Wintertide: A Novel (7 page)

"You look tired, Mr.
Hiller," the professor said kindly. "I hope you're not having trouble
sleeping."

I twirled the tea bag around
watching the water darken. "It's hard to get used to being at home,"
I said.

"Yes I know what you mean. My
sister used to own this house. I actually lived with my mother until some time
ago when she passed away. I decided to sell that old place and buy this one
since my sister was moving away. It worked out well. I sometimes have trouble
sleeping here though. You should take some chamomile tea with you. It helps you
get to sleep."

I thanked him and took the packages
from his outstretched hand, shoving them down into my front pocket next to my
keys. Then I stood with my mug. "I should probably get to work."

I spent the day hunched over the
laptop, copying out Professor Sheffield's notes. Knowing the way his mind
worked now, I had expected his writing to be messy illegible scrawls. In fact,
it was nearly the clearest I had ever seen. He printed in large capital letters
using dark, bold strokes. I was a fairly adept typist, and by mid-afternoon I had
completed five notebooks. It translated to a mere twenty pages single-spaced on
the computer.

I worked until late in the evening.
Ten notebooks were completed by the time I said goodnight to the professor. I
would have worked later had he not insisted that I go home, stating that he
heard there was going to be a snow storm. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve day, and
he mentioned that I could leave early and have the next two days off since he
was going to be away the day after Christmas. I didn't want any time off. I
enjoyed spending the day at his home. In comparison, my own seemed even more
dingy and pitiable. I recalled Seth's statement that I was spoiled. I suppose I
could see how Eddie might have thought that, his own home life being so
pathetic. But Seth? That I just couldn't understand.

Telling my mother the truth about
my plans for the evening was out of the question. If she knew I was going to
see Eddie McKenna, an attack of unequaled histrionics would likely ensue. Unfortunately,
she had heard about the imminent snow storm.

"Daniel, please, I know I told
you to spend time with Seth, but couldn't you see him another night? And you
look so exhausted. You're just going to wear yourself out."

We were sitting at the kitchen
table. She had on a yellow housecoat that was covered with drawings of fruit.
There were orange slices, bunches of purple grapes and green limes. It made for
an odd combination of colors. She had cooked macaroni and cheese for dinner,
but I didn’t have much of an appetite. She took that as a sign of illness
despite my protests to the contrary.

"I already told Seth I'd be
there. If it looks like the roads are going to get dangerous, I'll come right
home. Besides I haven't seen a flake yet.”

"You'll come right home when
the snow starts? You promise?"

"I  promise."

"Did you know that Mr. Cooper
has a twenty-eight year old girlfriend?” I asked, changing the subject and trying
to shock her.

She looked at me calmly with an
expression that said
of course I knew
. She stood and carried the
casserole dish to the counter. "I don't like to gossip, Daniel."

"Since when?” I asked amused.

She came back to the table with her
lips pursed together. "I don't know whether it's true or not, but it's my
understanding that Seth's father kept that girl in an apartment long before the
divorce started."

"Really?"

She nodded slowly. "But Nancy
Cooper was no angel either."

"What do you mean?" This
was sounding like a soap opera. Except instead of glamorous, beautiful people,
the players were chubby, short and rather repulsive.

"Remember when she got that
job over at a doctor's office in South Dennis?"

I did. That was in the middle of
high school. Mr. Cooper would always complain about the mileage his wife was
putting on their old station wagon.

"Well, I heard that there was
more than just a professional relationship there."

"Seriously?" I asked astounded.
"How do you know this?"

She gave me a sly glance. "A
little bird told me."

I raised an eyebrow at her. For
someone who didn’t like to gossip, she was awfully pleased with the information
she had gleaned from somewhere. "Do you know who cheated first?"

"Who knows? Maybe they were
both cheating at the same time? Maybe he did it to get back at her or she at
him. What's the difference now?"

"Does Seth know all
this?"

“I don't know. But don't you say
anything. I wouldn't want to be responsible for him finding out."

