Rescue

mind.“

    Rather than drive back to Mercy Key that night, I decided to stay over at a small motel on Roosevelt Boulevard . After taking a shower, I realized that the towel didn’t smell like any kind of fruit, which reminded me that I was wasting a lot of Lonnie Severn’s money on my room at Mercy Lodge.

20

    E ven with Mack Olsen’s directions to Zoe’s place in Miami , I figured it might take me a while to find it, so on the drive back north that Sunday, I stopped for lunch. It was a restaurant on the bay-side justsouth of Mercy Key that advertised waterfront, shaded dining.
    A nice young woman in a buttoned-down salmon shirt and shorts led me to a table on a roofed, screenless deck cantilevered over one of the canals to the bay. A couple of the red-beaked ducks were swimming below me, some gulls tacking and wheeling in the wind. The waitress brought a menu with a wine list, and before she moved on, I ordered a half bottle of sauvignon blanc.
    The table to my left was empty, the one to my right and behind my chair shared by a man and three women, all in their high sixties or low seventies. The women wore sundresses, the man cruise-wear pants a funny shade of green and an almost matching golf shirt. He was holding forth about the India/Burma theater during World War II.
    “And the water, they had to truck it in from a lake thirty-five miles away. From the looks of that water, I’m right glad never got to see the lake.“
    Appreciative laughs from everyone, the woman I thought might be his wife cuffing him good-naturedly on the arm.
    “But, because they had to truck it to us, we got only a gallon a day per man. I’m embarrassed to tell you, I didn’t have a bath for six months, and neither did anybody else.“
    Sympathetic murmurs.
    “And the butter, or what they called butter anyway, it came in a can, and you couldn’t spread it with a regular knife. Had to use a bayonet, if you can believe it, and you can. And then, once you got it spread, you had to turn the bread upside down to eat it. Know why?“
    A chorus of “No, why?“ even from his wife, who I thought probably did know but didn’t want to spoil a favorite punch line.
    The man said, “Because the butter was like glue, and if you ate the bread right side up, everything would stick to the roof of your mouth, even without bridgework up there.“
    Tittering and nodding.
    The man was gaining momentum. “And the meat? Hah, we were told one night we’d finally have fresh meat, and know what? It turned out to be water buffalo, tasted like somebody’d cut up an old shoe into the pot.“
    The best reaction he’d gotten. You began to realize the guy was doing a great job of being male partner to all three women, a role that he probably hadn’t sought but was playing well. I was sorry Nancy wasn’t there to see it with me.
    “Sir?“ said my waitress.
    “Oh, sorry. Daydreaming.“
    “That’s all right, that’s what the Keys are for. This is your wine, right?“
    “Right.“
    She popped the cork and poured as I read the menu. “you really serve alligator meat here?“
    “Yes, but if you’ve never tried it before, I’d do the appetizer instead of the entrée.“
    “Appetizer, then, and the amberjack with green salad.“ I glanced again at the menu. “The smoked amberjack.“
    “Only way we can make it.“
    “I don’t follow you.“
    “You have to smoke amberjack to prepare it right. Any other way’s poison, only we don’t usually mention that.“
    “I’ll still give it a try.“
    “Bring you some rolls?“
    “Please.“
    The wine was chilled just right, letting the flinty flavor come through. The sun, bright on the water, dimmed enough under the roof not to need sunglasses. A gentle breeze luffed the napkin without blowing it away. Very nice.
    I noticed a tall, white bird that looked like the egret at Mercy Key Marina, the day I spoke with Howard Greenspan while he was cleaning his fish. This bird stalked the shallows, peering through the reeds like Spielberg’s dinosaurs around trees in Jurassic Park. I’d read an article about how some scientists believe that the dinosaurs never really died out but evolved into birds the way we did from apes. You watch one of the big ones hunting, and you can believe it, as the older guy at the next table might say.
    The rolls and the alligator dish arrived at the same time. The meat was deep-fried and served with cayenned mustard sauce. It was enough like chewy veal that I was glad the