Barrier Islands Page 5

5

  Two days after Christmas, Brooke left Jodie with Momma and Father after dinner and headed out with her sister Leah for an evening of girl talk and club-hopping. Everything about the evening was unprecedented. Of course it was the first time Brooke had left Jodie alone with her parents, and the first time she’d gone clubbing with Leah (the last time they’d been together at home, more than two years ago, Leah was still underage). It was also the first time that Leah, who was deaf and had grown up highly dependent on her older sister, drove Brooke around. Though she’d had her license for some time before Brooke had moved to Shawnituck, Brooke had always insisted on driving. But tonight Leah had the keys to the family’s spare car and simply walked to the driver’s side and got in, leaving Brooke momentarily frozen on the sidewalk before she finally opened the passenger door of the Volvo and got in.

  You my chauffeur now? Brooke signed.

  Leah grinned. My car, my rules.

  Brooke shrugged. So where are you taking me?

  You will see. Leah cranked the car.

  She took her to a new club downtown called Starburst. As soon as they entered the vestibule, Brooke heard the disco music throbbing though the walls. She grabbed her sister and signed What do you know about disco? The last word had no precedent in their signing, so she signed dance while saying “disco,” as Leah could read lips even faster than signing.

  Leah smiled broadly then laid a hand on the nearest wall, felt the percussive beat, closed her eyes, and began a slow and graceful shuffle to the music, ending with a twirl that merged her ballet training to the new disco craze. When she opened her eyes, she discovered Brooke’s mouth agape. Leah laughed at her sister’s look, the sound a bit too loud for the close space but surprisingly natural and at ease.

  It took Brooke a second to realize she’d never heard Leah utter more than a tentative giggle, so afraid was she of sounding foolish or weird.

  Leah signed You taught me!

  Taught you what?

  To dance! At the Ball!

  When Leah was seventeen, she’d insisted on being presented at the annual debutante ball despite her condition; and Brooke had agreed to be her dance partner for the evening’s signature waltz, participating and leading in the dance despite hating ballroom dancing and the very idea of the stuffy debutante ball. And Leah had been the hit of that year’s Ball. Brooke laughed at the memory that seemed ages past though it was only three years ago. But disco? she mouthed.

  Leah shrugged, smiled, then paid their cover and entered the dance hall.

  It was a large dimly lit room with tables around the perimeter and an open dance floor in the middle. The floor was lit by flashing multi-colored lights and the strobe effect of a mirror ball rotating above. Though not full, Brooke was surprised to see a decent crowd, including a number of familiar faces from high school, on this weeknight during Christmas break. Leah pulled her to a silver table at the far side of the room. A card on the table read “Reserved for Leah and Brooke.” Leah waved to the woman behind the bar; she smiled and nodded back. They sat down. A waitress brought them drinks—club soda for Leah, a wine cooler for Brooke—and a bowl of pretzels.

  “I’m Marie,” the waitress said. “You must be Brooke.”

  Brooke shook her hand. “Usually. But tonight I guess I’m Leah’s sister.”

  The waitress laughed. “That too.” She looked to Leah and spoke to her eyes. “Everyone here loves Leah.”

  Leah blushed, visible despite the dim light.

  “And she can dance!”

  Leah laughed and signed With the right partner.

  “Most anybody here—girls or guys. They love to dance with Leah.”

  Leah signed Tonight I am here with my sister.

  “You can teach her to dance.”

  “No way. I’ll watch,” Brooke said.

  Leah smiled. Talk tonight.

  The waitress shrugged. “Suit yourself. Tony says ‘hi’—bought you this round.”

  Both Leah and Brooke looked up to the guy behind the bar. It was Tony Douglas, a classmate of Brooke’s in high school and at Center. He’d had a huge crush on Brooke in high school, but Brooke was dating someone else and wanted to be “just friends,” breaking Tony’s heart in the process.

  Brooke asked, “Did he drop out of school?” He would’ve been scheduled to graduate this coming spring, same as Brooke.

  Marie laughed. “Heck no. Near the top of his class and pre-law. He worked here last summer and is filling in during the break.”

  Tony looked their way. His eyes settled on Brooke. He raised an empty glass in her direction. She nodded in response. “Tell him thanks,” she said.

  “Will do,” Marie said. “But I think he got the message.” She winked before heading off to check on other customers.

  The one thing about signing and lip-reading is that two people can have a conversation regardless of how much noise, or loud music, is surrounding them. The sisters took full advantage of this opportunity, “chatting” away while those around them were forced to sit in silence and listen to the music or get up and take a turn on the dance floor—which was why most of them had come to this nightclub: to dance!

  But not Leah and Brooke, not this night. They had too much to catch up on. Leah shared news about finishing her third semester at Davidson. She told about her classes, having settled on a major (Psychology), continuing her pursuit of ballet (her teacher wanted her to do a silent dance recital at the end of next semester but Leah wasn’t quite ready to commit to that), and taking up a new hobby of coed Frisbee tag.

  And boys? Brooke asked.

  Leah smiled slyly. I will never tell!

  Brooke made an exaggerated pout.

  So Leah gave in. O.K. I have lots of boy friends.

  Any one boyfriend?

