Brother Willy's Traveling Salvation Show (13 page)

CHAPTER
XI

It wasn’t long
until Scott saw Michelle coming across the beach. After a quick hug and kiss, they sat down together. He took the opportunity to ask how the party was going only to get an indication that she wasn’t overly impressed. “The party is fun and the girls are nice so I guess its okay. I just wanted to check on you and see if you were holding your own.”

He
pulled back on his rod, once again thinking he may have a nibble, but that was not to be. “Beth came down to see what I found out from Moose. I think she feels much better about all that now. Then she stayed with me, drank my beer, and has been helping me fish.”

“You have been very sweet to her today and that is one of the things I have always loved about you. You never kick someone when they are down.” She replied.

Scott shared some of his confusion with Michelle. “I can’t tell who I am dealing with. Sometimes she is a mature woman, and then she becomes a little girl, and then she becomes a frightened twenty something year old girl.”

Michelle
smiled, “All women have some of that in us. You may not know it, but you made her the star of the party for a little while tonight. She came through the door at the party telling everyone, ‘we caught a shark’. She took out her cell phone and started showing pictures of you with the shark. She went on to tell us how she held the shark's tail while you took the hook out of his mouth. She was very proud of herself for holing the shark’s tail.”

He
thought about Michelle’s comments and Beth’s reactions to catching the shark. “Don’t misunderstand what I am saying until I get finished. Then you can misunderstand it. Beth is a very attractive girl with a nice figure and good personality, at least most of the time. She would be classified as a guy magnet. Here is my question. I wonder if any guy has ever taken a good look at her for anything other than what they could get from her.”

Scott
suspected he was going to get an education from Michelle as she gave him the poor stupid Scoot knows nothing about women look. “Scott, as a female, let me give you some advice. A poor little vulnerable girl can twist a man in any shape she wishes. A cute little girl can kill her parents with an ax in the blinking of an eye. Against a well-trained woman, you don’t have a chance. I know you like the back of my hand and you are too nice to deal with a deceptive girl. Keep your eyes closed and your brain working.”

In an effort to protect
his ego, Scott offered a sound defense. “It doesn’t matter because she’s gone back to the party.”

Michelle
corrected his misinformation. “Beth asked if I would care if she came back and sat with you while you were fishing. I don’t think she was that excited about the party.”

“How long are you going to stay
at the party?”

“I don’t know. Some of them want to go swimming
, but I don’t want to get my hair wet and I don’t have a suit with me. I should be back by nine o’clock. If something changes, I’ll come tell you or give you a call. I might need to check on you anyway in case our little blonde haired, blue-eyed monster does something to you.”

Once again,
Scott expressed his confidence in himself. “I just took the hook out of a shark’s mouth. I think can handle Beth.”

Michelle
stood up to leave as they gave each other a kiss. “Maybe, but an adorable one hundred and ten pound two legged girl can be far more dangerous than a shark. Why don’t you concentrate on catching us some dinner for tomorrow night?”

“If you are depending on me to catch dinner, you need to be prepared to
go hungry.”

Scott
watched as she walked toward Beth’s house. It was only a moment before Beth walked down the steps and across the beach. She stopped to talk to Michelle for a few moments before she continued her trek towards his less than private sanctuary.

The cooler was
sitting between the two chairs and once she sat down, she placed her drink on the cooler. Scott felt he had to tease her a little. “I see you are having a female drink tonight. I can see the fruit but I don’t see the little umbrella? What is it?”

“It’s called a Passion Fruit
Mojitos. It’s made with rum. Now shut up about my girl drink and quit making fun of me. Have you caught any more fish since I left?”

“No. I think the shark at
e all the fish and there is nothing left to catch.”

Beth
took a sip of her drink. “Why do you keep fishing if you aren’t catching anything? Why don’t you watch a ballgame or something?”

“I like watching the surf. It’s peaceful out here.”

She looked back at the house. “I don’t know why they turn up the music so loud.”

“Maybe they don’t want to hear each other talk.”

She hit him on the arm. “You think a girl’s night party is silly, don’t you?”

Scott
looked at her as she challenged him. “I don’t think they’re silly, but from the way you described the party, I think I would rather go to the dentist.”

“I’ll bet you would change your mind if you were in the pool with about eighteen
very attractive girls, several of whom have been drinking too much and are ready for a little fun. I am positive you would change your mind.” She replied with confidence.

He
pointed out his situation. “Like everything today, it doesn’t matter because it’s all hypothetical. I was not invited.”

There was a long period of silence before
Beth’s apparent concerns drifted out. “My friend Amie is up there tonight. She is drop-dead gorgeous. In another hour, she will be drunk and out of control to the point she could have sex with you on the dinning room table while everyone is standing around eating. She has been pregnant once already.”

“You sound like you are worried about her.
Will she be alright tonight?” Scott asked

Beth
shrugged her shoulders. “I used to be worried about her, but that hasn’t helped. I’ve tried to talk to her, but she isn’t going to listen to anybody. I don’t know if she is addicted to sex or alcohol, but the combination is deadly for her. She is going to get hurt one of these nights being with guys she doesn’t even know. I wish someone could help her. Nobody wants to step up to the plate because they think they would be betraying her if they told her family she needed help. They will let her die in some alley, shake their head and say my, my, what a waste. That was depressing, wasn’t it?”

