First mate Jamison reporting for duty, sir! he said and snapped a smart salute, still grinning. The tunic had big shiny brass buttons. Phædrus wondered where he had found something like that. He seemed to be grinning at his own ludicrousness.
What do you want? Phædrus said.
I’m here to start workin.'
You’ve got the wrong boat.
No I ain’t. You just don’t know me in this uniform. Where’s Lila? he said.
Phædrus suddenly recognized him. He was Jamie, the one he had met in that bar.
She’s still sleeping, Phædrus said.
Sleeping!? Jamie threw his head back and laughed. Man, you can’t let her get away with that. It’s past ten in the morning.
Jamie pointed to his gold wrist watch. Time to get her up! His voice was very loud. Phædrus noticed a head from another boat was watching them.
Jamie started to laugh again, then looked up and down the boat with a smile. Well, you sure had me fooled. The way Lila told it this boat was at least five times this big. And all you got is this pee-wee little thing.
He glanced twice at Phædrus to check the reaction to this. That’s all right. That’s all right. It’s plenty big enough for me. It’s just Lila had me fooled.
Phædrus tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head. What the hell was this all about?
What did Lila tell you? he asked.
Lila told me to come here for work this morning. So here I am.
That’s crazy, Phædrus said. She told you wrong.
The grin disappeared from Jamie’s face. He looked puzzled, hurt. Then he said, I think I gonna have a little talk with her, and stepped aboard. The way he jumped over the life-line showed he was no sailor: no permission, dirty street shoes on. Phædrus was about to call him on the dirty shoes but then suddenly he saw Richard Rigel coming down the dock. Rigel waved to him and came over. Where did he come from?
I’m going down to talk to her, Jamie said.
Phædrus shook his head. She’s tired.
Jamie shook his head back. No offense, he said, but you don’t know shit about Lila.
No, she’s tired.
No, man. She always talks like that. I know how to fix that. Jamie went down the hatchway. We’ll be right up, he said.
Phædrus started to feel alarmed. He saw that Rigel was staring at him. He said to Rigel, I didn’t know you were here.
I’ve been here for a while, Rigel said. Who is that?
He’s some friend of Lila’s.
Is she still here?
She’s in trouble. He looked up at Rigel. She’s really in trouble… Rigel squinted. He looked as though he was going to say something but then he didn’t. Finally he said, What are you going to do about it?
I don’t know, Phædrus said, I just woke up. I haven’t got anything in mind yet.
Before Rigel could answer they heard a low deep noise below, then a shout, then a scuffling sound, and then another shout.
Suddenly Jamie’s face appeared. His white Uncle Ben jacket had a big spot of blood by one of the buttons. His hand against his cheek had blood on it.
That fuckin’ whore! he shouted.
He came out the hatch on deck.
He reached for the hatch rail and Phædrus saw his cheek had a bloody gash.
God-damn bitch! I’m gonna kill her!
Phædrus wondered where he could find a rag to stop the bleeding. Maybe below somewhere.
Let me off here, Jamie said, I’m callin’ the police!
What happened? Rigel said. Over his shoulder the face of another boat-owner now stared.
She tried to kill me!
Jamie looked at him. Something in Rigel’s expression seemed to stop him. Jamie stepped over the boat’s life-line to the dock. He looked at Rigel again. She did! he said, She tried to kill me! Rigel’s expression didn’t change. Jamie then turned and walked down the dock toward the marina office. He jerked his head over his shoulder and looked back, I’m goin’ to call the police. She tried to kill me. She’s going to get it.
Phædrus looked up at Rigel and the other man who was still staring. I’d better go down and see what happened, Phædrus said.
You had better get out of here, Rigel said.
What? Why? I haven’t done anything.
That doesn’t matter, Rigel said. His face had that same angry look he had had at breakfast in Kingston.
At the far side of the marina Phædrus could see Jamie at the marina office saying something to the people standing there. He was gesticulating, waving one arm, holding his face with the other. The man behind Rigel started to walk over there.
Rigel said, I’m going over there too, to see what he’s saying. He left, and Phædrus could see that at the marina office where Rigel was headed some sort of argument was going on.
What was Lila doing now? Down below it was ominously quiet. He stepped down the ladder and saw that the door to the forecabin was shut.
Phædrus went to the door, opened it slowly, and saw Lila on the bunk. Her nose was bleeding. In her hand was a pocket knife. The hypnotic look of last night was all gone. The sheet underneath her had some small blood spots.
Why did you do it? he asked.
He killed my baby.
How?
She pointed to the floor below the bunk.
Phædrus saw the doll lying face down on the floor. He watched her for a moment, wanting to be careful what to say.
Finally he said, Shall I pick it up?
Lila didn’t say anything.
He picked up the doll very carefully, using both hands, and carefully set it beside her.
This is a bad place, Lila said.
Phædrus stepped into the head and got a handful of toilet paper for the nosebleed and brought it to her.
Let me see, he said.
Her nose didn’t look broken. But she was starting to puff up under one eye. He saw that her hand was clenched tight on the jackknife.
This wasn’t the time to talk about it.
He heard a rapping on the hull.
When he got up the ladder he saw it was Rigel again.
He’s gone, Rigel said, but they’re upset. Some of them want to call the police. I told them you were just leaving. It will be a lot easier if you just left now.