Chapter 6

On Monday, all the guys thanked me for the party and said their families had a great time. Manny was happy for what I’d said to Gail and that she had enjoyed herself. Emilio said something about how pretty Kim was, and Art fanned himself to cool off. I was really enjoying my time working with these guys. Plus, our conversations were almost exclusively in Spanish and I was learning a lot. When I did mess up, I got some good ribbing. That happened a lot but less and less as I got better. I think my being on the crew was fun and different and might have made the work and the summer go by a little faster for them as well. I had nothing to compare it to.

The entire week was scorching hot and incredibly humid. I’d lived in Charleston my entire life and I thought I was used to our summers but I wasn’t used to working outside in the steamy heat. Definitely not for a full day. A surprise thunderstorm soaked us on Thursday afternoon. There wasn’t any lightning so we worked through it but weren’t as thorough because ‘las herramientas mojadas son herramientas peligrosas.’ Wet tools are dangerous tools.

After Hector caught up with us Friday and paid us at the last job of the day, we swung past the jewelry store and I made another payment. I had just over six hundred dollars to go. The crew asked me how I was going to propose. I told them what Franklin had done and they were impressed and asked if I was going to do the same thing. Nope. I had an idea that was very different but wasn’t sure yet. It was neat that they were sort of rooting for me.

Art dropped me off at the Wappoo Cut and I took my usual spot at the picnic table. Sally and I used to sit at one table, but when Sally left, it seemed right to move across the parking lot to the other table. It was closer to the ramp and water anyway. There were only a half dozen trucks and empty trailers in the parking lot. With clear skies and the coolest temperatures of the week, there should have been a lot more boats out. A couple of dolphins showed up to look for dinner and I suddenly missed Sally. It was weird how Sally would come to mind at unexpected times. I wondered if that happened for her, too. I watched the dolphins for a while, but when I saw a boat coming in, I left. I was done with people for a while.

The walk home gave me the chance to think about the weekend. I didn’t have anything in mind but I was sure Kim would. I inspected my calluses. My right hand was ahead of my left in that department. Would they go away after the summer or were they the kind of thing you had forever? I didn’t know. Didn’t matter. My nails looked like crap, my lips were chapped and I had a serious farmer’s tan. My nails would grow out, my lips would heal and a day at the beach would solve the farmer’s tan, but my hands were pretty rough.

I stepped inside and inhaled deeply. I knew that smell. I pulled my boots off and left them by the door, then followed my nose toward shrimp curry.

“Hey, Buddy, how are you doing? Hungry?”

“Starving and that smells good.”

“Good. Are you doing okay? You look tired. I’m proud of you, you know. How many yards do you do in a day, anyway?”

“It’s never the same. Sometimes only six or eight and sometimes twelve or fifteen. Just depends. Art knows how to work around the weather and if it’s going to thunderstorm, he’ll split us up sometimes so we can get more in before it rains.”

“Which do you like best, a lot of lawns in one day, or just a few?”

“Oh, man. I hadn’t even thought about it that way,” I said and grabbed a spoon, scooped a bite out of the wok, and blew on it. “It’s kind of nice when you can do a lot of work on one house because you sort of get into a rhythm, but you get to relax during the drive from one place to another, too. We don’t get paid for driving around, though.”

“Listen to you. My working man. Wash up and I’ll serve. Dane should be here soon but you don’t have to wait.”

As usual, it was terrific and I said so. I was on my second helping when Kim stopped in with Dane right behind her. She’d already eaten but couldn’t resist having a small plate.

“Do calluses go away? They do, don’t they?” I asked.

“Let’s see,” Kim said and I held out my hands. “You need a manicure. Tarzan the Ape Man is in theaters,” she said.

“You lost me, sweetheart. If you want to give him one, I have what you need,” Mom offered.

“I was just wondering how Tarzan didn’t have gnarly hands. He didn’t even have fingernail clippers.”

“Of course,” Mom said. “Why didn’t I think of that?” she said but Kim didn’t notice that Mom was messing with her. We cleared the table and mom got her toolkit.

Kim gave me the treatment, soaking my hands, then using some sort of sandpaper stone on them. She trimmed my nails and buffed them, which I didn’t even know was a thing. When she took out some clear nail polish, I was done.

“No thanks,” I said. “I appreciate it but I think I’ll skip that step.”