  Leah shrugged with feigned nonchalance. Not today.

  Yesterday? Tomorrow?

  Leah laughed (that sound again—so natural, even with the music, yet unexpected to Brooke). You are nosy!

  With my sister, of course!

  Leah nodded. I miss that.

  Me too.

  Leah reached across and took Brooke’s near hand and squeezed it.

  Brooke squeezed back. But quit changing the subject!

  Where was I? Leah said.

  You well know.

  Oh—boyfriends! None at the moment.

  Any favorites?

  One or two, but they are my secret.

  Cute?

  What do you think?

  Can they sign?

  My lip reading has got very good.

  How do you talk to them?

  Write at first, then lip reading. A couple have learned to sign.

  With you teaching them, of course.

  Of course.

  Brooke had to marvel at how much Leah had grown up, and grown in confidence and resourcefulness, from the shy and reticent girl who first entered public school as a junior. That was the year Brooke had gone off to Center and wasn’t home to help Leah or hold her hand. She recalled there were many crises that year—for Leah at home and Brooke in college (without Leah to limit her impulsiveness). But they’d somehow survived, and now look at her baby sister.

  And you? Leah asked.

  Putting milk in one end, cleaning up the result at the other.

  Leah looked puzzled.

  Brooke laughed. Feeding Jodie and changing her diapers.

  She is so cute. Such a good baby.

  I guess.

  No?

  She’s wonderful. It’s just a full-time job, that’s all.

  Onion?

  He’s a good father and helps change her diapers. But he works a lot and sometimes late.

  His parents?

  They would take Jodie and raise her if I let them.

  Want to tell you how to do it?

  Want to make Jodie theirs.

  But she is theirs, partly.

  She is mine, Leah, first and foremost.

  Leah stared at her sister. What had
become of the easy-going, break all the rules, live for the moment girl she’d always envied? What was binding her up now? Shawnituck?

  It seemed so different from here, Leah—laid-back and free. I did not have to wear shoes if I did not feel like it, or a dress to dinner, or put on make-up if I went shopping.

  Leah held her hand up. You never wore make-up when you went shopping!

  And don’t you know I heard about it!

  Leah shrugged then nodded. Brooke had ruffled plenty of feathers in her day, within their family and among her classmates.

  Brooke continued. But it turns out Shawnituck has its own set of unwritten rules.

  Everywhere does.

  Why didn’t you tell me?

  Leah stared a long moment at her sister, not sure how to answer this question. I tried to. You would not listen.

  When?

  When you visited me at school right after telling me you were pregnant.

  What did you say?

  I asked if you knew what you were doing.

  And what did I say?

  You told me what color you were going to paint the nursery and that your baby’s name would be Jodie.

  Brooke laughed, just now recalling the long weekend she had spent with Leah even before she’d told Onion of the baby started within her. What color would I paint the nursery?

  Turquoise. She spelled the uncommon word on the table with her finger.

  Brooke nodded. That had been her plan. But they didn’t have a nursery. Jodie’s crib was pushed into the corner of their common room. I had it all figured out.

  Leah nodded slowly.

  Just then an inebriated man neither of them knew came up to the table and reached his hand toward Leah. “I want to dance with you,” he slurred.

  Leah didn’t shrink from his aggressive approach. She smiled serenely but shook her head.

  “Come on. You’re beautiful. I’ve got to dance with you.”

  Brooke said in a low growl, “She said ‘no’.”

  The guy looked toward Brooke with a scowl. “I didn’t hear her say anything.”

  “She’s deaf, asshole. She can’t say anything.”

  He seemed momentarily caught off guard then rushed to recover. “That’s O.K. We don’t have to talk.” He turned again to Leah. He pointed to her then to himself then to the dance floor. He reached out and grabbed her wrist that was resting on the table.

  Brooke started to stand, not sure what she’d do but sure she had to do something.

  Leah quickly caught her eye and gestured for her to stay put. Then she looked across the room to the big man seated on the stool beside the entrance. His name was Al, a former linebacker at Center and now bouncer for the club. He’d been watching the sequence and, with the glance from Leah, was off the stool and beside their table in a flash. He wedged himself alongside the drunk. “She doesn’t want to dance,” he said.

  The guy looked up at Al, hesitated, then let go of Leah’s wrist. “Sorry,” he said petulantly. “I didn’t know she was deaf. What the hell you let deaf people in here for anyway?” He did not wait for a response but walked across the dance floor, bumping into several dancers, before heading out the door.

  Al turned to Leah and signed Sorry for the disturbance.

  Leah nodded then glanced to Brooke. This is my sister.

  Brooke extended her hand. “Brooke.”

  “I’m Al.” He took her hand in his much larger one. “Nice to meet you. We love your sister.”

  “So I’ve seen.”

  He smiled. “She can really dance.”

  “So I’ve heard.”

  Leah gestured, Not tonight.

  Al nodded then looked back to Brooke. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise.” She gazed unabashedly at him as he walked back to his seat by the door. She turned to Leah. Another ‘friend’?

  Leah shook her head. Just a friend.

  He can sign.

  Not my type.

  Brooke looked across the room to where Al was sitting on his stool. He made a little wave when their eyes met. Brooke couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be single again.