First Day in the Caribbean 07

The next morning he got a few minutes' work done on the basement shelves, then headed to town. He timed it so he would arrive at Anchovie's about half an hour before Octavia's shift was up. Octavia was her usual beautiful, slightly racy self in shorts and a white blouse—and delighted to see him. Without telling him why he should do so, she told him he should stop by the bike shop, and could feel free to come by the house after she got up, and maybe they could plan an afternoon activity if he was interested. He finished eating right when her shift ended. As soon as they were outside the café, she wiggled out of her shorts, revealing a white bikini bottom. Then she unbuttoned her shirt, revealing a revealing white bikini top.

Asch muttered "Y'know, I just love knowing exhibitionists."

She looked at him sideways, "And how many exhibitionists do you know?"

He deliberately gulped conspicuously. "Um, two?"

She chuckled. "We're the only two women you know on this island. Nobody from before, eh?"

"Nope. I'm an innocent."

"Oh if I have anything to say about it, we'll get rid of some of that innocence. We haven't done anywhere near everything there is to do yet."

She grabbed his butt cheek, so he put his hand on hers. They continued their banter as he walked her home, bike on one side, the girl on the other. It worked out pretty well.

The first thing Asch noticed when he got to the bike shop was that several bikes were missing from the sales wall. He thought maybe the place looked like it had been swept, too, and dusted. Bill was taking care of some rentals, so he paged through a few local bike tour guides. He noticed several typos and internally rolled his eyes.

Bill sent off the renters and their bikes and came over. "Do you know what happened yesterday? I—we—Jenny! Sold more bikes yesterday than I've sold all year! A group of scouts came in with their savings and every kid got a bike! And she sold every kid at least one, maybe two accessories. Jenny's a natural! She convinced them not even to bother to check out the other shops! Somehow she assumed they were going to buy here, and they believed her! And she was a step ahead of them with the paperwork and everything! She even had the scoutmaster eating out of her hand. Then she bought their never-dying love by giving each of them an energy bar. Not only that, but every person who came in thinking about renting, rented!" He pointed. "She took them over to these here trip brochures first, got them to decide which ride they'd like, then rented them the "right" bike for that excursion. As if it made much difference which bike they took. And she made Charlie come out and personally adjust the seat and handlebars for each person! Even Charlie was in awe. And he liked the constant praise from the customers. And during the slow time, she bounced some ideas off me—while she was cleaning the place up!"

Some more people came in and Bill left to take care of them. One of them was a fussy 10-year old. Asch called out to him, "Hey kid!" The boy looked at him dubiously. "Do you know what a pirate's favorite vegetable is?"

The kid thought a moment and shook his head. "Uh-uh."

"Why, it's ar-r-r-tichokes!" Asch made a mock ferocious face while he said it.

"Tell me another one!" the kid demanded.

Asch pretended to think hard, then asked, "You know what the pirate did after he graduated from high school?"

"What?" The kid was grinning.

"Why, he joined the ar-r-r-my! And he shot the ar-r-r-tilery!"

The kid grinned and started to think. "You know what happened when the pirate lost his girlfriend?" he asked.

"What?" Asch played along.

"She broke his har-r-r-t of course!" By now everyone in the store was listening, especially the parents, and they all burst into laughter.

Asch shook his head, grinning, "Hey, you're good, kid. Say—you might like this bike trip; it's to Pirate's Cove."

Jenny came in about then and pitched in with the paperwork. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back by a black hairband, and she wore a sensible outfit, casual and summery, but not showing much skin.

Everyone had a good time picking out bikes and coming up with the occasional "ar-r-r" joke.

As they left, the boy's father looked at Asch. "Thank you, sir. That just changed what would have been a miserable day into a pleasant one."

"I'm glad to help out," Asch smiled back." Have fun at Pirate's Cove."

Bill sent off the last of the crowd. "Okay, Jenny, can you mind the store while I take Asch out for a business conversation? You comfortable with that?"

They went to Bob's Beer. Bill offered Asch a brewski, but he declined. "My limit's one a day, and I'm saving up for this evening. I'll take a coke, though." Bill took the hint and ordered two cokes from the cute blonde barkeep. Bill stared at her neckline while she served the drinks, and she smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at him as she left. Bill smiled back, acknowledging and thanking her for the show.

Then he turned to business. "If this keeps up, that girl is going to make more money than I do, with her commission," Bill started.

"Y'know, it's not unheard of for the top salespeople in commissioned sales to earn at the level of the executives and owners. In fact, that's the biggest reason good salespeople change jobs. Their bosses try to reduce their commissions so they can stay on top of the income pile, and the sales champ gets fed up and leaves."

Bill looked down, then looked at Asch. "So you're saying I should be proud of her income, not jealous of it."

"Yup. Unless you want to see her working for Mario. Besides, your income still goes up..."

