S is for Silence

We got in. For a moment, she sat staring through the windshield, her hands on the steering wheel.

“You okay?”

“I’ll tell you what’s weird. You know when you see a movie they have those previews of coming attractions? This feels like a preview of past attractions. I don’t remember seeing my father drunk, but this has to be what he was like when he was married to my mom. Not nice.”

“Yeah, and I’ll bet he looks about like she did when he beat the hell out of her.”

She turned the key in the ignition. “At least now you know why I’m so screwed up.”

“You know something, Daisy? You’re not that screwed up. I’ve seen a lot worse.”

“Oh, thanks. I feel much better now that you’ve said that.”

We drove to Santa Maria in silence. The two-lane road was deserted at that hour, dark agricultural land stretching out on both sides as far as the eye could see. We passed a corrugated metal building sitting in a sea of asphalt and surrounded by chain-link fencing. The area was awash in a cold, silver light, but there was no sign of life. To the west, concealing the sight of the ocean beyond, a swell of low-lying hills formed a scalloped silhouette against the night sky. Daisy checked her rearview mirror as a set of headlights popped into view. I glanced over my shoulder, expecting the car to speed up and pass. Daisy was cruising at a sedate sixty miles an hour, but drivers on country roads get impatient.

The car behind us maintained the same distance for a mile and then began closing the gap. Daisy flicked another look in the mirror. “Shit. I recognize the Mercedes. That’s Jake.”

“How’d he know where we were? You think he was waiting in the ER parking lot?”

“I didn’t see him if he was.”

We reached Santa Maria and turned down Daisy’s street with Jake right behind us. He wasn’t doing anything threatening and he made no attempt to conceal himself, but in the wake of the violence, I wasn’t crazy about seeing him again. BW might have delivered the kick, but Jake had been the catalyst. Daisy pulled into her driveway and doused her headlights. I checked the house. An overhead fixture burned in the kitchen, but the living room and guest room at the front of the house were both dark. Jake eased in behind us and doused his headlights. He killed the engine, as Daisy had, and then he got out and approached us along the drive.

“You think we ought to get out?” she asked.

I put a hand on the door handle. “Let’s. I don’t like the idea of his towering over us.”

She got out on her side and I got out on mine, moving around the front of the car so we were side by side. It was dark and the night was chilly as anticipated, which made me happy I’d accepted the offer of a jacket. I crossed my arms, not feeling the cold so much as residual tension. The neighboring houses were locked and barred for the night. I wasn’t uneasy about Jake, but it did occur to me that if either of us screamed, no one would hear us and respond.

Daisy said, “Hey, Jake. What can I do for you?”

“Sorry to bother you. I stopped by to ask about your dad. Is he all right?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but the doctor treated him and sent him home so I guess that tells you something. You know you could have called instead of following us home like this.”

“There’s something else I wanted to talk about and I didn’t think it should wait. I promise I won’t take up too much of your time…”

“Good because we spent the last two hours at the emergency room and I’m beat. Ta

“It’s you I’d like to talk to. You, too,” he said, with a quick nod at me.

“Why don’t you come on in the kitchen and we’ll close the door. I don’t imagine you want Ta

“Out here is fine. I intend to talk to her myself as soon as I have the chance. My son, Steve, too.”

“Smart move,” she said.

Jake ignored her testiness. “I came to apologize for what happened to Foley tonight. We’re fully prepared to pay his medical expenses. You can send the bills straight to me and I’ll take care of them. BW had no right to do what he did.”

“Shit, really? Kick a guy in the face and bust his nose?”

“Daisy, I said I was sorry and I mean that. BW was way out of line and I told him so. I’m not saying he was wrong to hustle your dad out of there. Foley had that coming, but not the violence. BW’s a hothead. He tends to act first and think about it later. It wouldn’t surprise me if Foley pressed charges.”

“Forget it. He’s not going to do that. So what else? I’m sure you didn’t tail us to inquire about his health.”

“I feel I owe you an explanation.”

Daisy nearly offered him a smart remark, but apparently decided against it. Better to let him fumble through the conversation on his own.

Jake kept his gaze pi

“Have at it. I’m all ears.”

“There was an incident at the Moon… this must have been a month and a half before your mother disappeared. I’d been up at the hospital, visiting Mary Hairl, and I stopped off for a nightcap. Both your parents were at the bar and had been for some time. I think it’s safe to say neither one of them was feeling any pain. By the time I arrived, your dad was in a sulk. Violet started flirting with me-I think to aggravate him as much as anything else. My wife was sick. I was lonely and maybe I gave your mother the wrong impression. We started dancing, which seemed harmless to me, but after a while she was behaving in a way that was an embarrassment. Community’s small. You know how it is. Everybody knows everybody’s business. I couldn’t have her rubbing up against me, or putting her hands on my butt. Anyway, I’ll skip the details out of respect for her. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I knew I had to set her straight.

“Problem was, Violet was accustomed to getting her way and she wasn’t about to take no for an answer. She got mad and said I’d insulted her. About then she walked off the floor and I followed her. I hadn’t meant anything of the sort. I tried telling her it wasn’t my intent. I liked your mother… don’t get me wrong… but I was taken aback. Long and short of it, she ended up throwing a glass of wine in my face.”

“That was you? I’d heard the story, but I had no idea. Your name was never mentioned.”

“That was me all right. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it. She started screaming and cussing. She was hot-tempered to begin with and sensitive to slights. She threatened to tell Foley we’d had sex, that I’d come on to her, and when she turned me down, I’d forced myself on her. Nothing could have been farther from the truth, but what could I do? BW could see something was going on and he got Foley out of there on some pretext.

“Once he was gone, I tried to reason with her. I hadn’t meant to offend her and I apologized for any misunderstanding. She seemed to calm down. I hoped that would be the end of it, but I couldn’t be sure. I was in a sticky position. I couldn’t go to Foley and tell him what she’d said. If she never mentioned it herself, I’d only be opening up a can of worms. He’d either take issue with me for rejecting her, or else he’d accuse her of screwing around and she’d deny everything, claiming I’d raped her. In that case, I’d end up looking like my only interest was in covering my tracks. At any rate, I thought it best to keep quiet and that’s the last I heard of it until tonight. Clearly, she did what she’d threatened. She must have told him I’d pushed her into something against her will and that’s what he believed.”

Daisy was quiet. I could see her testing his story in the same way I was. “I don’t know what to say. Dad and I haven’t talked about any of this. He’s a mess right now and I’m sure he’s ashamed of himself for getting drunk. I do understand your wanting to set the record straight. If you like, I’ll tell him what you said.”