John Casey - Compass Rose

May called Elsie early the next morning. May said, “They’re keeping Dick in bed over at the hospital, but he’s all right. I expect Rose told you.”

“Yes. But thank you.”

“There is one other thing. Your brother-in-law called me. He was perfectly polite and said he was glad everyone’s safe. But then he said it’s better if we don’t talk about it. He said he’d prefer that we get together after Dick gets home. That way — I wrote down what he said — we can make a dignified joint statement.”

Elsie said, “That’s Jack, all right.”

“When I told Dick, he laughed. Then he swore at him. He said Jack Junior’s a poor fool, but Jack’s something worse. You know Dick gave the boy his survival suit. Dick wasn’t going to say anything, but now that Jack’s horning in, Dick’s in a state. I don’t blame him — I just don’t think it’ll do any good for him to go round talking the way he’s doing now. Maybe if he gets to talk more while he’s still in the hospital, he’ll get talked out. I put you on the list for this noon. I hope you’ll go.”

“Yes,” Elsie said. She pulled her bathrobe tighter around her. “I’m sorry Jack called you. On top of everything. You must have had a terrible day.”

“It went by pretty quick. From the time Tom told me until Charlie came, it wasn’t but an hour or so. Charlie came in and first thing he said was ‘It’s good news.’ Before then I had Rose and Tom with me. I should have asked you before — you’re all right, are you? Charlie said you took a turn.”

Elsie’s face twisted. When she opened her mouth there was a whoosh of breath.

May said, “What?”

“It was that little room,” Elsie said. “The air got thick.”

“Charlie said Captain Teixeira didn’t let up in the details, so that must’ve been hard, Dick being fished out, nobody knowing if he was drowned or frozen.”

Elsie had no idea what she said. She might not have said anything.

“Anyways,” May said, “he’s over there now, on the top floor. I’ll tell him you’re coming. Eddie’s going after supper. I had a time putting Phoebe off. I didn’t like hurting her feelings, but when she gets hold of a story …” May sighed. “You’d think we could just be thankful and have done with it.”

“Yes,” Elsie said. “I’m sure Phoebe will understand. You can say how you were in a daze.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I just meant—”

“I know what you meant. I’ll get it straight with Phoebe. Right now I’ve got to call Tony. There he was holding Dick on that piece of dory, so I want to thank him. At the same time I got to ask him to stop going round saying Jack Junior’s a Jonah.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” Elsie said. “He was the one who was swallowed by a whale.”

“A Jonah’s someone who brings bad luck to a ship. That’s why they chucked Jonah overboard.”

When May hung up, it took Elsie a moment to get her balance. What was odd was that May sounded so sure of herself, and yet she was submitting to Jack’s pompous edict. But one thing was clear — May told her to go see Dick.

It was Rose who saw it first. She said, “Mom, you’ve got a skunk stripe.”

“What are you talking about?” Elsie was still in her bathrobe, poking through her clothes to pick out a dress. She went into the bathroom to look in the mirror. Just to the side of the crown of her head there was a streak of white. She covered it with her hand.

Rose was standing behind her. “It’s okay, Mom. It’s cool. Really.”

Elsie took her hand away. She ran a brush through her hair, thinking the white might be mixed with the dark, that she could pluck the white like the occasional gray. The white was thick and pure all the way to the roots. Had she cut herself? Scraped her head when she fell over? No — her head had landed on Charlie’s shoe. Her body did this, as involuntarily as it had sprawled her across the floor in a faint.

“I told you, Mom. It looks good. Stop standing there staring — you’ll be late for Dad.”

The white streak was involuntary, but she would decide what it marked.

Rose held up a dress. “You look good in this.”

All right, then — everyone was urging her to go see Dick.

I was terrible,” JB said.

“I’m getting over it,” Mary said. “Can I trust you to make the coffee? I’m up to my wrist in cod. I hope you like codfish cakes. I season them myself, so don’t put ketchup on them.”

“This is how dumb I was. ‘Come live with me and be my love’ / And you will be half owner of / Two acres and a bungalow. / A sound investment for your dough. / And by the way, I’ll be your beau.”

JB came up next to her and stuck the piece of paper in the flame under the frying pan.

She said, “Oh, for God’s sake, don’t get any of that mess in my food.”

“I’m repenting in dust and ashes.”

“Fine, as long as it doesn’t slow you down making the coffee. And when you’ve put the coffee on, you could squeeze those oranges over there.”

While she’d been lying in bed she’d watched him scribbling at the kitchen table and muttering to himself. She’d woken up in a good mood, drowsily thinking of breakfast, remembering what she had in the fridge, finally settling on codfish cakes mixed with parsley, scallions, and minced green and red peppers. They’d fry up gold, dotted with red and green. She’d woken up with a sense of what breakfast would look like, but she’d also been seeing the colors of the field at sunset. She said, “It’s more than two acres. I’d say closer to three.”

“You’re right. It’s two-point-seven. I’ll write you a poem with two-point-seven.”

“Never mind your poems.” She flipped a codfish cake. She was enjoying bossing him around, and he seemed to understand it was breezy enough to be a good sign. “I’d like to have another look at the place. Just walk around at midday by myself. I’m not promising anything. But let’s say I think it’s a good proposition …” She flipped another. “If Jack Aldrich finds out I’m buying land he wants, he might just get mad enough to fire me. I don’t know enough about hiding things in corporations and holding companies and the like.” She flipped the third and fourth. “And since that sort of talk might send you off the deep end, I think I should meet your brother. I don’t mind being a fool about sharing a bed with you, but when it comes to money, I’d rather talk to your brother. Mind you, it’s all still if . Of course, since he’s your brother, I’d have to find a lawyer of my own for the final deal. That enough romance for you? Have I swept you off your feet?” JB laughed.

He didn’t say a word while they ate. She finally said, “You’re showing off. You’re showing off being silent.”

“When I’m happy I talk a lot. When I’m really, really happy I don’t talk as much.”

“I didn’t say yes, I said maybe.”

“I know. I’m just enjoying the way your mind works. And I’m thinking how my brother will approve. He won’t say anything, but he’ll breathe a sigh of relief.”

“I hope you’re not thinking I’m going to take over from him. A little incapacity in a man can be charming. Like not being able to tie a bow tie. Complete helplessness is another matter altogether.”

JB said, “What I meant was—” but then the phone rang.

It was Rose. She started so fast that Mary only heard a few words— Spartina , Dad, hospital. Mary said, “Rose, Rose, wait. Is he all right?”

“Yes. He’s in the hospital, but they’re just making sure. Here’s the thing. The reason he didn’t have his survival suit on is that he gave it to Jack Junior. You’d think Uncle Jack would be falling all over himself with gratitude, but he’s being a shithead. Now he’s saying it was Dad’s job to have survival suits on board. Mom’s furious at him. Aunt Sally is mad at Uncle Jack and Mom. Anyway, don’t be surprised when you get to Sawtooth and run into Uncle Jack. I just thought I’d warn you. Oh, May’s put you on the list so you can go see Dad.”