Accidental Shield

“Yeah,” I say. “Quick and easy job.”

“What about outside? Do you know where to spray?” She laughs slightly. “I mean, besides around the building? Stanley always wanted the area all the way down to the docks covered. He hated those chickens like they’d personally crapped in his beer. I was kinda surprised when you showed up, after the fit Ray threw the last time you guys were out there.”

I shrug. “That wasn’t me.”

She stands up. “I know it wasn’t you. It was the other guy. The red-haired one. He’d been coming here for years, up until that last visit, when Ray chewed his head off for getting too close to this stuff stacked up on the docks.”

I nod, wondering if it’s just another one of his senseless outbursts or something more.

Walking around the desk, she continues. “Follow me. I’ll show you around. Frankly, I’m glad you’re here. Feels like old times. Stanley would’ve been three shades of red knowing this place wasn’t being sprayed regularly. There was a rooster by the front door when I came in this morning, bowed up and crowing his lungs out. Guess it’s a sign that you showed up today, right after that.”

“You know what they say: no coincidences,” I tell her, following her out the door.

“They’re mean, too. Believe me, after being chased around a couple times by those things, I’m starting to figure out why old Stanley hated wild chickens so much,” she says, walking around the side of the building.

I stay one step behind her, spraying the foundation as I walk, hoping my gallon jug doesn’t run out. I didn’t bring a backup.

“Things sure have changed since he died,” she says, more to herself than me. “No one’s hardly ever in the office. The phones don’t ring, the fishermen are unhappy, we’re losing accounts left and right.” She waves a hand at a small shed.

I walk over and spray the perimeter of the building, noting the well-used pathway down to the docks.

“But Ray must know what he’s doing…even though he’s barely around lately. I mean, the money keeps rolling in!” She flashes me a stiff smile as we start walking along the stone path.

There’s a lot of shit I’d love to say to that, but I keep my mouth shut, spraying as we go.

“Sorry to be all awkward. I shouldn’t have said anything, but it’s so dang quiet around here, I almost let that nasty freaking rooster inside this morning, just so I’d have someone to talk to.”

I smile and nod. “Yeah. Must get awful boring.”

“So boring, especially compared to how it used to be.” Sammie waves a hand at the docks. “You can spray all the way to the water. They always did for Stanley. Some guys were a little hesitant to use their stuff by the water—I think the regulations say you shouldn’t—but…he had a way with bending the rules. God bless him.”

“Right. Thanks for showing me around.”

She laughs. “Thanks for breaking up my day! I’ll let you get back to it. You can drop the slip off with me after spraying the rest of the foundation, and we’ll get your check in the mail.”

“Actually, that just gets mailed now. New policy.”

She sighs. “Everything changes, doesn’t it?”

I watch her walk back to the building and disappear through the back door.

Then I make my last round to the water, which is where my sprayer runs empty. Hoping she can’t tell, I continue waving around the wand, all the way back up the path and around the other sides of the building before climbing in Davis’ Jeep and driving away.

As he lets me off at Pearl Harbor, I notice Val standing just outside the visitor center.

I’m sure my ma and Bryce kept pestering her about where I’ve been. I’m over an hour late coming back.

She said she could handle any delays, and I’m sure she did.

Woman’s got better stamina and wits than she gives herself credit for. That still bothers me.

How so many people, namely her family, just beat her down over the years.

I leave the exterminator stuff in the Jeep and get out, heading for the visitor center’s bathroom so I can change out of my jumpsuit.

Val meets me on the sidewalk. “I was getting worried! How did it go?”

“Nothing dire, but can’t say I walked away with much, either,” I tell her, lacing my fingers with hers. “Did you know about the false wall in Ray’s office?”

She frowns. “False wall? Um, that’s news to me.”

“It’s there, behind the shelves. There’s even a fingerprint reader.”

“Whoa. You mean right there in Dad’s old office?” she asks.

“Yeah, and it’s been used lately, so it’s Ray’s prints I’ll need to open it.”

“Yikes.” A worried look furrows her brow. “How are we going to get those?”

“I’ll have to lift them from somewhere.”

I’m glad we leave it there. Just then, Bryce and my ma come around the corner, laughing.