Matecumbe (20 page)

“Joe’s fears about never getting a job in the Philadelphia area are very typical of how he thinks,” Uncle Steve announced.

“How is that?”

“Ever since he was a little kid, he’s had a tendency not to take any really big chances. Like when he plays the horses, for example. He’ll always put his money on the favorites, never betting any long shots.

“What he should do right away is move up to Philly and stay with you. That’s what I told him, straight out. I know he can get himself a job eventually.”

“That’s what I told him, too, Uncle Steve. But I couldn’t convince him.”

Leaning back in his chair now and looking all the world like a gambler who was about to turn over an ace, Steve lowered the volume of his voice as his counsel continued.

“To be honest, I’ve been thinking about you two folks for quite awhile now. And as long as you, personally, Melissa, won’t consider me an old man who meddles in other people’s business, I’d like to give you some advice.”

“Oh, I’d love to have your opinion,” Melissa answered, as she sipped on her second glass of white wine, at the same time relaxing loosely on an easy chair whose seat was wide enough for three of her. “You’re not a meddler at all. Go right ahead, tell me. I’m all ears.”

“Why don’t you surprise him, Melissa? Get yourself on a plane to Florida without letting Joe know ahead of time. And when you get down there to Islamorada, just tell him that you’ve come along to help him pack and move up to Philly with you. Believe me, I know the guy. If you’re firm, and you’re the leader, he’ll follow as long as it’s something that he wants, too.

“And since I’m positive that he really wants to be with you, I know that this surprise move is the right thing for you to do. Get down there and grab hold of him, Melissa. Just take him and tell him he belongs to you.”

Melissa’s immediate reaction was silence.

She sat, biting on her bottom lip while staring directly into Uncle Steve’s friendly blue eyes. It was as if she were waiting for him to add an oral P.S.—just a few more words that would guarantee the success of his suggestion.

Finally, though, it was Melissa who broke that silence.

“A move like that would take a lot of courage on my part,” she spoke, sitting upright now. “And, seriously, I don’t really know if I’d be gutsy enough to do such a thing.

“I guess what I fear most about your idea, Uncle Steve, is the real possibility that Joe would give me a flat turndown once I got to Florida. Emotionally, something like that could be crushing.”

“He won’t turn you down, Melissa. I’m positive of that. I’ve been a successful gambler all of my life. This would work, definitely.

“Of course, I didn’t expect that you’d agree with me one hundred percent. I figured you’d have some reservations about my plan. And, I realize that this is something you’ll have to do entirely on your own. The first step for you, unquestionably, is to convince yourself that I’m right.”

“Oh, Uncle Steve,” Melissa replied, “you must know you’re absolutely right so far, at least about my initial reaction.”

“Your wariness is justified to some extent, my dear, in that there will always be certain situations in life when you should be careful. These are set-ups that will always do you dirt,” Uncle Steve laughed, “like playing cards with a guy named ‘Doc’ or eating at a restaurant called ‘Mom’s.’

“My suggestion, however, is the opposite of any of those sucker punches. Putting yourself out on a limb by going to Florida may appear to be crazy, but really, it isn’t. My idea is the equivalent of you betting your money on a long shot, because you’re one of only a few people with valuable inside information.

“What I’m giving you is a hot tip, Melissa. It’s coming from somebody who knows this ‘horse’ very well. And whether you realize it or not, you’re about as close to a no-lose situation as anyone can ever come.

“It’s an undisputed fact, Melissa, that Joe has always asked me for advice. And once you assert yourself by going to Florida, I don’t expect that situation will change. If he’s in any doubt at all about what to do, he’s sure to ask me for my opinion once again. It’s true, though, that you might sweep him off his feet once you’re down there, and the two of you will elope. But if he’s hesitant at all, he’ll call me, and then I’ll tell him he should marry you. So, if I were you, I’d make that trip. Think about my plan, okay?”

“I will.

“Uncle Steve, I have something I need to ask you that’s been worrying me lately. Do you think Joe’s reluctance to move to this area has anything to do with his feelings for his former fiancée, Becky? I know when he first told me about her he still seemed to be really moved by the experience.”

“Well, Melissa. I was around during Joe and Becky’s courtship. And I won’t lie to you and say that Joe didn’t love her. Gosh, it would be hard for anybody not to love Becky. She was so ‘motherly’ I guess is the word for it. She was always ready to take care of people. I think for Joe, she became the mother he lost as a child.

“Yes, that’s a kind of love. But what he feels for you, Melissa, that’s something totally different. That’s what marriages are made of, what sustains them through the years. You need much more from a wife than a mother. No, Melissa. You’re the one for Joe. And don’t give Becky another thought. I know that Joe hasn’t, ever since he fell for you.

“And one last thing, if you would,” Uncle Steve offered, with a strange, guru-like grin. “Don’t let Joe know that you were here to see me. Is that a promise?”

“I promise.”

“I’ve been worrying too much about you, M.A. And because of that worry, I think our relationship has suffered.”

With those exact words, Paul began his explanation for the lack of sexual activity.

“I want everything to be perfect for you. You’ve been denied so much in the past just because you couldn’t afford things. Now, my goal is to make sure you never have to worry about money again—for as long as you live.

“I want you to find work again, because I know you’re unhappy being unemployed. I see you unhappy, and I get uptight. Then when I’m uptight, I can’t relax and be intimate with you. I also get irritable when I’m uptight. And when I’m irritable, it’s very easy for me to get into arguments—even over stupid little things like what TV show or what movie we should watch.”

“I’m also to blame,” Mary Ann noted, contributing an apology of her own to the post-dessert discussion. “Without a job, I feel so much at your mercy. For instance, I have a new car sitting out there in the street, and you’re making payments on it. What would happen to that car if you walked out of my life? Not that you
would
walk out on me, but I guess that’s how I think when I don’t have any steady work to keep my mind busy.

