Ever Tempted by Odessa Gillespie Black

locks since he sent me off with my uncle years before.
    Allie flashed an accusing smile at me. “Everywhere I go, people know my name, and I remain clueless.”
    “Cole has spoken highly of you, is all.” Ricardo dipped his head and smiled at her. “My best marital advice to you is don’t let toilet seats and the non-use of clothes hampers get in the way of your happiness.”
    I shoved our bags over to the side and pulled Allie down with me on a cushioned seat in the back of the boat. “I see you’re still philosophical.”
    “I know. I should write a book of positive affirmations. The first line would be: You are strong and people like you. If they don’t, slap ‘em and move on.” Ricardo nodded approvingly. “I need to write that one down.”
    Allie giggled.
    “This thing is smaller than I remember it to be.” The small boat bobbed in the water.
    “You are bigger than it remembers you to be too.” Ricardo smiled and handed out life jackets. “Safety first.”
    “Pack your bags, Cole. You’re going on a guilt trip. I know. I’ve stayed away too long. How are Nelvi and the children?” I slipped on a life jacket to please Ricardo.
    “How well do you know this guy?” Allie whispered.
    There’s so much about me she still didn’t know. I latched her life jacket. “Nelvi has empty nest syndrome because the girls are away at college. She’ll be delighted to have you back home, though don’t be alarmed if she acts strangely. As of late, she seems to be concerned with auras and the other world. It’s a new hobby of hers.” Ricardo shook his head and stared off in the direction of the island.
    “Hmm, you should listen to her. There is more to that stuff than you might think.” I grinned.
    He never did like the superstitions that traveled through his Native American heritage.
    “Not you too. This new age stuff is catching on way too fast.” Ricardo clucked with distaste.
    My first trip to the island on the West Coast had been when I was eight years old. Nelvi and Ricardo had been the house and groundskeepers. My parents kept to themselves, for obvious reasons. They couldn’t have the whole world seeing their mutated son. So they’d sent me here for seclusion.
    Ricardo turned the boat key and the engine roared to life. “If you’ve retained nothing I taught you as a child, you should remember my best saying. Deep thoughts get you into deep sh—”
    “I remember.” I leaned my forehead against Allie’s hair as Ricardo put the boat in reverse. “I still think and worry too much. Allie gets aggravated with it too.”
    With a nod, Ricardo jerked the gear into reverse, then back into forward a few times until the gears engaged.
    That hadn’t been fixed yet. Going from reverse to forward had always had a lurch, but as the boat aged, the gears grew wrinkles too.
    “Nothing much has changed. The only difference is now you won’t have to bathe in water that smells like diesel fuel, and the fish won’t be floating belly up in the fish tank under the walkway to the dining room. Do you remember that?” Ricardo chuckled.
    Water fanned from the back of the boat as we gained speed.
    “It was awful. I thought I killed them. They started dying shortly after I got here. I was the last one to feed them, and we didn’t know the diesel lines that fueled the generator had broken underground contaminating all the fresh water on the island. I hid for a full day thinking that the floating little bodies had been my fault. I was petrified of my aunt, whom I had just met for the first time. I thought she was going to lock me away in one of the secret passages throughout the main house or worse. They found me in the boat dock of the little pond that connects three of the smaller houses each named after a different holiday: Thanksgiving, Easter, and Pym Pond. I was in a corner covered in cobwebs with little white tracks running down my dirty cheeks. At the time, all I could remember was that she’d said those fish