Ruth offered the Senator a stick of chewing gum. He refused it, so she chewed it herself. “The author says the greatest site of buried treasure anywhere in the world is on Cocos Island.”
“That’s what your book says?”
“It’s your book, Senator. I was thumbing through it when I was coming back from Concord and I saw that thing about Cocos Island. The author says Cocos Island is a real bonanza for people looking for buried treasure. She says Captain James Cook stopped at Cocos Island all the time with loot. The great circumnavigator!
“The great circumnavigator.”
“So did the pirate Benito Bonito. So did Captain Richard Davis and the pirate Jean Lafitte. I thought you’d be interested . . .”
“Oh, I am interested, Ruth.”
“You know what I thought you’d be interested in? About Cocos Island, I mean? The island is only about as big as Fort Niles. How about that? Wouldn’t that be ironic? Wouldn’t you be right at home there? And with all that buried treasure to find. You and Webster could go there and dig it up together. How about that, Senator?”
It started to rain, big heavy drops.
“I bet the weather’s better on Cocos Island, anyhow,” she said, and laughed.
The Senator said, “Oh, Ruth, we’re not going anywhere, Webster and I. You know that. You shouldn’t say such things, even as a joke.”
Ruth was stung. She recovered and said, “I’m sure you two would come home rich as kings if you ever got to Cocos Island.”
He did not reply.
She wondered why she was pursuing this. Christ, how desperate she sounded. How starved for conversation. It was pathetic, but she missed sitting on the beach with the Senator for hours and hours of uninterrupted drivel, and she wasn’t used to being ignored by him. She was suddenly jealous of Webster Pommeroy for getting all the attention. That’s when she really started to feel pathetic. She stood and pulled up the hood of her jacket and asked, “Are you coming in?”
“It’s up to Webster. I don’t think he’s noticed that it’s raining.”
“You don’t have a waterproof jacket on, do you? Do you want me to get you one?”
“I’m fine.”
“You and Webster should both come in before you get soaked.”
“Sometimes Webster comes in when it rains, but sometimes he stays out there and gets wetter and wetter. It depends on his mood. I guess I’ll stay until he wants to come in. I’ve got sheets on the line at home, Ruth. Would you take them in for me before they get wet?”
The rain was coming down now at a fast, slicing pace.
“I think the sheets are already wet, Senator.”
“You’re probably right. Forget it.”
Ruth ran back to Mrs. Pommeroy’s house through the rain, which was now pounding down. She found Mrs. Pommeroy with her sister Kitty, upstairs in the big bedroom, pulling clothes out of the closet. Kitty, watching her sister, was sitting on the bed. She was drinking coffee, which Ruth knew to be spiked with gin. Ruth rolled her eyes. She was getting fed up with Kitty’s drinking.
“I should just sew something new,” Mrs. Pommeroy was saying. “But I don’t have the time!” Then, “There’s my Ruth. Oh, you’re soaking wet.”
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for a pretty dress.”
“What’s the occasion?”
“I’ve been invited somewhere.”
“Where?” Ruth asked.
Kitty Pommeroy started laughing, followed by Mrs. Pommeroy.
“Ruth,” she said, “you’ll never believe it. We’re going to a wedding on Courne Haven. Tomorrow!”
“Tell her who said so!” Kitty Pommeroy shouted.
“Pastor Wishnell!” Mrs. Pommeroy said. “He’s invited us over.”
“Get out of here.”
“I am getting out of here!”
“You and Kitty are going to Courne Haven?”
“Sure. And you, too.”
“Me?”
“He wants you there. Babe Wishnell’s daughter is getting married, and I’m doing her hair! And you two are my helpers. We’re going to open a little temporary salon.”
“Well, la-di-dah,” Ruth said.
“Exactly,” said Mrs. Pommeroy.
That night, Ruth asked her father whether she could go to Courne Haven for a big Wishnell wedding. He did not answer right away. They were talking less and less lately, the father and daughter.
“Pastor Wishnell invited me,” she said.
“Do whatever you want,” Stan Thomas said. “I don’t care who you spend your time with.”
Pastor Wishnell sent Owney to pick up everyone the next day, which was Saturday. At seven in the morning of Dotty Wishnell and Charlie Burden’s wedding, Mrs. Pommeroy and Kitty Pommeroy and Ruth Thomas walked to the end of the dock and found Owney waiting for them. He rowed Kitty and Mrs. Pommeroy out to the New Hope. Ruth enjoyed watching