The Graduation (21 page)

The doctors had put a pin in Jessica’s arm. It was a nasty break, they said, but they were optimistic she would have a hundred percent recovery. With her cast in its sling and the wide black-rimmed glasses her mom had brought her from home on her nose, she was a fine sight. She even had her hair pinned up; she hadn’t been able to wash it since—well, since she had taken a shower with Michael. But she didn’t care how she looked because she knew Michael wouldn’t care.

He was sitting on the beach near the water and looking at a paper or book or something. She was amazed at the pleasure it gave her simply to watch him and know that she was going to see him tomorrow, and the day after that. Although they had been in the same hospital, with rooms down the hall from each other, they had hardly spoken since the lifeboat. She raised her left arm and waved.

“Michael!”

Putting away his object of interest in a brown sack, he stood and walked toward her. She was relieved to see he had gotten over his slight limp. She met him halfway. It was cute—the awkwardness in his greeting. He gave her a light pat on the shoulder. She gave him a sloppy kiss on the lips.

“Hi,” she said. “Love your hat.”

He touched his bandage. “Bubba wanted to sign it.”

“How do you feel?”

“Great. How about you?”

“Fantastic.”

“You look good.”

“Liar. But it’s OK—I’m a liar too. My arm is actually killing me. And I just swallowed two of those yellow pills the doctor gave me.”

“I hope they weren’t Valium.”

“Me, too! My mom dropped me off, but how did you get out here?”

“Hitchhiked. It’s easy to get a ride when you look like a war vet.”

They began to walk down the beach, holding hands, Michael carrying his brown bag.
Haven
was underwater but not forgotten. They passed three plates, a chair, one soggy pillow, and a dozen beer cans before they had gone a hundred yards. A gentleman from the Coast Guard had said debris from the sunken ship would wash ashore for a long time.

“I suppose your trip to Hawaii is off?” Michael asked.

“Postponed,” she corrected. “Sara and I are going later in the summer. In a way, I’m glad we have to wait.”

“Why?”

“It will give you a chance to arrange your schedule so you can come with me.” She added quickly, “Sara’s bringing Russ.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s a free man now. How are those two getting along?”

“They’re at each other’s throats. They’re in love. He’s helping her with her PPB—Post Presidential Blues. She doesn’t know what to do with herself now.” She smiled. “You haven’t said yes yet.”

“What would your parents say?”

“Nothing. I won’t tell them you’re coming. What would your mom say?”

“That you only live once. To tell you the truth, Jessie, I don’t know if I could afford it.”

“Do you
really
want to come with me?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then it’ll be my treat. And don’t say no. My parents gave me a bunch of cash for graduation that I’ve got to get rid of immediately, before I get materialistic.”

“I don’t know. That’s a lot of money.”

“Michael!”

“I’ll come.”

She laughed. “Had to twist your arm, didn’t I? That’s great. I’ll have my cast off. You can teach me how to swim. But you’re sure getting the time off won’t be a problem?”

“I’m quitting my jobs at JPL and the 7-Eleven. I’m going to bum around all summer and write a book.”

“Can you write?” she asked.

“I hope so.”

“What’s it going to be about?”

“This year.”

“Hah! No one will believe it.”

“I’ll turn it into a novel,” he said. “Where did you say you were going to go to school next fall?”

“I’m not. I’ve been thinking about what you said about my awesome voice. I’m starting a rock-and-roll band. What are you laughing at?”

“I’m sorry. It’s such a coincidence. I told Clair Friday morning I was going to start a band. She told me to get you for a singer.”

“
Clair
said that?”

“Yeah. Can I be in your band?”

“Can you play an instrument?” she asked.

“No.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll teach you piano if you promise to put me in your book and

“I wouldn’t know how else to make you.”

“Hang around with me for a while. You’d be amazed.”

They had company—a half-dozen sea gulls hunting for lunch in the leftovers from
Haven
’s galley. And far off, perhaps half a mile up the beach, somebody was scouring the sand with a garbage bag in hand.

“Is that The Rock?” Jessica asked, squinting through her glasses.

“Yeah. I spoke to him earlier. He had a story to tell. Right after we swam out of that room, the door closed on him. He had to go out the hole in the hull. I don’t know how he did it.”