“It will protect them, you know, and keep them from cracking.” I wasn’t interested. “It’s what we did to Ghost and Diva,” she said, reminding me that we’d painted some stuff on their hooves.

“I’m sure Diva loved it but Ghost couldn’t really protest. Want to go to the movies tomorrow night?”

“Maybe. What do you have in mind? Want me to do your toes?”

“I think my toes are probably fine.”

“I could give them a nice deep red polish,” she said, to mess with me.

“Why don’t we wait on that until swim season starts? All the guys will be so jealous. Escape from New York.”

“I saw the trailers for it. Kurt Russell. Sure, why not? We haven’t been to a movie in a while.”

Mom and Dane were still there, just watching, listening, and laughing every now and then. “Want to go to dinner? Oh, you want to hear something funny? It was Manny’s birthday Thursday and Art had been promising him the best Mexican food ever. He’d been promising him that all week. So, when it got to be lunchtime, Art pulls into Taco Bell and we all start to go in. Manny just sat there in the truck. He was crushed. We got to the door and Emilio motioned for Manny to come with us. He looked so sad. He shook his head and we all laughed. It was pretty funny.”

“That’s mean. You didn’t really eat lunch at Taco Bell, did you?”

“No. We got back in the truck and drove a couple of blocks to Art’s house. We had a feast. It was great.”

“What did you have, Buddy?” Mom asked.

“Carnitas and roasted corn, oh, and fish tacos. Good stuff and Manny was pretty happy. Oh, and Gail was there, too. I think she’s getting used to Manny’s friends and stuff.”

“Nice. Fish tacos? That sounds weird. Was it good?”

“Really good. It’s crazy that Art isn’t fat. Melda is a really good cook. Oh, yeah, and pozole, and flan for dessert. Homemade tortillas, too.”

“I’ve never heard of that. Pozole?” Mom said, and I went into detail describing our feast. When I finished, I was hungry from talking about food and heated up another plate.

When I finished again, we followed Kim to the rec room and watched an episode of Dukes of Hazzard. It was corny but funny and by the time the show was over, I knew what kind of car I wanted. Kim said that if I thought a Dodge Charger was indestructible, I should think again. She thought they went through two or three of them per episode. Then, I said I thought Katherine Bach was a great actress and she gave me a look. That was probably the last time we watched the Dukes of Hazzard.

I had work the next morning so we made it an early evening. I walked Kim to her truck and I told her what I planned to do. She asked and I told her I had a ride from Dane and no idea how long it would take. Could be a couple of hours or a couple of Saturdays. I just didn’t know how long it would take me to dig a pond with a Bobcat but it would sure be a lot faster than with a shovel. We made plans for Saturday evening, I gave her a kiss, and she returned it. Took my breath away. I was the luckiest guy in the world.

Dane dropped me off at the Richardson house early Saturday morning. I checked in with Mr. Richardson, then let myself into the backyard. He went through the house and came out the back and we talked about the size of the pond and the slight slope he wanted. He wanted it for fish. I knew from reading a landscape book that it needed to be at least two, and preferably three feet deep for that. I explained that a deeper pond would protect the fish from predators.

Rather than remove the dirt, he wanted a hill on the back side of the pond for decorative purposes. He planned to light it and plant bamboo. It didn’t take long to figure out we’d have more dirt than he needed for the hill. He picked a spot on the edge of the woods at the back of his property for the rest of the dirt. I told him the Bobcat would tear up the path from the pond to the pile but he was okay with that. He had an awesome landscaping team that could fix it. Great. That was us. We marked the pond boundaries and he got a tape measure, and a roll of string to use for measuring and I got to work.

It had been nearly a year since I’d operated a Bobcat and this one was a little different. It didn’t take long to get back in the swing of things. I operated from inside the pond area as much as possible so his awesome landscaping team wouldn’t have quite as much work to do when I got done. Dirt from the pond nearest to his new hill got dumped on top. The rest went into the woods at the back of his property. There was no fence at the back but the woods were pretty dense, sort of doing the same thing.

