Dream Me(22)

As he drifted, he came closer and closer to my work station until, all of a sudden, he was standing right in front of me. Like looking out the window of an airplane, you feel as if you’re suspended in air and then an hour later you’re 500 miles away. That was LeGrand. Just as you got a fix on him in one place, he was already somewhere else.

“I haven’t seen you here before.” His drawl was ridiculously sexy.

“That’s because this is only my second day of work.”

“That so? Where y’all from?”

Mattie Lynn watched from the corner of her eye. I knew that for a fact because I was watching her out of the corner of my eye.

“California,” I said. No need to go into all those other places I was from. California was the most recent and sounded the coolest.

“That so?” he said again. “I’ve been to California a few times. I’d like to go again.”

“It’s a great place.” I wasn’t very good with small talk.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.” Which sounded like “bah” as in “bah bah black sheep.”

He moseyed out the door, and Mattie Lynn, noticing his departure from the corner of her other eye, quickly disengaged from the meaningless conversation she was carrying on and ran after him. I saw her through the window as she jogged a few steps to catch up with LeGrand. The two girls she left, mid-sentence, looked foolishly at each other, completely lost without their leader. After a few minutes they left too.





Seven


My cell phone chimed an incoming text.

M: Where are you?

B: In the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. Where are you?

M: In the Piggly Wiggly parking lot too.

I looked around the massive lot but saw no sign of Mai. Before I could ask for her car’s description, she texted again.

I’m in the part closest to the street.

I squinted my eyes in the dimming light and, way off in the distance, I saw a little blue car parked all by itself with about a football field of space around it in every direction. She was standing next to it, waving.

Okay I see you. I’ll drive over there and park where you are.

When I pulled up next to her, the breeze blew my first paycheck out the window of the truck. I jumped out and followed it onto the grassy strip in front of us, but Mai beat me to it and grabbed the check before it could blow onto the street. Then her hand darted out and she gripped my arm.

“Watch out, you almost stepped on a fire ant nest.”

I looked down at my feet and saw the telltale sandy hump, but there wasn’t enough light to see the little devils themselves.

“I’ll never get used to this,” I said plaintively.

“Yes you will. ‘Specially if you ever step on one.” That was reassuring.

We decided to go to a place Mai recommended right on the beach—Alligator Al’s. She said the food was great, and it was casual and fun. Little did I know I would actually be eating alligator at Alligator Al’s. I hesitated at first, still remembering the boiled peanuts, but decided to go for it and was glad I did. It was delicious, like a cross between chicken and fish. How had I transformed so quickly from a vegetarian to a gobbler of reptiles? Entering the world of Sugar Dunes was like shedding the skin of everything I was before. In the name of healthy eating, I also ordered a side of okra and black-eyed peas, but I knew the frying-in-lard part negated any benefit.

After dinner we walked along the beach. I figured if we walked for the next twenty hours I might come out even on the calories consumed for dinner. It was still hot out, and there were plenty of people on the beach even though it was almost dark. The sunset was even more amazing than the Mississippi mud pie that Mai and I shared for dessert.

This was the first time I’d actually gone in the ocean since we moved to Sugar Dunes. We kicked off our flip flops and walked along calf deep in the water. It was warm enough that in some parts of the world it might actually be considered suitable hot tub temperature. Not particularly refreshing on a hot summer day, but sublime on a warm summer night.

It turned out Mai and I had a lot in common. Well maybe nothing really in common, but a lot to talk about and conversation came easy.

“I heard about that Friends Across the Bay program.” Mai rolled her eyes. “Friends . . . what a joke. More like ‘Pad Your College Application’ program. I’ve never seen any of those people on my side of the bay.”

“You never know.” I was protective of tennis and always held out hope someone might be inspired with the love of the game the way I was.

“So you’re one of those people who makes life wonderful for Mattie Lynn,” Mai said, allowing me instant access to her feelings about Mattie Lynn.

“I guess you could say that. But if I am then I’m also making life wonderful for me too.”

“How’s that?”

“I need a job, don’t I?”

“Okay, I get your point. That Kiet kid, I know him. His mom and my mom are friends. He won’t last more than two days. He’s a brat.”

“A brat?” That didn’t fit with the image of an adorable, sensitive boy I’d conjured up. “He seems so sweet.”

“Yeah, well looks can be deceiving,” Mai said in her soft lilt. “Trust me, I’ve known him since he was born. Spoiled rotten by his parents because it took them so long to have a kid.”