The sun was way off to the west by the time I pulled into Vicky's gravel drive. I'd stopped at my apartment and showered on the way out after a hot day working in the quarry. I parked and sat for a moment, just letting tired muscles relax. Gloria, (Vicky's little sister) was out on the screen porch, watering the hanging baskets. She waved and stepped out, catching the screen door before it slammed.
Her hair was up in a beach towel and she was wearing a T-shirt with a line of butterflies across it. Her coltish young thighs showed from beneath, all the way down to her green flip flops. She picked her way around the azaleas to lean against the door with her hands.
"Hey Theron, you doin' alright?"
"Howdy. You going out tonight too?"
She regarded me, looking in the window. "Hmm. Nice haircut. No, I was just hanging. Vicky and Mama argued this morning. She went off with those Boylan boys that live up the street? Mama took to the bed with a migraine. I got home from the dollar store and she was still dozing." Gloria looked back at the doublewide.
I nodded. Vicky was high maintenance, always was. You make a plan, just like today, then she's off with someone else. The disadvantages of party girls. Lots of fun, until they ain't. Either way, I wasn't mad, just hated wasting the gas and time. Plus, cell phones have become a proven form of communication.
Gloria touched my arm. "You can come up on the porch and wait if you want. She might show up."
A quick fill in is in order. Gloria, her mom and older sister, (who I attempted to date when the fates were smiling) had moved into a semi decent trailer park a couple of years ago when I was still in high school. Vicky and I got along first thing but she also got along with lots of guys besides. Vicky was shaped like a woman, the kind you want to see in lingerie, full figured, blonde. Gloria, not so much. Think winsome, lean, shorter, smaller everywhere but cute as a button. She was as reserved as Gloria was outgoing.
I regarded the wisp of a girl. She looked at me straight on. Deep dark brown eyes, calmly watchful, talking done. It came to me. She was waiting.
I cleared my throat. "You like pizza?"
She bit her bottom lip and nodded. "Lemme get my shorts out of the dryer and leave Mama a note, so she won't worry."
****
She used detangler on her hair and brushed it out on the way into town. It was long, chestnut brown and it shone in the slanting sunlight. Finally, "You can roll your window back down now. I wouldn't have washed it had I known different." She pulled down the visor, applied some lip balm. "You just took me by surprise, is all."
I smiled. "Hell, I like surprises, don't you?"
"Depends. Vicky bein' gone bother you?"
I stopped for the light, looked over at her. "Half expected, glad you're along. You don't seem at all boisterous, kinda like a ghost compared to your sister."
She giggled, an honest to God giggle, "Oh, that's good!" She scooted across the seat. I could smell the jasmine in her hair. She stretched up, whispering in my ear. "Ever dated a ghost before?"
Ok, so maybe the little sis was slightly unpredictable too.
I hadn't planned squat, other than pizza with Vicky. Depending on her mood, we'd go back to my place, she'd get high, (I couldn't. Random drug tests) and we'd be farm animals until go home time. Not really complicated, leastwise to me.
Gloria seemed totally different, not quite brooding. I'd never even had a complete conversation with her, to be honest. Life doesn't have to be led at a hundred miles per hour and so far it didn't look like this girl was a meteor. I asked her about her nickname. "Everyone calls you Gem, right?"
She was playing with the gear shift knob, tracing the little numbers. She nodded, "Yep. Those are my initials. Gem's just easier for most folks, since I was maybe three years old."
"You want me to be most folks or call you by your given?"
She considered while I slowed for the city limit sign. "Theron, I didn't really know you in school like Sis, (voice dropping) but I never considered you 'most folks'." She paused, "But call me Gem so I know I'm bein' spoken to."
How sweet. I couldn't help but grin. Then, "I need to get to the gearshift, please?"
"I'll do it. I helped Daddy when I was little."
****
We had to wait out on the porch for a table. The pizza place was doing land office business, so we went down the way to the barbecue joint. At least we could park.
Gem took my hand and we found a swing, settled in. "That was forward of me."
I was caught off guard. "Huh? What'd you do?"
Her eyes sparkled in the halides just coming on and snippets of Travis Tritt wafted from the speakers. "I was acting like your date when I'm just kinda filling in. It just came over me and I got foolish."
I eased my arm around her petite shoulders. "You're not a fill in, Lil Ghost. It's all you tonight. We'll have a good time. You like Brunswick stew?"
Later, we drove out onto the four lane, Gem searching in her purse, finding Juicy Fruit to share. Dinner was, in a word, comfortable. We knew a lot of the same crowd. She asked about my night school and talked about her daddy not coming back from Afghanistan. She had stepped back from the world after that, kinda riding out her loss.
I had my arm across the back of the seat, lightly touching her shoulder. She was scooted against me again and shifted the truck with aplomb. She tucked her legs up on the seat. "Tell me if you're gonna stomp the brakes, Ok?"
"I see ghosts don't wear seatbelts. Least use the lap belt so your ectoplasm doesn't go everywhere if I do."
Soft giggle and a wiggle, against my chest as she searched for the clasp. She looked up at me. "You don't really think I'm made of that ecto stuff?"
It was out of my mouth before my brain engaged. "We could try and find out."
She stretched up, whispered in my ear again. "Gotta be home in a little while." Then she bit my earlobe.
It was what I would term a confusing communication. But it was a thrill, making me catch my breath.
"You like that, hmm?" Still In my ear, breathing ever so softly, distracting my driving.
"Wanna swing by the ramp?" My heart rate had elevated. Just a bit thumpy. Maybe more.
Gem pointed, "Better slow down, it's the next road."
****
The tide was in and we could hear the frogs moaning even before I cut the engine. There was a serviceable wooden pier next to the boat ramp. She grabbed her hair towel and we dangled our bare feet in the water, the current cool and slow. Fireflies blinked in the middle distance against the darker gloom of the overhanging trees. We had the place to ourselves, fishermen gone for the night. An old Zebco reel and a shank of rod lay next to me, forgotten.
I think Gem's earlier bravado might have deserted her, faced with the fact that here we were, alone. She glanced over nervously, picking at her shorts.
"Uh. I hadn't thought any further than this, you know. I just.."
I hugged her up close. "Hey, hey you can just relax while I fish." For emphasis, I retrieved the busted fishing rig.
I could feel her giggle before I heard it. She had a great giggle, the kind that makes you laugh too, which I did. It seemed like her nervousness dissipated in our laughter.
We looked out across the water, listening as a cicada whirred. We didn't say much for a while, just desultory conversation here and there. It just didn't seem important to fill the silent spaces. Gem lifted her legs, "Water's making my feet cold."
"Mine too. You Ok?"
She dug her phone out to check the time, the light spectral in her face. "I'm gonna turn into a pumpkin soon."
"I'll want a video to show the guys at work."
