Читать книгу Evil in Paradise - R. B. Conroy - Страница 13

8

“You know you make me want to shout!” Alone in his cart and feeling kind of frisky, a normally staid Ed Roberts sang along with Rocky and the Rollers as he cruised around the square at Lake Sumter Landing looking for a parking spot. Ed felt a little silly, but that’s why people moved to The Villages-to have a good time. Unfortunately, Ed’s good times had been solo and few and far between lately.

Suddenly a parking spot opened up next to the dance area. Ed flipped on his turn signal and darted in the empty slot. “Wow! That was lucky!” he murmured. Parking spots were hard to get when Rocky and the Rollers were playing. Ed jerked to a stop, fell back against the seat and prepared to enjoy a few sets of Rocky and the boys.

“Shout” groaned to an end with Rocky’s boys jumping in the air and landing in unison as they strummed the last cord. Rocky playfully swiped imaginary perspiration from his brow and waved an oversized hanky at the crowd like a flag of surrender. The appreciative crowd screamed their approval. Rocky, the drummer, leaned up to the mic, grabbed it with both hands like he was choking it and shouted at the enthusiastic crowd. “How about those Isley Brothers?” The crowd roared their approval. He swiped his brow dry once again and stuffed the hanky in his pocket. “Right now, folks, we’re going to slow things down a little bit. Grab your wife or favorite honey and get ready for that great hit from the Platters, “Only You.”

Ed closed his eyes, his head fell back against the headrest as he prepared to enjoy yet another of his favorite tunes. He breathed deeply as the enchanting song brought back memories of his teenage years. He remembered the night he first met Cathy at a record hop at Tippy Gardens, a popular teen hangout on the shores of beautiful Lake Tippecanoe in northern Indiana.

It seemed like only yesterday. The scene was so vivid in his mind. It was a lady’s choice and he watched in shock as the beautiful and statuesque Cathy strolled slowly across the empty dance floor toward him. All of the raw emotions he was feeling that night came rushing back to him-the excitement, the thrill that went up his spine when she arrived where he was standing with some friends and asked him to dance with her. A broad smile spread across Ed’s wrinkled face. Lost in the moment, he slid his arm around the passenger seat on the cart to pull Cathy closer to him, but all he felt was a disappointing thud when his hand slid off the empty backrest and fell to the bottom of the seat. He jerked up and nervously looked around, hoping nobody saw the embarrassing episode. Relieved that no one appeared to be watching him, he sighed deeply and fell back in his seat again, feeling alone and abandoned.

Several obnoxious blasts from a cart’s horn on the street behind him brought him out of his momentary gloom. He spun around to see who was honking at him and instantly recognized the smiling face. “Will Jacobs, how the heck are you?”

“Fine, thanks. Sorry to startle you!”

“Oh, no problem. I thought it might be you when I heard that gosh awful horn. It’s a dead giveaway.”

“It’s my pride and joy, you know.”

“I know it is. Where’s the boss tonight?”

“I dropped her off at IZOD and went to find a place to park. I’ve been around the square five times and haven’t found one yet.”

“Yeah, a good spot is hard to come by when Rocky and the boys are in town.”

The outspoken Will continued, “We just saw your bride having a drink with a younger fellow at Cody’s a few minutes ago. My wife thought it might be your son or something.”

The smile quickly faded off Ed’s face. He didn’t have a son. “You must be mistaken. That wasn’t Cathy. She’s at a tennis tournament tonight.”

“She might have been at one time, my friend, but I’m afraid she’s at Cody’s right now. I know I’m getting old, but I know Cathy when I see her and it was her.”

Ed’s mind was racing, Is she having a drink with that Eric fellow? He fumbled for words, “Uh…well I suppose it…uh, could be her. She could have finished early.”

Sensing Ed’s distress, Will tried his best to back away from his incriminating comments. “Well, ya know it was kind of crowded over there. Maybe it wasn’t her. I’ve been wrong before, ya know.”

“Maybe it was somebody who looked like her.” Ed grinned, but his eyes were filled with doubt. He felt weak and violated. He wasn’t the jealous type. In the past he wouldn’t have thought a thing about Cathy having a drink with a male friend. But her new partner, Eric, was different. He was handsome, athletic and much younger than her. And, she seemed to act differently around him, preening and smiling, and acting kind of silly. Ed was starting to wonder if his wife of forty-seven years might be fooling around with her new playing partner.

Will continued to back pedal, “Heck, there’s a hundred women who look like Cathy in this place. Could have been anyone.”

Will’s new sense of determination to remove Cathy from this situation only served to heighten Ed’s anxiety. “What’d the guy look like?”

