Lee Fitts Read online

This was the worst time to go to the spa, well maybe one of the worst times. The morning exercise classes were always full. But maybe it was better for him if there were a lot of women at the spa. Maybe that would be the time that Mrs. Plennington would be more business-like.

  The disco bass lines joined the perfumed sweat that greeted him as he opened the door. Christie Veit was at the sign-in table, looked up briefly, but then returned to her conversation with someone who looked like a new member. Lee could see Mrs. Plennington was on the phone and he felt that at any minute she might turn and see him. The envelope containing the invitations was moist and becoming more so at the spot where it lay in Lee’s hand.

  “Lee?”

  He turned and looked back at the counter.

  “Lee, can I help you with something?” Christie asked.

  He swallowed hard and looked at the woman who had grown from the school girl he had one time dreamed he would marry. He wondered what she would say if she knew he were doing a good job for the Dan Calvert for Council Campaign.

  “I have, I have an envelope for Mrs. Plennington and she knows I’m bringing it over here this morning.”

  “I didn’t know you and Audrey were such good friends,” Christie said with an icy gaze.

  Lee searched for a tiny lie that might help him, but as always, he could never find one. “I am a friend of Mrs. Plennington’s because she is an old friend of my mother’s.”

  “Hmm, did you have a nice visit at her house the other day?”

  “My nice visit at her house the other day?”

  “That’s what she told the girls here, you were at her house the other day.”

  “I was at her house the other day because she said she had never had the chance to show me her house before and since I was all wet from walking in the rain, she could dry my clothes at the same time she showed me her house.”

  “That’s very interesting, Lee. I guess I hadn’t thought about you in that way for a long time,” Christie seemed to realize she had said too much. There was a feeling now about Lee that she hadn’t yet learned to handle; a feeling that she seemed to notice awakening the day that Audrey Plennington spoke about Lee’s visit to her house. “Anyway, I see Audrey’s ready for you now.”

  Lee stared at Christie, but when she looked away it was like a phone connection gone dead. He turned and saw a smiling Mrs. Plennington waving him back to her office.

  “Andy said he’d be sending you over. I haven’t seen you for a long time, where have you been?” Audrey Plennington said as she leaned over to tie her sneaker.

  “I have been out going to many homes and talking to people and giving them campaign handouts; I am trying to get them to vote for Dan Calvert. Andy Herman told me this morning that he thought I was doing a good job and . . . I am going to be helping Sanford Black work on the big rally.”

  “Slow down Lee, you’re as enthusiastic as ever. Of course, you’re doing a good job. I said you would didn’t I honey?”

  Lee hadn’t even thought about telling his mother about his doing a good job. But it had been a long time since the last phone call and she was very clear: “Lee I think it’s better for you that we not speak; maybe someday, but not now. Your father, well, I just think it’s better for you, I love you honey, one day it will be much better.”

  Lee handed the envelope to Mrs. Plennington. “I’m sorry, the bottom is a little wet; I guess my hand was really sweating. These are the invitations you wanted, there are stamps in there too.”

  “Very thoughtful, very professional. Let me get a towel for your hands,” Audrey said as she reached in front of him and drew a fluffy yellow towel from a neat pile. She stepped behind him and opened the cube refrigerator sitting on the floor in the corner of her office. She stepped to his side and nudged him into the chair beside her desk. “There, sit and relax for a while. You push yourself too hard sometimes.”

  From her seat at the reception desk, Christie watched the whirling Audrey Plennington move around Lee from every angle. The three-foot by four-foot window in Audrey’s office framed her actions for anyone looking from the outside as a movie screen would to a theater audience. Christie didn’t think Lee knew that he was in Audrey Plennington’s movie. Christie had only worked at the spa for several months, but she knew clearly where her boss was going.

  “I have to get back to the office, Mrs. Plennington, remember I told you all about my working on the rally?” Lee said as he placed the towel and water bottle on the edge of her desk.

  “Oh yes, the rally. Did I tell you that as a sponsor, I’ve raised $3,000 for this rally?”

