Upside Down

17

The Trammels remained silent while the cabdriver complained about the bad condition of the streets, the rain, the Friday-night traffic, and the price of gasoline, which, since we “owned” Iraq, didn't make sense.

The cab's tires hit numerous potholes because in the rain they had become standing pools, indistinguishable from the pavement. Despite the weather, the restaurants and bars on the street were busy. Hank was pleased they had decided to use cabs so they wouldn't have to worry about parking or navigating.

“I tried to call Kimberly to see why Faith Ann called,” Millie told him. “Maybe she called to tell us that they wouldn't be at home this evening or something.”

“We'll see her first thing in the morning. I'm pretty sure she's just excited about us coming,” Hank said as the cab pulled to the curb outside the bar.

“If it was important, Kimberly would have called the guesthouse.”

Hank climbed from the cab and he waited on the sidewalk for Millie to pay and exit into the protection of his open umbrella.

Together, they entered into the bar. Hank hadn't been there in four years, when he and Nicky Green had last been in New Orleans together. It seemed to him the crowd had been vastly different then-certainly much older.

“Reckon any of these people are legal age?” He had to raise his voice for Millie to hear him over the music and general din of socializing youth. “Times like this I can see how old I am without a mirror.”

“We used to be this age,” Millie said.

“I'll make a fast swing through the place to see if there's a table,” he told her. “You stay here and feel free to stick your fingers in your ears if you need to.”

Millie's expression was as unreadable as weathered-down hieroglyphs on limestone when Hank returned.

“There's one in the back, but it's in the line of fire, right near the speakers.” He looked at his watch. “Nicky's running late.”

“Can we go outside?” Millie asked.

When they went out under the awning, they saw that the rain had intensified.

“We could go across to the restaurant and wait there.”

“You think? The reservation isn't for twenty minutes yet.”

“Don't you imagine Nicky's a good enough investigator to figure out where we went? Surely he's smart enough to cross the street… to get in out of the rain.” She laughed.

Hank frowned at her. “He's a good P.I.”

“I'm sure a man ingenious enough to have a skunk on hand, then go about tossing it into a window, ought to be able to cross a street. A chicken can do that.”

Hank had to laugh. “I suppose you're right.”

A rain-drenched couple ran up to the doors laughing. They embraced and kissed before they entered the bar.

“Once we were like those kids,” Millie said cheerfully. “In love in a bright fresh world.”

“I remember.” Hank put his arm around his wife, and she leaned against him. “That hasn't changed.”

In a grand gesture, Hank pulled Millie to him and kissed her passionately before he leaned back to study her face.

He saw, but didn't see, the lines, the way her face had changed into that of an older woman. The gray in her hair mattered so little. To his heart, Millie still looked eighteen years old, with a face as smooth as polished agate. After almost forty years, he could still picture her as he'd first seen her-standing behind the counter in a department store selling perfume.

Millie looked over Hank's shoulder and tugged at his sleeve. “Look there. That child looks like…”

Hank turned. He saw a figure pedaling a bicycle furiously toward them. The helmet with the hood pulled up didn't disguise the familiarity of the drenched features. “Faith Ann,” Hank finished.

The child leaned the bike against the wall and ran into the restaurant across the street. Through the restaurant's window they could see that the child, who looked exactly like their niece, was talking to the hostess.

“It's her,” Hank said. He opened the umbrella, and they stepped off the curb. Immediately, Millie cried out and Hank knew she'd wrenched her ankle. She insisted she could walk just fine. So, supporting his wife and holding up the umbrella against the downpour, Hank looked up and down the street to check traffic. Not seeing any headlights close enough to be a danger, he walked Millie toward the restaurant. “What in the world is that child doing out in this?”

Faith Ann turned from the hostess and ran outside.

Hank asked his wife, “Where's Kimberly?”

“Faith Ann!” Millie called out.

Faith Ann saw them coming and her face filled with emotion. She waved frantically. Hank couldn't tell whether she was laughing or crying.

Halfway across the street, Hank heard an accelerating engine and tires on wet pavement as a car roared up the street behind him. There was no time to clear the thoroughfare, so he drew Millie close. Keeping himself between his wife and the onrushing monster, he formed the smallest possible obstacle and prayed the driver would go around them, since there was a world of room to do that.

He saw the child's pale, wet face-her mouth opening to scream and her eyes locked on his. He shook his head, praying for her to look away.

As Millie tightened her grip on his arm, he was aware of a sudden pressure and… the sensation of taking flight.