In the Break by Jack Lopez

Author:Jack Lopez
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780316085571
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-10-30T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

The day was melancholy, the sky silently weeping over the vast and unseen ocean. It wasn’t what you would call raining, and it wasn’t really foggy, but the fact remained that everything was all wet, and a light, filtering mist dusted the ocean. Huge smooth-thick swells would hump up, and then we’d freeboard down their backsides.

Jésus worked the helm, which was in the center toward the stern of the dory. The bow and stern had points to them, mostly keeping out the seas that we bobbed forward on. A Mercury outboard engine made the dory very fast indeed when he gunned it, and there were three sides and a roof to the tiny wheelhouse in which Jésus stood, intent and braced against the swell. A thick tarp stretched from the bow to the wheelhouse, and Amber slept under its sheltering dryness. Jamie sat on the bait tank in the stern, looking back at the direction from which we’d come. I stood in between Jésus and Jamie.

As we had motored out of the harbor Jamie had said to me, “I know what’s going on with you and my sister.”

“What? What’s going on?”

“Don’t play stupid, Juan. I know what’s up, so knock it off.”

“I’m not good enough for your sister? Is that it? Is that what you’re saying? Listen, a-hole, she’s old enough to make her own decisions and so am I. Comprenez-vous, cabrone?”

“What about Robert?”

“Fuck Robert.”

“Just fuck off, Juan.”

He had made for the bait tank, and I had remained next to the wheelhouse by Jésus.

We’d not spoken for quite some time. None of the Watkins were talkative, and I don’t know why. When he was alive Mr. Watkins would exclaim a lot after he’d drunk a few martinis, his drink of choice. Mrs. Watkins was quiet most of the time I saw the family interacting when I’d eat dinner with them. In fact, their meal routine was wholly different from that of my family. In my family we’d practically fight over the food when it was put on the table. My little brother and sister would get yelled at, most likely sent to their rooms for screwing up the sanctity of the meal. Everyone in my family would talk at once, making the most dominant one raise their voice. In my family people would shout their conversations from different sides of the house! But in general, mealtime was abuzz with laughter and talk. Not so at Jamie’s. Everyone was tight-lipped.

Jamie had a double reason for not being talkative. Besides the quiet family thing, he had had a lisp when he was young. He used to get taken out of class to attend a speech class. The therapist told him he had a lazy T, and that he’d most likely outgrow it, which he did. It was most pronounced in kindergarten, though it improved steadily as he got older. I never had any trouble understanding him, but some of our teachers did. So he learned to keep quiet rather than call attention to his lisp.

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