Chapter 5

Monday morning, I felt great. It was a good thing, too. It was hot. On weeks like that, Ronnie used to say, “If I owned Hell and Charleston, I’d move to Hell and rent out Charleston. Cooler.” Not sure about that, but we all knew we were in for a blistering week.

Emilio was a lot older than me but he was a tireless worker. But when it got that hot, even he slowed down. I guess we all did but it was more noticeable with Emilio. I switched tasks with him so he could take an extra couple of turns on the riding mower while I edged. He seemed surprised but grateful. Manny noticed and tried to trade with Art to give him a break, too, but that wasn’t happening. Hector caught up with us at a particularly large yard that afternoon. He was just checking in and making sure we were staying hydrated and I noticed he did that without insulting Art. We were all hydrated, Art wasn’t insulted, and everyone was happy. Hot, but happy.

I caught Hector before he left and told him my plan for Saturday, the 4^th of July. He liked it, said he could let everyone know, and said he was sure we’d have a big turnout. It was supposed to be back down in the eighties by then. He cautioned me we should expect a lot of kids and I told him it was okay. After he left, I got to thinking about it. I didn’t know what a lot of kids meant. Six kids? Eight kids? Twenty kids? I didn’t know. I thought I might invite Bobby since he’d been working part time as a life guard.

It rained each day that week, every afternoon at four, just like clockwork. It only lasted twenty minutes or so but it was super muggy afterward. After it happened on Tuesday, we just expected it. We didn’t mind working in the rain but if there was lightning, we were done. Art was really good about protecting us and I thanked him for that.

“Protecting you?” he said, in Spanish. “Who said anything about protecting you? If you get struck by lightning, one of us is going to have to do your share the next day.” He said it as though he was serious.

Emilio and Manny agreed. “It’s true,” they both said with straight faces. Thanks, guys. They were kidding, right? I caught a trace of a smile from Emilio. Whew!

On Thursday afternoon, Emilio said, “We are coming Saturday. My whole family?”

“Sure. We’ll throw a bunch of food on the grill and the kids can play in the pool. Bring them.”

“Okay. You want me to bring anything?”

“We’ve got it. How many?”

“Six,” Emilio said. There were five for Art and two for Manny. I might have to bump up my guess on numbers a bit.

Thursday evening, Franklin, Karen, and Kim came over for dinner so we could talk about our swim party for Hector’s crews. Dane and Franklin would handle the grilling, Mom and Karen would handle the sides, leaving Kim and me to host and make sure there were plenty of drinks. When I shared the math from just my crew, we realized we could easily have sixty people or more. I reminded them that there would be sixteen men, at most. The women and children would have smaller appetites. I thought it was perfectly logical, but I could also tell that the way Mom was planning, there would be plenty of food.

Four of us had to work the next day so we broke up early and I walked Kim out to her truck. She sat there looking at me for a few moments and I knew to give her time to think through what she wanted to say.

“This has the potential to be really awkward, doesn’t it?” she asked.

“I guess. They’re good people. It will be fine. We provide the pool, food, and music and they provide the people. Easy.”

“Right. What kind of music, Jack?”

“Okay, that’s a good one. No idea. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

Moderately satisfied that she’d made her point, I gave her a goodnight kiss and she left me standing there. And that’s what I did. I stood there, in the middle of the driveway, wondering if this was a big mistake. Nah. What could go wrong?

Saturday morning, Dane and I walked the backyard to see what, if anything, needed attention. I skimmed the pool and checked the levels, then made sure the pool house bathroom was clean and stocked. It was always clean and stocked.

“What about beer?” Dane asked.

“I’m not really sure but if you’re going to the store, don’t get anything fancy. Corona or Bud is fine, I think. Or whatever you drink. Yuengling, is that right? I don’t think they’re picky. At least my crew isn’t.”

“We’re sort of walking a tightwire here, you know? We want to treat them right but we also don’t want this to look like we’re showing off, or this is a charity thing.”

“I think I’ve worked with them enough and Hector has known our family long enough that they wouldn’t think that. I’m part of a crew that works at rich peoples’ houses all day long. I don’t hear that from my guys.”

“That might be because you’re there, you know.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I haven’t asked for any kind of special treatment.”

“That probably goes a long way. Pull a couple of ice chests down and I’ll get ice and drinks.”

