Chapter 20
“I was less surprised to see him yesterday when I thought he was dead,” Austin says, dryly.
“Oh god,” I say. “What if he is?”
Sammie appears beside me. “What if we all are?”
“I have to pee,” says Matt. “I’ll be so mad if you still have to pee in the afterlife.”
“Hi, Mr. Kelly!” Sammie calls out.
“How you kids doing on this fine afternoon?”
“Good, Mr. Kelly, and you?” says Matt.
“Alive and kickin’! Oh, that reminds me. Sorry to hear about Ms. Babe. She was a good one.”
“What do you have for us today?” asks Sammie. Then, with narrowed eyes: “Can’t be better than yesterday.”
“Yesterday? Oh, I don’t fish on Fridays.
Fridays everyone goes out to eat anyway.
But I wake up bright and early every Saturday and today, I’ve got some wonderful black grouper, redfish, some white shrimp, scallops, and Bulls Bay oysters for ya.
Ms. Babe told me you’d be around here this Saturday and asked me to come by. ”
I look into the cooler and see the same haul as yesterday.
Not just the same variety. The same cuts.
I’m a chef—or at least, I was—so it’s impossible for me to look at a collection of filleted fish and not notice every detail.
Even the oysters. Random and jagged and varied to an eye not trained to notice, but I see those shells and know, without a doubt, that they are the same oysters as yesterday.
The ones I left out by the stove. The ones I gashed my palm trying to open.
There are no identical oysters. And if there are some rare, freaky twin oysters out there, the odds are infinitesimal that two dozen oysters would all have a matching set from yesterday’s catch. The catch he says he didn’t do yesterday.
“Two dozen oysters,” I say. “And let’s do the black grouper. Thanks, Mr. Kelly.”
He hands it all over, offers me ice, I accept, he refuses any payment. All. Over. Again.
“Mr. Kelly, didn’t we see you yesterday?” I ask, one last gasping hope.
“Yesterday?” The look of confusion on his face so pure, it’s impossible to doubt.
“Never mind. Thank you.”
As soon as he’s disappeared into the sandy rain, I turn to Sammie and say, “Okay. I’m ready to freak out now.”