Bill shuddered. "Yeah, you're right. And Mario needs no help from me, if I can help it." He brightened. "Say, I want to run one of her ideas by you, if you don't mind."

"Sure."

"She thinks we need to have a drop-off point at the terminals so people don't have to come back to the store. Maybe make some arrangement with one of the shops. Put up a bike rack, then we go pick them up after the ships leave."

"Maybe offer it as an option for them—for fifty cents they don't have to bring their bike back, just leave it at the terminal," Asch mused.

"We could have a kid there, and have him work for tips." Bill was brainstorming. "Maybe one of those scouts." He continued, "I'm also increasing our inventory order. Gonna take a chance that Jenny's salesmanship isn't a fluke. Sales skills. Saleswomanship sounds weird. Anyway, it didn't seem like a fluke when I watched her in action."

"It does seem like you're getting some action. Bike action, I mean."

Bill didn't catch the unintended suggestive interpretation. "Yeah, almost makes me want to do this permanently." He sighed, but didn't take the subject any farther. He brightened. "Say! What drug did you use on my mom yesterday? She was actually doing stuff when I got home. Had some supper on the table, the house was cleaner (not that Octavia and I don't take good enough care of things, y'unnerstand), and she was doing some of her needlework, which I haven't seen since Dad died! You are magic, man!" He sobered. "I hope it lasts."

"I hope so too." Asch downed the last of his coke. "I'm supposed to come back and see a finished piece in three weeks, so that's an encouraging sign."

Bill paid for their drinks and they headed back to the shop. Jenny had sold two bikes, to a couple who had been checking out bike shops for a week but not bought.

Asch gave Bill a congratulatory look, and headed for the library to see if he could pick up a couple books on sailing. About 3:30 he headed for Octavia's.

Vivian met him at the door. "Come in, Asch. Octavia's in the bathroom and I have something to show you. She has done nothing but talk about you ever since yesterday, by the way—all good, too. You must be some kind of genius or something. Anyway, here, look at this."

Arranged on the dining room table were what must have been more than a dozen arrangements of needlework. Asch saw immediately that each pile displayed a different style. It was all fine, detailed work, obviously good quality. He was stunned. "You—you arranged this in a pretty nice display. Do you have a marketing background?" He asked.

"No, I go by instinct. Developed it doing classroom bulletin boards, I guess."

Asch asked, "Are you thinking about selling these?"

"Actually, yes, as an adjunct to teaching this. It's becoming a lost art, and the girls on this island could use skills like these. For their hope chests, to sell to tourists, you know. I'm hoping to show them by example that there's good money in it."

Asch started, "I met a lady at the north terminal with some space—"

"Oh!" she interrupted. "Could you introduce me to her? Maybe after you drop Octavia off at the restaurant."

"Why not before? It might be fun for all three of us to gang up on her," he quipped.

Octavia came down, wearing her waitressing outfit, white blouse with buttons down the front, and shorts. Vivian was gathering some samples together, so Octavia caught Asch's eye, smirked, and unfastened one more button for his benefit. Asch made panting motions.

They headed out, each with a bundle of goods.

Asch led them to the shop. Vivian and the proprietress spotted each other at the same time.

"Sadie!" "Vivian!" simultaneously. The women hugged mightily.

Sadie exclaimed, "Vivian I ain't seen you in years! It's been, what, four? You're looking pale, too, even for a white girl. You been sick?" She turned to Asch, and pretended to scold him, "You didn't tell me it was Vivian Seemann you were thinking of, you bad boy. I'd'a been excited, not just eager, ifn' I'da known."

Asch started to reply, but Vivian interrupted. "Why don't you two head for Rita's, and I'll meet you there later. Sadie and I have business to discuss."

Octavia hugged his arm as they walked. "I oughta undo a couple more buttons for that." She squeezed his arm.

"You got that transparent bikini on underneath? I'm all for it." He wiggled his eyebrows, "Except I might not be able to keep my hands off you, and we're in public."

He dropped Octavia off at Momma Rita's. They kissed at the back door, and she made sure he knew that she had nothing on under her blouse, not even the bikini top.

"Either she's really pleasing, or I'm really easy to please," he thought to himself. He went for a walk to pass the time while he waited for Vivian and suppertime.

A couple blocks along, as he glanced through the open doors of a tavern, he happened to see a big dirty-looking fellow trying to put his arm around a woman. It was obvious from her body language that his attentions were undesirable. Asch also picked up that no one was interfering. On impulse he turned into the bar and approached the couple.

He overheard "Aw, c'mon, baby. You know you want it. You don't get eight inches every day..."

At this point Asch interrupted. "I think you need to leave the lady alone."

The man straightened up and looked at Asch and blinked. The bar got quiet. "I think you need to mind your own business, old man," he hiccupped.

