Don’t get into it, the Captain said.
I CAN COME IN HERE IF I WANT TO! the girl shouted. You can’t tell me what to do!
LEAVE HER ALONE! Lila said.
The woman looked at her in astonishment. This is OUR STORE! she said.
Jesus Christ, let’s go, the Captain said.
The woman still didn’t let go of the girl.
Lila exploded, Just LEAVE her ALONE or I’ll call the police!
The woman let go of the girl. The girl ran out past Lila and the Captain through the doorway of the store. The store woman glared at her. Then she glared at Lila. But there was nothing she could do now.
It was over. Lila and the Captain went out. Outside the girl looked at her and did a quick little smile, and then skipped away.
What the hell was that all about? the Captain said.
She made me mad.
Everything makes you mad.
I have to do that, Lila said. Now I’ll feel fine all night.
At a liquor store they bought two fifths of blended and two quarts of mix and a bag of ice. They were really loaded down now as they walked back down the narrow street to the little white house where the boat was.
What did you get into that argument for? the Captain asked. It wasn’t any of your business.
People are so mean to kids, Lila said.
I would have thought you might have enough problems of your own, the Captain said.
She didn’t say anything. But it felt good. She always felt better after she lost her temper like that. She didn’t know why but she always did.
As they walked down to the river the Captain didn’t say a word. He was mad. That was all right, she thought. He’d get over it.
At the dock it was so dark the dinghy was hard to see. She had to watch her step. She didn’t want to drop all this food.
The Captain set his bag full of groceries down on the dock and untied the dinghy. Then he told Lila to get in. Then he handed everything to her and then he got in himself. With all the bags between them it was hard for him to row so he took just one oar and paddled on one side and then the other.
As she looked back she could see that the big long bridge was like a shadow, all lit up from behind with the light in the sky from New York. It was so beautiful. She put her hand in the water and it felt warm.
Suddenly she felt really good. She knew they would go to Florida together. It was going to be a good night.
When they reached the dark side of the boat the Captain held the dinghy steady while Lila climbed up the ladder. Then in the dark he handed her the tote bags full of groceries again and she set them on the deck.
Then while he climbed aboard and tied off the dinghy to the boat she carried the bags down below.
She pushed a light switch on the side of what looked like an overhead light and it worked, although it wasn’t very bright. She took the bottles of whiskey and mix out of a tote bag, and stored the extra mix and the ice in the icebox. The rest of the food she took out of the bags so she could get her shower stuff. She got it all out and went over and put it in her suitcase on the pilot berth, except the towel which was damp. She hung that on the edge of the pilot berth to dry.
The Captain said to come up and hold the flashlight.
She went up and held it while he opened up a wooden cover in the deck and reached way down inside. First he pulled out a pile of old rope. Then some hose and an old anchor. Then some wire and then an old rusted iron bowl with four legs and a grill over it.
He held it up in the light of the flashlight. Hibachi, he said. Haven’t used it since Lake Superior… There’s some charcoal down on the pilot berth.
Meaning, Go get it. She went down to the berth and found a bag of charcoal and handed it back up. At least he was talking again.
From the companionway she watched him pour the charcoal in from the bag. You just go where you feel like with this boat, don’t you? she said. Nobody to give you any orders. Nobody to argue with you.
That’s right, he said. Now pass up the kerosene that’s behind the chart table there… in that little shelf. Right behind where I am.
He reached around and pointed to it. She got it and handed it to him.
I’m going to start making the French fries, Lila said, if you’ll tell me where the pots and pans are.
In back of the chart table. Deep inside one of those bins, the Captain said. Just pull off the cover and you’ll see them.
Lila turned on another electric light over the chart table and found a deep bin where a dozen or so different types of pots and pans were dumped together in a cluttered jumble. The bin was at the back of the counter, so that the only way to reach them was to lie on her stomach on top of the chart table and hang her arm down inside the rectangular hole, and fish. The fishing for pans made a tremendous clanging racket. She hoped the noise would impress on the Captain the condition of his housekeeping.
There wasn’t any deep fryer. She felt a large frying pan and pulled it out. It was a good stainless steel pan, almost new. But it wasn’t deep enough for cooking oil.
She went back in the bin and clanged some more and this time came out with a deep pot and a matching lid. That should work.
I don’t suppose you have a wire basket for French fries, she said.
No, the Captain said, not that I know of.
It was all right. She could get by with a slotted spoon.
She looked for one and found it and also a vegetable peeler next to it. She tried the vegetable peeler on one of the potatoes. It was nice and sharp. She started peeling. She liked to peel long, hard, smooth Idaho potatoes like this. These were going to make good French fries. She let the peels shoot into the sink, so when she was done she could scoop them out with her hand.
What will you do after you get to Florida? she said to the Captain.
Just keep going, probably, he said.
A flame came up from the Hibachi and she could see his face suddenly in the light. It looked tired.
Just keep going where? she asked.
South, he said. There’s a town where I used to live in Mexico, down on the Bay of Campeche. I’d like to go back there for a while. And see if some people I used to know are still around.
What were you doing there?
Building a boat.
This boat?
No, a boat that never got finished, he said. Everything went wrong.
He poked the charcoal in the Hibachi with the edge of the grate.
With boats you always get seven kinds of trouble at once, he said. The keel was done and the frames were up. We were ready to start planking, and the Government declared the forest we were in to be "veda," I think they called it, meaning no more wood.
We went to Campeche for some more wood, paid for it — it never got sent. No way for a foreigner to sue them in Mexico. They knew that.