I was about halfway done when I got an audience. A couple of kids showed up on the edge of the woods to watch. They wanted to ask a bunch of questions. I told them I was working and would answer their questions when I finished. I soon lost my audience. By noon, I was finished. I parked the Bobcat and measured the depth. It was a minimum of three feet, with the little slope Mr. Richardson wanted. I guessed he would put a pump at the deeper end. The extra dirt was where he said he wanted it. When he came out to inspect, he was happy but had me do a little work on the hill to shape it more evenly.

Finished, I called home and Mom came to pick me up. She asked how it went and I told her. I asked her to swing by the jewelry store on the way home since it was sort of on the way. I told her I’d just be a minute and dashed inside. Everyone was busy with a customer when I went in. I was about to leave when the jeweler came out from his little workshop.

“Getting close?” he asked. “Let me get the book. Pierce, right?” I nodded as Mom put her hand on my shoulder.

“They’re busy today,” she said. The jeweler returned and I handed him the day’s earnings. He counted it and wrote it down in the book, then wrote a receipt for me. As he did, the saleslady who had helped me got free and came over.

“Almost there, Jack. Five forty to go. You’ve had a busy summer,” she said.

“He has. Would it be too much trouble? I’d like to see it,” Mom said. She looked at me and I nodded that it was okay.

A moment later, the saleslady was back with my ring. She set the box on the counter. Mom picked it up and opened it. I saw her eyes get big when she saw it. She took the ring out of the box and held it up to inspect it. “Jackson Michael, this is beautiful. This is absolutely gorgeous,” Mom said, really impressed.

“You think she’ll like it?”

She handed the ring back and gave a long hard look. “If she doesn’t there’s something wrong with her.”

“It’s a very nice stone,” the jeweler said, “And you’ve picked a fine setting to show it off. To be honest, I was surprised by your choice when you first came in and even more surprised that you have been so diligent to pay it off so quickly. She must be special,” he said, smiling. I nodded that she was and he went back to his workshop.

Mom saw the payment book. “Oh, my goodness, Buddy. You’ve paid off twenty-seven hundred dollars. Wow.”

“Almost. Twenty-six sixty,” I said.

“I didn’t know. I’m impressed. I really am.” Mom and the saleslady shared some sort of girl look and I was ready to leave. Mom was about to brag about me some more, but I complained that I was hungry, so we left.

Mom asked where I wanted to eat and I told her and gave her directions. It was a little late for lunch and I was starved. We went into La Esperanza, The Hope, and grabbed seats without waiting. I knew Camila, the waitress, and she recognized me.

“¿Necesitas un menú, tal vez para tu madre?” she asked.

“Are you hungry, Mom? Do you want a menu?” She shook her head and I ordered without looking at a menu.

“What did she ask you?” Mom said.

“She asked if I wanted a menu, if not for me, then for you. This is Art’s favorite restaurant. I like it and it’s close.”

“What did you order?” Mom asked as Camila brought chips and water for us.

“Shrimp. It’s pretty good.”

“The diabla part means devil, right?”

I’d ordered camerones a la diabla and she was right. “Yes. It just means that it’s spicy. They have lots of dishes that aren’t. Not the salsa, though. It’s hot,” I said as Mom scooped some with a chip and ate it.

It didn’t take long for her to realize we weren’t at Taco Bell. She took a gulp of water and looked at me. “Oh, lord. That’s spicy. How do you eat that?” she said.

I caught Camila’s eye, motioned, and she brought another bowl of sauce that wasn’t hot. Mom’s eyes were watering but I didn’t laugh. I’d been through it weeks ago. “Fight fire with fire,” I said and scooped a healthy dose of sauce onto a chip and ate it.

“I don’t even know who you are,” Mom joked while taking another big drink of water. “You’ve changed this summer. No, that’s too strong a word. I guess you’re just growing up. You like working for Hector, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I’m really working for Art. I think maybe who your boss is and how well you get along with him might be more important than what you do for a living.”

“Would you want to be a landscaper for a living?” she asked, trying to keep the tone of her voice out of the question but I knew she wanted me to say ‘no’.

“No. I could but it’s hard work and at the end of the day, I’m pretty tired. I want to work where I won’t be too exhausted at the end of the day to go for a run or swim some laps. I like the guys though. They’re pretty funny.”

“You’re one of them, now, aren’t you?”

“Kind of. It’s weird, but, yeah. I’m pretty sure they thought I wasn’t going to stick with it, you know, too soft, or something.”

