Chapter 2 – Shock Me Sane

Bellemere was right. Chimo had assumed that she'd be spending the rest of the day draped over a toilet, cursing her misfortune for being born. He wasn't expecting her to show up, smiling and contrite, on his doorstep before lunch.

Chimo was more insulted that her body wasn't punishing her for what she'd put in it last night than he was about her attempt to bash his head in with a chair. "Are you sure you don't need something to eat?" he asked, hoping to see her turn green. "How about a pickle and salami sandwich? My wife packed one in my lunch today."

"It's kind of early," she said reluctantly.

"Well, if you don't want it," Chimo said, shrugging.

Free was free however. "Sure. Pass it over."

She leaned against the wall and munched quietly while Chimo and Gen discussed a few announcements that had been sent by Marines.

"More pirates in East Blue?"

Chimo glowered, partly because Bellemere was enjoying his sandwich so much. "More every year. If the Marines don't get their act into gear, we're gonna have more pirates in these waters than there are fish in the sea."

They went to Malley's next.

Malley whistled through his teeth when he saw her come in the front door. "You can punish yourself like you did last night and then saunter in here? Girl, you've got your daddy's drinking genes."

Gen froze, but the comment didn't seem to bother her. She smiled weakly and gestured around the room. "You got an extra broom? I'm going to stick around and help clean up," she said to Gen. "It's only fair. But you can go back. I know you have work to do."

Gen glanced at Malley, who shrugged. "See you later then."

==============

Gen paid a visit to his mother before heading back to his office. He let himself in and walked into the kitchen. "Hello, mom. What's for lunch?"

His mother held up her knife in a mock threatening gesture. "Whatever happened to knocking at the door, young man? You act like you still live at home, coming and going as you please, expecting free meals. Next, you'll be dropping off your laundry."

He avoided the point of the knife and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Sorry, mom."

"And take that hat off in here. Have you forgotten your manners?"

He obediently removed it.

"That's my boy. How's Bellemere?"

He sat heavily in a chair at the kitchen table and his eyebrows knitted together. "Hungover."

"Sit up straight," she corrected automatically, before turning back to her cutting board. The quick tapping of the blade as it hit the board filled the kitchen. "No wonder. I heard that she practically drank the bar dry over in Gosa. Thank goodness the council decided against turning our village 'wet.' She'd never be sober if she could stay right in the village to do her drinking."

"I found her in the cemetery."

The dicing stopped. "Oh dear."

He fiddled with the place mat in front of him. "I forgot too."

"Of course you did. You have your new job and new responsibilities and –"

"Don't make excuses for me."

She put her arms around him, narrowly missing his jugular with the knife she had in her hand. "You can't blame yourself. Of all the people who doesn't have an excuse, it's me."

Gen watched the point of the knife carefully. "Mom…"

"Goodness, sorry, dear." She put the knife on the table and sat in chair next to him. "I feel horrible about this. I promised Marie that would watch over her daughter and then..."

His mother fell silent, musing on that promise. She and Marie had been friends since youth. She hadn't approved when Marie had married Bellemere's father; he was a man of the sea at heart and could not stand being rooted to the land, while Marie loved nothing more than tending to the trees that had been in her family for generations. Then the fevers had come and Marie had died.

And since her husband had died, Marie's daughter had grown as wild as the grove that she had loved.

She sighed. "I should make it up to her. Why don't you find her and invite her to dinner tonight? I'll ask the doctor too. We'll make a regular party of it."

Normally Gen would have protested being forced to share a table with the girl, but this time he agreed with his mother. They had let Bellemere down by forgetting the anniversary of her father's death. He knew how he felt when it came to his own father's death and while he didn't feel the need to drink himself unconscious, he knew it was partly because he had his mother with him. Bellemere wasn't that lucky; she had no blood relatives left. A dinner was the least that they could do to make some sort of apology. "When I get off of work, I'll ask her."

==============

Someone once said that the world was 90 percent water and the rest of it was land. And someone else once said that the land was just poop from giant goldfish. So the ten percent of the world that people lived on was shit. That was a real comforting thought.

Bellemere lit up and let the smoke fill her lungs.

I'll have dinner with me when I get back, so have the stove ready.

She exhaled. Lies.

All the poetry she had ever read (which wasn't much) used awe-inspiring words to describe the ocean; immense, vast, and deep. She had a few more to words to add to the list; cruel, impartial, and mercurial.

This had been their favorite spot. They'd had picnics here a few times, when he wasn't busy working in the orchard or fishing. He loved to fish.

Don't get into any trouble, y'hear.