“He deserves his nickname. What about Bill?”

“He says he was still on the top deck when the ship suddenly went belly-up. He was thrown clear.”

Jessica pointed down the beach. “What’s The Rock doing?”

“He doesn’t want a cameraman from a news station coming over to Catalina and seeing what drunks we have for a senior class. He’s picking up all the beer cans. Did you know that yesterday when the tide was out people were able to spot the
Haven
’s antennas sticking from the water?”

“Really?”

Michael looked wistfully out to sea. “I’d like to rent scuba equipment and check her out.”

“For something in particular?”

“Well, I’d like to find my yearbook for one thing.”

She poked him. “Why?”

He blushed. “No particular reason.”

“Liar!” she called him again, bouncing away to the water’s edge. “I’ll write it in the sand with my toes.” She kicked off her shoe. “Michael Olson is the greatest
lover
Jessica Hart has ever—”

He stopped her. He was easy to embarrass. They continued their stroll, the sun warm on their faces. They found a yearbook a few minutes later. Talk about coincidences—it was Sara’s, and it was sitting next to Bubba’s sombrero. Jessica picked it out of the foam and shook it off. The paper Sara had glued over the inside cover had come loose. The handwriting beneath was smeared but still legible.

“Listen to this,” Jessica said. “‘My dearest Sara. My heart patters at the thought of us making love tonight above the deep ocean swells, our bodies locked in passion, the salty sweat on the burning flesh of our entangled limbs mingling like oil and wine, ready to burst into flaming ecstasy. My head swoons…’” She read all the way through, giggling like a schoolgirl by the time she came to the last line. “‘Love you always, in so many different positions. Bubba!’”

“Now there’s someone who knows how to write.”

“Do you think he slept with her?”

“She’s your friend.”

“I doubt it. She says she did it with Russ when it’s obvious she didn’t even untie his shoes. Then again, Bubba is
your
friend. What do you think?”

Michael started to scratch his head, but ran into his bandage. “Ordinarily I would say yeah. But Bubba and Clair are getting married tonight in Las Vegas.”

“
What?
”

“Bubba has a ticket waiting for me at Los Angeles airport. I’m flying out there this afternoon. I’m going to be his best man. You should come. Maria and Nick are getting married also.”

“This is a joke.”

“No If Nick marries Maria, she is automatically allowed to remain in the country. They’re all eighteen. I think it’s great. Nick said Maria wants you to be her bridesmaid.”

“You’re serious? Who’s going to be Clair’s bridesmaid?”

“It might be you. As you can imagine, this is all sort of short notice.”

“But Clair and I hate each other.”

“Pretty girls always hate other pretty girls. It’s biological. That’s what Bubba says. Maria’s counting on you.”

“Then I’ll come. Clair must be pregnant again.”

“Bubba says no.”

“I don’t believe it.”

A smile lit up Michael’s face. “I can tell you someone who’s not pregnant anymore.”

“Your mom! What did she have?”

“A seven-pound six-ounce girl.”

Jessica dropped Sara’s yearbook and hugged him. “
Brother
Michael! Are they both OK?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. Mom had the baby about the same time we were in the lifeboat.”

“What did she name it? No—let me guess. Alice?”

“Mom wanted to, but I said no.”

“Why?”

It might have been a delicate question. Michael let go of her hand and looked down at the paper sack he carried. “Life has to go on.” He shrugged. “I’m still learning to let her go.”

“I understand. I shouldn’t have—What’s in the bag?”

He showed her, and it brought tears to her eyes, and not just because it was so beautiful. “I had this dream,” she said, staring at the painting in her hands. “It was the morning we were together at the hospital waiting to hear about Maria. There were four of us in a black tunnel. You, me, and these two little girls. One of the girls was Alice. When we got to the end of the tunnel, we were in a place like this. Who did this painting?”

“Clark.”

Jessica made a face. “The
real
one. Not Polly’s imaginary one.”

“Yeah,” Michael muttered, a faraway look in his eyes. “What is it?”

