Part 13 (2/2)
I have never experienced anger so intense as I felt then It was that strong for it fed upon one - and Dancer had been half as hose It was a private thing - I would deal with it personally
When I walked back along the wharf to the pick-up, all that gave e that Dancer had been insured There would be another boat - not as beautiful or as well beloved as Dancer - but a boat nevertheless
In the crowd I noticed the shi+ny black face of Harnbone Williams - the harbour ferryhy back and forth at threepence a hire
”Hambone,” I called hiht?”
”No, sit, Mister Harry”
”nobody at all?”
”Only your party She left her watch in the cabin I took her out to fetch it”
”The lady?”
”Yes, the lady with the yellow hair”
”What ti, Mister Harry?”
”No, it's all right just forget it”
We buried Judith next day before noon I et the plot beside her elo liked that He said he did not want her to be lonely up there on the hill Angelo was still half doped, and he was quiet and drea the three of us began salvage work on Dancer We worked hard for ten days and we stripped her co-ga reels and the FN carbine to the twin bronze propellers The hull and superstructure were so badly broken up as to be of no value
At the end of that time Wave Dancer had become a memory only I have had ht when I hear a certain song or sinning to recede into the past
the tenth day I went up to see Fred coker - and thevery wrong He was shi+ny with nervous sweat, his eyesspectacles and his hands sca over his blotter or leaping up to adjust the knot of his necktie or smooth down the thin strands of hair on his polished craniuet excited please, Mister Harry,” he advised me
Whenever people tell me that, I become very excited indeed
”What is it, coker? Come on! Come on!” I slammed one fist on the desk top, and he leapt in his chair so the goldrimmed spectacles slid down his nose
”Mister Harry, please-”
”Corave worm--2 ”Mister Harry - it's about the premiums on Dancer” I stared at him
”You see - you have never made a claim before - it seemed such a waste to-” I found words ”You pocketed the pre me suddenly ”You didn't pay them over to the company”
”You understand,” Fred coker nodded ”I knew you'd understand”
I tried to go over the desk to save time, but I tripped and fell- Fred coker leapt froers He ran through the back door, slah the door, tearing off the lock, and leaving it hanging on broken hinges
Fred coker ran- as though all the dark angels pursued hiht hi doors into the alley and lifted hi his back against a pile of cheap pine coffins
He had lost his spectacles, and he eeping with fright, big slow tears welling out of the helpless shorts sighted eyes
”You know I' to kill you I whispered, and hesix inches above the floor
I Pulled back ht fist and braced myself solidly on the balls of my feet It would have taken his head off I couldn't do it - but I had to hit soht ear The panelling shattered, stove in along its full length Fred coker shrieked like an hysterical girl at a POP festival, and I let his could not hold hi therewith terror and I walked out into the street as near to bankrupt as I'd been in the last ten years
Mister Harry transforle stroke into Fletcher, wharf rat and land-bound bum It was a classic case of reversion to type - before I reached the Lord Nelson I was thinking the sa the percentages, seeking the elo were the only customers in the public bar so early in the afternoon I told the to say
We drank the first one in silence, then I asked Chubby, ”What will you do now?”and he shrugged ”I've still got the old whaleboat--- It was a twenty-footer, ado for stu reef crayfish There was good money in the frozen tails
it was how Chubby had earned his bread before Dancer and I caines, those old Sea Gulls of yours are shot”
We drank another pint, while I worked out my finances - what the hell, a couple of thousand dollars was not going to make much difference to me ”I'll buy tenty horse Evinnides for the boat, Chubby,” I volunteered
”Won't let you do it, Harry” He frowned indignantly, and shook his head ”I got enough saved up working for you,” and he was adaelo?” I asked
”Guess I'll go sell my soul on a Rawano contract”
”No,” Chubby scowled at the thought ”I'll need crew for the stump-boat”
They were all settled then I was relieved, for I felt responsible for thelad that Chubby would be there to care for Angelo The boy had taken Judith's death very badly He was quiet and withdrawn, no longer the flashi+ng Roe of Dancer, that alone seeiven him the time he needed to recover fro hard now, chasing tots of cheap brandy with pints of bitter This is themeths, that I know of
Chubby and I took it nice and slow, lingering over our tankards, yet under our jocularity was a knowledge that we had reached a crossroads and froave the evening the fine poignancy of i loss
There was a South African trawler in harbour that night that had coelo passed out cold, Chubby and I began our singing Six of the trawler's beefy crew members voiced their disapproval in the most slanderous terms chubby and I could not allow insults of that nature to pass unchallenged We all went out to discuss it in the backyard
It was a glorious discussion, and when Wally Andrews arrived with the riot squad he arrested all of us, even those who had fallen in the fray
”My own flesh and blood, Chubby kept repeating as he and I staggered arm and arm into the cells ”He turned on h to send one of his constables down to the Lord Nelson for So to make our durance less vile Chubby and I became very friendly with the trawler the bottle back and forth between the bars
When ere released next es, I drove out to Turtle Bay to begin closing up the shack I made sure the crockery was clean, threw a few handfuls of mothballs in the cupboards and did not bother to lock the doors There is no such thing as burglary on St Mary's