Mango Bob (19 page)

As Jack had predicted, it took three hours to reach the Englewood exit. Due to the traffic and crazy drivers, those were the most stressful hours of the entire trip.

Taking the Englewood exit, I left the craziness of I-75 behind and found myself on a two lane road bordered by palm trees and rolling pastures.

Tropical birds flew between the trees, and white sand patches hinted of the nearby beaches.

This was more like what I was expecting.

47

I followed the two lane road toward Englewood. Almost no traffic, and no signs of civilization other than the surprisingly well kept road.

Eventually I came to a 'Welcome to Englewood' sign, and almost immediately, signs of small town life appeared.

A church, a post office, and a row of small well kept homes. At the first stoplight, the road to the left led south to Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. The road to the right led to Venice. Places I'd want to visit in the future.

Two miles further in, I came to the second stoplight. A large Publix grocery store on the right. A Walgreen's pharmacy on the left. And straight ahead, Old Englewood Village on Dearborn Street.

The GPS instructed me to continue onto Dearborn street for two hundred yards, then turn left onto Mango Street.

As I turned onto Mango, the GPS announced I had reached my destination. I pulled over and looked around.

On my left was the La Stanza restaurant, and on my right the Mango Bistro. Neither was the place I was looking for.

But further down the street, just beyond an overgrown lot, I saw a faded sign. Dolphin Adventure Tours.

I drove toward the sign and parked in front of an old block building. The sign on the door read, “Back at four.”

It was now three. I had made good time and was early. I would have to wait to meet Sarah.

In the back, Bob was asleep on the bed, one paw over his eyes.

He didn't know it yet, but he was home. His days of riding shotgun in the Love Bus were over.

But my days of living in a house on wheels were just getting started.

48

Twenty minutes later, a white Toyota truck towing a trailer with eight kayaks pulled to the curb.

A woman was driving. Sarah.

She stepped out of the truck, turned toward the motorhome and waved. I waved back.

She was about five foot four. Wearing a bright orange fishing shirt, faded cargo shorts and tennis shoes.

Dark blue ball cap on her head, pony tail out the back.

Walking toward the Love Bus.

I opened the coach door and stepped out.

“You must be Sarah.”

She smiled, “You must be Walker. Is Bob in there?”

“He is. Asleep in the back.”

“Good. Let's not wake him.

She pointed back to the truck, “I need to get these boats into the yard. Give me a hand.”

“OK, what do you need me to do?”

“I'm going to pull the truck into the boat-yard, and when I get it turned around, come up to the trailer.”

A six foot high, ivy covered chain link fence connected the Dolphin Tours building to a large lot. In the center of the fence, Sarah unlocked and swung open a 12 foot gate.

Then she got back into her truck, pulled through the gate and circled the lot, ending with the front of the truck facing the gate.

She got out and waved in my direction, “Don't just stand there. Give me a hand.”

When I got closer, Sarah pointed behind her, “I've been doing kayak tours all day. The kayaks get sand and salt on them. Got to wash them down.”

She walked back to the trailer, lifted it up off the hitch, swung it around and began pushing it toward the corner of the lot.

“You're going to just stand there while I move this trailer by myself?”

I laughed, “It looked like you knew what you were doing and I was enjoying the show. But since you asked so nicely, what can I do to help?”

“Grab the front of the trailer and pull it over there by the wall. By the water hoses.”

I picked up the trailer. Not as heavy as it looked, which was good. Would have hated it if I couldn't have handled it as easily as Sarah.

I pulled the trailer toward the wall, stopping when Sarah said, “That's good.”

“Now grab a sponge out of that bucket. And stand back while I hose the boats down.”

After she finished spraying, I grabbed a sponge and began wiping the boats on my side of the trailer.

We worked in silence. Sponging the salt and sand off each of the boats.

Finally Sarah said, “That's good. Stand back while I give them a final rinse.”

When she was done, she wiped her right hand on her pants, then reached out to me and said, “Let's start over. I'm Sarah.”

I shook her hand. “Just call me Walker.”

“Okay, Walker it is.”

She pointed behind me, “Everything within the fenced-in area is part of the old boat yard. I rent it and the building next door from Audrey Snyder.

“When it was a boat-yard, they had a night watchman who lived in a airstream trailer over there in the corner. He and the trailer are both long gone. But the power, water, and a sewer connection are still there.

“If you want, you can park your motorhome over there for the time being. But before you do, I've got some rules. You either agree to them or park somewhere else.”

“I'm listening.”

“No smoking in the boat-yard. No drinking in the boat-yard. No visitors unless I'm notified first. No other vehicles in the boat-yard. Keep the gate locked at all times. No loud stereos. And you can't do anything to call attention to being camped back here.”

She paused, apparently waiting for me to answer.

“Okay, I can agree to that.”

“One final rule. If I say it's time for you to pack up and move on, you go. No argument.

“Understood?”

I nodded, “Understood.”

Sarah continued, “It's nothing personal. But I don't know anything about you. You might be the greatest guy in the world. Or just another loser I don't need in my life.

“Better to get the rules straight before we go any further.”

I nodded, “I understand completely. Having rules will make it easier for both of us.”

Sarah continued, “Now that that's settled, let's get your RV in here.

“Pull in through the gate, then turn it around and back it up into the far corner over there. That's where the trailer hookups are.”

