Chapter 29 - EMBRACE
Dunk called Gram's house the minute he finished talking to Mrs.
Dow .. Liz. He wanted to know that Annie was OK, and to tell Gram
he wouldn't be back anytime soon. Gram told him Buster had gone
missing, that his sister was happily settled in with her, and
his mom was at her sister's.
"Don't you worry son," Gram said. "I don't think your father will
cause any more trouble." Dunk wondered what she meant by that,
but was willing to take her word for it, for now.
He made a quick stop at Sherm's store for smokes, a loaf of bread,
some milk, a package of sliced ham, and a can of peaches. Dunk
put them all in a plastic bag and hustled back to his skiff. Then
he made tracks for Rogue Island. It was still thick a fog on the
water, but with an empty skiff and a tailwind Dunk fairly flew
up the reach and across the passage. It was a bit tricky to keep
the flatiron from sheering when she surfed, but Dunk was an old
hand at it, and the exhilaration blew away much of his anxiety.
Dunk's navigation was dead on, and he flew through the back door
and across Bunker's Hole like a house afire, never hearing the
hail, out in the fog to his right.
Cyr was still rowing round and round, confused, hungry, and not
a little testy. "God damn you, then," Cyr shouted at the receding
outboard.
But the actor realized he now knew where the through channel was,
and by keeping careful track of the direction of the wind, something
he'd neglected to think about before, and calculating where the
Concordia sat in relation to the channel, he soon saw the ghost
of BALI rising up in the fog, and gratefully clambered aboard.
Cyr immediately went below and did up a big line of coke, to restore
his courage and self-respect. Then he climbed back into the cockpit
confidently, only to realize he'd never tied the dingy back up.
It was gone.
"Merde," he shouted. Then he laughed. "That will put ol Hackies
hackles up, won't it?" he thought.
Dunk didn't slack off until he was in the channel where EQUAL'S
was moored, and he ran his skiff up on the ledge by Mary's camp
so hard the backwash nearly took it out of the water. Mary was
running down over the rocks as he leaped over the bow, and she
threw her arms around him. They kissed passionately, hugging each
other for dear life.
When they'd calmed down a little, and were holding each other
by the forearms, staring with wonder into each other's eyes, Dunk
said, "You sure this is all right? I mean, I was so scared for
you, and I wasn't thinking straight, and ..."
Marianne threw back her hair and laughed. "Oh, Dunk. I'm so glad
you're here. It's so all right I want to dance," and she swung
him round and round and hooted, until they both were laughing
breathlessly.
The fisherman in Dunk realized that the tide was falling, and
he managed to push his skiff off before she was there for the
whole tide. But he went right back to Mary, who was building a
fire. They both started speaking at once.
"Mary..."
"Dunk..." and they laughed.
"You first," Dunk said.
"I had a visitor," Marianne started, and Dunk looked quickly into
her eyes. "He was off some sailboat."
"Over to the Hole?" Dunk gestured with his head.
"I think so. He was dressed up all spiffy, and playacting like
a romantic hero," she went on. Dunk bristled at the "romantic."
"Big nose?" Dunk asked. It was her turn to stare. She nodded yes.
"I took his buddies in to town. They were looking for Sum. I think
Sum's in some kinda trouble," Dunk explained.
"Trouble?.. That's what Lizzie said on the CB," Mary said slowly.
"What kind of trouble?"
"I saw Sum and them takin a drum of somethin outa Sonny's boat
yestiddy mahnin," Dunk said, "and they were in some old hurry
to get it hidden. I think they could be smugglin somethin."
"Sumner?" Marianne asked, astonished. "I don't think Sumner..."
"He mightn't have any say in it." Dunk interrupted. She looked
questioningly.
"He's crew on Sonny's boat. If Sonny found somethin and decided
to keep it, Sum would have to go along," Dunk tried to explain.
"I don't understand," Marianne said.
"It's like a code of honor, like in King Arthur or somethin,"
Dunk went on, "or the Musketeers.. all for one and one for all."
"You mean if one fisherman is breaking the law, the others don't
interfere?"
"Depends on the law," Dunk responded. "Smuggling's always been
somethin some Smithporters do, like not file'n income tax, or
cuttin your buoys if you're too greedy."
"But drugs.." Marianne said.
"It's just somethin to smuggle to them. If Sonny and them found
a barrel of drugs, Sonny'd just see it as a windfall. It'd be
his, by right, see? There was a bunch of cannisters of hash went
adrift a couple years back, and the fishermen chased them for
months." Dunk reported.
"Would you keep your mouth shut?" Marianne looked him square in
the eye.
Dunk took in a deep breath. "I think I'd want to do what YOU think
is right," he said. "But it might be very dangerous to tell on
a smuggler in this town."
"So Sumner might be in danger, whatever he's done?" Marianne asked.
Dunk nodded. "But you'd do what I asked, if it was you?" she went
on.
Dunk took another deep breath. "I .. I .. think I'm in love with
you," he looked fearfully into her eyes. His uncertainty wrung
her heart. Marianne took a step toward Dunk, and threw her arms
around him again, kissing him on the mouth.
"Me too," she said between kisses, "me too, Dunk. I think I'm
in love, too." Dunk felt drunk, and a little scared, and wanted
not to break this precious thing.
The snapping of the fire in the kindling brought them back to
earth. While Marianne knelt down to feed the fire, Dunk went on,
"Those two men off the boat were lookin for Sum.. and one of them
had a gun."
Marianne stiffened. "I called," Dunk said, "and tried to warn
... Liz, but I couldn't say too much on the party linee, case
it'd make worse trouble for Sum,".
"What did Liz say?" Marianne asked.
"She said to tell you not to come in before you heard from her
on the CB." Dunk answered.
"But she didn't know their boat was out here?" Marianne said.
"No. I never said. I think she was tryin to warn me these men
are bad trouble."
"We could go and tell the police, or the Coast Guard," Marianne
considered.
"Sum and them might end up in jail," he answered, "or worse."
"What are we going to do?" she asked.
"Right now, I want to make sure you're safe. So maybe we should
move your camp so's Big Nose can't find ya." She nodded.
"Then we'll wait for Liz's 7 o'clock call. Maybe Sum'll have settled
with 'em, or he'll have an idea what to do," Dunk suggested.
Marianne nodded agreement. "And you could kiss me again." she
suggested, a little breathlessly. Dunk didn't have to be asked
twice.