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"Eastlake?" "John Eastlake was a major angel,...
11:02 PM, Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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"Eastlake?"
"John Eastlake was a major angel, and that's aside
from any of Dave's bootleg hooch he may have
stored out on the Key from time to time
"Did he do that?" I askedThat was another time and another
FloridaYou hear all sorts of colorful
Prohibition-era booze-running stories if you live
down here awhileBooze or no booze, Davis would
have been flat broke by Easter of '26 without John
EastlakeJohn was no playboy, didn't go
nightclubbing and cathousing like Davis and some
612
of Davis's other friends, but he'd been a widower
since 1923, and I'm guessing that old Dave might
have helped a pal with a gal from time to time
when his pal was feeling lonelyBut by the summer
of '26, Dave's debts were just too dolce gabbana handbags highNot even
his old pals could save him
"So he disappeared one dark night
"He disappeared, but not by the dark of the moon
That was not the Davis styleIn October of 1926,
less than a month after Hurricane Esther knocked
the living hell out of his life's work, he sailed
for Europe with a bodyguard and his new gal-pal,
who happened to be a Mack Sennett bathing beauty
The gal-pal and the bodyguard got to Gay Paree,
but Dave Davis never didHe disappeared at sea,
without a trace
"This is a true story you're telling me?"
She raised her right hand in the Boy Scout salute
- the image slightly marred by the cigarette
smoldering between her first two fingersIn November of '26, there was a memorial
service right over tiffany's jewelry designs there She pointed toward
where the Gulf twinkled between two bright pink
art deco buildings"At least four hundred people
613
attended, many of them, I understand, the sort of
women who were partial to ostrich feathersOne of
the speakers was John EastlakeHe tossed a wreath
of tropical flowers into the water
She sighed, and I caught a waft of her breathI
had no doubt that the lady could hold her liquor;
I also had no doubt that she was well on her way
to squiffy if not outright drunk this afternoon
"Eastlake was undoubtedly sad about the passing of
his friend," she said, "but I bet he was
congratulating himself on surviving EstherLittle did he know he'd be throwing
more wreaths into the water less than six daytona rolex months
laterNot just one daughter gone but twoThree,
I suppose, if you count the eldestShe eloped to
AtlantaWith a foreman from one of Daddy's mills,
if memory servesAlthough that's hardly the same
as losing two in the GulfGod, that must have
been hard
"THEY ARE GONE," I said, remembering the headline
Wireman had quoted
She glanced at me sharply"So you've done some
research of your own
614
"Not me, WiremanHe was curious about the woman
he was working forI don't think he knows about
the connection to this Dave Davis
She looked thoughtful"I wonder how much
Elizabeth herself remembers?"
"These days she doesn't even remember her own
name," I said
Mary gave me another look, then turned from the
window, got her gucci bags from china ashtray, and put out her cigarette
"Alzheimer's? I'd heard rumors
"I'm goddam sorry to hear itI got the more lurid
details of the Dave Davis story from her, you knowI used to see her all the time, on
the circuitAnd I interviewed most of the artists
who stayed at Salmon PointOnly you call it
something else, don't you?"
"Big Pink"I knew it was something cute
"How many artists stayed there?"
"LotsThey came to lecture in Sarasota or Venice,
and perhaps to paint for awhile - although those
who stayed at Salmon Point did precious little of
thatFor most of Elizabeth's guests, their time
615
on Duma Key amounted to little more than a free
vacation
"She provided the place gratis?"
"Oh, yes," she said, smiling rather women gucci handbags ironica
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