"My business is to protect ladies from pond scum."

The man scowled and took a swing at Asch, but he had cocked his arm, telegraphing his swing so Asch had plenty of time to react. He tilted his head down and the fist grazed the top of his head. Asch spun and pushed on the back of the guy's shoulder as he overshot. The combined momentum of the missed swing and Asch's push catapulted the man into the air and he crash-landed a full body length away. There was scattered applause.

Asch said, calmly, "Get up, walk straight out the door, and go home."

The man got onto his hands and knees and shook his head several times. After several moments he slowly got up and walked out, glancing furtively at Asch as he turned onto the sidewalk.

Asch turned to the bartender. "I'll pay for his drink. Sorry about running a customer off." He turned to the woman. "I hope I read the situation correctly. I apologize for causing any embarrassment."

The barkeep said, "No way. Not only was that worth the drink, but I always make him pay in advance, so the beer's paid for." He grinned at Asch. "That was a pretty smooth move. Most folks are kind of afraid of that guy."

The woman eyed Asch and said, "Yes, it was, and thank you. I was about to scream. Are you some kind of martial arts black belt or something?"

Asch smiled self-deprecatingly. No, it was just something I learned in tai-chi. It's called 'repulse like monkey.' It just sort of happened reflexively."

The bartender grinned at Asch. "Well your first one's on the house." He continued, "We're not too sure how to handle Fred. He's the best welder on the island and a nice guy when he's sober, but he gets unpredictable after only about two drinks."

"Thank you." said Asch, "You are very generous, but one is my limit, and I plan to have it with a nice lady in half an hour or so." He turned to the woman, bowing slightly. "A lady as nice as you seem to be."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you make the pass at me?" She smiled. "Well, have a nice evening. I'm sure she's a lucky lady." She heaved a dramatic sigh. "Those eight inches would be interesting, but not attached to a boor. The name's Anita." She smiled at Asch and offered her hand. She nodded her head at the bartender. "Clay here knows what bank I work at if you ever need me."

Asch nodded to them both and turned to leave. He was followed out by cheers and clapping. Fred was nowhere in sight.

Supper was uplifting. Vivian was several minutes late, and she arrived bubbling with excitement about her new business prospects.

"Sadie's gonna work on 20 percent commission, and we talked prices and about holding classes in the evenings, maybe even..." She continued in this vein for some time.

Octavia took her break and joined them for a while. She acted as if her mom's new attitude toward life was completely normal, asking questions and generally participating in the conversation. Except she kept squeezing Asch's leg under the table.

Asch didn't mention the episode at the tavern. He walked Vivian home and then biked to his room. When he got there, Lydia was still up, puttering around in the kitchen.

"Hey, stranger," she said. looking at him over her shoulder, "I had kind of a late supper, but you still outlasted me. Leftovers in the fridge if you want 'em. A hot dish, light on the noodles, heavy on the meat and veggies."

"Sounds like an excellent lunch for tomorrow," Asch apologized. "I pigged out on another one of Rita's quiches. With Vivian, by the way. She's really coming out of her shell, apparently. Seems she has a consignment outlet for her needlework, and some prospects of starting some classes."

Lydia's eyebrows went up. "Wow, that's amazing! It's time she got out of her fugue. I moped around for about six months. Then I started to get horny again, and I figured Gus wouldn't be jealous seeing as he was dead. But I'm glad to hear the good news. All because you noticed her handiwork, eh?"

"I think it was an accident," Asch replied. "When Octavia took me over to meet her, I remarked on it, just to be polite, y'know. She showed me some of her stuff, and hasn't been the same since, apparently."

Lydia shook her head. "Well next thing you know, you're going to be rescuing fair maidens and beating up bullies."

In spite of himself, Asch looked sheepish. "Um, what do you know about a welder named Fred?"

Lydia's mouth dropped open. "What! Don't tell me. And not a scratch on you. Fred Costello is an excellent welder, takes serious pride in his work—in fact he helped with the salvage operation on Gus and Bill's boat and he checked all the welds he had made to see if any of his were to blame, but of course with the hull stove in, on the rocks, nothing would have saved it—but he can't hold his liquor. Gets belligerent. So nobody likes to socialize with him much; they're all afraid of him."

"Well, I didn't exactly beat him up, just convinced him to take the rest of the night off. It's good to know that he's actually a good guy. Um, nobody but you knows about this, by the way. I'd just as soon not advertise the event."

Lydia harrumpfed. "Unless you did whatever you did in a back alley, word'll get around, count on it. Fred's kind of a local landmark." She looked at him severely, "Any other miracles today? Cure for cancer? Fix the local economy? Straighten out our crooked politicians?"

Asch chuckled, "Nothing like that, but it'll be a miracle if I can stay awake much longer. I gotta head for bed." He was out almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.