I reached the top shelf and tugged. “Here’s two. Be nice if we had more than that. Oh well.”

“There’s another on the boat. Grab that and give it a good rinse. They might not be picky but no one likes fish-scented beer.”

I did that and when he got back from the store, we worked together to set up two large canopies for shade and a bunch of chairs. We were going to look silly if only ten people showed up. Mom had enough food to feed an army and Dane had the grill ready to go by three. Kim showed up early but Bobby couldn’t make it so I wasn’t surprised that Mel didn’t come, either.

When three o’clock rolled around, it was just us. Hector showed up a few minutes after three. He introduced us to his wife, Inez. She thanked me for inviting them and all their people. Her English was good, but it was slow and deliberate. I asked about their kids and was told they were grown and had families of their own.

A few moments later, it was like the dam burst. Hector’s people filed in through the gate as though they’d all arrived on the same bus. I noticed three things from the beginning. First, there were a lot of kids, from babies to kids about twelve. Second, the women were all modestly dressed. Kim had better not wear her French cut suit. And third, they were short. As a group, they were short, and I’d never realized it before. I was the tallest in my crew but I hadn’t thought anything of it, but with so many of Hector’s team all in one place, it was impossible to miss.

Hector asked me if there was anything everyone should know. I told him we’d have food ready by five and they should have a good time. There were two bathrooms at the pool house and if they needed anything they should ask me. He turned to them and made an announcement in Spanish too fast for me to follow. I already knew what he was going to say and I still couldn’t follow it. Maybe my Spanish wasn’t as good as I thought. Maybe my crew was slowing it down a lot for my benefit.

He turned back to me. “This is a good thing, Mr. Jack. They are very happy and my whole team likes you and your family very much. They know.”

“Thanks, Hector. I guess I realized maybe they didn’t have this opportunity.”

“There is a pool at one of the apartments but not at the others. It’s nice for them all to be together.”

Little kids were in the shallow end with their parents. Some of them had water wings on and a couple had nose clips. I hadn’t seen those in a long time. There was a line at the diving board and the competition for the best cannonball was well underway. I looked back at the gate and saw Manny talking with a blond girl. His girlfriend? She stood out from the crowd about the same way I did. More so.

They were just inside the gate, talking. It didn’t take long for me to figure out what was going on. I walked over.

“Hola, Manny. Esta es tu novia? Soy Jack. ¿Cómo te llamas?” I asked in Spanish. I did it on purpose and I saw the look on her face. Manny was about to translate, which was laughable, but I didn’t give him the chance. “I’m Jack. This is my house. My mom’s house. Our house. I’m glad you came,” I said, holding out a hand. She was very tentative. “I don’t bite.”

“I’m sorry. I just. It’s so much.”

“I get it. They are all used to being surrounded by gringos. You’re not used to being surrounded by Mexicans. It’s okay.”

“You speak Spanish,” she said and we slowly started walking toward the pool.

“Poorly. I work with Manny; in case he didn’t tell you. Hey, Manny, we don’t have any music. Got some cassettes in your car?” He smiled, knowing that I’d taken the heat off him for a minute.

“He told me. I didn’t think you’d live in a house like this,” she said, obviously trying to put all the pieces together. “I’m Gail,” she said, finally realizing she hadn’t told me her name.

“These are good people. Manny is a good guy. He’s got a screwy sense of humor but if you pretend to laugh at his jokes, it will be fine.”

We talked for a few minutes and Manny came back, handing me a case of cassettes. I had no idea what to expect. He pulled her away and toward the crowd. She didn’t fight it and that was good. I knew how she felt. I popped open his case, expecting to find mariachi music, and almost laughed out loud. I had my choice between The Police, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and a bunch more music that was already in my case inside. I put The Cars, Panorama on because, who doesn’t like The Cars?

I needed to find Kim and warn her to be modest. I turned toward the house to intercept her just as she stepped out. “Hey, Baby,” I said, thankful to see her with a loose T-shirt and cover-up and then I realized how weird the thought was.

“Hey. I decided to dress for the party,” she said and spun so her skirt cover-up would spin out away from her.

“Thank you. I don’t need anyone getting in trouble for staring at my girlfriend.”