She always got into trouble, especially when he didn't take her out on the ocean. It hadn't seemed fair, so she went into the village and caused some mischief. Hunri, the village officer before Gen, had taken her inside the police box, by her ear, just as the storm broke.

Storm wasn't the word for it. It had been a squall; a temper tantrum on the sea that blew hard and fast and then blew away in less than an hour.

She had stayed with Hunri at the police box, waiting for her father to come and get her.

They found the wreckage of the boat that evening. His body washed up at the bottom of the cliff the next morning.

I'll be back, Bellemere

"And I'm still waiting," she said to no one in particular as she took a single swig from the bottle.

"For me?" Gen asked. She cocked her head to the side and saw him standing behind her.

"Wasn't talking to you." She returned to watching the ocean. You couldn't turn your back on the ocean or it'd get you.

"You could at least dry out before you drink yourself unconscious again."

She didn't rise to it. She didn't even turn around. But she took the bottle in her hand and slowly poured the contents out onto the ground in front of her. She'd done this every year, ever since she'd been old enough to scam, steal, and buy the drink. One gulp for herself and the rest for her father – she didn't doubt that he got thirsty, wherever he was.

"That's more like it," Gen said, not understanding the significance of the act.

"Gen. Please," she said faintly, as she stubbed her cigarette out on the grass.

"What?"

She sweetly smiled at him over her shoulder. "Please piss off."

"My mother wants you to come to dinner," he said sourly. "Is your answer to that 'piss off' as well?"

Bellemere knew what side her bread was buttered on – the free side. "Who all is going to be there?" she asked nonchalantly.

"My mother, Doc, and me."

She brushed herself off and glanced towards the sea one more time, half hoping to see a sail come over the horizon; a ghost ship. "Sounds like a party. Sure, I'll come."

She was subdued as they walked down the ridge towards his mother's house. He was just about to ask her how clean up at Malley's had gone when she spoke up first.

"Do you ever wonder?" she asked, as she kicked at a stone.

"Wonder what?"

"When your mom and Doc first got it on?"

She had gotten just the reaction she wanted. Gen was one of the few people she knew who did a full face flush. But she knew it would fade if she let him regain his composure, so she pressed on.

"I mean, she's been a widow for years and he's always coming over for dinner and you know, it just seems like it's probably happened by now, don't you think?"

"I am not discussing this," he said, taking longer strides, forcing her to jog to catch up with him.

"Why not? You have to have thought about it."

He sniffed derisively. "Not everyone is as warped as you are."

"They're the only two single people their age in the village. Doc's a bit younger, but not much and – "

"Be quiet," he said firmly, hoping she would get the hint.

"Your mom – "

"No," he growled. They were at the outskirts of town now and he picked up the pace, wanting to get home as quickly as possible.

"You have to admit – "

"So help me, Bellemere…"

Bellemere grinned. "Yup, Doc and your mom, knockin' boots – "

He grabbed her by the ear and twisted it hard. "If you say another word about my mother, I'll make sure they never find your body. And I'm a police officer – I know how to do it right."

She grimaced in pain and then cried, "Are you seeing this, people? You're all witnesses!"

The 'bystanders' smiled indulgently at Bellemere's antics as Gen led her, ear first, up to his front door. He kept a firm hold till he heard his mother approach the door.

"Genzo. Bellemere, hello dear. Dinner's just about finished." She hustled them inside. "Doc's already here. He's been helping me with a few things," she said breezily.

"Really? Helping you with 'things'? That's very nice of him," Bellemere said. She snickered as Gen turned another brilliant shade of red.

His mother noticed as well. "Genzo, did you get sunburned? You should wear sunscreen if you're going to be out all day. Well, we're almost ready. Oh my goodness, Bellemere, what happened to your ear? It's all red!"

"Bug bite," Bellemere said quickly.

His mother nodded knowingly. "The bug's are awful this year, aren't they? So bothersome."

"And big," Bellemere added.

"Why don't you two wash up then come out to the kitchen?"

The table was loaded with food. It was simple fare because no one in the village was what could be called well-to-do. Gen's mother knew how to turn the most mundane menu into a feast though and it was the middle of summer when the fruits and vegetables were the freshest and when the river fish were sweetest.

Doc told stories of his youth, such as how he got through medical school, working at a tattoo parlor near a Marine base. Gen was the only one shocked and appalled; his mother apparently knew the story already. In Bellemere's eyes, Doc's stock rose one hundred points and she begged him to tattoo her.

The older man laughed. "My tattooing days are over. I stick to healing the body; not decorating it."

"Only hoodlums have tattoos," Gen muttered.

Bellemere responded by sticking out her tongue. It went like that most of the evening.

Neither of them noticed the glances that passed over their heads.