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“Oh,” I say, nodding as if I understand. I don’t, but appearances are important right now. “I’m sure you know best.”
He gives me a long look and then clears his throat. Turning around, he points to the only three-story building in the whole downtown area.
“What is that?”
“That’s the community center. We are going to get there at the end of the tour.”
He puts his hand on my arm to stop me.
“Humor me. Let’s go look at it now.”
He takes off again, zigzagging to cross the road. I have to really book it to keep up with his long strides. I’m on the tall side for a woman, but Cole has mile-long legs.
When I get to the concrete entrance of the community center, I’m a tad out of breath.
Cole is looking straight up at the building. There is kudzu on a full third of the façade, and a huge, dark water stain on the left side of the building. All in all, the place doesn’t seem terribly impressive from the outside. Couple that with the fact that if you put a ball on the floor, it will surely roll toward the beach. It’s fair to say that the community center has its problems.
“I don’t even know what to look at first,” Cole says, squinting. “This place seems like it’s ready to fall over with the first strong wind.”
“It’s very sturdy.” I feel weirdly protective about the community center, like I am the only one that will stick up for it now that my mom is gone. “It’s lived through every hurricane that made landfall here since the Nixon administration.”
Cole pokes out his cheek with his tongue.
“Okay…,” he says slowly. “Let’s look inside.”
Without waiting for a word from me, he goes into the slight alcove and pulls on the doors. They won’t budge, even though Cole rattles the door handle.
“Damn.” He steps back, looking up again. “This place would be perfect.”
“They don’t open until eleven. You can’t just swan into the community center and start doing renovations!” I protest, my voice rising. I’m trying not to connect it to my personal feelings, but I can’t help it.
My mother loved the South Shore community, and she adored the community center. If she were the one standing in my place, she would shout at Cole until he went away.
But she can’t help me now. And shouting at people isn’t really my thing.
I clear my throat. “They teach ESL classes here. There is a pottery studio, a great theater, and even a tiny pool to teach babies to swim. There are cooking classes every spring, and rhumba classes in the winter. All summer long, there are driver’s education classes taught by community volunteers. This community is a closely-knit one. And this building is one of the bindings.”
It all comes rushing out in a great gust of excitement. Once more, I feel breathless, and my cheeks warm.
Cole, for his part, doesn’t even have the decency to look vaguely impressed by my speech.
“All of that wholesome community building can be done anywhere.” His lips thin. “I’m going to mark this down as a strong contender for our hotel site.”
“You can’t just–.”
He holds up a hand. I stop talking, not at all used to his abruptness.
“You’ve said your piece. You have provided context for the building. Now let’s move on.”
Cole starts moving toward the next building, a run down, single-story gymnasium.
“What is this building?”
I sigh and tell him the story of how it was a thriving gym into the 1980s, and then it slowly became a ghost town.
“They closed their doors in… 2012, maybe?” I say. “You could definitely buy that!”
He shoots me a sour look. “That isn’t nearly large enough.”
