The Lobster Kings (20 page)

“Well, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s walking up from the harbour.”

“Not a word about Carly,” I said, and Rena nodded.

W
e stopped him before he got to the diner.

“What are you doing back so early?” Rena said. She folded her arms over her chest. I realized I was already standing in the same position. A few of the old boys in the diner noticed us confronting Daddy, and through the window I could see them laughing.

“There’s nothing pernicious about it,” Daddy said. Pernicious. Him and his five-dollar words. “They told me I could come home. Boat ran smooth and I made good time.”

“And?” Rena said.

“And nothing,” he said. “She ran some tests—”

“She?” I said.

“Yes, Cordelia. It’s 2005. We’ve got lady doctors,” he said, pointedly not looking at me as he added, “and even lady lobstermen now.” I gave him a scowl for that. I could see Rena was trying not to laugh, no doubt thinking the same thing I was, which was that the idea of Daddy dressed in just a flimsy gown in front of a female doctor seemed ludicrous. Even getting him to go to Dr. Jamison, whom he’d known for thirty years, was always a
struggle. “She did one of those heart things with the lines, drew some blood, made me piss in a cup, and had me sleep with a bunch of tubes and wires attached to me. Anyway, she said she’d give me a call in a couple of days.”

Fatty came running out of the coffee shop carrying a bag with some sort of pastry in it, and ran over to us. He wrapped himself around Daddy’s leg. “Grandpa! Want some cookie?”

Daddy chuckled and shook his head. “No, thanks, Fatty. It’s all yours.”

Fatty nodded and then looked at Rena and said, “I’m going to head over to school and wait for Guppy.”

“You come right back with her,” Rena said, “and don’t you touch any of your sister’s cookie.” Fatty nodded and then ran off.

Daddy turned and looked at me. “I heard the news, Cordelia. You okay?”

The certainty I’d had the night before that we’d done the right thing at Eddie Glouster’s evaporated. “You heard about the fire already?”

Daddy glanced at Rena and then back at me. “No. But I’m about to.”

“What—”

“I was asking about Kenny. I saw him getting off the ferry with his bags. Had a little chat.” He rubbed my shoulder. “You okay with this?” I nodded, but it was purely a mechanical action. I felt a little dizzy. “So what’s this about a fire?”

I glanced at the door of the coffee shop and then took a few steps away. Daddy and Rena followed. “Eddie Glouster,” I said, and I could see Daddy tighten up.

I told him the whole story, from my conversation with Tony and Chip through to me throwing the log.

When I finished, Daddy nodded. “Saw him and his wife getting off the ferry, too. He didn’t look too pleased to see me. Chalked it up to the usual.”

“I think she did the right thing,” Rena said. I felt a swell of love for her. Rena and I were close, but she didn’t always take my
side of things with Daddy, and it meant something that she spoke up before Daddy weighed in. I started to give her a sideways smile, but then Daddy spoke.

“And I think it was foolish. You know better than that, girl.” I looked down at the ground. “Look at me,” he said. His voice wasn’t loud, but there was a snap to it, and I looked up. “That was dangerous. Next time you come talk to me and I’ll take care of it.”

“No,” I said.

I hadn’t expected the word to come out of my mouth, and when it did, I felt my hand start to rise, like the word was a physical thing that I could snatch back.

“Excuse me?” he said.

But the word was already out there. I kept my gaze up this time. “No. I can’t have you always taking care of things for me, Daddy.”

Even though I was looking at Daddy, I could see Rena swiveling back and forth, staring at us. Daddy was quiet for a few seconds. And then he nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “I suppose it’s going to happen sometime or other. We done, then? Because I could use a coffee.”

Daddy turned and put his hand on the door of the diner, but Rena stopped him. “Daddy,” she said, “what else did the doctor say?”

He looked at Rena and then he looked at me, and neither one of us gave any ground. He sighed and then pulled a bottle of pills out of his pocket. Rena snatched them out of his hand.

“Fibre?” Rena looked up at Daddy and then back at the bottle of pills again. I took them from her, read the label, and then echoed her.

“Fibre? The doctor gave you fibre supplements? Why?” I turned the bottle over to look at the back of the label, as if that would explain it to me.

Rena closed her eyes firmly and then opened them. “So, you’re saying that you passed out in your kitchen, went to the doctor, had a round of tests, and you’re coming home with … 
fibre supplements? Cordelia finds you out cold in the kitchen and the doctor is worried about your bowel movements?”

Daddy took the pill container back and stuffed it into his pocket. “Well, at least that time you spent in nursing school is good for something,” he said. “Yes, the doctor is worried about my bowel movements. Not that it’s any of your business, but yesterday, when I stood up from the toilet, I got dizzy. When Cordelia found me, I suppose I didn’t want to have to tell my daughter that I’d passed out because I was trying too hard to take a shit. Okay? There.”

I tried to keep my face straight, but I couldn’t. I started to giggle and so did Rena.