“It’s a really beautiful ring. Let it be known,” she said in a deep broadcaster voice, “that 1981 was the year Christie Pierce stopped doubting her son.”

“Thanks, Mom. That means a lot.” Camila brought my lunch and asked if we needed anything. More water for Mom, obviously. I opened the foil for my tortillas and handed one to Mom, so she’d have something to nibble on and to help with the heat.

I ate and Mom told me stories about her dance classes. When I finished, I ordered dessert. Mom had no idea what I was talking about so it was fun when Camila came back with two desserts. We shared some pineapple stuffed sopapillas and chocolate-dipped churros. She decided she liked the desserts just fine.

On the drive, I told Mom I planned on taking a swim, then getting ready and taking Kim out for dinner. We talked about all kinds of trivial stuff and then she told me a bunch of stuff about going to dinner at a nice restaurant. She asked and I told her I planned on taking her to 82 Queen, a really nice restaurant on the peninsula and that’s when she dropped a bomb on me.

“82 Queen is very nice. What time are your reservations for?” Whoops.

“What?”

“Your reservations. What time are they for?” I didn’t answer. “You don’t have reservations, do you?”

“I didn’t even think of it.”

“Saturday evening in Charleston. I don’t suppose anyone else will be dining out tonight. You’ll be fine,” she said but I recognized sarcasm when I heard it.

“What do I do? Is it too late to get them?”

“For 82 Queen on a Saturday night, June was probably too late.” Crap. “What time would you like to eat? What is too early and what is too late?”

“I don’t know. Seven, I guess, but as early as six or as late as eight. Is there someplace easier?” Mom listed a half dozen restaurants off the top of her head. I told her any of them would be good.

We pulled into the driveway. “Go swim. Let me get on the phone and see what I can do. No promises.”

“Thanks, Mom. It would have sucked to get there and find out we’d wasted our time.”

“Yup. No promises. You could always go back to La Esperanza. It wasn’t fancy but there won’t be a wait.” I gave her a look. “I’ll see what I can do.”

What an idiot. How could I not think of reservations? I’d been to dinner with Franklin, Karen, and Sally and I knew we needed reservations. I changed into some trunks and went for a swim. The water felt really cool, which seemed weird to me. The water at school was ten degrees colder. I simply wasn’t spending as much time in the water as I was used to. I swam a few laps of each stroke and then a couple of laps underwater. I didn’t stay in long. My heart wasn’t in it, probably because I felt like such an idiot.

I dried off and stepped into the kitchen. “You’re in luck, Buddy. Reservations at The Trawler on Shem Creek at six thirty. What time is the movie?” Crap. “You don’t know, do you? This isn’t like you, Buddy. You always think things through. Something going on?”

“No. It’s just a weird summer, you know?”

“It’s different, that’s for sure. But what do you mean?”

“I’m spending all kinds of time for Kim, for me and Kim, but I’m not spending much with Kim. It sucks. I wanted to be a therapist or something but changed my mind because I didn’t want a job that would take away from my commitment with Kim and now I have a job that doesn’t take any emotional effort and it’s still taking me away from Kim. I’m not going to tell her that, because, you know, I’m doing it to buy a ring and I don’t want that to be a negative thing.”

“I understand. I really do. I’m glad you do, too. Listen, Jack, it’s just for a season, you know? You have two weeks left. Kim knows what you’re doing and why. I can’t believe you thought you could keep this a secret.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much anything but. I know she knows. It still sucks. When Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, do you think he saw her every day?”

“Well, he was working for her father, so I think it’s a safe bet.”

“Yeah. Pretty good motivation, I bet. I have two weeks left of work for Hector. I need to make the last two weeks good ones but I also need to spend more time with Kim. When do we go to Puerto Rico?”

“Monday the twenty-seventh.”

“My last day is the twenty-fourth, I think. Is that right? Yeah. So, I finish on Friday, we have the weekend, and then leave. What do I need to do?”

“Go to dinner with Kim, skip the movie and come home. Veronica will be here this evening to plan. You can go to the movies tomorrow night.”

“That sounds really good,” I called Kim and told her our plans for the evening and she seemed happy with them.

She got to the house at six and I met her at her truck. I had on slacks and a button-down shirt. I’d bought some decent clothes with Franklin all the way back when my foot was in a cast and I hadn’t worn most of them.

