Lake 4

T S Brock Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

    Audrey dragged her buffalo skin suitcase up the steps like a hunter. Naomi opened the door with a skeleton key. There was sunshine everywhere, the kitchen was immaculate, and the furniture was clean and attractive though minimal and relatively antique. Audrey was visibly in a state of awe and relief. It was like walking onto the stage of a movie set.

    “Here’s your new home.” Naomi offered.

    “Damn, this is nice, but it’s just …well… too perfect.” Audrey slid the buffalo suitcase into the living room feeling the pain in her arms subside.

    “That’s because the last tenant was a real clean freak. He mopped the floor every morning and who knows what else.” Naomi said. “But you don’t have to… that would be a real pain in the ass. I mean, to be honest, Melvin was a real pain in the ass.”

    “What do you mean?” Audrey sighed. Then she plopped down onto a silk-covered sofa.

    “Not a big deal.” Naomi gently pulled Audrey’s suitcase into the bedroom. “The poor guy met his end at the lake. He just up and died. Had a heart attack on a hike.”

    “Oh, not good… Was he old?” Audrey asked.

    ” Ninety.” They both chuckled under their breath.

    “Anywhere to get something to eat around here?” Audrey brushed a bead of sweat from her brow.

    “Of course. You must be starving.” Naomi pointed to the window. “There’s a place just across the street.”

    “What about your store.” Audrey jumped up in anticipation.

    “Ah, Bill will take care of it.” They descended the stairs to the front of the store. “Bill, you back there.” Audrey sang out. There was a banging sound coming from the back and something fell to the floor.

    “What’s that? Yes, yes…”

    “I’m going across the street.”

    “OK. Got it. Yep…” Bill called from the shadows.

    Naomi took Audrey by the arm and they walked across the baking hot street to a restaurant and bar on the corner.

    “Bill your husband?” Audrey asked.

    “Yes. But he had a hard time in the war…”

    “Hmmm…”

    “Darling… Bill was in the Japanese War in the Pacific.”

    “Is he OK?”

    “Not really, but… I’m taking care of him. He’s still there in some sense, but the poor man is damaged.”

    “I’m sad for that.” There was a short pause.

    “I must ask you.” Naomi looked deeply into Audrey’s eyes. “Why did you come here Audrey?”

    “I needed a job.”

    “Yes. I know that. But really…”

    “I’m really hungry… How’s the chow at this joint?”

    “It could be worse.” Naomi offered.

    At the restaurant, Audrey was out of sorts for a few moments and Naomi helped her to a chair at the back of the shop. The French décor was not French, and the food was definitely not French, but it tried to be French. The sophisticated clientele, as far as the midwestern pallette may permit, order pan-fried walleye fillet, which is somewhat sautéed, with scalloped potatoes and boiled spinach finished with a rosemary butter sauce. To wash this meal down, the regulars drink brandy and cheap wine and help themselves with an extraordinary number of breadsticks.

   “Please bring some water and a bottle of Bordeaux.” Naomi ordered. It came almost instantaneously, and they began to drink, water first, then wine. Then food. Then conversation. Then laughter. Then a kinship began to form between them, like a friendship that occasionally appears with a magic seemingly out of nowhere.