  “Three-thousand dollars? You must be one of the best sponsors of the rally. Does Andy Herman know how much money you have raised?”

  “Yes, he knows, that’s why I don’t think he’d mind if you were a little late getting back as long as he knew you were with me. She grabbed a skirt from the back of her closet and pulled it up over her workout shorts. She knew Christie was watching. Perfect. She hoped others were taking it in as well. “Lee, I’m going to run home. Get a quick bite of lunch – want to come?” She took a tiny perfume dispenser from her purse and three short hisses filled the room with a breeze swept from an orange grove peaked for harvest. It was the fragrance that would linger on his clothes when Mrs. Plennington would hug him after church.

  “Oh, I have my lunch Mrs. Plennington. Yes, I have my lunch. Andy Herman lets me keep it in the small refrigerator in his office. He has a small refrigerator just like yours. I know I am going to have a lot to do when I get back to the office after I eat my lunch. Sanford might be looking for me right now, because he knows how long it takes to walk over here and get back.” Lee could feel both hands starting to sweat and he reached for the towel.

  “Honey, it’s all right, please don’t get upset. We’ll do it some other time. Now take this water with you when you go. If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you at the rally. I’m proud of the good job you’re doing. One day maybe we’ll have longer to talk.”

  “Hey Wally, where’s the warden . . . oh Hi, Mr. Cleaver. How are you this fine afternoon, sir?”

  “Damn, that Eddie Haskell, he never knows when Mr. Cleaver is around. This a funny show or what? They got all the old shows on the TV Land Channel. I’m telling you cable is the greatest. And you gotta see the other shows: Bonanza, Hoss and Little Joe, I Dream of Jeannie and those old astronaut suits, and Andy of Mayberry, did you know that little Opi is a famous director now? I can’t remember what pictures, but he’s bald now,” Reid said as he twirled the remote in his hand. Eddie was getting the look from Mr. Cleaver and Reid laughed loudly but horribly out of tune with the laugh track.

  “Boy, the Cleavers seem to be a very happy family and Mr. Cleaver always knows what to say to the boys so they understand what they are doing wrong. And Mrs. Cleaver cooks such nice meals and makes sure that Mr. Cleaver is not too hard on the boys.” Lee said.

  “Yeah, ain’t no families around like that now. You don’t think Mr. Cleaver fools around do you?

  “What?”

  “Just kidding,” Reid said through a laugh. “They got Green Acres on next, but tell you the truth that’s probably the TV Land show I like the least. I don’t know why, maybe that woman’s foreign accent. Damn, we don’t need no Green Acres. Ever see Animal Channel? Well, I guess we just missed a show about gorillas. Oh good, good, this show is about the animal police; they get calls about animals getting mistreated or somebody having a tiger in their apartment. These guys, got guns and everything and sometimes they bust these people who are mistreating the animals. Look at this idiot. Two hundred rabbits in that small house? Look at that mess! Damn right they should haul his ass out of there. They had this show on last night with this skinny horse kept out in the rain for months, didn’t have anything to drink but some black-crappy looking water. One of the animal police asked the horse’s owner if he would drink that water. Then they hauled that guy’s ass off too. I’m glad there are animal police out there, but they�
��re never going to be able to save all the poor animals. What’s this? Professional pool; now that’s what I’m talking about. Look at all the different camera angles, that bright green color. Damn this guy’s gonna run the table.”

  “You really like cable TV don’t you Reid?”

  “Damn straight I like cable TV. The whole world comes to you right through that little wire over there. After a hard day of landscaping, me and my remote and that’s all there is to it.”

  “How is your landscaping job going?”