Daddy scowled. “Oh, grow up, you two. I like to keep my own things as my own things, but what the doctor said, more or less, is that I’m getting old. She said all of the usual things: eat better, watch my weight, multivitamins, baby aspirin, less salt. She’ll call me with test results in a couple of days, but in the meantime, she wants me to take fibre supplements and to try not to get myself too worked up.” He let a little scowl soften and he poked me in the shoulder. “Which means that if you can avoid burning any other houses down, that would be terrific. And if there is anything else that the two of you need to know, I’ll tell you, okay? Now,” he said, with a smile that I wasn’t sure was entirely real, “is there anything else, or can I finally go get a coffee?”

“Decaf,” Rena said. “If the doctor is saying she doesn’t want you to get too worked up, make it a decaf, okay?”

I realized that he hadn’t looked at me. There was something he wasn’t telling us. That was nothing new. There was always something he wasn’t telling us. Maybe he figured it was something we didn’t need to know. Which reminded me: “Daddy,” I said, “did you talk to George?” He shook his head. “Word is that George found some James Harbor buoys out in our waters while he was motoring around today.”

Rena glanced at me and then at Daddy. “Lobster season doesn’t start until next week. Shit. I think Tucker has a colour-coordinated
chart of television shows he means to watch before heading back out on the
Queen Jane
.”

“They aren’t trying to catch lobsters,” Daddy said. “They’re just trying to horn in on our territory. Figure if they get the traps out it will be a fait accompli. By the time our season starts and we’re out and fishing it will be too late.”

“What are we going to do about it?” I said.

“You know I just came back from spending the night in the hospital, right? That the doctor’s telling me not to get too worked up? And I’m gone for twenty-four hours to find that Kenny’s off the island, you decided to burn out Eddie Glouster, and James Harbor is already in on our waters.” He rubbed his hand on the stubble on his cheek. “What are we going to do about James Harbor? What do you think, Cordelia?” he said as he hauled open the door of the diner. He paused, glancing in the diner to make sure everybody was paying attention, and then looked back at Rena and me, his voice loud enough to carry both inside and out. “We’ll encourage the James Harbor boys to get out of our waters, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll go to war.”

That, to me, didn’t seem like the best way of keeping himself from getting too worked up.

D
addy looked around at Carly, Stephanie, Rena, Tucker, and me, and then he placed his hands flat on the table. “I feel like King Lear trying to divide up his kingdom,” Daddy said. “But it’s better to do it now than to have problems later.” I made a face, and he laughed.

“What?” Rena asked.

“I’ve read
Lear
,” I said to her. “It ends poorly.”

“You know what else ends poorly?” Daddy said. “Dinner without dessert. And while we’re at it, a little salt won’t kill me. The doctor said to watch what I eat. Cut down on red meats, less fat, olive oil instead of butter when possible, and less salt. Not no salt. Just less salt. A little salt.” He pulled himself straight up in his chair and looked down at his hands. The five of us waited. “I’m not fixing to retire, but the truth of it is that all men age, and Carly,” he said, “if you’re seriously intent on moving home and shacking up with Stephanie”—he nodded toward Stephanie, who blushed—“we’ve got some logistics to work out.” He stood up, like he’d forgotten something, and walked over to the window. There were some high, grey clouds kiting across the sky with speed, and out in the harbour there was enough wind to bounce
the waves white. I thought it was going to be a rough ride across to the mainland for Stephanie and Carly after lunch; they’d come down for the weekend to tell Daddy about their plans to move to the island, and they’d looked like they were feeling it on the way in on Friday night. Stephanie, I knew, didn’t have much experience on a boat, despite her intentions of becoming Daddy’s new sternman, and Carly had gotten used to life with her feet on the mainland.

“This is what I’ve got,” Daddy said, waving off toward the water. “You know I love you, and I’ve been straight and fair with all of you, haven’t I?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Rena said. Carly echoed with a quick yes of her own, and for a moment it looked like she wanted to add something else, to put in more than Rena had, but she changed her mind. I didn’t say anything, but in the swiftness of my sisters’ answers, I suddenly realized how generous Daddy had been.

I guess it says something about me that I hadn’t thought much of it. Or maybe it says something about Daddy? Either way, Daddy had been fair with us, not splitting things down the middle—or three ways—but divvying up as things needed to be divvied. Rena and Tucker had gotten the biggest house, because they’d come to Loosewood Island with the twins, and Daddy had given over the fish shop to Rena’s care and taken Tucker on as a sternman. He’d written cheques for Carly, helping her pay rent those first couple years when she was teaching, and he’d set me up with my boat, paying for the bulk of the
Kings’ Ransom
. He paid for college for all of us and bought Carly her last car.

“Carly,” Daddy said, “you’ve already been sneaking around my back with Principal Philips, so you’re taken care of with a job, which means that Stephanie, you’re up first. Carly’s been asking if you can be my sternman. What my baby asks for, my baby gets. If you want the job, I’ll take you on. So you know, I won’t pay you a penny until you’ve earned it. That seem fair to you?” Stephanie nodded, but Daddy kept looking at her. “You sure that’s what you want, Stephanie? It’s hard work.”