Read Online Of Sea and Cloud by Jon Keller - Free Book Online Page B

I’m thinking, he said.
    How much you got to think about that? I know you was with Bobbi-Jo for a full year or more.
    Bill dumped the fish out and tossed the tray on top of the first one. So?
    Well I’m asking if you loved her.
    I don’t know, Erma Lee, hell. Did you love Randy or Clifford or any of them boys?
    That ain’t fair, Bill. That ain’t fair at all.
    He stopped in front of her and held the hook with the fish tray in tow. Sweat trickled down his temple and he wiped it with his shoulder. Now you’re going to have to spell out to me why that ain’t fair.
    They was just quick boyfriends. Not real loves.
    So Bobbi-Jo Norton was a real love and Clifford Beal weren’t?
    I knew it, she said.
    Bill dragged the tray outside and dumped it on the scow. When he turned around he said, I thought I loved her but I was a kid.
    It was only a year ago, Bill.
    I done grew quick. Now shut up about it and do something.
    What should I do?
    See that dark spot on the wall? He pointed. Where the knot’s at on the wood?
    Yeah, I see it.
    Lean your forehead on it till I’m ready for you.
    Ain’t you gonna pay for that, she said and turned so red that he had to smile. She backed away as he approached her and when she’d backed against the wall her eyes darkened. She held her elbows out as he hugged her and she turned her cheek when he tried to kiss her.
    I do love you, he said.
    You better love me. You’re a baboon about it though.
    She watched him in silence as he dragged six more trays across the room and dumped them onto the scow. He grabbed a shovel from the wall and said, Come on down.
    He climbed down the wooden ladder to the scow. He pulled the pin on the outboard and lowered the prop into the water and turned the fuel on and opened the air valve on the gas tank and choked it and pulled it three times before it started.
    Erma Lee followed him down and stepped hesitantly onto the wooden scow. The stern sank and water came up to their ankles with both of them on it. Bill throttled the engine to keep it running as a cloud of blue two-stroke smoke rose around him.
    Untie her, he said.
    She worked the knot on the stern free and Bill left the outboard and walked with the shovel over the pile of fish racks and untied the bow. He pushed it off and said, Okay, you drive.
    I can’t drive this thing, Bill.
    Twist the throttle and point where you want to go.
    She twisted the throttle and the engine wound hard but they didn’t move.
    Hold on, Bill yelled. Hold on.
    The engine wound at full throttle.
    Christ, he yelled and climbed back over the fish and turned the throttle down. The engine quieted. Be gentle, he said, and he turned it partway. Like a car. You ain’t got to have her in the bucket the whole time. Go slow.
    We didn’t go nowhere.
    You got to put it in gear. He flicked a small lever and turned the throttle and they motored away from the wall.
    Well you neglected that information.
    He went back to the bow. Now just go slow around the pound and don’t run her aground.
    Where’s the ground?
    The fucking edge. Don’t hit the edge. Keep her in the water.
    Well I never got to drive one before.
    You’ll be a pro in a few minutes. He pushed the fish racks into the water a few at a time as they circled. They made one lap around the pound and he pointed her to the center and she steered toward a small lobster buoy. Bill set his shovel on the fish racks and stooped over and pulled the buoy out of the water. Small waves lapped over the scow edge. Everything was dark except the small body of water. Bill hauled up a big mesh bait bag and pulled it inside out. It was empty.
    They’re hungry, he said. He broke a few tails off the racks and threw the heads overboard and put the tails in the bag.
    What’s that? Erma Lee said.
    He straightened. This here’s a feedbag. When it’s empty you figure they need fed. If it’s full they still got enough to