  “You know what? They may be making me foreman. My boss says I got what it takes. Maybe another month or so, he wants to see what jobs line up. What do you think of that? Me, a foreman, and another fifty cents an hour on top of that. Only problem we got so many of those guys from Mexico and Bolivia and those other countries, I have a hard time talking with a lot of these guys. Think they’re here in the good old US of A that they’d want to speak our lingo, but most of the times they just blah, blah, blah, blah speaking that Spanish. If I’m going to be a foreman I’m going to have to know more than hello, good bye and you’re a shithead. Hell, you know what, they even have a lunch wagon that comes around, all the signs are in Spanish, and it’s got all the foods those boys ate back home in Mexico. But you know what? I ate one of those little biscuit pouches with the meat and potatoes in it. Not too bad. Luis bought it for me. Might even buy one myself, but I still eat from the other lunch wagon.”

  “Gee, a foreman. That is good Reid. You are doing good in landscaping. I found out today that I am going to be working on the big rally that is coming up for the Dan Calvert for Council Campaign.”

  “What big rally?”

  It is the most important thing right now to Dan Calvert; we are having it in the park next Saturday. There will be a lot of his supporters and I think anybody can come and meet Dan Calvert, and I think there will be balloons, and refreshments.”

  “Huh, anybody can come?”

  “That is what the paper on our bulletin board says and it is free admission. You should come Reid and you can bring the people at your work. They might like you better if you invite them to the rally; especially if you are going to be their foreman.”

  “Damn, free eats just cause someone wants to get elected to something. Yeah, I’ll get my boys there, tell them that their foreman has some good connections and got them in the rally for free. They’ll think I’m a big shot. What are you having to eat?”

  “The paper says hot dogs, hamburgers, sodas, and I think ice cream.”

  “Ice cream!? I know my boys will like ice cream. And we can leave if the speeches get too boring. Just kidding Lee, just kidding. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be very well-behaved. Hey, know if there is going to be any cerveza at this rally? Damn, that’s another word I learned, forgot all about that one.”

  “I do not remember seeing that. What kind of food is that?”

  “Cerveza is Spanish for beer. Going to be any cerveza?”

  “I do not think so Reid. I do not think Andy Herman would want any drinking at the big rally. I do not think you should tell anyone they can get cerveza at the rally.”

  “All right, all right, no cerveza. Ice cream will be fine for them. Know what I was thinking about yesterday, and I’m going to do it, damn, I know that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I was thinking that if, not if, when I win the lottery I’m going to get a new TV, one of those big screen jobs. I mean I have this beautiful picture, but it’s too small. I can’t see the kind of complexion on those baseball players that I could when I was looking at that big screen down at the Best Buy. I mean if I’m going to have cable, I might as well have the clearest picture possible. When you look at that guy at bat on my set you can’t see the stubble of his beard like you can on those big sets. And the damn sound is so much better – just like you’re in a movie theater. Damn, if I win the lottery, I might as well get out of this damn room all together, move over to those Whispering Hills luxury garden apartments, sign says you get cable free with the rent. Yup, that’s going to be the plan, and I’m going to win the lottery soon. Last week, I only missed by three numbers.”

  Reid was staring out the tiny window over the front door of the bar below. There was a lot of yelling in front of the bar, then a lot of laughing, then the slamming of car doors then a broken bottle. Always ugly noises in front of the Tammery Inn. He wouldn’t have that at Whispering Hills where he would soon be looking for the instruction manual to see how to hook up his new, huge TV to the cable that came with his rent.

  “I may go out of state if I have to,” Reid said deaf to a new volley of noises from the summer street below. “I’ve been following the lotteries, and I think these people living in some of these other states have an easier time winning the lottery. I can feel that big screen remote in my hand. Hey, one day. You’ve got to have dreams. You have dreams don’t you, Lee?”

  “I do not know if I can dream hard enough to win the lottery. I have one dream, even though it is smaller than yours, a dream that came true that somebody told me I was doing a good job and not just telling me that to try to make me feel better about myself. I have always wanted to do a good job. But my big dream is that the person who tells me I am doing a good job is my father.”

  “Quiet down there, this is a residential area,” Reid screamed at the noises outside.

  “Shut up you moron, before we come up and beat the crap out of you,” came the voice from the street.”

