Free A Second Chance in Paradise by Tom Winton Page B

family anywhere to sue ’em.”
    “ I’m really sorry, Mr. Bell.”
    There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before he finally asked, “You want to rent it month to month ... the trailer?”
    “Sure. That would be fine.”
    “H unert-and-fifty a month, plus electric and water.”
    “ Sounds fair to me,” I said, knowing better than to offer to pay up front.
     
    “ No fishing from the dock.”
    “ Mister. Bell, I love to fish, but I’m a sportsman. I think you and I share a common respect for wildlife.”
    Looking directly into my eyes, Pa nodded slowly then. Knowing now that deal was done, I waited just a moment before saying, “ I’ve got to get going now. I want to pick up some groceries over at the store.”
    “Sure. Okay. Tell Sissy I said to give you twenty percent off like I do all the others in the park.” Then his wise eyes narrowed as if they were being pinched together and he said in a slightly deeper tone, “Be nice to Julie, now. She’s one hell of a gal. It was plain to see last night that she’s takin’ a liking to you. I ain’t never seen her act that interested in any man.”
    Just what I didn’t need to hear. I did not need any additional pressure right then, but I knew Pa hadn’t intended to tax my emotions. After all, he couldn’t have known I went into Julie’s trailer with her the night before. Or could he? Did he?  Something in those alert, knowing eyes of his made me wonder.
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    Most of us have a secret closet where we store all kinds of different masks. Depending on the people we encounter or the situations we find ourselves in, we can change our disguises in an instant. For that reason it can sometimes be harder to read people than to decipher ancient literature. But that wasn’t the way it was with Sissy when I went to Pa’s store to buy groceries that morning.
    From the moment I stepped onto that worn , wooden floor, I knew something was up with her. She acted differently to the first time I was in there. Immediately, I could tell she was giving me the silent treatment. She must have somehow figured out what happened between me and her close friend, either that or Julie told her. No matter what, I did not like it. Just minutes earlier Pa had made me feel uncomfortable enough telling me to treat Julie right, now here was Sissy copping an attitude. With nobody else in the store as I perused the shelves, I tried twice to start a lighthearted conversation. I still got nothing. That was it. I didn’t say another word. Not even when I went to pay Sissy. I was so angry that I didn’t even mention the discount Pa told me to ask for.
    After lugging a twelve-pack of beer and four bags of groceries to the trailer – kicking dust up in front of me most of the way, I decided I had to get all the clutter out of my head. I needed to go fishing. So after taking a quick shower in the phone-booth-size stall, loading my tackle box, bait bucket, and two rods into the van, I headed up to Big Pine Key to get some bait.
    It was a good decision. In no time at all my negative thoughts simply vanished. How could they not? As I motored north there was a magnificent expanse of ocean on either side of me. On the right, way, way out in the Atlantic, I could see the dark blue waters of the Gulfstream. In closer, the shoals were a beautiful shade of turquoise and, closer yet, the water became a soothing mint green, mottled with dark patches where the shallow was coated with eel grass. Shimmering beneath an endless blue sky, this was a vision that could never be duplicated on any picture postcard.
    As soon as I came off the bridge over Pine Channel onto Big Pine Key, I saw for the first time a diminutive Key deer. Driving through here last Friday, on my way south, I had seen numerous caution signs along the road advising to watch for the endangered deer, but I hadn’t see any. Now, coming out of the sun-blanched palmettos alongside the road, there was a fully grown