Part 16 (2/2)

”I shouldn't even be talking to you,” she said playfully, teasing him with propriety. There was no mistrust in her mind. Their meetings had a fairy-tale quality, with Red no ordinary stranger, but a genial sorcerer in charge of the wonderful bridge-a sorcerer who seemed to know more about the girl than she knew about herself.

”Didn't I tell you I grew up in this village, just like you're doing?” said Red. ”Didn't I tell you I went to high school with your mother and father? Don't you believe that?”

”I believe it,” said Nancy. ”Only Mother used to say little girls should be introduced to strangers. They shouldn't just start talking to them.”

Red kept the needles of sarcasm out of his voice. ”Quite an upstanding lady, wasn't she?” he said. ”Yup-she knew how good little boys and girls should act. Yessirreeee-good as gold, Violet was. b.u.t.ter wouldn't melt in knew how good little boys and girls should act. Yessirreeee-good as gold, Violet was. b.u.t.ter wouldn't melt in her her mouth.” mouth.”

”Everybody says so,” said Nancy proudly. ”Not just Daddy and me.”

”Daddy, eh?” said Red. He mimicked her. ”'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy-Eddie Scudder is my great big Daddy.'” He c.o.c.ked his head watchfully. ”You didn't tell him I was up here, did you?”

Nancy blushed at the accusation. ”I wouldn't break my word of honor.”

Red grinned and wagged his head. ”Gee, he'll really get a big boot out of it when I all of a sudden just kind of drop out of the sky, after all these years.”

”One of the last things Mother said before she died,” said Nancy, ”was that I should never break my word of honor.”

Red clucked piously. ”Real serious girl, your mother,” he said. ”Back when we got out of high school, the other girls wanted to play around a little before they settled down. But not Violet. Nosir. I made my first voyage back then-and when I come back a year later, she was all married and settled down with Eddie, and she'd had you. Course, you didn't have any hair when I saw you that time.”

”I've got to go now, and get my daddy's lunch,” said Nancy.

”'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,'” said Red. ”'Got to do this for Daddy, got to do that for Daddy.' Must be nice to have a pretty, smart daughter like you. 'Daddy, Daddy.' You ask your daddy about red hair, like I told you?”

”He said he guessed it usually ran in families,” said Nancy. ”Only sometimes it pops up from nowhere, like it did with me.” Her hand went up to her hair.

”It's still there,” said Red.

”What is?” said Nancy.

”Your hair hair, Red!” He guffawed. ”I swear, if anything was to happen to that hair, you'd just dry up and blow away. Comes from nowhere, does it? That's what Eddie said?” Red nodded judiciously. ”He'd ”He'd know. I expect Eddie's done a lot of thinking about red hair in his time. Now, you take know. I expect Eddie's done a lot of thinking about red hair in his time. Now, you take my my family: if family: if I I was ever to have a kid that was ever to have a kid that wasn't wasn't redheaded, redheaded, that'd that'd start everybody to figuring and wondering. Been a redheaded family since the beginning of time.” start everybody to figuring and wondering. Been a redheaded family since the beginning of time.”

”That's very interesting,” said Nancy.

”Gets more interesting, the more you think about it,” said Red. ”You and me and my old man are about the only redheads this village ever had, that I I know of. Now that the old man's gone, that just leaves two of us.” know of. Now that the old man's gone, that just leaves two of us.”

Nancy remained serene. ”Huh,” she said. ”Bye, now.”

”Bye, Red.”

As she walked away, Red picked up his spygla.s.s, and looked down at Eddie's oyster shack. Through the window, he could see Eddie, blue-gray in the twilight interior, shucking oysters. Eddie was a small man, with a large head majestic in sorrow. It was the head of a young Job.

”Hi,” whispered Red. ”Guess who's home.”

When Nancy came back from the lunchroom with a warm, fat paper bag, Red stopped her again.

”Saaaaaay,” he said, ”maybe you'll grow up to be a nurse, after taking such good care of old Eddie. I wish there'd been nice nurses like you at the hospital I was at.”

Nancy's face softened with pity. ”You were in a hospital?”

”Three months, Red, in Liverpool, without a friend or a relative in this world to come see me, or even send me a get-well card.” He grew wistful. ”Funny, Red-I never realized how lonely I was, till I had to lie down and stay down, till I knew I couldn't ever go to sea again.” He licked his lips. ”Changed me, Red, like that.” that.” He snapped his fingers. He snapped his fingers.

”All of a sudden, I needed a home,” he said, ”and somebody to care about me, and keep me company-maybe in that little cottage out there on the point. I didn't have nothing, Red, but mate's papers that wasn't worth the paper they were printed on for a man with one leg.”

Nancy was shocked. ”You've only got one leg?”

”One day I was the crazy, tough kid they all remember down there,” said Red, including the village in a sweep of his hand. ”The next day I was an old, old man.”

Nancy bit her knuckle, sharing his pain. ”Haven't you got a wife or a mother or a lady friend to look after you?” she said. By her stance, she offered her services as a daughter, as though it were a simple thing that any good girl would do.

Red hung his head. ”Dead,” he said. ”My mother's dead, and the only girl I ever loved is dead. And the lady friends, Red-they're never what you'd call real real friendly, not if you can't love friendly, not if you can't love them them, not if you're in love with a ghost.”

Nancy's sweet face twisted as Red forced her to look at the grisliness of life. ”Why do you live up the river, if you're so lonesome?” she said. ”Why don't you live down here, where you'd be with your old friends?”

Red raised an eyebrow. ”Old friends? Funny kind of friends to have, who wouldn't even drop me a postcard to tell me Violet's kid had bright red hair. Not even my folks told me.”

The wind freshened, and on the wind, from seemingly far away, came Nancy's voice. ”Daddy's lunch is getting cold,” she said. She started to walk away.

”Red!”

She stopped, and her hand went up to her hair. She kept her back to him.

Red wished to G.o.d he could see her face. ”Tell Eddie I want to talk to him, would you? Tell him to meet me in the lunchroom after I get off work-about ten after five.”

”I will,” she said. Her voice was clear, calm.

”Word of honor?”

”Word of honor,” she said. She started walking again.

”Red!”

Her hand went up to her hair, but she kept on walking.

Red followed her with his spygla.s.s, but she knew she was being watched. She kept her head turned, so he couldn't see her face. And seconds after she went into the oyster shack, a shade was drawn across the window that faced the bridge.

For the rest of the afternoon, the shack might as well have been empty for all the life Red could see. Only once, toward sunset, did Eddie come out. He didn't so much as glance up at the bridge, and he kept his his face hidden, too. face hidden, too.

The screech from his own stool in the lunchroom brought Red back to the present. He blinked at the sunset, and saw the silhouette of Eddie Scudder crossing the bridge, big-headed and bandy-legged, carrying a small paper bag.

Red turned his back to the door, reached into a jacket pocket, and brought forth a packet of letters, which he set on the counter before him. He put his fingertips on them, like a cardplayer standing pat. ”Here's the man of the hour,” he said.

No one spoke.

Eddie came in without hesitation, with a formal greeting for everyone, Red last of all. His voice was surprisingly rich and deep. ”h.e.l.lo, Red,” he said. ”Nancy said you wanted to see me.”

”That's right,” said Red. ”n.o.body here can figure out what I'd have to say to you.”

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