| It occurred to me then that I'd been babying
myself - maybe a little, maybe quite a lotMe and
my stupid little Numbers GameToday I had
forgotten about giving myself an anxious miniphysical
every five minutes or soLike any normal personI could baby myself going back,
stopping every now and then to do one of Kathi
Green's side-stretches, which hurt like hell and
didn't seem to do much of anything else, or I
could just walkLike any normal unhurt person
I decided to go with thatBut before I started, I
glanced over my shoulder and saw a striped beach
chair a ways farther southThere was a table
beside it with an umbrella, striped like the chair,
over itA man was sitting in the chairWhat was
only a speck glimpsed from Big Pink had become a
tall, heavyset guy dressed in jeans and a white
shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbowsHis hair
183
was long and blowing in the breezeI couldn't
make out his features; we were still too far replica rolex apart
for thatHe saw me looking and wavedI waved
back, then turned and began trudging for home
along my own footprintsThat was my first
encounter with Wireman
ii
My final thought before turning in that night was
that I'd probably find myself hobbling through the
second day of the New Year almost too sore to walk
I was delighted to find that wasn't true; a hot
bath seemed to take care of the residual stiffness
So of course I struck off again the following
afternoonNo set goal; no New Year's resolution;
no Numbers GameJust a guy strolling on the beach,
sometimes veering close enough to the mild run of
the waves to scatter the peeps aloft in a smutchy
cloudSometimes I'd pick up a shell and put it in
my pocket (in a week I'd be carrying a plastic bag
to store my treasures in)When I got close enough
to make out the heavyset guy in some detail -
today wearing a blue shirt and khakis, almost
184
certainly barefoot - I once again replica louis vuitton purses turned and
headed back to Big PinkBut not before giving him
a wave, which he returned
That was the real beginning of my Great Beach
WalksEvery afternoon they got a little longer,
and I saw the heavyset man in his striped beach
chair a little more clearlyIt seemed obvious to
me that he had his own routine; in the mornings he
came out with the old lady, pushing her down a
wooden tongue of decking that I hadn't been able
to see from Big PinkIn the afternoons he came
out on his ownHe never took off his shirt, but
his arms and face were as dark as old furniture in
a formal homeBeside him, on his table, were a
tall glass and a pitcher that might have held ice
water, lemonade, or gin and tonicHe always waved;
I always waved back
One day in late January, when I had closed the
distance between us to not much more than an
eighth of a mile, a second striped chair appeared
on the sandA second glass, empty (but tall and
terribly inviting), omega seamaster de ville appeared on the tableWhen I
waved, he first waved back and then pointed at the
empty chair
185
"Thanks, but not yet!" I called
"Hell, come on down!" he called back"I'll give
you a ride back in the golf cart!"
I smiled at thatIlse had been all in favor of a
golf cart, so I could go racing up and down the
beach, scaring the peeps"Not in the game-plan,"
I yelled, "but I'll get there in time! Whatever's
in that pitcher - keep it on ice for me!"
"You know best, muchacho!" He sketched a little
salute"Meantime, do the day and let the day do
you!"
I remember all sorts of things Wireman said, but I
believe that's the one I associate with him the
most strongly, maybe because I heard him say it
before I knew his name or had even shaken his hand:
Do the day and let the day do you
iii
Walking wasn't all Freemantle was about that
winter; Freemantle started to be about living
againAnd that felt ****ing greatI came to a
decision one windy discount louis vuitton night when the waves were
pounding and the shells were arguing instead of
186
just conversing: When I knew this new way of
feeling was for real, I was going to take Reba the
Anger-Management Doll down to the beach, douse her
with charcoal lighter-fluid, and set her ablaze
Give my other life a true Viking funeralWhy the
hell not?
In the meantime there was painting, and I took to
it like peeps and pelicans take to waterAfter a
week, I regretted having spent so much time
farting around with colored pencilsI sent Ilse
an e-mail thanking her for bullying me, and she
sent me one back, telling me she hardly needed
encouragement in that departmentShe also told me
that The Hummingbirds had played a big church in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island - sort of a tour warm-up -
and the congregation had gone wild, clapping and
shouting out hallelujahs"There was a good deal
of swaying in the aisles," she wrote"It's the
Baptist substitute for black chanel quilted bag dancing |