“I admit, Paul, that I’ve been cold toward you physically. But now that I recognize the problem I’ll change. I’m still worried, though, that you might not like me as much since I’ve gained weight. I’ve only put on about ten pounds, but it feels like a lot more.

“Maybe I should apply for guard work or some kind of security job,” Mary Ann continued, tongue-in-cheek. “With this extra weight, I’ll be more effective whenever I have to kick a few rear ends.”

“The weight you’ve put on isn’t even noticeable,” Paul answered. “You’re the type of person who never looks fat. And as for your job hunting, I’ll tell you about a deal I have for you. When you find a job, we’ll celebrate by taking a big trip somewhere as soon as we can. The big trip can be our honeymoon. Of course, we might not be able to go until your new bosses let you take a vacation. But I won’t mind waiting.

“So, how’s that deal sound to you?”

Mary Ann wasted little time before contacting a travel agent. She picked up brochures for trips to Hawaii, Bermuda, Ireland, and several islands off the coast of Florida—four areas she’d always wanted to visit.

“I’m picking places we can’t possibly get to by cross-country bus,” she reasoned, inwardly.

Back when she was fifteen years old, Mary Ann’s mother had put her on a bus from Harrisburg to Chicago. Mary Ann stayed in Illinois with her grandmother for six months until financial problems were settled at home.

“I never hated my mom for putting me on that bus,” Mary Ann remembered. “But ever since then, I’ve never taken a long-distance bus ride. There was a certain finality to being put on that bus to Chicago. I was worried I’d never come home again, even to visit. I don’t think I would have felt that way if I’d have been driven to Chicago in a car.”

While Mary Ann continued to send for travel literature describing her personally selected faraway places, an occurrence on the home front took on a special meaning—indicating to her that the as-yet-unknown date of her marriage to Paul was indeed getting closer.

“We might as well forget about replacing your refrigerator with another small unit,” Paul told her. “I have a small one, also. So what we’ll do instead is buy an extra large model, and you’ll keep it until we get married.”

When the deliverymen were removing her old refrigerator, Mary Ann felt like a part of her past was going out the front door with it.

“Melissa and I found that refrigerator in an alleyway two blocks from here,” Mary Ann recalled. “A neighbor helped us push it home on a small hand truck, and then the girls and I spent all weekend cleaning it up.”

Paul did make one other offer to Mary Ann that she quickly turned down.

“An executive-director at my bank is looking for a cat,” Paul mentioned. “If you want to give away one of your three, she would have a good home. In fact, it would be a very rich home, really. They have servants, and the cat could probably ring for her dinner every night.”

“Absolutely not,” Mary Ann countered. “They’re all family, too. I couldn’t part with any one of them. Four daughters, one husband, and three cats. That’s all I want. And that’s final.”

However, a segment of Mary Ann’s life that was definitely due to disappear concerned her unemployment status. A sudden but pleasant event took place just about the time the weather starts getting hot again in Pottstown—the middle of May.

First thing one sunny morning, Mary Ann received a phone call telling her that she had been hired.

“Good news,” she phoned Paul. “Your fiancée is on the road to sanity again.”

For the remainder of that balmy spring weekend, Melissa devoted a great deal of concentrated thought to Uncle Steve’s “Go To Florida” suggestion. But at the end of much deliberation, she still wasn’t sure if she had the nerve to do it. For her, such an action would constitute a definite change in character, sort of like assuming the male-dominant role in a courtship.

Just as a young man might fear that his request for a date with a woman would end in rejection, so did Melissa feel vulnerable at the prospect of asking Joe to pack up his Florida bags and move north with her.

In essence, whether or not she’d adhere to Uncle Steve’s urgings would be a tough decision, and one she felt she would have to make soon. So, Melissa took a mental pledge that she would force herself to act on the prospect of a Florida trip—yes or no, one way or the other—before the end of March.

Meanwhile, the center of her attention for the next few days would be Atlantic City—site of a convention for members of the Pennsylvania State Librarians Association. Melissa was a member in good standing and a regular attendee of all association functions.

“It’s ironically amusing,” Melissa reflected, “that ever since casino gambling became legal in New Jersey, the Pennsylvania librarians, like groupies attracted to a rock band, have always trekked out-of-state, to Atlantic City, for their annual get-together. Such is the drawing power of a boardwalk full of wagering emporiums.”

Melissa had to admit, though, that the casino city’s electric atmosphere had never resulted in a dull convention.

The big town by the Jersey shore had changed quite a bit since she was a child. Melissa remembered fondly those occasions when her mom and stepfather would take her and her three sisters to Atlantic City or Ocean City—usually on weekends during the summer. It got so that Melissa knew the name, strength, and peculiarities of every diving horse at the famous Steel Pier. In this day and age, however, Atlantic City was less a family-type resort and more a conventioneer’s city that also lured degenerate gamblers. Each group was attracted to night-long action at the green felt tables. The popularity of day trips in the family car for sunshine and ocean bathing had been replaced by day trips in a casino bus for blackjack and slot machine gambling.

When she checked in at her hotel, Melissa was glad to have a room on a lower floor. Sleeping on upper floors always disturbed her. She recalled when her stepfather had installed a metal, fire/security hook outside the window of her second floor room back when she was in junior high school. She had kept a connecting hook, attached to a long rope, under her bed. She never had to use it as a method of emergency escape, but it was still there when she’d left home for college.

On her first night in town for the convention, and in advance of three straight days of planned professional seminars, Melissa attended a retirement party for Olga Hines, one of the associate directors of the Philadelphia Free Library.