Chapter 32
July 9, 1964
An Inauspicious Day
A loud crash of thunder awoke us. The morning light painted the room a dark gray, and it was cold. The clock radio said 10:20. I got out of bed, walked to the dresser, and turned on the radio, hoping for a weather report. Instead I heard the middle of Jimmy Jones’ “Handy Man.” It was Thursday, and Wendy had returned from Deep Creek on Sunday, but it hadn’t occurred to me to call her since she had returned. I should have but didn’t, and I didn’t know why. Fourth of July weekend had been huge for us. The girls were busy day and night, Friday through Sunday, with clients. I had my best days of the season with Pyramid Photos, but it was pocket change compared to what the girls raked in. It didn’t matter; the photo gig was just a front for scouting business for the girls. And it was working.
Sylvia got up, went into the bathroom, and closed the door. Jack stretched and yawned while Misty buried her face in a pillow. It was raining hard. A cold front had changed the temperature. I turned off the window fan and opened the blinds. Rain can be refreshing, cleansing. Grass is greener, and trees, weighted down with moisture, fluff out their branches. But rain is not refreshing at a beach. There is little grass and no trees. It’s depressing. It’s boring. You can’t go to the beach when it’s raining, especially if there’s lightning. There’s nothing to do at the beach when it rains. Lightning flashed, then a few seconds later there was a crack of thunder.
By eleven, we were all dressed and headed for Melvin’s, only a block from our room. We had no umbrellas or rain gear, so we ran. Water dripped off us like a broken faucet. Most of the breakfast crowd, if there was any, had left, and it was too early for the lunch crowd. While we were looking at the menu, Misty said, “We ought not to take any jobs tonight. It’s an inauspicious day.”
“Well, if this rain keeps up, it’ll be hard to line up anything,” I said. “Nobody will be on the beach. If guys aren’t in their rooms, they’ll be in bars and drunk before 5:30.”
“It’s not because of the weather. Today’s a new moon. It’s a period of darkness, and bad things tend to happen during a new moon. Let’s just hang out tonight. Be low-key. We need a night off, anyway. It’s been a busy two weeks, and this past weekend was a killer. We don’t have to work every night.”
“What’s this new moon business?” I asked. “I thought it was a full moon when everyone went crazy, women had babies, werewolves came out, and the tide got real high.”
“I don’t know about the werewolves, but some of that is true,” said Misty. “The full moon is a time of illumination, light, good spirits. That’s why more babies are born during a full moon. It’s a good thing. It’s the opposite of the new moon phase. The darkness of the new moon invites mischief. For evil spirits, it’s their time to come out and play.”
“Do you have any examples?” I asked.
Misty cast her eyes to the ceiling in a thoughtful pose. “Well, the most recent new moon was the night Sylvia got beat up and you guys found her. Oh, yeah, the new moon before that was the first time I met you, Delaney. Remember that night on the boardwalk? Did anything bad happen to you that day?”
My first day in Ocean City was the day Georgetown expelled me, but there was no way I’d ever admit that to Misty. It had to be a coincidence, nothing more.
“Yeah, Misty, now that you mention it…something bad did happen to me that day. That was the same day I met you and Jack. Double trouble, I guess.”
Harriet started accepting us as a regular foursome and was gradually getting friendlier, maybe because we were leaving large tips. She had just finished pouring our coffee when I heard the door close. I looked over my shoulder and saw Wendy in a yellow rain slicker looking at me. Rainwater running off her slicker pooled at her feet. She lowered the raincoat’s hood. Her blond hair was damp but still beautiful. As she walked toward me, I stood up.
“Hi, Wendy,” said Jack.
Ignoring him, she said to me, “What happened? Why haven’t you called me? Where are you working? I went to the Majestica, and no one there knew your name. They’d never heard of you.”
“Let’s talk outside.” I took her hand, but she pulled it away as we walked to the door.
Thunder continued rumbling, and rain fell from the low clouds, filling the gutters in the street. We stood under the restaurant’s awning, and I shivered in the cold dampness as Wendy looked up at me, her eyes shifting between anger and bewilderment.
“Those women with you and Jack, we saw them with Jack before I left. Why are you with them? Did you sleep with one of them last night? Is that why you’re here having breakfast with them?”
“Well…I don’t know. I guess the easiest…yes, Jack and I spent the night with them.”
“Delaney, why? I thought we had something special. I missed you so much. Why are you doing this to me?”
“It’s hard to explain, but it’s not what you think.”
“Not what I think? Not what I think? What am I supposed to think? You just admitted you slept with one of those women.”
“It’s really more of a business deal.”
“What? What? Oh, oh, you are such a disappointment.” Her eyes were welling up.
“I can’t really…”
“Oh, forget it. Forget everything,” she said as she pushed past me and ran, splashing across the street to her Jeep. She climbed in and started the engine. The wheels spun in the rain-filled street before gaining traction. She drove off, and I knew I’d never see her again. I stepped out from the awning to the curb, watching until she disappeared from view. The rain beat down on me until lightning struck something nearby. The booming thunder startled me, and I went back inside Melvin’s.
“We ordered for you while you were having your conversation,” Jack said.
“I’m not hungry.”
Sylvia sat across from me in a rare speechless moment, staring at me with wide eyes. Harriet stood near the back of the restaurant like a statue, holding the coffee pot. I had become the unwilling center of attention when all I really wanted was to find a place to be alone and cry.
“I said it was an inauspicious day.”
I couldn’t tell if Misty was being sympathetic or sarcastic. My eyes looked into my cold cup of coffee as if the answer could be found there.