He
replied, not knowing what else to say. “It is a sad story, but until we find a way to get inside a person’s mind, people will be exploited by other people before they die in a lonely alley.”

Beth
continued to look at him as she made a confession. “I told her she should come down to the beach and talk to you. I told her you could help her.”

Scott
shook his head emphatically hoping she would get his point. “Beth, your friend needs professional help that I can’t give her.”

“Does that mean you aren’t willing to help her?”

His reply was swift. “It means I don’t know how to help her. You just told me she’s your friend and she won’t listen to you or anybody else. Someone like that is not going to listen to me even if I knew what to say to her. I don’t have the skills, training, or knowledge to help your friend.”

“She most likely won’t come down here anyway.”
Beth replied.

Scott
decided he might have one of those teachable moments his professor had discussed. “How much have you had to drink tonight?”

She became slightly uneasy with
his question, but chose to answer. “I had two or three glasses of champagne with you in the hot tub. I had a glass of wine with dinner, two beers while we were fishing, and now this drink. Why do you ask?”

“
I asked because I don’t want you to end up in the same mess as your friend Amie. I’m surprised you aren’t feeling the effects of the alcohol.”

She smiled at
him as she reached for her glass. “I was feeling the effects even before I started on this drink. By the time this drink is gone, I will be gone too. Don’t worry about me because I don’t drink this much very often.”

After giving an idea some very serious consideration,
Scott made her an offer. “I won’t worry about you if you take your drink and pour it in the sand.”

She was completely surprised at
his suggestion. “Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious.”

“Are you afraid I drink too much and can’t control it?” She asked

He
decided to appeal to her logic. “Let me ask you this. Would Amie pour her drink in the sand or find an excuse not to?”

Beth
was definite with her answer. “There is no way she would dump her drink unless she knew she had another one close by. I’m not Amie and I can pour it out, if I want to.”

Scott
responded with two simple words. “Prove it.”

Her stare at
Scott was relentless as he assumed she was making some mental calculation or was very confused. She picked up her drink, took a sip, held it in her outstretched arm, and slowly poured it in the sand. “When I told you that story about Amie, you thought I was talking about me, didn’t you?”

He
was noncommittal. “I wasn’t sure because people have funny ways of asking for help. If you are not Amie now, then I don’t want you to become Amie. I don’t want you to become another statistic.”

“Are you religious or something?” She asked, still trying to understand
his motives.

Scott
looked down the beach at the fishing pier. “I suppose in my own way I am. I look out at the ocean and see the Universal Mind, but that doesn’t have anything to do with you pouring out your drink. I told you a little while ago I would like to have the benefit of having sex with you, if you were going to accuse me of it. Those are not the confessions of the evangelical. I want you to find your dream and not live a nightmare like your friend Amie.”

She continued to look at
him as he watched her. “I really don’t understand you at all. You really are concerned about what happens to me.”

As
Scott looked in her eyes, he could see a genuine look of surprise she was feeling. “The world is full of people who lost a battle. I want you to win the war. Did you ever doubt that I was concerned about you?”

She looked at
him and then at the ocean. “I just wasn’t sure you concern was real.”

His
cell phone went off with a tone that let him know he had a message from Michelle. The message read, “She has knife - standing in corner - come now.”

After telling
Beth they had an emergency, Scott grabbed her hand almost jerking her up as they started running for the house. Michelle and Jenifer were waiting for them on the boardwalk at the top of the stairs. Jenifer spoke as they came closer to her. “She is standing in the corner with her back to the wall and she has a knife. She said if we call the police or an ambulance, she would kill herself. She already has a cut on her arm.”

Scott
was speaking quickly. “If you haven’t called the police don’t call yet. What’s her name and what set her off?”

“
Her name is Amie and she got angry because we wouldn’t let her call some guy to come over here. She said he could get several of his friends to come over and party with us.”

“Who is her best friend?”

Jenifer looked at Beth. “That would have to be Beth. Most of us are tired of fooling with her.”

“Who did she come with?”

Beth replied, “She drove herself.”

Scott
started detailing his plan. “Beth, why don’t you come with me a let’s try to talk to her.”

Michelle
came with Scott to the door and put her hand on his back. “I thought you always told me your mother didn’t raise a fool.”

Scott
smiled at her reference. “I’m ninety percent sure she isn’t going to do anything. I think she is trying to either get her way or get some attention. There is always that other ten percent chance she could be crazy as hell. Therefore, if Amie stabs me, then you were right and I was wrong. See if you can find a first aid kit, please.”

Beth
came and stood beside him as they entered the great room. When he was three or four feet away, Amie told him to stop, which he did. In a slurred but determined voice, she asked if Scott was a cop.

Scott
deliberately made her wait for his answer. “No, I’m not a cop. I just came over to fix your arm.”

Beth
moved slightly closer to Amie before speaking to Scott. “Scott, this is my best friend Amie.”

“Oh,
you’re Beth’s friend. Beth said you were going to come down to the beach with us. She has told me a lot about you.”

Beth
was trying to encourage her to come with them. “Scott and I have been waiting for you on the beach. There’s nothing going on up here so why don’t you go swimming with us?”

Amie
was hesitant to accept Beth’s suggestion. “You haven’t been waiting for me.”