“Uh-huh. I’m going to talk to Hector about getting you some more hours so you can stop calling me your girlfriend and start calling me your fiancée.”

“I forgot to tell you; I’ll be working next Saturday. I need a ride, though. There’s a guy on James Island that wants a pond in his backyard. Hector is dropping off a Bobcat on Friday afternoon and I’ll dig the pond on Saturday. Getting close. One more month.”

“One more month. Ooh, and then vacation time. Your mom is going to book our trip on Monday so if she needs to know anything before that, you better tell her. She showed me the hotel she’s going to book. Oh, man. It looks wonderful.”

“Puerto Rico, then, and not a cruise. I’m good with that. Nice way to end the summer,” I said and looked out at the crowd. “They couldn’t even imagine.”

“They’re happy right now, Baby. This is good. Introduce me. Come on.” I needed a minute to think. Mentally, I was back at Kim’s birthday party, when Mom spent a fortune. Franklin set me straight on it but it was still tough. Kim must have realized that. “Look. Who out there is poor? Look, Baby. Right now! Who?”

“I don’t’ know. None of them have much money. Hector might.”

“I didn’t say who has a lot of money. I asked who was poor. They have their families and each other. It’s a beautiful day and they have a pool and kids and floaties and there’s food cooking. I don’t see any poor people.” She was right. We walked out to the group.

We said hi to Art and Melda, Luis and Romey, Papi and Rosalie, Frankie Junior and Dani, Bajito and Kathy, and a lot more whose names I could never remember. Everyone was having a good time and it looked like Gail had loosened up too. Kim was apparently drawn to babies so she sat down with Rosalie and when she did, Gail came over. Rosalie’s baby was instantly fascinated with Gail’s blonde hair. Gail wasn’t keen on having a baby grab her hair. Kim tried to get the baby interested in hers but it wasn’t blonde and therefore boring.

The whole dynamic was fascinating. I felt like I was something of the middle man since I spoke Spanish, at least well enough to communicate. Most of the crew I worked with could too, but the thought wouldn’t leave me. I scooted over to Art and asked him to give me a realistic assessment of my Spanish. He rattled off an answer so fast I had no chance to follow.

“That good?” I said in English.

“Better every day, amigo,” he said and laughed. I’d keep working on it.

I walked up to check on Dane. He had the grill fired up and was starting to put burgers on. I asked him about our crowd and he smiled and said he was just watching and that it was interesting. Okay. I walked on up to the house. Mom and Karen had finished sides and were standing at the window watching. I don’t think they saw me standing at the door. They simply watched without saying anything. I cleared my throat.

“Hey, Buddy. Nice turnout,” Mom said.

“Yup. Everyone’s there but you two. Go out and meet some people. Start with Hector. I bet he’d introduce you around, or I can. I bet he’d like to.” Mom hugged me on the way out. Good.

I walked out to watch the kids play. I can’t remember ever having little kids in our pool before and they were having a blast. I sat beneath an umbrella at a surprisingly vacant table. I hadn’t been there long when Hector sat down next to me.

“Hey, Mr. Pierce, this is nice.”

“Mr. Pierce? That was Ronnie. What happened to Jack? Or Mr. Butthead. I laughed at that for a long time, you know.”

“Not today, Mr. Pierce,” he said, quietly. He seemed to be enjoying all the little kids, too. I looked at him for an explanation. He turned and said, “This is something your dad would have done. Thank you.”

“My dad.” I thought about that for a minute. I didn’t remember a time when Hector hadn’t been around. “You know he wasn’t my real dad, right? He adopted Franklin and me when he married Mom.”

“You are very much like him in many ways. I think he was your real dad.”

I didn’t think so at all. “What do you mean, I’m like Ronnie?” I asked.

He kept watching the kids and said, “Without Mr. Pierce, all these people wouldn’t be here. Without Mr. Pierce, without you, we wouldn’t have fifty people here today. You have done a good thing.”

“Thanks, Hector. I wish I could do something more.”

“This is good. They don’t want charity. Just the chance to work. With charity, you lose your dignity. It’s important to work. You work. When you ask Kim to marry you, you can do it with your head high, with dignity. My men come home tired, every day, having worked hard to put food on the table.”

“Wow. I don’t know what to say. This whole thing, this doesn’t seem like...”