Without waiting for me to respond, Sarah walked to her truck and moved it out of the way so I could pull the motorhome through the gate.

I brought the motorhome in slowly, being careful not to hit anything. After I got it turned around, I lined up with the chain link fence on the far side, and started backing up.

Sarah guided me in. “To the right, OK, come on. Slow, slow. Stop.”

“That's good. Perfect.”

I put it in park and shut down the motor. Then I stepped out of the driver's door and walked over to Sarah.

She said, “Fits in pretty good. The neighbors will never know you're here.”

“Sarah, I really appreciate you letting me park here for a few days. I'm be happy to pay.”

She shook her head, “Nope, you're not going to pay to park here. But I might ask you to help me with a few chores. ”

I smiled, “Whatever you want, just let me know.”

She smiled, “I bet after four days on the road, you'd like a home cooked meal.”

I agreed, “Yeah, that sounds pretty good.”

Sarah continued, “Sounds good to me too. But I don't cook. So we're going to eat out tonight.”

A take charge kind of girl. I liked that.

I said, “Okay, as long as you drive. ”

Sarah replied, “No problem. I don't mind driving, but you're buying.”

I smiled, “Fine with me. You pick the spot, and I'll pick up the tab.”

There was a few moments of awkward silence.

I spoke up, “Hey, are you ready for Bob?”

Sarah shook her head, “No, not yet. I need to set up a space for him inside. And before I do that, I want to go in, take a shower. Get into some clean clothes.”

Sarah pointed at the building behind us, “I live in the back of the office. That's my private place, and it's off limits to you.

“I'm going in to clean up. I'll meet you back out here around five.”

Sarah pointed toward the street, “While I'm inside, close that gate and do whatever you need to do to hook up your motorhome.”

“See you at five.”

She went in the side door of her office, leaving me alone in the yard.

49

I closed and locked the gate. Walked back to the Love Bus and connected to shore power and city water. I didn't bother connecting up the sewer. I'd leave that for some other day.

Inside, I checked on Bob. He was still sleeping. Hadn't touched his food since earlier in the day.

As I started thinking about what I would wear for my 'home cooked meal' with Sarah, my phone chimed.

It was Molly.

“Hi Molly, What's up?”

“Just checking to see if you made it to Sarah's place yet.”

“I got here a few minutes ago. Met Sarah and helped her wash down her kayaks.”

“So,” Molly said, “What do you think?”

I said, “About what?”

Molly answered, “Sarah. What do you think about Sarah?”

“Molly, I just met Sarah a few minutes ago. What am I supposed to think? She's nice looking, likes to take charge. Gave me a set of rules I must obey or else. Other than that, I can't tell you much.”

“So you think she's good looking?”

“Molly, I'm not going to talk to you about your sister's looks. I just met her, and besides why are you so interested in what I think about it? Are you trying to set me up?”

“No, nothing like that. It's just you and Sarah have a lot in common. You'd be good for each other.”

“Molly, I've been here twenty minutes. Met Sarah and we talked for five minutes. So far, we haven't decided to have children together.”

Molly sighed, “Okay, enough about Sarah. Did the Boston PD talk to you about Harvey Tucker's murder?”

I had to be careful with my answer. I didn't want to tell Molly the full story just yet.

“No, I haven't spoken to anyone from the Boston Police about this. But I did read in the paper that Tucker was fired two weeks ago by Moreco. That means when he called you Thursday, he was no longer employed by the company.”

“It's just weird. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the police find out.”

Molly agreed. “Enough about Tucker.

"What about you? Now that you're in Florida, what are your plans?"

“Molly, I just got here a few minutes ago and my plans are to stay here at your sister's place for a few days while I figure things out.”

“Right now my most pressing decision is what to wear this evening when I go out to dinner with your sister.”

Molly squealed, “You've got a date with Sarah? Already! Woohoo!”

“Bye, Molly.” I sighed and hung up.

50

Choosing what to wear for my dinner date with Sarah was easy. Mainly because my choices were limited to the few clothes I hadn't boxed up and stored in the basement of the coach.

All I had hanging in the closet were three pair of jeans, three long sleeve shirts, a sweater, and a winter jacket.

I washed up, found the least wrinkled shirt, matched it with the freshest jeans, and called myself good to go.

I still had about thirty minutes before Sarah said she'd be out, so I decided to check to see what local stations were available on the TV.

After cranking up the antenna and pushing the TV amplifier button, the TV scanned and found fourteen channels. Four from Fort Myers, two from Sarasota and eight from Tampa.

I clicked through the channels, pausing long enough to catch the local weather forecast. Clear skies, highs in the low seventies, lows in the mid fifties. No humidity and a slight breeze over the gulf. Nice.

That's all I really needed to know, so I turned the TV off and fired up my computer to check my email.

Nothing new. Just spam.

With time to kill, I called up Google maps and entered the Mango Street address where I was currently parked.

By choosing the satellite view and zooming in, I could see the boat yard and the surrounding area.

Zooming back a bit revealed a large body of water at the end of Dearborn, the street I had driven in on. Lemon Bay.

Beyond Lemon Bay was the long narrow barrier island of Manasota key, and beyond that, the Gulf of Mexico.

From where I was parked, it was just a few hundred yards to the beach.