He didn’t seem to hear her question at first. “I had this dream.” he said finally. “I had it many times this year. It started a couple of days after I met you. In it

I’m standing on a bridge over a roaring river. There’s a desert in front of me and a forest behind me. And there’s this girl—I never see her face. But she tells me to go forward, that she will follow.” He glanced at the sky. “I always used to wonder if it was Alice.”

“Who do you think it is now?”

“My sister.”

“How did you feel in your dream?” she asked.

“Happy. But also sad. I felt I was leaving paradise.”

“I felt very happy in mine. I didn’t want to wake up. I felt like I was being reborn.”

Michael was impressed. “Maybe that’s how it really was.” Then he shook his head. “We’ll never know.”

She took his hand. “
I
know. I was supposed to meet you. Alice knew it. That’s why she wanted you to meet me. She was wise.” Jessica smiled. “She knew how far out I am.”

Michael smiled, too, briefly. The sadness of leaving paradise, however, was still there. “If there is a design to our lives, and Alice was sensitive to it, then maybe I messed things up. The night of the party, she was upset she didn’t get to introduce me to you. I could have let her, you know. She felt as if somehow a wrinkle had been put in the canvas.” He took the painting back and put it in the bag. “I don’t know why it bothered her then, or why it bothered me later.”

“She didn’t die because you avoided me. You don’t think that, do you?”

He shrugged again. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Michael, you have a guilt complex. You’ve done more good for more people than anyone I know. I grew up with Alice, but I deserted her the night she died like everyone else. I went by the obvious facts. You went by your gut feeling, and you used your head. You saved her memory.”

“I was late doing it.”

“Not at all. The truth is coming out. It hurts Polly’s image, but that’s OK. Polly’s got something out of all this. Her memory was saved. You gave it back to her.”

Michael was doubtful. “I was hard on her.”

“You had to be hard.” Jessica paused. “She told me to thank you.”

“You spoke to her?”

“Late last night, on the phone. She’s in another hospital. This one’s supposed to be the best.” Her voice faltered. “We had a long talk.”

“Was it painful?”

Jessica nodded. “But I’m glad we had the chance. Her doctor arranged the call. I understand her a lot better now. We’re going to talk again soon.” A sea gull ran across their path with a Ritz cracker in its mouth, fleeing from another almost identical bird. Jessica smiled at the sight, although it touched her with strange sadness. Birds of a feather, and best friends—they were sometimes each other’s worst enemies. “I asked her why.”

“Why?”

“Why Clark. Of all people to dream into her life, why him? Her response really hit me. She said she just needed someone to love her, but that anytime she ever did love someone—in real life—it always brought her pain. She couldn’t help who she invented. Her lover had to be her tormentor. Clark was just someone who fit the bill.”

“She said that?”

“Yes.”

“It sounds to me like she’s on the road to recovery. She has you to thank as well. You saved her life. It was you who got the final truth out of her.”

Jessica took his hand and pulled him close. “OK, we’re both heroes. Now let’s talk about happy things or I’ll leave you and go out with Bill again.”

“That isn’t much of a threat.”

She shoved him away. “Hey, he’s as big a hero as they’re making Kats into.”

Michael groaned, “Don’t remind me.”

“Oh you never answered my question. What—”

“Ann,” he interrupted. “We chose it together.”

“Why Ann?”

“Why not? It’s a nice name. It’s easy to spell.”

“Ann was Alice’s middle name.”

He was amazed. “I didn’t know that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

She smiled. “What’s in a name? Maybe everything, huh?”

“Let’s wait and see who she grows into before we try to answer that one. But speaking of names…” He set the painting down and pulled a heavily wrinkled envelope out of his back pocket. “Last fall I built a telescope. I used to take it out to the desert a lot. Anyway, to make a long story short, I discovered a comet.”

“You what?”

“A comet. They’re these big balls of ice and dust that—”

“I know what a comet is. That’s incredible. Are you going to win the Nobel Prize?”

“If Bubba uses his influence.” He handed her the envelope. It looked as if it had been underwater. Jessica realized it was the same envelope his mother had given him before the graduation ceremony. It had been underwater. “This is the confirmation of the sighting,” he said.

“How come you haven’t opened it?”

“I spoke to the observatory on Thursday. I already know what it says. Besides, I wanted you to open it. That’s why I brought it to the all-night party.”