“Charity? No. It seems like one of us, having friends over. Your father and I talked a lot before he loaned me enough money to start another crew. He wasn’t loaning money to a poor landscaper. He loaned money to a friend. You are a lot like him,” he said again and stood. “I think I can do a better cannonball than Emilio. He’s fatter but I can get higher.” He walked down toward the diving board, leaving me to figure out what just happened. Holy crap! Did I really get that from Ronnie? I wondered how much I might have gotten from Ronnie without realizing it.

I sat there stewing on it for a couple of minutes and then decided to stew on it later. We were having a party. I walked over to Dane. He had a lot of cooked burgers in a foil pan, staying warm on top while he cooked a couple of dozen hot dogs. There was a long table spread with plates and napkins, side dishes, and condiments.

“It’s about time,” Dane said. “Why don’t you put this pan on the serving table and call them to dinner?”

I did. I hollered out and little kids came running with their moms behind them. The first one was about twelve and he grabbed a plate and was about to start loading up when I heard Hector holler out in the best booming voice he could manage.

“Esperate. Espera un momento, por favor. Gracias.” They waited. He spoke to Emilio and everyone bowed their heads. Emilio prayed a short prayer in Spanish, everyone said, ‘amén’ and most of them made a sign of the cross and they continued. Talk was fast and happy.

“Did you catch that?” Dane asked.

“Yeah. Hector stopped them so Emilio could ask a blessing. He thanked them for the food, good friends, and us, especially you.”

“Me? Why me?” Dane asked, surprised.

“Because you’re cooking, silly,” I said and laughed.

I watched as the men waited while the women went through the line and I thought it was nice of them to do that. Then I realized the women were each making an extra plate and taking it back to their husbands. Every one of them. It was weird. A cultural thing, I guessed. Stuff like that always made me want to ask about it but I wasn’t sure if I should or not. Then, I remembered Kim had done the same for me at her parents’ house not that long ago. Was I that oblivious?

I decided to change the order of things and I made two plates and took one to Kim. She was sitting with Rosalie and her baby. Rosalie had limited command of English so I translated for them as we ate. Kim asked where she was from and how long she’d been here and if she was trying to learn English. The normal questions, I thought. She asked why they had come to Charleston. They’d come from Jalisco two years ago. She was learning a little English but didn’t really work on it too hard. And then, Rosalie surprised Kim by telling her they planned to move back in another year. Kim was shocked. Why? Jalisco is home. They came here because Art had found work for them and they would return home after they’d saved some money.

Kim was in shock and I explained why to Rosalie and she laughed. She said she liked Charleston very much but it was very expensive and too cold in the winter and she missed the rest of her family. Simple. I was sure that if Kim spoke Spanish or Rosalie spoke better English that they’d become friends. They really seemed to like each other, but it might have just been the baby. Kim was cradling her as she slept and Rosalie took the opportunity to eat. Nice.

Finished eating, I walked around gathering plates and other trash. I dropped the load in the trash and checked on Dane. He was finishing up and had managed to eat while he worked. He pointed to Mom and I looked to see her talking with Art and his wife Melda. They appeared to be having a nice conversation and Dane seemed to enjoy that.

“I’m glad you thought to do this,” he said.

“It is nice. A little different.”

“You can say that again. The last party here was for Kim’s birthday. No doctors, attorneys, or horse owners today.”

“As far as you know. Who knows if one of these guys has horses back in Mexico?”

“I hadn’t thought of that. You think?”

“No, but maybe. Kim just got shocked when Rosalie said she would be returning to Mexico because it’s too cold here.”

“Hard to argue with that. All that snow. Sheesh. It’s a wonder we...”

“Hey,” I complained, realizing the Yankee was complaining about snow in Charleston. “One freak snowstorm every twenty years isn’t that bad.”

“Messing with you, Aquaman. You know what we forgot?” I looked out and everyone was happy. Burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans, and super sweet watermelon were all pretty good.

“No idea.”

“Think about it. What day is it?”

I thought about it. “It’s the fourth of July.”

“And what do you do on the fourth?”

I thought some more. “We go down to The Cut or out to The Battery to watch fireworks.”

“You never light your own?” he asked.

“No. Should we have some fireworks? We’ve never done that.”

