Part 12 (1/2)

”Sure!” Sam said. ”Buddy? You in?”

”Yes, sir!”

Everyone wanted to see what a personal submarine looked like, so they gathered up their things and all of them, including Ellen and Gladdie, followed Hank down to the marina, where a sixty-five-foot-long catamaran waited with five handsome, suntanned young men on its deck. Well, at least they seemed young to Olivia, and she knew she should be ashamed of her initial thoughts about them. She looked around, and sure enough, Dorothy and that s.l.u.t Ellen were licking their lips. Wouldn't it be great if Bob and Sam could catch these two in the sack with a couple of deckhands? She smiled at the thought of it.

Of the crew of five, four were on hand to operate the catamaran and the sub and the other fellow was the pilot for the sub.

”Morning! Welcome aboard!” the captain said.

”Mel! Say h.e.l.lo to Bob Vasile and his guests!” Hank said.

Bob and Mel shook hands, and then Mel shook hands with everyone else as they were introduced.

Sam and Buddy climbed onto the catamaran with Bob, Nick, and Hank. The ladies waited on the dock.

”What a beautiful boat!” Bob said.

”Thank you, sir,” Mel said. ”We're very proud of her.”

”How fast can she travel?” Bob asked.

”Up to twenty knots. You could never launch and recover a Triton with any other boat as easily as we can with this cat.”

”She sure is yar!” Maritza said, and the women looked at her as if she were a raving lunatic. ”Excuse me, all you pickle p.u.s.s.es! Katharine Hepburn? The Philadelphia Story? The boat True Love?”

There was no name or term recognition to be found among the younger ones.

”I think I remember hearing about Katharine Hepburn from my grandmother,” Kitty said.

”Me too,” Lola said. ”Didn't Katharine Hepburn cross-dress?”

”Not any more than Lauren Bacall,” Olivia said.

”Who?” Kitty said.

”My grandmother talked about her too,” Ellen said. ”Isn't she dead?”

Olivia, Dorothy, Anne, Mich.e.l.le, and Maritza finally found that they had something in common-contempt for the unforgivably young and uncultured.

Ignoring the women, Bob said to Mel, ”Take my two pals out first and I'll go later with Nick. I just want to have a look at the lift.”

”Well, you ought to watch The Philadelphia Story sometime,” Olivia said to the younger women. ”It's a cla.s.sic.”

”I'm afraid the issues of propriety might go straight over their heads,” Mich.e.l.le said.

”It's an informative movie about being cla.s.sy,” Dorothy said, directing her remark to Ellen. ”It wouldn't hurt you to watch it.”

Ellen gasped and for once was speechless.

”Like you know the difference,” Lola said, in defense of Ellen.

”Stop it!” Anne said.

”Ladies!” Maritza said.

Good grief! Olivia thought but did not say.

Silence hung in the air, and the good-natured feelings of the morning sank to the bottom of the sea.

Maritza said, ”I'm going on board. I'm dying to go on the sub! How about y'all?”

”Not me,” Olivia said. ”No desire. I'll watch the movie, though.”

”Me either,” Dorothy said.

Anne just stood there, jaw clenched.

”You don't want to go?” Lola said to Anne.

”Not at all,” Anne replied. Anne was miffed because Lola took Ellen's side.

Women, Olivia thought.

”You go down three thousand feet and tell us how it is,” Mich.e.l.le said to Maritza.

”Well then, I will!” Maritza said.

Bob, who had ears like NASA and the SETI Project rolled into one, turned back to Maritza and said, ”You don't have to do this, Maritza. It's really a guy thing.”

”Really?” She was about to argue and then remembered what Olivia told her about treating Bob like royalty. ”Well, dahlin', you know best. But do you think I could just look at it? Just a peek?”

Bob melted from Maritza's obsequious response. If there was anything he caved in to, it was a good bootlick. Yeah, boy, a genuflect to his almighty power did him right in.

”Sure, sweetheart. Here, take my hand.” Bob reached out to help Maritza board the catamaran. ”Watch your step now.”

Maritza turned around and winked at Olivia. ”I'll be right back, y'all!”

Olivia relayed this anecdote to Nick later on during the c.o.c.ktail hour on the terrace of the Great House. There was a new mountain of caviar on the c.o.c.ktail buffet and plenty of smoked fish with a.s.sorted breads. Bottles of vodka stood in blocks of ice stuffed with herbs and the champagne bucket was filled with two bottles. Olivia wondered if Bob owned stock in Veuve Clicquot.

”So, Maritza actually wound up piloting the submarine with Bob as her pa.s.senger,” Olivia said. ”He's definitely a catch-more-flies-with-honey kind of man.”

”Most men are.”