“Mr. Mustache said Herb tended bar.”
“He has a real name, right?” Wanda asked. “Mr. Mustache is not this poor fellow’s real name?”
“And I use it when I have to,” Tracy said, waving her to silence.
“Pirate’s Puzzle,” Alice said.
They waited for her to explain.
“A stew they made. People…miles around. They came.” She nodded. “Then the cook died…took the recipe, too. Place kind of, you know…”
“No, what?” Tracy asked.
Alice was gathering steam. “Fancier places came in. Gasparilla’s moved down the road. Some problem with the name, too. Something legal?”
“Did they change it?” Janya asked.
“Sea Breeze.” Alice nodded in confirmation. “But it’s only a bar now.”
“Now?” Tracy asked.
“Yes, it’s…still there.”
“Cool. Only…that must have been…how long ago? Who’s going to remember Herb now?”
“Same family owns it…. Last I heard…”
Tracy looked around the table. “Well, I thought we were done, but I guess we could check that out. Anybody interested?”
“Janya and I can take a spin up there next week, after she’s done at the center. She can put in a little more time behind the wheel.” Wanda popped the last piece of roti into her mouth. “Dang, this is good. You’ll teach me how to make these puppies?” she asked Janya.
“Puppy?” Janya asked. “Like Chase? Like hush puppies?”
“Roti. That’s what you called it?”
“You may be speaking my language before you know it,” Janya said. “And yes, I will be happy to go to this place.”
“See, I figure somebody as gorgeous as Janya could get any man to talk,” Wanda said. “Wear that outfit you’ve got on today, and they’ll be fighting over you.”
Tracy pushed away from the table, as if afraid that if the food were in reach, she would be filling her plate again. “Come September, I’ll get serious about renting Herb’s cottage. I’ll have to do a few repairs, but by then the snowbirds will be looking for places, so I’m going to have to move his stuff out.”
“You going to do your kick-’em-out-the-door lease with these new folks, too?” Wanda asked.
Alice answered before Tracy could. “Sometimes that’s good.”
“Who wants to move everything they own, then pick it up and move it again two months later? At least the rest of us have stayed a while, so it hasn’t been too crazy,” Wanda said.
“Karen said I might not be here long…after I sold, you know, my house. She liked the lease.”
“Well, next time I move, it’s going to be into some spiffy gulf-side condo, with a pool and one of those cabanas where you can sit and have a tropical drink and meet a good-looking man,” Wanda said.
Tracy leaned forward to make it clear she was talking to Wanda. “Don’t you meet enough men, you know, at work?”
Wanda ran her thumb and forefinger across her lips, as if she were zipping them shut.
Everyone had finished eating. Janya rose to clear the table, and the women all rose to help. This had become a tradition, and one that she was happy to share in, with neighbors who had somehow, while no one was watching, become more than that.
They made short work of what they could, leaving some pans to soak in the sink, because Janya insisted.
“Janya promised to dance for us,” Tracy said.
Janya was embarrassed. “No, better yet, I will teach you. It will work off calories.”
“I’m for that,” Tracy said.
“I don’t know.” Wanda was hesitant, but Alice was smiling.
“I want to learn.”
That settled it. Janya chose one of her favorite songs, which was both pretty and peppy. “This is ‘Kajra Re’ from our movie Bunty aur Babli. The man in the song talks about how beautiful a woman’s eyes are, her dark, dark eyes.”
“What’s the movie about?” Wanda asked.
“It’s a little like the American movie Bonnie and Clyde, only Bunty and Babli are loveable, if quite silly. But this song is sung at a nightclub. It’s what you call a showstopper, and exciting to dance to.”
“Wait, you have to show us first,” Wanda said. “We want to see you dance so we’ll know where we’re heading. I mean, if this is belly dancing, I’ve sure got the belly for it, but I don’t know if I want to shake it after all that food.”
The last time Janya had danced in front of anyone, Padmini had been right there taking photos. They had laughed, because Janya had acted far more seductive for the camera than she would have in front of anyone she didn’t trust, and she had paid a price. Now? What did she have to lose? These women were her friends,