“You look sharp, Aquaman. I like it.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely,” she said as I climbed in. I slid close and kissed her. “Oooh, you smell good too. Aftershave?”

“Yeah. I’m practicing, just in case I ever have to shave.”

“I like a smooth face,” she said, running her hand across my cheek.

“Good thing. You’re really beautiful, you know,” I said as I slid my arm behind her to hold her to me. She leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder and it sounded like she was purring. I kissed her behind her ear and she turned her neck so I could kiss her better.

“Okay, okay, stop,” she said. “If we keep doing that, we’ll end up in detention for a month.” We laughed and she started the truck.

As she drove across the Crosstown Connecter toward the Cooper River, we talked a little about Puerto Rico. We knew more about it from Franklin and Karen than anything else but it was enough for a start. She veered right onto Coleman Boulevard and shortly after that turned right onto Shrimp Boat Lane, where commercial shrimp boats were docked. Parking was easy; we were a bit early but they seated us anyway.

Our table was next to a window and the sun was going down. Life was good. It had been forever since I’d eaten at The Trawler and I’d forgotten about the crab dip they served while you waited. It was pretty good and was definitely a great appetizer. I was hungry. The waitress came and we ordered. I reminded myself to pay attention to Kim’s preferences at a restaurant. Her choices and mine were usually pretty different.

I asked and Kim told me she’d been going into the law office with her mom and dad a couple of days a week. She’d been helping out and beginning to learn how a law office worked. She’d been answering phones, scheduling appointments, and typing documents. It didn’t sound like much legal stuff but she said she was getting the feel for it and especially the vocabulary and pace.

There was a couple across from us with three little kids. We watched them try to feed the kids, teach them manners, correct their mistakes, and still try to enjoy their own meals. I tried to imagine being as patient as the guy but it was tough. I saw Kim watching them too and when she looked back at me, I mouthed the words, “Six. I want six of them,” and she started laughing.

We finished dinner, I paid and we were leaving at the same time as the family we’d been watching. We walked out to the truck and were right next to them as we walked.

“You guys were amazing with your kids,” I said.

He beamed and she smiled as she grabbed a hand to keep a child from running into the parking lot. “Thanks. We try.”

“You do great. We just decided not to have kids,” I added and he and Kim both laughed. His wife didn’t realize I was joking because she was so busy.

“Maybe we could just get some pre-trained,” Kim said, and we kept laughing.

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” he answered. He opened the back door and lifted one into the car seat. “It’s worth it. There’s no substitute for the sound of little kids laughing,” he sort of hollered after us as we continued walking.

We wished them a nice evening and climbed into Kim’s truck. “I’m exhausted from watching,” Kim said. We talked about kids and how little we knew about them as we drove home. I joked that I wanted a bunch but I really had no idea how hard it might be. Neither of us knew anyone with little kids with the exception of Kim’s babysitting or Hector’s crews. Kim said babysitting could be tiring.

We had lots left to talk about but weren’t in any hurry to figure out that part of our lives. After all, the one real, true instruction Mom had given me was to not make babies. Veronica’s car was in the driveway and Kim parked so she wouldn’t block her in. I noted Dane’s boat, sitting there, unused. Hmm. I hadn’t been fishing in a while.

Mom and Veronica were already busy planning when we got there. They had a map spread out on the table and a batch of new travel brochures marked up and highlighted. Kim and I sat down at the table but it was pretty obvious they didn’t need our help. They had already listed enough stuff for us to do to keep us busy for a year. I was good with any of it, except parasailing. I looked across at Kim and she obviously was pretty happy with the choice of destination.

Mom and Veronica pointed out stuff on the map, wrote notes, and put yellow stickies on it. I watched Kim until she looked up and then made a face at her. She stuck her tongue out at me so I looked at her cross-eyed. She made another face and then stuck her tongue out as far as she could, curling it up as though trying to touch her nose.

We’d been at it for a minute or two when Mom looked up. “What are you two doing?” she asked.

“You know those masks Franklin brought us?” I asked.

“Stop. Aren’t you interested?”

“Of course, we are. I am,” I said and looked at Kim who was now looking almost normal. “Kim is too, but it looks like you two have a lot of stuff figured out already and it all sounds good.”