“We need to make a quick trip. There’s a place by Piggly Wiggly. I’ll go. You need to stay here should the odd interpreter job arise.”

Franklin walked up and Dane handed him the brush he’d been using on the grill and took off for his truck. The time had flown by and it was already almost dusk. I knew with the little kids; moms probably wouldn’t want to stay too late. I asked Mom where we would light fireworks. She didn’t know since we’d never done it before. I suggested the front yard so we could keep the pool clean and everyone would probably want to leave afterward.

I found Hector and told him Dane had gone for fireworks and that we’d never done them before. He looked at me in disbelief.

“But you’re an American,” he said, simply.

“I am. We’ve just never bought fireworks before. We watched. They have some really pretty fireworks from downtown.”

“You watch other people blow out the candles on their birthday cake but don’t blow out candles on your own? I’m sorry. It’s okay.”

“It seems weird, doesn’t it?” I asked. He nodded. “We’ll fix it tonight. I hope Dane gets some good ones.”

When Dane got back, Franklin helped him set up. He borrowed a step ladder from the Milner’s, across the street, and set it up in the street, put our ladder six feet away from it, and ran a board between them. Dane thought elevating them a bit would make them easier to see. Everyone came out front and a couple of guys moved their cars. We’d been hearing firecrackers and whistling fireworks for a while but it was dark enough to start the good stuff.

I started reading labels while people were getting situated. The variety was crazy and the labels didn’t tell you what to expect. Everything was amazing or beautiful if you trusted them. What was a Sonic Sumo, or a Golden Cascade? Who knew?

“What is all this stuff, Dane? Fountains? What does that even mean? Mortars? Isn’t that a military thing? Multi-shot repeaters? Here. Here’s something I know. Firecrackers. I know what those are. I don’t have a clue about the rest.”

“Then this should be fun. Want to start us off?”

“What, light one? Sure. What do I start with?”

“Doesn’t matter. Mix it up but save these for last,” he said.

“Mortars for last. Got it. What are these Roman Candles?”

“This should be fun. Here you go. Here’s a lighter and a lit punk and a flashlight if you really need to read something. There’s a bucket of water and a couple of champagne bottles.”

“What do I need champagne bottles for?” I was truly clueless. He stuffed a bottle rocket into one and lit it. It took off and made a little sparkly pop and that was it. The champagne bottle had held it in place while he lit it. Crazy.

I went for it. I figured I would start with whatever was smallest and work toward whatever was biggest, saving the mortars for last. Mom cautioned me not to blow off a finger several times. I discovered that ‘fountain’ is a pretty good name. They just spray sparks. Rockets do pretty much what their name says. When I got to a Roman Candle there was no platform for it.

“How do I do this?” I asked.

“I’ll show you,” Kim said and I could tell she was holding back laughter. I didn’t think that was a good sign. “You stand there and hold one and I’ll stand over there and we’ll do them at the same time. Just hold it and light it. It won’t blow up. Shoots fireballs and you get to aim it. It’s fun. Trust me,” she said. Why didn’t I trust her?

We stood about thirty feet apart and when she lit hers, I lit mine. I held it at arm’s length with my left hand. If I was going to blow a hand off, I wanted it to be my left. “Thoop’. It shot a fireball into the air. Okay, that was interesting. And then a fireball went whizzing past me. I looked at Kim and she was aiming her candle straight at me and laughing. Another fireball came and I stepped forward to get out of the way. Holy crap! There was smoke everywhere and the smell of sulphur was strong. Mine shot another straight up in the air and I realized everyone was hollering for me to shoot Kim. What the hell?

“Disparale, disparale.” Shoot her, shoot her.

I couldn’t shoot Kim. But she was sure trying to shoot me, and she was laughing. Another fireball went whizzing by and I aimed mine down and sort of towards her. And then we were shooting flaming fireballs at each other and then we were done. Six or seven fireballs and that was it. Holy crap! My heart was beating faster than I could remember and Kim was out of fireballs but she was still laughing. I almost laughed but it was just crazy.

She walked over and saw that I was practically shaking. “Oh, my gosh, Baby. Was that scary?” she asked.

“No,” I lied as she hugged me. “I don’t know what this stuff does. We’ve never done fireworks before.”

