Chapter 15
Confrontation
Nathan sat alone in a back, corner booth of The Shipwreck nibbling on pretzels. The room as always was filled with smoke and much too loud music. Being a Friday night, the place was crowded with all kinds of characters laughing and shoving at each other. He was oblivious to the noise and commotion. Ruth sauntered over, squeezing her way through the crowd, prying open a path with her hickory cane slapping at several of the trawler crewmembers if they shoved her back. She stopped short of Nathan’s table and waited for him to respond, but he just kept looking forward paying no attention to her.
“Hey
good looking, now aint you a sight to see. What’s going on with you?”
He glanced
over at her and shook his head sideways, “Not now Ruth, leave me alone.”
“I’ve
been leaving you alone, and it aint helping.”
“I’m
okay, I just want to be left alone.”
“I
think not. Nobody comes to my place wanting to be alone. They might leave that
way, but they never come here just to do that. Now talk to me. You look like
some dead slim that washed up on the beach.”
“Oh,
good grief. Have a seat.”
Ruth
slid in across from his booth and leaned forward. “Let me guess. You’re down
about your dad, you’re upset with Sharon, and you’re mad at Matthew, your best
friend.”
“You
left out I had to fire Hoke.”
“You
oughta feel good about that one. Hoke’s a brute and not worth getting upset
over.”
“It’s
not Hoke.”
“Well,
what then, come on talk to me.”
“I had
a big fight with Matt. Afraid I blew it and well, I’m pretty sure I ended our
friendship.”
“Oh
good grief, Just go and apologize to him.”
“Ah
Ruth, it aint that simple. I really am mad at him…more than that, I’m angry for
what he did.”
“What
he did! You mean about what happened to the Marc Eagle. Son, from what I can
tell, Matt did everything possible to save your dad. You ought to know that, he
came pretty close to doing it to until…well…listen, that bar as you know can be
deadly, and it turned against him and the Marc Eagle that night. There was
nothing he or anyone else could do and the last thing you need to do is blame
him for it. What’s wrong with you, you’re better than that.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late Ruth. I let my anger get the better of me this time.”
“Well,
if you ask me…”
“I’m
not asking you Ruth.”
“…if-
you- ask- me, I think you’re being a stupid jerk and you should get off your
butt, swallow your pride and do something about it. So there, that’s all I got
to say.” Before she moved on, JP sauntered over and slid into the booth seat
opposite of Nathan nest to Ruth.
“So...how
you doin big guy?”
Nathan
rolled his eyes, “Not now JP…come on.”
“Well…scuse
me.”
Ruth
stepped into their conversation, “Been a rough day JP, come on. We should let
him be for now.”
JP’s
expression grew more serious. “Sorry Nate…if you ever need to talk or
something, just let me know.”
“Sure
thing…and, I’m sorry JP, didn’t mean to be rude or anything.”
“Hey,
I’m used to it. See ya later.”
Nathan
did not move for another twenty minutes. He just nibbled at the pretzels lost
in his thoughts until those thoughts were distracted by loud shouting from
across the room.
“I
ought to bust you wide open!” Red shouted as he shoved his chair to one side
and stepped toward the much larger Hoke. The two stood, toe to toe but Hoke
towered over Red. The room partially cleared making room for the two. JP turned
toward them and started to move closer but was stopped by the gathering crowd. Nathan
jumped to his feet and bolted between the two.
“Get
lost Hoke.”
“Get
out of my face. I don’t work for you no more.”
“This
aint your fight Nathan.” Red blurted out trying to move him out of the way.
Nathan
refused to back away, and Hoke stood like an immoveable redwood whose expression
turned to rage.
“I
won’t say it again Hoke, now get lost.”
“You of
all people defending that big man Matthew Jacobs after what he done.”
Red
tried to throw a punch, but was held back by some of his crewmates and Nathan.
Contempt filled Hokes face and he grinned exposing his smoke-stained teeth. “You
know what, your dad deserved to die, cause, he was just a stupid old man too,
and you’re nothing but a chicken faced coward yourself.”
Nathan’s
anger once again seethed inside of him and he threw a round house punch that
struck Hoke across the side of his face. Hoke barely moved by the blow took one
step back. Spitting blood from his mouth he lunged at Nathan. Before he closed
the distance, Nathan sidestepped and landed another punch to the other side of
his temple knocking him down. Hoke tried to get up, but as he did there was a
loud “thwaught” that staggered him and he fell to the floor moaning.
Ruth stood over him holding her hickory stick.
“Aint
gonna be no more fightin in my place.” Hoke rolled to his feet, and stagger
sideways shaking his head. When he realized Ruth was the one who had blindsided
him, he started to lunge at her, but he stopped short. Ruth stood between him
and Nathan, her arm extended and pressing against Nathans shoulder, the other
arm pointed the hickory stick at Hoke’s face.
“Get
outta my place Hoke, and don’t come back!”
Hoke stood
his ground for a few seconds shifting his glare between Nathan and Ruth. “This
aint over.” Then stormed out shoving several people out of his way.
Ruth
rolled her shoulders forward and blew out a long breath. Nathan helped her to a
chair.
“How’s
that anger working for you now?” he chided her.
“Oh
shut up.”
“I’m
sorry Ruth. Didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“Well,
son you have a tendency to cause bad things to happen whether you want them too
or not. Maybe you ought to take a different approach to life before something really
bad happens to you. I might not be around next time to pull your neck out of
the noose.”
Nathan
patted her hand. “You going to be okay?”
“Of
course. I’ve busted and thrown out bigger thugs than Hoke.”
“You’re
something else, you know that.”
“That’s
what they say…” She placed her palm against her forehead as though she had a
headache. “Oh, Lord…I’m way too old for this…I need to retire,” and walked
away.
Later
that evening, Hoke skidded his truck to a sliding halt at the top of the Harbor
parking area. In a stampede he slammed the truck door behind him. The bottle of
whiskey he held was almost empty, yet he managed to guzzle one last long drink,
then threw the bottle into the harbor shattering it against the side of the
pier. At the far end of the pier floated the ME II illuminated by a series of
harbor lights that caught the reflection of the rain being blown sideways. With
no internal lights, she sat stone dark.
“Big
mistake, little man. You both are going to pay for this.” With those words he
bulled his way down the ramp, along the pier and into the Marc Eagle II.
He
dropped into the lower hold and shoved some loose gear to one side. In the back
corner he lifted a locked box hidden behind a tool box and fumbled to open it.
Inside were a few papers which he threw away finding under them a small plastic
bag filled with a white substance. He cleared the top of the small galley
counter and spread the substance carefully working it into a thin line. Using a
straw, he sniffed the substance deep into his sinus, shaking his head at its
impact. He rubbed his face and shifted his eyes around the compartment as the
cocaine infiltrated into his system. With two deep breaths, he inhaled through
his nose again trying to activate as much of the drug as he could. Placing the
plastic bag into his shirt pocket, he turned and climbed out of the hold.
