Springtime for Castle in Bimini
Springtime was in the air, though you couldn't tell it from the two feet of snow that still
covered New York. This was always his favorite time of the year; spring break with his
daughter. He loved surprising her with a new beach locale every year. Last year had
been Barbados; this year was going to be Bimini.
Bimini serve a twofold purpose this year. Working so much with Kate lately had left him
weeks behind on his fourth Nikki Heat novel. He was contractually obligated to have
three quarters of the book finished by April, and as of yet, he was only half done. Gina's
threats had become a daily wake up call from which he could not escape. At least on the
island, he could blame ignoring her calls on bad cell reception while he actually got some
writing done. Bimini was the perfect writing locale; Hemmingway had written To Have to
Have Not while living there in the thirties and even Jimmy Buffett managed to crank out
a book while he was docked there aboard his boat, the Continental Drifter.
He had called his travel agent that morning and asked her to send over all the brochures
and travel information she could gather on the island and she promised to have a packet
sent over by the end of the day. His excitement turned to inspiration and he found himself
one more chapter into his story by dinnertime.
As much as he hated to stop when he was on a roll, family always came first in his book
and it was his night to cook dinner. He was hastily pulling out pots and pans and ingredients
when the doorbell rang. It was a bike messenger who handed him a packet and quickly
hurried off down the hallway without waiting for so much as a thanks. Closing the door he
returned to the kitchen, stopping for a moment to open the packet and spread its content
out across the bar. His hand went right to the flight schedules and he took it with him into
the kitchen and set it down on the counter next to the stove so that he could read it
while he worked.
Tonight was his famous carrot zucchini quiche with its rice and cheese crust. He put the
water on to boil for the rice and set about dicing up an onion and grating the carrots and
zucchini. Glancing at the schedule, he noticed that they would be taking two flights. The
first one would be from LaGuardia to Florida, followed by a shuttle flight to Bimini. He
focused on finding the best flight combo with the shortest layover time.
The water soon began to boil so he added the rice and turned it down to simmer. He then
dumped the onions, carrots and zucchini into a large skillet along with a cup of chicken broth
and set it to simmer. Grabbing a pen from the junk drawer he proceeded to circle and early
morning flight to Florida along with a late afternoon shuttle flight to Bimini. That was the easy
part. The hard part was now choosing their activities. Over the years he's found it best to limit
their activities to just three, any more and he seemed to return home more tired than when
he left, and relaxation was the main goal. The bulk of their time would be spent relaxing
together on the beach, reading, sleeping and constructing an elaborate sand castle.
While the food slowly simmered, he sat down at the bar a perused the colorful catalogs that
lay before him. He was so engrossed by the choices that he never heard his mother come
downstairs till she kissed him on the cheek.
"Something smells good," she complimented.
"That would be my carrot zucchini quiche," he smiled back at her.
"My favorite," she replied picking up a brochure. "What is all this?" She asked.
"Spring break, I am taking Alexis to Bimini this year!" He replied enthusiastically as he handed
her a colorful brochure of the island.
"Hmm."
"Why the hmm this year? You're usually just as excited to find out where we're going. Is there
something about Bimini that I don't know about?"
"No, not about Bimini," she reluctantly replied.
"Then what, mother?"
"Have you told Alexis about this?"
"No, not yet. I just decided last night and I thought I'd surprise her with it over dinner tonight.
Why?" He swiveled his chair to face her and noticed that she wouldn't look him in the eye.
"What's going on?"
"Alexis came to me last week, and she didn't know how to tell you. So I told her to just tell you
and get it over with and now seeing all of this," she waved her hand across the bar, "it's obvious
she didn't."
"Didn't tell me what, mother?"
"That she has plans."
"What do you mean, she had plans? This is spring break. We do spring break every year. Anyway,
how can she have plans? She's not old enough to have plans?"
"Oh, dear." Martha mumbled.
"What do you mean by that?" His voice was beginning to rise. He didn't like being left out of the loop,
especially where his daughter was concerned.
"Well, it seems that Ashley's parents are taking him out to Stanford for spring break and they have
invited Alexis to come along."
"What!"
"Oh, dear," she replied again.
"She can't go to Stanford, I've never even agreed that she could go in the fall! This I great, just great!
I am so not ready to deal with this!" He slapped the brochure he was holding down onto the bar in
frustration.
"I can see why she didn't tell you." Martha replied to his outburst.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, you're acting like a child that's just had his favorite toy taken away."
"She's not a toy mother, she's my daughter!"
"Yes, but she's not your little girl anymore; and the sooner you accept that the easier it will be, for
both of you."
He sat there glumly with his arms folded across his chest as he pondered how his life had just changed
in the matter of minutes. Martha let him sit there a few more minutes before she spoke up.
"Go stir your food."
"Shit!" He jumped up off the stool and hurried to check on carrots and zucchini simmering away on
the stove. He gave it a quick stir, nothing ruined.
"Let's say I agree to this, what am I suppose to do…go by myself? Where's the fun in that?"
"I could go with you." Martha offered, with a ray of hope in her eyes.
"Well, that'll make me one big chick magnet won't it? Vacationing with my mother!"
"I hate to bust your bubble kiddo, but how do you think Alexis feels?"
"What?" His eyebrows flew up in disbelief.
"A beautiful young girl, vacationing with her dad…you're the proverbial old guy in Bermuda shorts, black
socks and sandals as far as she is concerned."
He put his hands to his face at the imagery.
"Oh, god," he mumbled through his fingers.
"Anyway," Martha changed the subject, "you can't go."
"Why not?"
"You have to go to the Hamptons."
" And…why do I have to go to the Hamptons?"
"Did you not read those letters I gave you from the homeowners association?"
"Uh…no." He replied guiltily.
"Well I read this one." She pulled an envelope from the pocket of her muslin jacket. "It says that you
now have until the end of the month to resolve the problem at your home or you will be asked to put
you property up for sale to a more responsible homeowner."
"What! They can't do that!"
According to this excerpt from the homeowner's association by-laws that was included along with the
letter, they can."
"That's utter nonsense! Hand me that." He reached out across the island towards the bar where she
was still standing. She handed him the letter and he quickly skimmed its contents.
"It says I have gophers! So what's the big deal? I have a few gophers and now they want to take away
my house, that's ludicrous!"
"That's the homeowner association rules dear. According to the letter, you had ninety days to take care
of the problem, and since you ignored the past letters they're trying to get your attention."
"Well, they have it…and not in a good way," he grumbled.
"This might just turn out to be the worst spring break ever!"
This story was written as a request for gophers in my next story, from "lacy curtains".