"Are you out of your fucking mind?"
Bill turned to walk away from Fred, just as Matty came into the store.
"Hey sweetie," she smiled.
Bill walked to her, taking her by the arm, gently.
"Come on, we're going."
"What? Wait?"
Matty broke free of his hold.
"Sweetie, I need some things for supper tonight."
"We can get them later."
Fred walked toward Matty.
"And who might this beautiful young lady be?"
Matty smiled and walked toward Fred.
"I am Matty Dove and you are?"
"I am Billy's Uncle Fred."
Bill turned to see Fred hug Matty.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Bill stepped toward Matty and took her arm again.
"Come on hun."
"Bill, what is wrong with you?"
"I don't like the company."
Fred tried to explain.
"Me and Billy have some unsavoury history."
Bill laughed.
"Unsavoury? Are you fucking kidding me?"
Bill pointed at Fred, his hand shaking slightly..
"He kicked me out in the street when I was sixteen."
"Well you did sleep with my wife, your aunt."
Matty turned to Bill, wide eyed.
"Really?"
He shook his head.
"That is not what happened at all."
"Well it broke my heart when I walked into the bedroom and I saw Billy and my beloved Longsgramella together."
Fred put his hand on his heart.
"I never got over it."
"So where is your beloved Longsgramella now?" Bill wondered aloud.
"She left me."
"Because of what happened?" Matty wondered.
"Well ...."
Bill laughed and shook his head.
"Probably because he is a no good, lying, gambler, that lost everything."
"Well ....," Fred stammered.
"That's not exactly true."
Bill took out his wallet. He pulled some bills out of it and pushed them into Fred's hand.
"Here's a thousand dollars. Take that duffle bag and your lies and get the fuck out of my village."
Matty looked at him, shocked.
"Bill?"
She took his arm and pulled him into the next aisle.
"What is wrong with you? I have never seen you like this?"
"Why don't you ask him why he is really here, Matty?
Its not because he wants to see his long lost nephew, that he hasn't seen in seventeen years and threw to the streets with only the clothes on his back, when he was sixteen.
Go ahead. Ask him why he is really here."
Fred walked up to the two.
"Billy is right. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't in trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" Matty asked.
"Financial trouble. Billy was right ..."
Bill stared at Fred.
"Stop calling me Billy. You lost that right seventeen years ago."
"Okay. Okay."
He looked back at Matty.
"I owe some money."
"How much?"
"About $250 thousand dollars."
Matty coughed and put her hand to her chest.
"250 grand?
How?"
"Gambling. I lost everything. My house, my savings, my cars, my wife and kids."
Bill rolled his eyes.
"You never had any fucking kids."
"Well stepkids. But they looked at me as if I were their father."
Bill started laughing.
"Really? You were like their father? What were their names?"
"Who?"
"Your darling stepkids."
"Ah ...
well there was ...
ah ...
Billy and ..."
"He's lying," Bill informed Matty.
"He never had any stepkids."
He looked back at Fred.
"This man never knew how to tell the truth."
"Well that's not totally true."
"Really?" Bill cracked.
"When I came to live with you, I remember you saying to Longsgramella that I was like a son to you."
"Well you were, Billy ...
I mean Bill. Like the son I never had."
"Yes and you treated me like a son, until the lawyers came back and told you that there was nothing in Mom and Dad's estate."
"Now that's not true, Bill. I never changed toward you."
Bill nodded, biting his lip to hold back the anger.
"Really?"
He looked at Matty.
"The same day he found out there was no money, he made me sleep in the garage, on a blow up pool lounger."
By now there were at least a dozen people in the store and more coming in. The gossip train of Tuckamore Bay was at full speed.
And in true Tuckamore Bay fashion, they were gathering in the aisles around Bill, Matty and Fred.
There were no secrets in the Bay.
Fred looked around at the gathering crowd.
"Why don't we go somewhere private. Maybe your place and talk this over."
Bill shook his head.
"These people are my friends and family. We can talk here."
"Did you really make Bill sleep in the garage?" Matty inquired.
Fred looked at Matty.
"Its not as bad as it sounds."
"I was there all one winter with no heater. I had to sleep in my clothes with boots on."
"Is that true?"
"Let me explain ..."
Matty cut him off.
"Look Fred. Family is the most important thing in the world to me and to all of us here in Tuckamore Bay."
Everyone gathered agreed.
"And we all know that sometimes people fall on hard times and they need the help of their family," Matty continued.
Everyone gathered agreed.
"And as family, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that our family get back on their feet."
Everyone gathered agreed.
Matty stepped forward, waving her finger in Fred's face.
"But ...
what we will not condone is lying."
Everyone gathered agreed, emphatically.
Matty looked at the money in Fred's hand.
"So, if you do not start to come clean and stop your fucking lying, you can take that money and that duffle bag and get the fuck out of Tuckamore Bay."
Everyone gathered agreed, even more emphatically.
Fred looked around.
"Okay. Okay. I will come clean. I will tell you the whole truth.
But can we do it privately?"
Matty nodded and turned to Henry.
"Give him a room in the motel and make sure he has something to eat."
"Ise be doin' dat right away, Matty."
She turned back to Fred.
"You go to the room and rest. Henry will see to it that you are fed and looked after.
Bill and I will come and see you later tonight or in the morning and we will talk."
Matty stepped closer to Fred.
"But, if you tell me one fucking lie, I will take you down to the community wharf, tie a fucking anchor to you and throw you in the Bay. Let the fish deal with you."
Fred swallowed hard and nodded.
"Now go."
Fred started to walk past those gathered.
"Ah Fred."
He turned.
Matty held out her hand.
"The money Bill gave you?"
"Oh," Fred laughed, nervously.
"I'd completely forgotten about that."
He reached into his pocket and passed the money to Matty.
Matty took his arm.
"That lie is a freebie. The next one and you will be visiting the sea."
Fred went to the front door and picked up his duffle bag.
Henry led him outside.
Bill put out his hand.
"What?" Matty laughed.
"The money."
Matty smiled and put the money in her jean's pocket.
"What money, my love."
She kissed Bill and looked around.
"Okay, everyone, show's over. Go home."
She watched them leave.
"Fuck this village is nosey."
Bill took a deep breath, as he leaned against the front counter.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
Matty took his hand and kissed him gently on the lips.
"Look, Bill. No matter what, he is family and we always give family the benefit of the doubt."
"But?"
"No buts my love. He is still family."
Henry walked back into the store.
"He be all settled, Bill."
Bill nodded.
"I will pay the tab for the fucking ...."
Matty put her finger to Bill's lips.
"Family, my love, remember?"
Bill nodded.
"Good."
She kissed Bill again.
"But just in case."
She started walking toward Henry.
"You got any of those hundred pound anchors left?"