Page 68 of Playworld

Regina

“Oh my God!” I said to my reflection, to the air.

“What is it?” Dad said. “Did you get a part in a movie?”

“I have to take another shower,” I said, and closed the door on him.

I bathed again in order to remove the zinc from my face. After I toweled the steam from the mirror, I noticed there was a bright pink stripe from my nose’s bridge to its tip. But the peeling wasn’tsobad, especially on my shoulders and across my chest after I used Mom’s Oil of Olay. From the kitchenette, Dad sang a song from his show,“You’re the birdsong, you’re my morning, you’re the sun on the leaves…”Then he rewound the tape, consulted his flash cards, and sang the same three lines again while adding another. I brushed my teeth twice to get rid of my coffee breath. From my father’s Dopp kit I borrowed his dental excavator, scraped some plaque from between my bottom teeth, and then, after rinsing the tip carefully, used it to pop an unripe zit on my chin. I spent the next fifteen minutes dealing with this crisis, since a perfect globule of blood kept forming atop the puncture no matter how much pressure I applied to its crater. Dad sang,“You’re the flowers, you’re the pollen, you’re the buzzing of the bees…”and then rewound the tape. I put on my Jensen’s Marina & Cottages T-shirt that Dad had bought me on one of his jaunts, which had a giant tarpon on its front. I pulled my cutoff jeans over my Speedo and slid into my flip-flops, despite the lingering pain. I tucked two ’Tween Waters Inn towels under my arm and, sandwiched between them, my bottle of Hawaiian Tropic dark tanning oil.

What did I think would happen? What did I imagine Regina and I would do? What would she and I talk about? I flip-flopped toward the tennis court, wondering. Like the pelicans gliding effortlessly toward the Gulf, I felt so light and hopeful. I heard the ringing sound of Regina’s strings as they contacted the ball. I spotted her lovely form divided into diamonds behind the chain link fence, and I watched her shadow play against the windscreen. She was finishing up her lesson with a volleying drill. The pro, whose face was as tan as Naugahyde, said, with each ball he fed her, “Step on the bug,” and every time she stamped her foot, she kicked up a small cloud of dust. To conclude he said, “Finish on a good one.” Which Regina did—a sharp crosscourt stab, which the pro watched and then nodded at approvingly.

Afterward, Regina sat on the court’s bench, facing me for a while, drinking her water and toweling off. I waited, towels in hand; I waved to her once. Indicated:No rush.A couple entered the court. The pro said, “David, Alice, I was just finishing up.” Regina waved goodbye to the pro and, racquet pinched under her arm and a towel wrapped around her neck, walked toward me. She opened the gate, smiled, and then, as she closed it, said, “Hello.”

“Hello,” I said.

As she turned and began to walk toward the beach, I said, “I brought some towels.”

She smiled. “I have one, but thanks.”

When I said, “Okay,” she started to walk toward Captiva Drive. The Gulf sparkled in the distance. My mouth was so dry I couldn’t swallow. I was about to speak, but at the Sea Grape suites, Regina turned and began to walk up the steps leading to the building’s second floor.

“Should I come with you or wait down here?” I asked.

She turned to face me and smiled. “Do I know you?” she said.

“I’m Griffin, Oren’s brother.”

Silence.

“You wrote me a note,” I said. “To meet you after your lesson and go to the beach together.”

“I think you have me confused with someone else.”

“You’re not Regina?”

“I’m Meredith,” she said. “And I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Then she hurried upstairs, her sneaker soles scuffing each slightly sandy step with the sound of a struck match.

I found Oren and Frazier at the bar later that afternoon. They were celebrating their last day together and their fishing trip. Oren was wearing a shell necklace he’d made on the ride back; his aviator sunglasses hung at the bottom of his collar’s V. He and Frazier were drinking daiquiris. When I joined them, Oren said, “I caught a sand shark! It’s almost four feet long. It’s in a cooler by the dock if you want to see it.”

“Congratulations,” I said.

“I’m gonna release it later if you want to come.” When I didn’t answer, he said, “I could use your help. Because it’s so big.”

“I’ll bet it’s a whopper,” I said.

Frazier took a long pull at his drink. “How was your date?” he asked.

“Ha-ha,” I said. “Very funny.”

“Admit it,” Frazier said, “your brother got you hook, line, and sinker.”

Were it not for his hand, I’d have punched him square in the mouth.

Oren could tell I was crushed. “We have to meet my parents at the Crow’s Nest Grille for dinner,” he told his friend.So,I thought,noe.

Frazier got up. “See you next year,” he said.