Destiny by Fred Sokol

Author:Fred Sokol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bellastoria Press LLP
Published: 2020-08-04T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Destiny’s house was not nearly large enough to accommodate the Springfield bunch overnight. Mendel and Morris had not thought about a place to stay. Carousing and drinking at Destiny’s left them without option. It would be neither possible nor advisable to drive back immediately. Besides, they were most conducive to the idea of hanging around with younger women. It was apparent, too, that Kiley was most delighted.

One phone call sufficed. Destiny called the Harbisons, who owned a bed and breakfast near the beach. Annie, a woman of many talents, had done their gardens. They were sweet people whose residence was inland, but they maintained the saltbox house for income. They spent one week in July and another in August in Ipswich. The place was currently unoccupied. With two bedrooms and a pullout sofa, it would provide plenty of space for the travelers.

Mendel pulled into the driveway well past midnight. Rarely were any of them, except Kiley, up at this hour. Always a night person, Kiley often reserved time until two in the morning or later for reading. Eyes wide open, he was eager to investigate as they walked through the front door.

“This is not so bad,” said Zena to her sister.

“Simple. Not all that different from what we had in Florida. We never should have moved north,” said Gilda. “At our age, no less, we followed the advice of two old goats. And why?”

“There is not an easy answer to such a basic question,” said Zena.

The women continued to talk at a rapid clip as if they alone were standing in the small living room of the Harbison cottage. Kiley had already picked up William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and plopped himself in a chair to read.

“Well, Mendel, here we are. Might as well explore the kitchen,” said Morris.

With that, the big man lumbered toward the rear of the small home. “Hey,” he called, “they got a table here with shells lined up around the rim, I mean the outside. It forms a circle, and some of these shells seem to sparkle. I had heard about this kind of thing, but coming from the Midwest, I don’t know a whole lot about life in the ocean. Lemme show you, Mendel. Move your tuchus in here.”

Mendel, as if on command, followed Morris’s voice. Arriving in the kitchen, he said, “I could stand a cracker, maybe, if someone left me one with just a little peanut butter. After that, I better find a bed before I fall on the floor.”

The men found only a couple of small packages of oyster crackers, which were surprisingly fresh. They went back to the living room, where they discovered Kiley dozing with the Faulkner leaning upon his chest and chin. The women had disappeared.

“Wake up for five minutes, Kiley,” said Morris. “We have to assign some beds and then you can fall asleep for as long as you like.”

Zena and Gilda slept side by side on one king-sized bed. Another room held a bunk bed, the type growing boys clamor for and then outgrow.

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