She leaned back and looked at me with her eyebrows up. “Never? You’ve never shot a Roman Candle before? This is the first time you’ve lit fireworks? I’m so sorry. I thought you knew. No wonder you were shooting them ten feet over my head. They don’t fire straight and the odds of hitting someone is about zero. I thought you knew.” I realized it had gotten really quiet. Well, crap. How embarrassing.

“It’s okay,” I said. “No harm done. Let me start lighting some of these fountains.”

Emilio tapped me on the shoulder. “Why don’t you sit and relax, Jack?” I nodded. “Let me take over. Go sit with your sweetheart,” he said to me in Spanish.

Emilio took over and Franklin helped him. As the fireworks show continued, I sat on the grass with Kim. “Mad at me?” she asked.

“No.” I’d been getting a ribbing in Spanish but, thankfully, it stopped when Emilio lit three fountains at the same time. I tried to relax and enjoy it but my heart was still pounding. Franklin and Emilio kept it going until they got to the end.

“Come here, amigo,” he said, holding his hand out to help me up. “Finish it for us.” I wasn’t sure. “Come on,” he said and I let him help me up. “It’s right for you to light the finale. These are big. Light one at a time until there are six left and then light those as fast as you can.”

I took the lighter from him and he sat down next to Kim. I followed his advice and the first mortar exploded to hollers and applause. Okay, this was kind of fun. I was just getting into it when we were down to the last six. I lit them all as quickly as I could and they fired into the sky and burst. The sparkles from the first were still visible when the last one exploded. It was pretty cool and I was done. Everyone applauded and then the firecrackers started. Dane had bought a few but all of Hector’s crew had firecrackers and sparklers for the kids. I joined Franklin, making sure all the spent sparklers ended up in the water bucket.

Fifteen minutes later, it was quiet at our house and the sparklers were gone. Mamas were ready to take their babies home. Mom handed out plates of food and Dane walked people to their cars. I sat back and relaxed.

“That was a good day, Baby,” Kim said.

“Until you started shooting at me,” I whined.

“Uh, huh. Your heart back to normal?”

“Sort of.” I took a couple of deep breaths and changed the subject. “You have anything special planned for tomorrow?”

“It’s supposed to be about fifteen degrees cooler. Want to go riding in the morning?”

“Horses don’t like the heat?” I asked.

“No more than anyone else. Oh, my gosh. I totally forgot. It’s the Fourth of July.”

“No! Are you sure?” I asked, pretending to be shocked.

“Diva,” she said simply and I knew she was worried about her and the noise.

“I’ll ride out with you,” I said.

I told Mom and Dane and we made the drive out to the Denton Ranch. It was still only ten and people were still shooting off fireworks. When we pulled into the driveway, we could see all the lights on. We walked to the stables and saw a couple of people talking to horses and brushing them. Mrs. Denton was at the far end.

“Hey, kids,” she said. “Everything’s alright so you can relax. Eddie lit an M80 without thinking and Spitfire had a conniption fit. He’s calming down.”

“Eddie knows better than that,” Kim said. I didn’t know who Eddie was. Kim turned to me, “Their grandson. He’s grown up around horses and knows better.”

“He’ll be mucking stalls in the morning,” Mrs. Denton said. “He won’t forget again. You two shoo. We’ve got this.”

Kim and I spent a few minutes with Diva and Ghost but they were fine. I listened but we were too far away from civilization to hear much besides an occasional pop in the distance. We drove back to Kim’s house and she checked the answering machine. Her folks were with friends in Bonneau but we had no idea when they’d be back.

“Come on. Let’s go watch fireworks from the harbor.” We drove to the marina and took the Inherit out under power. I hadn’t been out at night before and she told me about the special lighting you needed. She motored out toward Fort Sumter, which was pretty far away from any other boats or a good view of the fireworks. I figured she knew what she was doing. We got out past Fort Johnson and dropped anchor.

“This doesn’t seem to be the best place to see fireworks,” I said.

“I don’t want to see fireworks, Baby. I want to make fireworks.” So that’s what we did. We went down into the cabin and made our own. Good thing we were far away from the horses. We might have spooked them.

We were both pretty quiet when Kim drove me home. I got out and walked around to her side of the truck and put my arms on the door.

“Still mad at me?” she asked.

“No. You surprised me and it seemed scary. I’m not mad at you. I owe you one, though.”