Thin Slice of Life

Chapter 44

Charlie awoke in Marisol’s upstairs room at the Tarpon Inn. He listened to the trade winds rattle the palm fronds outside the door and wondered if he hadn’t somehow dreamed the whole thing. Then he noticed the indentation beside him where Marisol had laid and decided that, nope, it was real life its ownself. I could get used to this, he thought drowsily. The screen door opened and Marisol walked in carrying a breakfast tray from the hotel and one of those little cardboard caddy doodads containing two cups of coffee and some sausage biscuits from the mini-mart. Tucked under her arm were several newspapers. “Hey, it’s Rip Van Winkle.” Charlie yawned. “How long have I been asleep?” “Well, you came in late. Then you pretty much fell into bed and haven’t moved since, as far as I can tell.” She set the coffee and tray on the bedside table and dropped the papers on Charlie’s belly. “The curse of the workin’ man,” said Charlie picking up the stack of papers. Marisol made him scoot over on the bed so she could read over his shoulder. The papers from Houston, Dallas and Corpus Christi all led with the same story—Shootout in the marsh! Guns! Drugs! Money! A CHAPTER 44 302 44| Texas Ranger. Dead Mexicans and Vietnamese of various shadowy reputes. Investigations ongoing. No mention of Bao’s whereabouts. Charlie and Joe were acknowledged only as “local fishermen”. Hadnott had agreed to keep their names out of it. Below the fold, but still on the front page, was a story under an Austin journalist’s byline: “Grand Jury Indicts Coastal Senator.” Llewellyn Cudihay was going up on charges of embezzlement, extortion , contributing to an ongoing criminal conspiracy and aggravated mopery, as well as criminally negligent manslaughter for his part in Neddy Pomade’s death. An accompanying photo showed the Honorable Senator doing a perp walk outside the Travis County courthouse, his seersucker jacket covering his porcine head. The sight gratified Charlie and Marisol immensely. (O.B. Hadnott, wrapping things up from a hospital bed in Corpus Christi, smiled a rare smile as he gazed on the same picture in the Caller Times.) The Rockport Pilot featured none of these sensational developments on its front page, of course. With the Ducks Unlimited Fundraiser & Wild Game Banquet only two weeks away, there was nothing to be gained by making Rockport and Fulton look like downtown Beirut except to scare off the tourists. And nobody wanted that. A little while later, after the newspapers had been read, Charlie set down his coffee and looked playfully over at Marisol who sat in a stuffed chair near the bed, and made what was, for him, an overtly romantic overture. “Hey, baby,” he said. “How ‘bout you get those biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed!” Marisol smiled. A glorious sight. “How could a girl resist an offer like that?” she answered. “But first, you tell me what you’ve been up to these past couple of days. I haven’t seen you much. My brujita’s intuition tells me you’re up to something.” “Ah, the Lasso of Truth.” Marisol looked puzzled. “It’s from a comic book I bought for Raul,” Charlie explained. “Wonder Woman. She had a magic lasso and anyone she caught with it was forced to obey her and tell her the truth.” “This Wondrous Woman was Mexican, wasn’t she?” “I wouldn’t doubt it for a moment.” “Then spit it out,” she demanded playfully. Charlie grinned his coyote grin. “Well, Wondrous Woman…as it turns out, your intuition is correct. I have been up to something.” 303 |44 Marisol waited expectantly. Charlie leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head, savoring the moment. “Well?” she said, tossing a crumpled napkin at him. “Obey me!” “I was in Corpus Christi a lot of that time,” Charlie began. “I went on a little spending spree.” “Spending spree? What are you talking about Charlie?” “Well, let’s see…First, I talked to an immigration lawyer about making Raul a legal resident. It shouldn’t be too hard with the blood test and everything. The lawyer said that with permission from the boy’s grandparents, I can also become his legal guardian.” Marisol’s eyes widened. “He’ll like that. But what….” “Hold on girl, there’s more,” Charlie interrupted. “Then...