[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.It’s perfect.”I can feel a line forming between my eyebrows.“Yeah, but.you’re not a nice person.”She smiles, showing dimples.“I can be a bitch.I don’t have a lot of patience, but it’s just a ride.If I get on your nerves you can kick me out.”I roll my eyes and look out the window, noticing the little cars on the speck of highway getting bigger.We’re descending.I close the window shade and turn to her.“Tell me more and we’ll see.”I make it to Miami in one piece and immediately head to rent a car.“What’s your name, anyway?” the girl asks.After all of the talk about quitting her job because of a sexually harassing boss and her boyfriend kicking her out, we never got around to names.“Kinley, you?” I ask her.“Lu.”“Nice to meet you, Lu.Let’s go.”My new bank account is under my maiden name and it makes breathing a little easier, already having this small separation from Jeremy.I’m still disgustingly sweaty from my workout hours ago, so I put the windows down in the little Kia and drive toward the Keys.Lu makes snake motions with her hands out the window and blasts rock and roll.Hours later, as I’m driving on the Seven Mile Bridge, I divide my attention from the road to watch people walking out in the middle of the ocean.The water only comes up their knees and I immediately decide I want to do that.I find a little gas station at the next island and ask the attendant about bed and breakfasts or camping sites.He silently points to a corkboard by the front door.Looking through the handwritten ads for free puppies, beater trucks, and million-dollar homes, I find a small index card advertising beachfront cabins.I call on my disposable phone and find out they have a cabin open three islands away.When we get off on the exit the directions say to take, there are palm trees covering little hut-style cabins, which are divided by brush and shrubs.I stop at the first cabin marked as the main office.“I’ll stay here,” Lu says as she puts her chucks up on the dash.“Fine,” I reply tiredly and head inside.I’m dying in the heat, sweat is staining my shirt.Lu looks much more the part, having taken off her leather jacket, leaving her wearing a black tank top.I wipe at the moisture falling down my face as I look around the room.There’s an old woman at the makeshift desk, which looks to be a functioning dining-room table as well.“What can I do for you, honey?”I feel my face flinch a little bit at the honey, but smooth it out as quickly as possible.“I’m looking for a cabin to rent for a few weeks.”The screen door slams shut with a loud bang that makes me balk, and the old woman studies me closer.“Got that bathroom set to rights, Ester.” An equally-old man wearing overalls comes in limping slightly.“You can stay here as long as you want.You hear me?”I look back to the woman, startled by her gentle tone.“How much is a cabin?”She tilts her head and looks back to her husband before locking cloudy eyes with me again.“We’ll say $500 a month, how’s that?”The guy behind me makes a sound and I turn to him while shaking my head.“That can’t be right.I can pay you, don’t worry about that.I don’t know when I’m leaving, but I don’t want you to lose money.” I know what she’s seeing.There’s a red bruise above my temple and finger marks visible on my forearms since I pulled my shirt up in the heat.I hate pity.I don’t deserve it.I let this happen.We haggle a more reasonable price and I agree to pay for a week up front every Monday that I’m here.The old man gives me a key to the last cabin on the lane and I move the Kia down the dirt road until I find it.The hut is at the end, making it the only structure on this stretch of white sand at the corner of the island.The brush goes a far distance down the sand before getting to the surf line.It’s secluded.The little building has a thatched roof that goes up in a point, and half walls.The tops of the walls are all screened in.When we get inside I see a ceiling fan at the tallest point in the ceiling and curtains covering the screens.One queen size bed with crisp white sheets is on the right of the door and a small wall shields the old clawfoot bathtub and toilet from the rest of the room.There’s a couch and a mini fridge next to the bed, with a small table for two.That’s it.I walk out of my cabin door and stare out at the ocean for a while before I realize that it’s late afternoon and I don’t have food, a toothbrush, anything to wear.anything really.I head back into the room where Lu is unpacking her toiletries in the “bathroom.”“I have to go out and get food, clothes, everything.You coming?”She squints her eyes at me.“You on the run or something?”I look to the water as I ask, “What makes you think that?”She rolls her eyes.“Oh, I don’t know.Maybe the fact you don’t have anything but the clothes on your back.You know what, it doesn’t matter.Let’s get some food in you.I don’t know what you’re deal is, but you’ve obviously been locked in a closet or something to be as skinny as you are.Let’s go.I’m driving.”I follow her out as she charges for the car.“Oh, no you don’t.My rental, I drive.”Lu huffs.“Fine.But I get the radio.”Fantastic.We climb back in my car and drive two islands south until we get to Key West.The traffic here is significantly busier and I follow the flow until we see a strip that is lined with back to back cars.“So much for fucking the people, huh?” she asks me sarcastically.I shrug.She brought me here.Can’t be helped.I pull into a parking lot that’s right before the street, pay the parking fare, then walk down the street, seeing the name is Duval.I’m fascinated by the bars, and every conceivable knickknack store in existence.At the first clothing store, we duck into a shop selling mostly beach apparel.I quickly pick out bathing suits, various flip flops, beach towels, kaftans, and sarong dresses.Lu picks out huge hot-pink floppy hats and yellow sunglasses, then adds skimpy bikinis and tiny board shorts.I shake my head at her and she laughs.We walk with our bags, dodging drunk vacationers and local high school kids, before finding a restaurant in what a sign tells me is Mallory Square.I watch as boats unload their catches and either sell the fish and lobster on the dock or take it directly to the restaurants lining the pier.Sitting at a high-top table for two, we watch the sun go down over the water as we wait for our food to be put into Styrofoam containers to go [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]