“Aah... he had dark, curly hair and a muscular frame, but it really doesn’t matter. The more I think about it, Ed, it couldn’t have been her. These two were acting like newlyweds or something. Cathy would never act like that in public,” he laughed nervously.

“Newlyweds!” Ed’s heart was in his throat.

Several horns blasted at Will for blocking the road.

“I better get going, Ed, I’m holding up traffic. Give me a call and we’ll all go to dinner some evening.”

Still shaken, Ed paused and then spoke almost incoherently. “Yea sure, Will. Sounds good.”

“Adios, my friend.”

“See ya.”

Ed sat in stunned silence as Will’s noisy cart groaned on around the square. He squeezed hard on the steering wheel and stared blankly at his dash, a battle royal was raging inside of him. He wanted desperately to go to Cody’s and check out what was going on with Cathy and her handsome partner, but he couldn’t do it. Of all the men he had known over the years, he was the least jealous. If he drove over to Cody’s now, he would be admitting that he didn’t trust Cathy. He would be admitting that he thought she was being unfaithful to him. The thought was almost too painful to bear. Yet, Cathy’s behavior had been different lately. It seemed like something happened to her after her sixtieth-fifth birthday party a few years back. She groused about being old enough to be on Medicare. She said she felt like an old lady even though the years had been good to her. He overheard her confide to a friend that she was on Medicare and the only man she had ever really been with in her life was Ed. “I’ve been dating Mr. Excitement since the ninth grade,” he heard her say that evening. Maybe she felt cheated and wanted to experience other men. It was a horrifying scenario for Ed to contemplate, but with the time away from home, the late nights and all of the sexy new clothes she had bought recently, it all seemed to be adding up. He hoped he was wrong, but he wasn’t sure-the knot in his stomach grew tighter.

Ed let go of the wheel and fell back in his seat. Will’s comments kept rolling over and over in his mind. Finally, overcome by jealous curiosity, he leaned up, slid the cart in reverse and quickly backed out of his parking spot and headed toward Cody’s.

A short time later, the bright lights of the popular bar-restaurant loomed ahead. Ed’s cart rolled past the landscaped area that bordered the outside of the restaurant. He eased off the accelerator and carefully studied the noisy patrons lined up along the outside bar where Will said he had seen Cathy earlier. Ed looked carefully but he couldn’t find anybody wearing a lime green tennis skirt and white sleeveless blouse-the outfit Cathy was wearing when she left home today. He breathed a giant sigh of relief, happy that he had not caught his wife and a younger man acting like newlyweds at the busy bar. Feeling much better, he gunned his cart and continued his aborted trip home where he hoped to join Cathy for an hour or so of TV before calling it a day.

Rounding the curve to Old Mill Run he glanced at the large public parking lot across from Cody’s. A woman in a lime green skirt and white blouse was being pressed against an auto by a well-built man with dark curly hair. Their behavior was alarming. The two of them were necking like a couple of oversexed teenagers. His hands were roaming freely over her legs and backside.

Is it Cathy? A bolt of fear shot up his spine. Once again, not wanting to be suspicious of his wife, he struggled with the decision on whether to check out the two lovers a little closer or just keep on driving. Once again his suspicions got the best of him. He wheeled his cart quickly to his left and ducked into the entry to the darkening parking lot. He felt his ire growing as he sped between the narrow lanes of parked cars toward the two lovebirds. He glanced ahead-the lady’s tennis shoes had green on the side just like Cathy’s. How could my wife be doing this to me? In a fit of disbelief and rage, Ed charged toward the clueless exhibitionists, waiting until the very last moment to slam on his brakes. The cart screeched to a stop just yards away from them. Its bright lights shone directly on the two shameless lovers.

Ed jumped out of the cart and ran toward them, fist doubled. “Cathy, what the hell are you doing?” He screamed. “You’re a married…..”

The slender lady spun around holding her hand above her eyes to shield them from the bright lights on Ed’s cart. Her hair was disheveled; her mouth was circled in red from the aggressive kissing.

“Can I help you?” she said with incredulity. Ed stopped in his tracks and scanned the lady’s face. She was attractive all right and she was in a green tennis skirt and white blouse, but it was NOT Cathy. Ed was taken aback and hugely embarrassed by his actions-a flood of red washed over his face.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry. I…uh, thought you were somebody else. I…uh, I…uh, will be going now.” He smiled meekly and hurried back to his cart, pushed the lights off and backed quickly away from the scene. The two love birds watched Eric pull away and then went back at it.

Reeling from the ill-fated encounter in the parking lot and feeling humiliated, Ed headed for the main entrance to the parking lot and resumed his trip home. The bright lights of Lake Sumter Landing faded into the background as his cart disappeared into the dark spring night.