Free The Whale's Footprints - Rick Boyer by Rick Boyer

was gone and
almost all the light.
    "Tomorrow I'm getting up early, running, going
down to the harbor, and fitting out the boat. I want to be underway
by eleven at the latest."
    "Can I come with you?"
    "Listen, Mary. I think it might be better to
sail down with Jack and spend some time with him, considering what's
happened."
    "That's a great idea. I'll drive the car down.
By the way, what did you think of Janice's bathing suit? If you can
call something so miniscule a suit?"
    "I, uh, think she's far too old to be wearing
something like that, my dear."
    "Good Charlie. Sometimes you say just the right
thing. I'll have a talk with her and we can—"
    "But with her shape she can get away with it."
    Even in the fallen light, I could see her looking
daggers at me. "That won't go unforgotten," she said
calmly, and we walked over to the rail to hear the tide come in.
 
    SEVEN
    NEXT DAY, Monday morning, Jack and I were up in
Wellfleet Harbor stocking the Ella Hatton .
I was glad to see that the marina had escaped major storm damage.
Still, a number of small boats had swamped, and the harbor water was
murky. Our little catboat had come through with flying colors,
though, and now we had her made fast to a pier, ready for loading.
Jack had accepted my invitation. He and I agreed that some
one-on-one, coupled with two days at sea, would be just the ticket
for both of us. As we packed the little catboat with supplies, I was
asking him about Alice Henderson. Not trying to pry, of course. just
curious.
    "Intimate?" I asked, reaching into the
grocery carton that sat dockside, mentally plumbing the ramifications
of the word. Like the word 'relationship,' it's a favorite of the
eighties. But what the hell does it mean, really? It can mean any
number of things.
    "Just how intimate?" I asked, handing Jack
the big chilled ham, which he stowed below decks in the Hatton 's ice chest.
    "Aw, c'mon, Dad. You know: intimate."
    "First base? Second?"
    " Sure I kissed her. Sure. And, well, sure."
    "Third?”
    He let out a deep sigh. "Look, Dad, I said
intimate, didn't I?"
    "All the way to home plate?"
    He suggested I mind my own business. It's a rude
awakening, but sooner or later parents are forced to realize that
most of the events in the lives of their children are not their
business. Like maybe ninety percent of what happens in their lives.
The remaining ten percent reserved for parents being mostly money and
a roof to sleep under. Hey, come on, Adams; that's not fair. You
couldn't have two better ones.
    " Well, you could kinda call it an
inside-the-park home run," he said finally, disappearing under
the companionway hatch to the bows of the Hatton ,
toting a case of Poland Spring sparkling mineral water.
Inside-the-park home run? What on earth did that mean? I conjured up
various grotesque positions of copulation. Certain previously
unimaginable circumstances of the love act.
    Finally I gave up. Better not to think about it. But
this brief exchange made me realize something. Much of Jack's life,
and his emotions and motives, were hidden from me. And so, therefore,
perhaps many of my assumptions about him were outdated and
inaccurate. Somehow, it was a chilling thought, as if my son had
grown a stranger to me.
    Jack held up a gold-embossed cigar box. Macanudo
jamaican cigars, large palmas with dark Cameroon wrappers. A gift
from Morris Abramson, M.D.
    "Where do you want these?" he asked.
    "Next to the whiskey and pipe tobacco, in the
stow shelf over my bunk. Hey buddy, indulge your old man's curiosity
for a second. What the hell does inside-the-par—"
    "Forget it, Dad! I never shoulda mentioned it."
    So I handed him the canned goods, the beer, the fresh
pineapple, the roasted peanuts, the two New York strip steaks, the
sack of potatoes and onions, an assortment of cheeses, and so on.
Inside-the-park home run. What the—?
    "Here come the DeGroots," he said, pointing
with one hand and shielding his eyes from the sun's glare with the
other. "Mom and