read that Statia was once an important Dutch trading port?” He reached for his glass and brushed her arm when he set it back down. “The blue beads were used to buy slaves.” He slid a spatula under the fish and flipped it. Boney was laughing and shouting Jack’s name. Liz chuckled. “There’ll be no stopping him now.” He poked the fish and licked his finger. “The beads were also used to pay free slaves for their labor. A free man could buy his wife out of slavery if he saved up enough beads to go around her waist.”
She gathered her dress to her waist. “A lot of beads,” she said, “even for a slender wife.”
He flicked his eyes over her. “And a lot of labor for each bead. After emancipation, the slaves threw the beads into the sea. They’re as rare as doubloons now, but sometimes show up after storms. I found that one about twelve years ago when I was diving with . . . a friend.” He gestured for her to hold the platter. She picked it up, and after he lifted the fish onto it, he squeezed lime over them and tossed the rinds into the garden. “The legend goes that if you find a blue bead of Statia, you will return.”
“And if you’re given one?”
“It got you back here.”
“Lifted me out of slavery.”
“Last I checked,” he said, “slaves didn’t get big salaries.”
“Bondage nonetheless.”
“Of whose making?”
Boney had moved the flowers and put candles in the center of the table. Everyone took their places, Els and Boney facing Jason and Liz. Jason removed his sunglasses, put his huge pink palms together, and bowed over his plate so quickly that it took Els a second to realize he was saying a private grace. His eyes were as black as his skin.
“Don’t you ever take off that hat?” she asked as Jason served himself some fish.
“You really don’t want him to unleash that Medusa hair, Fair Lady,” Boney said.
They’d finished the Cavalier and the remains of a bottle of Mount Gay. Liz passed around beers, and they bent to their meals.
In the silence after the bachata CD ended, Boney raised his bottle. “I never thought I’d be sitting here like this again.”
“To you, Jack,” Els said, “wherever you are.”
“He is all around you, if you believe it to be so,” Jason said. He replaced his sunglasses.
She wondered if he was also receptive, or just superstitious. “Do you guys think he committed suicide and his jumbie can’t find rest?”
“Goddamn local voodoo,” Boney said. “Last thing he said to me when we finished boarding up this place was, ‘Catch you later.’”
The wind had come up; the candle flames leaned and guttered.
“What could be accidental about standing on a seawall when the waves are twenty feet high?” Els said. “If you ask me, he certainly was self-destructive.”
“You got evidence for dat judgment?” Jason lowered his sunglasses and looked at her, his eyes hard.
“Don’t tell me I don’t know a thing or two about Jack,” she said. “Sometimes I feel as if I’ve moved into his life as well as his house.”
“You tired a’ you own life,” Jason said, “so you tink you can just appropriate his, like buyin’ a new dress?” He stabbed and ate a chunk of tomato.
“I think I’ve made this house a marriage,” she said. “An overlay of my life and belongings onto his.”
“Jack doan marry nobody,” Jason said. “’Specially no jus’ come woo-mon tink she can be some jumbie tourist.”
“You cheeky bastard,” she said.
Liz, his eyes gone a shade darker, looked at Jason.
“Jack belong to he friends and to Nevis,” Jason said. “He ain’t you property to spread you fantasy on.”
“You clowns are the ones living a fantasy if you think you can waltz in and take over the place in Jack’s name. It’s my house now.”
Jason stood up and dumped his plate into the sink. He strode to the door and let it slam behind him. Liz followed him. The truck engine started. They were arguing; Els went to the patio to hear them better. Liz’s back was to her but Jason saw her, leaned out the driver’s window, and said, “You wrong, mon. Fust bump she hit, she runnin’ back over there, full a’ stories. She want she adventure at all a’ we expense. Fuck dat.” He gunned the engine.
“Wait!” Boney raced out of the kitchen. Jason braked at the gate.
“Sorry to eat and run, Fair Lady,” Boney said. “Gotta catch a ride to town.” He