"Okay," I said, not
knowing what to think, really. Intrigue, here in lazy old South Seaport?

I watched my mother cleaning up,
wiping down the table, and placing dirty dishes in the sink. I looked at her
hands, cracked and wrinkled, purple veins visible beneath translucent skin. It's
an odd thing to watch your parents grow old. The aches and pains that become
apparent, the prescription bottles that begin to appear in the cabinet. You may
or may not be particularly fond of them, but it is impossible to imagine a
world without them. It’s even harder to picture them becoming ill, growing
frail and sickly.

"How have you been
feeling?" I asked.

She turned away from the sink, studying
me with a curious expression. "I feel just fine."

"Are you sure? You're looking
tired."

"I have an entire house to
clean and dinner to cook. I don't just sit around here all day."

"It’s just that I’ve noticed
you’re sleeping more than usual, but you don't seem rested."

She turned back to the sink,
shrugging her shoulders, indicating the dismissal of my statement. "I'm
just fine. You're the one I'm worried about, working all day, going out tonight
into the middle of a snow storm."

That was my signal to keep quiet. I
didn't want to start that conversation up again. I helped her dry the dishes,
thinking about Seth's family and how misleading appearances could be. I didn't
know what Seth was studying in school, but I did know the pressures his father
could put on him to achieve. He was a man who had come from nothing but made a
decent enough living to send two kids to college. I wondered how Seth’s family
situation must be affecting him. He acted as though the divorce didn't bother
him, but that couldn't really be the case.

I changed out of my chinos and
dress shirt, exchanging them for ancient blue jeans and a wool sweater. I
checked to make sure I had the fake ID I’d gotten from a friend at school and
enough cash. Professor Sheffield was going to pay me tomorrow for my hours so
far, but that money was going straight into my savings account.

 I had a dull, nervous flutter in
my stomach. I didn’t like surprises, and I had no idea what to expect from this
evening. I was dating a girl last year named Lisa. She was very tall, almost my
height, with a short blond bob that bounced when she walked. For my birthday
she’d arranged a spur of the moment ski trip to New Hampshire. Most of the kids
I attended school with didn’t want for money. Weekend trips were hardly unusual
for them. But I had to work on the weekends. Lisa couldn't seem to understand
that.

"But it's all arranged,"
she whined.

"I'm sorry. I appreciate the
thought, but I can't go."

"But it's your birthday. You
can take one day off for your birthday."

"No. I can't even take one day
off. I can't do it.” I suppose I could have. In the long run, one day didn't
mean all that much. But I didn't want to, and moreover, I hadn't planned to.

She stomped around my dorm room
angrily because she had already spent the money. She called me rigid and
unfeeling. That was pretty much the end for us. She took along some guy from
her psychology class instead. By the next semester they were living together.  

I checked myself quickly in the
mirror. I had yet to arrange for that promised hair cut and long dark clumps
hung in my eyes, over my ears and onto the back of my collar. I hadn't met up
with a razor that morning either. I actually liked the unkempt look that I was
sporting unintentionally. Pushing my wallet down into my back pocket and
jangling my keys in my hand, I bounded loudly down the stairs.

Mom came out of the kitchen when
she heard me. "I've missed the sound of you stomping around the
house," she said sentimentally.

I kissed her on the cheek, and she
smiled up at me. "Now be careful and remember if it starts
snowing...."

"I know. If it snows I'll come
right home.” For a moment I imagined how it would look if it actually did start
to snow and I had to tell Seth and Eddie that my mommy wanted me home
immediately. I laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Mom. I'll see you
later."

As I walked out to the car, I
checked my watch. It was just after nine-thirty, and there was no sign of Dad. Could
he be having an affair? It hardly seemed possible. Who would have him? Did he
really meet his buddies every night after work? I felt a sudden bottomless well
of pity for my mother. But I couldn't help think that if she was unhappy it was
up to her to change things. Suddenly, I felt like getting very drunk.