“I’m good with all of it,” Kim said, “As long as I don’t have to go to the beach or swim.” Mom and Veronica looked at her with their eyebrows up so high I thought they might launch off their heads. “Or have fun. None of that.”

“Alright, you two. What do you really want to do here? I know it all sounds good. What’s the one thing you have to do? If we didn’t do x, you’d feel like we missed out. What is x?”

“I kind of like that parasailing thing. That sounds pretty cool,” Kim said.

“I thought Jack wasn’t fond of heights,” Veronica said.

“He can watch.”

She pulled out one of the brochures that had been buried, flipped it over, and spread it out. I have no idea how she knew what was on it but she did. “I would like to go riding on the beach. I’ve always wanted to and just never have. I wanted to with Diva but it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, man. That’s my fault,” I said. “I’ve been busy and forgot about that. We could go. Really.” I knew it was high on her list of things and the summer would be over before she had a chance.

“I know. It’s okay, really. This beach looks beautiful,” she said, pushing the brochure across to me. The picture showed two riders at full gallop on an otherwise empty beach.

“It looks pretty cool,” I said. “Yeah, that’s definitely on my list. Probably in the top one.”

“This is at the far western end of the island,” Mom said, flipping through other brochures. “That’s out by Jacob’s Beach and Crash Boat Beach. They both look nice.”

“Crash Boat Beach? Doesn’t sound nice. How did it get that name?” I asked.

“I don’t know. We could definitely take a day on the west end of the island. “If Kim wants to go horseback riding on the beach, then we can certainly do that,” Mom said.

“You’ll go, too?” I asked.

“We’ll see,” she said and Veronica agreed. We continued talking about the various possibilities until late. Dane stuck his head in around eleven and announced that he was finally caught up and was going to bed. I had no idea what he meant but Mom did. Good enough.

Kim and I held hands walking out to her truck. I held the door and she climbed in, then I went around and climbed in beside her. We smooched for a bit and we were smart enough to stop before we got wound up.

“It sounds like they have it planned out,” I said, stating the obvious.

“Beach, casino, rain forest, beach, more beach, Old San Juan, rum factory, and if we have time, maybe some horseback riding on the beach,” she said.

“We’ll have time. You know what the best part will be?” I asked.

“Besides riding on the beach? No idea.”

“Touring the rum factory,” I said.

“That’s about the last place I’d think.”

“Exactly. But we have no reason to go, so we’ll stay behind, all by ourselves, while they go find out how rum is made.”

“Too funny. No, not funny. Nice. I kind of like you.”

“Good thing. I’m sort of counting on it,” I said. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

“Uh-huh. You have plans for tomorrow?”

“Bobby and I are going to the pool at ten. It’s probably been two or three weeks since I’ve really worked hard at swimming. The weather is supposed to crap out in the afternoon. You have a plan?”

“It’s supposed to rain but not storm. Want to ride? I have some stuff I want to show you and we can do it indoors.”

It was a plan. We practiced kissing a little more because practice makes perfect. We said goodnight and I went inside. Mom and Veronica were in the rec room dancing to some swing or jazz or something. They motioned for me to join them but I just smiled, waved, and went to bed.

Bobby picked me up on Sunday morning and we drove to Porter-Gaud. After changing, we walked through the locker room and showers to the pool. Coach Miller was in the water, swimming laps. We’d never seen him in the water before. I didn’t think he noticed us so we just watched for a while. He swam something of an individual medley, changing strokes on every lap.

“Holy crap,” Bobby said after Coach laid down a blistering pace for a hundred fly. “I had no idea.”

“Me neither. I wonder why he’s never demonstrated for us before. He’s not wasting any motion at all. None.”

“How old is he, anyway?” Bobby asked.

“Are you two going to swim or just gawk,” Coach said as he popped up at our end of the pool.

“Pretty sweet, Coach. Did you know we were here?”

“It’s not like you’re stealthy. Alright, since you had your chance to watch, I showed you two mistakes with each stroke. What were they?”

I looked at Bobby and he looked back. I shrugged my shoulders. “Looked pretty good to me, Coach,” I said.

“If you can’t spot them watching someone else, how are you going to find your own? It’s not just putting in miles, you know. Jack, give us a quick hundred of your choice. Bobby, when he’s done, tell him two things he can improve,” he said, pushing up out of the pool to stand on the deck.