars on them, everything. You know how it looks in the movies? Well, that's just the way it was. Beautiful."

Bev sounded excited. "You lucky dog," she said, forgetting herself, then remembering too late. She paused awkwardly, then tried to steer the conversation another way. "Uh, weren't you frightened or anything?"

"No, not at all. There was, hardly any sensation of motion at all. It was like riding on a giant elevator."

"I hate flying. It just scares the hell out of me."

Val found herself rubbing her hands up and down over her thighs and knees. She found a small stain on the skirt of her dress, and she scratched at it with her fingernail.

"Say, have you heard anything from Doug?" she asked.

"From Doug? Why would he get in touch with me?"

Val shifted on the bed. "No reason. I just thought that maybe – you know. Being next door neighbors and all, I just thought you might have noticed – something…"

"No, I haven't seen Doug at all."

"You didn't notice if the car was in the driveway, did you?"

"No. Do you want me to look?"

"No, no, that's all right," she quickly said. Val laughed nervously. "Say, you didn't happen to notice whether he's received any visitors? Any female visitors?"

"That I would have noticed," Bev said. "If you want, I'll keep an eye open and let you know."

Val shook her head. "No, don't bother." She felt foolish, embarrassed. "I don't think I really want to know anyhow."

Bev sounded sympathetic. "Yeah, I know what you mean. He didn't tell you – uh – where he was going to spend his vacation, did he?"

"No, he didn't. No questions, asked, at all. I was just… wondering. Curious, that's all."

"Yeah, I know."

"But, God, you should see Miami. It's beautiful. And it's changed so much since I was here last. That was on our honeymoon," she added thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I'll bet it is. Probably all built up and everything. And crowded, I'll bet. Say; you never told me how it was down there, the weather and all. Is it hot? Sunny?"

"When we landed," Val said, grateful to have something neutral to talk about, "the pilot announced the temperature. Eighty-three."

"Sonofabitch, and here it's already over ninety. And humid! Makes you feel like you want to peel your skin right off. I hate summer."

"It's beautiful here. A cool breeze blowing in from the ocean. I can see the beach from my window. In fact, I'm looking at it right now. The sea is very, very blue up to a point, then it turns a deep, bright green. Really, it's quite spectacular."

For some reason, the conversation lapsed into a long silence, and Val found herself staring out through the glass doors, looking at the beach. The ocean was rolling in noiselessly, foamy white bubbles breaking off the tops of waves, and hundreds of bathers splashed and swam and littered the endless stretch of bleached sand. Everything looked so faraway and small, as if none of it had anything at all to do with her life. She felt cut off from them, cut off from the rest of the world.

"How you feeling?" Bev asked finally.

The sound of her voice brought Val back. "Oh, all right, I guess. As well as can be expected. It's too soon, really, to feel any different."

"It must be rough."

Val shrugged philosophically. "But necessary. I guess there's not much I can do about it. I've just got to think; get my head right. Then – who knows?"

"Are you scared?"

"A little. But – it's exciting. Really, it is. It's like I'm on this great adventure. For the first time in six years, Bev, I'm on my own. Nobody there next to me, no Doug to count on. It's scary… but exciting."

Bev giggled knowingly. "Meet any… men yet?"

Val flushed with pride. "No, but I got flirted with three times. That's something that hasn't happened in years. Being on your own can do wonders for a woman's ego."

"Three times! Tell me about them."

Val shrugged it off. "Oh, it was nothing big. The man next to me on the airplane, some salesman for a publishing house, he invited me out to dinner…"

"Are you going to go?"

"No. Don't be silly."

"What about the other two?"

"At the airport a soldier or marine tried to pick me up. He wanted to help me with my luggage. The other one was, the cabdriver who took me from the airport. He kept on telling me he'd drive me around Miami for free. Only the kind of driving he was talking about you don't do in a cab."

"Are you going to – do anything?"

Val smiled. "Do anything?"

"You know what I mean. You know… if you meet the right guy, are you gonna… mess around? I mean, Doug would never know, right?"

"I haven't thought that far in advance," Val lied. "But, I guess, if I met the right man – why not? No questions asked."