AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Taking her backpack, with her phone and wallet, she locked up the cottage and headed for the skiff with the key for that lock in her bag. Everything had a lock. The dock was newer than she remembered, a long, bright yellow cypress wood walkway that led straight to the pier. The skiff was chained and locked, so she knelt down after pulling the chain over so the key didn’t drop into the water. She’d look for combination locks when she went into town, adding that to her mental list.
She held on to the decking and climbed down into the boat. The tide was low in the morning, so it was a bit of a drop down. There was storage in the starboard-side gunwale where she could stash her backpack.
The motor was easy to start; Floyd had written it out for her: put it in neutral, insert key, and start. Voila. It started right away. He said it had gas, and there was a gallon can full in the shed. She put it into gear and it moved forward with a jerk—not so much gas, please—and in a minute she had it down. She remembered the way into town: stay to the left, and the village dock will soon be in view. Getting to town via water was so much faster than by car.
In five minutes she saw the village dock. The little village actually had a dockmaster, an ancient resident who lived in the dockmaster’s building, which was a fishing shack, and he came out when she pulled up in the skiff.
“Miss Bonnet’s boat,” he said, chewing on a cigar.
“Yes, sir. Can I park here?”
“Yes’m. Throw me your rope.”
She looked around and saw the rope and threw it up to the dock.
“Get out here at the ladder,” he said, pulling her to the ladder. “Tide mighty low today considering we have the risin’ sea levels. You heard about that?”
Everyone she’d met had asked her if she’d heard about rising sea levels.
“I have. Everything is unpredictable.”
“Yes’m! That’s exactly right. It’s unpredictable. I may quote you today, if you don’t mind.”
He offered his hand and she took it.
“I don’t mind at all,” she said, climbing off the ladder onto the dock.
“How you find things over at Bayou Cottage? You up on stilts over there, is that correct? If you up on stilts, you be okay, I would think.”
“Yes, sir, it’s up on stilts. I hope it’s high enough.”
“Someone was thinkin’ ahead, I believe. Most of the waterfront cottages in Cypress Cove are up on cinder blocks, but a few thinkin’ ahead put ’em on stilts.”
She nodded her head, waiting.
“I be here when you git back,” he said, nodding.
“Thank you,” she replied and held out her hand again, slipping him a five-dollar bill, the action she’d seen her grandfather and then her aunt do, but with less money, all those years ago. Five dollars would mean she needn’t tip him on the return trip. There was a method to her madness.
The first on her list was a visit to the post office/train station/Western Union. There was no one inside but a clerk at the PO window. Maggie didn’t know at first if it was a man or a woman until she got up to the counter and saw the person had breasts. Wearing a white dress shirt and a black tie, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, her hair was cut in a man’s style, shaved around the ears and up the back.
“Hello. I’m—”
“I know who you are,” Polly said, her sweet voice confirming she was female. “Miss Bonnet’s niece.”
“Yes, um, I have some boxes coming.”
“I got two right here already. How many you expecting? Because I know you got that boat, and I can have Floyd bring your boxes around to Bayou Cottage if you’d rather.”
“I’m expecting six. Let me think. You know what? I’ll take these two back with me today. If the other four come together, that would be wonderful to have Mr. Guidry bring them to the cottage.”
“It’ll cost you, and you probably know by now, Floyd ain’t cheap.”
Maggie tried not to smile too wide. “Okay, well, that’s fine if it’ll save me the trip. Not that it was difficult. Five minutes tops.”
“Do you have any shopping to do? You go ahead and I’ll bring the dolly around, help you get these things to the dock.”
“That’ll be perfect. Thank you.”
