The Bay of Love and Sorrows by David Adams Richards Page B

could understand why he was likable. And all the rude things she had thought about him. But she now felt Tom had told her those things. But she was free of Tom, if she wanted to be.
    There were many things in the cutty and she tried to remember them. Bottles and small hash pipes, clothes tossed here and there, a map on the wall with pins in it, showing where he’d been in the world, a chart of the bay, and the overriding scent of suntan lotion and of a faintly soiled mattress.
    Silver Brassaurd was on deck, cursing to himself about something important, and now and again he would peek down the stairs, his bottom teeth protruding from his mouth.
    The sailboat rolled in the waves and Michael sat beside her, squeezing his strong slender fingers on her back. He told her a story of riding out a hurricane off the coast of Africa, while she sat and drank.
    She drank almost an entire bottle of wine, and now and then as he continued rambling on, she ran to the cupboard in the cutty to pee. She kept falling back and forth laughing while the door banged open and closed. He went over, helped her to her feet, and pulled her panties up.
    “I’ve never done anything like this,” she said, staggering and laughing.
    Michael then got upset about something that had happened on the Island two or three weeks before, and began to hit his fist against the wall behind him. When she turned in fear to stop that fist she fell against him. There were tears in his eyes, and he was drunk as well, and she was frightened.
    “Why are you fooling him?” he said, “He was the only friend I had — or is it me you are making a fool of?” He smiled.
    She jumped up in a start to run away, but when he hauled her back to him she started kissing him apologetically She kept kissing him, on the mouth and teeth, on his bare chest.
    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry — this wasn’t supposed to happen between us at all” And then she said quite suddenly: “I’ll go out and get you some blueberries tomorrow — I’ll bake you a pie”
    And he began to laugh, that laugh he had, which always frightened her.
    Later, there was phosphorus on the green bay The swells were high and they went on deck. Actually he got up first, and went above first, leaving her alone to dress.
    Far away they could see the lights from the road, and she could make out the one light over her father’s gas bar. She called Michael to show this to him, and when he came over she leaned her head against his arm. Then he smiled and gave her a squeeze, and told her he would be back in a minute.
    Riding in the wooden dinghy that was being towed behind them, dead drunk, was Silver Brassaurd. It was dangerous to be out there now, with the strong wind. If the dinghy ever came loose, there would be no saving him and he didn’t even seem to care.
    While she was looking at him he would roar and yell at the waves, then sing. Then as Karrie was watching he took a plastic bag from his pocket and shoved it up behind the dinghy’s rear seat. For some reason, as Karrie watched she thought of herself as a little girl hiding marbles from her cousins one Sunday afternoon. Yes, she had wanted all those marbles for herself, and perhaps, who knew, that’s what Silver was hiding as well. Some marbles for himself. Something he didn’t want to show anyone else.
    When she turned around to look towards the bow, she felt that she belonged to all of them. This was a very warm feeling.
    But then she caught a glance from Madonna Brassaurd, who was sitting on top of the cutty, smoking a cigarette and tipping a bottle of wine. And Karrie remembered, dizzily, that with all the wine she’d had, she’d been naked when people — both Madonna and Silver — walked in and out of the cutty.
    Madonna simply stared at her now and the look unnerved her. She realized it was because she had always, as had her stepmother, felt superior to the Brassaurds, and Madonna’s look said she knew this.
    Michael had to climb up at the bow to