  “Idiots. Hey Lee, no offense, but I think I might win the lottery before that dream of yours comes true. Look, I know how you feel about your dad, although I don’t understand why. I have no damn idea why. Who knows maybe things with him will change. But best I can figure, he had a dream too. I remember how he was about you before and after the accident. He just couldn’t believe it was all over.”

  “My father thinks I can do something that I cannot do. I do not remember real good being able to do that.”

  “Oh, I remember. Damn, I remember and I don’t think I ever saw anything like that. That leg of yours snapping around like some kind of whip, that smack against that air inside that leather, then the perfect end-over-end over the crossbar. Your dad had won his lottery. Damn, look at that picture. See what I mean? That batter’s stubble isn’t clear at all.”

  The bobtail cat seemed to know that the orange of his coat was not the color it should be. He sprinted from the pile of decaying landscaping timbers where he would sit every morning and stopping short, twisted his leg back and chewed at his fur. He sprinted further towards the road and slammed on the brakes again, this time licking furiously at a black clump just below his chin. The cat would watch as Lee came down the street on his way in the morning to the Dan Calvert for Council office. Ever since that day Lee opened a sandwich bag containing leftover corn flakes and milk from his cereal bowl and placed it near the remains of a withered hedge, that cat would look for Lee. But then Lee stopped bringing food for the cat. It was the day after his father saw him pouring the remnants of his cereal bowl into a plastic sandwich bag. “What the hell are you doing? What? You’re feeding a cat? Are you crazy? You think we have money to waste on sandwich bags and milk, and cereal to feed some flea-ridden cat? I see that damn cat and it’ll see a rock flying at it.” As he continued to look at the cat, Lee wondered how many times it would take the cat to figure out that it wasn’t getting any more to eat.

  “Lee, I need your attention pal, this is the big one coming up this week, I need you with me buddy,” Sanford said.

  “I am sorry Sanford, I was just thinking about the cat I see every morning.”

  “Lee, okay, let’s forget about cats, we’ve got to think about dogs -- hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream. What we do is going to make or break this rally; it’s no simple matter getting all this food together. We have to get balloons, and some streamers, and those big black garbage bags. I’ve got to find out where to get those big black garbage bags. That’s what I’m going to be working on first this morning and
I need you to grab that Yellow Pages and put a list together of where we can get some ice cream and then I’ll start to focus on that. This might get a little complex, and we have that calendar staring at us. Five days; Lee the calendar shows no mercy, got to remember that. Not many days to get this all nailed down. I’ve drawn up a battle plan with everything we need to get and do. It’s going to be tough, but with a little grit and just keeping in mind how big this rally is . . . we’ll do it. I’ve been in tight spots like this before and I think that’s why Andy threw this baby into my lap. Let him work on the speech, and invitations, and sponsors and publicity; I think you and I both know what will make this rally a success.”

  They must think I am doing a good job, Lee thought, to have me working on this important project with Sanford. Lee also was relieved to know right off the bat where to find big, black garbage bags. They were right in the front window of Seedge’s Hardware Store; the store window he passed every day on his way to work. But he thought he better put a list together anyway; that’s what Sanford asked him to do and Lee had never worked on a rally before. He’d put Seedge’s at the top of the list, this way that would be the first place Sanford would call.

  “Got the hamburgers,” Sanford said coming over to give Lee a high-five. Sanford lowered his hand before Lee fully raised his arm. “Yeah, got the burgers and that place has salads and drinks, sometimes things just fall into place. I decided to get the burgers before working on the black garbage bags. Sometimes have to switch tactics, switch them on a dime. I’ll work on your list this afternoon. Who knows maybe I’ll be as lucky with the garbage bags as I was with that other stuff. I’ve almost completed my schematic for the rally; we’ll go over that before you leave today. Afraid I might be burning the midnight oil here if I’m to get all my planning done.”

  Lee didn’t get to see Sanford’s schematic until mid-week. The older man was totally absorbed in his charts, yellow-legal pads with broad black circles around broad black scribbling, and file folders each with information about different parts of the rally.