The Southside Tavern was perfectly
situated on a hill overlooking the infamous sea cliff and the wide expanse of
black ocean beyond it. There was a red neon sign in the window that spelled out
its name along with a tiny glowing sea shell in the bottom right corner.

I followed Seth inside the overly
warm, smoke-filled room. It was late for dinner, and the tables which occupied
space at the front by the door were mainly empty. The heavy oak bar in the back
was surrounded though. There was no sign of Eddie yet.

We sat down on a couple of empty
stools at the end of the bar. No one paid much attention to us. I had a fairly
good fake ID which put me at about twenty-five, but I wasn't carded when I
ordered a beer. I wondered where my father went to drink after work. A part of
me was afraid I might run into him here tonight. But this crowd didn't appear
to be his type. Tom and the rest of his drinking buddies liked to sit around in
a more social atmosphere, chatting with the waitresses and the bartender. This
place seemed to be mainly for loners. It didn't take much imagination to see
why someone like Eddie came here. There was a television mounted to the wall
behind the bar. It was tuned to a hockey game.

I looked over the heads of the
people in front of me to try to catch a glimpse of the sea cliff which I knew
was just beyond the window. But there was only blackness, reflecting the sullen
faces of Southside Tavern’s customers back at me. My own included.

While peering into the glass, I
noticed the door swing open behind me. “Here he is,” Seth said beside me.

As he approached us, I saw that he
looked different. Instead of the long hair he’d always worn, the back was cut
short now, and the front just fell over his forehead. His face seemed thinner. When
he stood before me, he extended his hand, and I realized that he looked very
similar to his father now. His smile was wide, displaying his white crooked
teeth. I reached out to grasp his hand, but before I could he swiftly pulled it
away running it smoothly across the top of his head.

"Gotcha," he said, his
dark eyes rimmed with laugh lines.

I forced a grin. "So what’s
with the hair?” I asked, pointing up at his head. His father had always been
after him to get a haircut. His response usually included some unlikely event
occurring in hell or elsewhere.

He shrugged his shoulders in the
careless manner I had seen many times before as he took the seat next to Seth. "I
felt like a change."

Eddie called the bartender over and
ordered a drink while Seth asked for another. I drank slowly from my own cool
bottle while Seth and Eddie gulped theirs down quickly when they arrived.

After wiping a hand across his
mouth, Eddie turned to me. "Did Coop here tell you? I'm working over at
that garage down by the town line."

"I heard," I said. "How
do you like it?"

"The money is pretty good. I'm
actually thinking about opening my own shop eventually."

"Maybe I'll invest a few bucks
if you ever do it?" Seth offered.

"You're on. How about you, Dan?
You want in on this?"

I laughed and shook my head, happy
to have an excellent excuse. "If you wait until I actually have some extra
cash, you'll never open your shop. The day I graduate from college, I'll
already be swimming in debt."

Eddie scoffed at that. "I
thought you college kids were supposed to be smart. That sounds pretty stupid
to me."

"Actually, I might get even
stupider and go on to law school."

Seth turned to me surprised. "You
want to go to law school?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

Eddie laughed. "I can picture
it now. Dan on TV in a suit and tie with an eight-hundred number flashing on
the bottom of the screen. Call Dan, he’ll get you cash for your whiplash."

Seth and Eddie whooped it up loudly.
I noticed some of the other patrons turning to look at them. Eddie called the
bartender over and ordered another round. When a fresh drink arrived, he tilted
his head back and polished off his first one.

"So, Dan? Tell me about some
of the obvious advantages of college life. What are the girls like?” Eddie
pointed at me with the empty brown beer bottle. "Because Coop here is
screwing his way through every sorority house on campus. Right, Coop?”

I raised a suspicious eyebrow at Seth.
He wouldn't meet my gaze. He kept his stare intent on the television screen
while Eddie laid a congratulatory hand on his shoulder. Same old Seth, I
thought, still willing to say anything in an attempt to impress Eddie whose
eyes now challenged me to describe my conquests.