Chapter 15
Ella was standing at the top of a trail that led down to a narrow peninsula between the ocean and the Russian River when she noticed the red and yellow umbrellas fluttering across the river at Mueller’s Resort. Thank God I don’t work there anymore! That damn job almost wore me out! She thought, pleased not to be working.
As the waves crashed on the beach, violet yelled, “Hey Ella, I love this place. I’m glad you brought me here.”
Ella yelled back, “I like it too. While I’m getting Tommy settled, why don’t you look for buried treasure?”
Violet giggled, replying, “Good idea Ella! I bet pirates stashed all kinds of gold and jewels everywhere.”
While she crawled on her hands and knees looking for seashells, Ella gave Tommy his red bucket, saying, “Here’s your bucket. You go play now, but stay away from the ocean.”
After she found a suitable place for their blanket next to a stand of dark green ice plants blooming purple flowers, she lay down, enjoying the pale sunshine filtering through the mist. She smiled with pleasure when she buried her toes in the sand.
. Violet called, “Hey Ella, I found these old railroad tracks half buried in the sand. They’re all twisted and rusted. Do you know how they got here?”
Ella sat up and replied, “, Yes; steam trains used to come here to unload clipper ships from China, but everything was destroyed by a powerful storm.”
After several minutes, Violet yelled, "Hey Ella, come here. Now I found strawberries."
Ella joined her friend and saw tiny wild strawberries growing in the sand next to a pile of sun-bleached driftwood. After she tasted one, she said, “Violet, this is real sweet. Let’s pick them and make a strawberry shortcake."
Violet clapped her hands. “Ella, that’s a great idea!”
After they filled Tommy’s bucket, they sat on the beach and watched a sand piper keening loudly as it skipped along the shoreline. Violet gently said, “Ella, I’m sorry about your mother."
Ella watched a distant freighter slip over the horizon and then replied, "Gosh Violet, I think about her all the time. Sometimes it feels like she's still here, but I miss her so much!"
Violet gave her a hug, saying, “Ella, I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you Violet, you’re such a good friend.”
After Ella stopped crying and dried her eyes, Violet asked, “When are you and John getting married?"
“We plan to marry as soon as my divorce is final. Rico said he would give me a divorce if John paid all the costs because he thinks John is the one with big bucks. Heck, you know we don’t have much money. Anyway, he was willing to give up Tommy, but he said he would never agree to an adoption.”
Violet frowned. ” Did he say why?”
“I think he just wants his name to be continued, but He’s unwilling to pay for Tommy’s keep. I don’t care what he wants. When Tommy starts school, I’m going to enroll him as Thomas Nelson. John said he considers Tommy to be his own son."
“It sounds like John is being a good father."
Ella hesitated before speaking, "In some ways he is, but sometimes he beats Tommy with his razor strap. When I try to make him stop, he only gets madder. In public he’s a nice guy, but at home he goes into these awful rages. Sometimes I’m afraid."
“Why in hell do you stay with him?”Violet asked, stubbing her cigarette in the sand.
Ella Laughed self-consciously and replied, "Well, he's not as bad as I make him sound. Most of the time he's okay, but it's going to take effort to tame him down. Actually, my life is pretty comfortable now. Staying home sure beats the hell out of working for the Mueller’s. I don’t have to pinch pennies anymore, next month we're going to move into a bigger house, I can use the car whenever I want and each month we go to Santa Rosa and buy everything we need sometimes spending as much as $15. There's always food on the table and I’m pregnant."
Violet skeptically replied, "All right Ella. I hope you know what you're doing,"
When the sun dropped low in the West, Ella gathered their things, saying, “It’s time to go, but I think we should stop at Luigi’s to buy whipping cream for our strawberry shortcake."
“I’m good with that,” Violet enthusiastically replied.
After Ella drove a short distance, she turned on to a rutted road leading up to Luigi’s farm, but her progress was blocked by a flock of chickens busily scratching in the dust. When she blew her horn, the chickens scattered in a flurry of flapping wings and outraged squawks.
Suddenly a large black dog began to chase the car, barking and lunging at the tires.
Luigi came running from the barn, shaking his fist and yelling, "Puccini, stop that a noise! Lay down!"
The dog reluctantly returned to the barn and flopped down with his ears alert.
Luigi's wife, tall and willowy with a long pigtail dangling below her waist, came from the house, saying, "Hello Ella. It's good to see you again. You’re just in time for coffee!"
Ella waved back. “Hi Juanita, I brought my best friend to meet you.” In an undertone, she added,” If they offer us wine, drink it or they’ll be insulted; Italians are like that."
Juanita pointed at Puccini. “Don’t worry about that dog. He’s all bark."
After Juanita was introduced to Violet, she led them to her house with Tommy hanging on Ella’s skirt, observed by Juanita’s five boys.
When Ella entered the low-ceiling kitchen, her nostrils flared from the strings of salami, onions, and garlic suspended from the ceiling. “Juanita, something smells awfully good here, but we need to get whipping cream for a strawberry short cake.”
Juanita replied, “Luigi can help you with that. In the meantime, just make yourself at home.”
While she was stirring the fire under the coffee pot, Luigi came into the kitchen and pulled back a long wooden bench from the table, saying with old world courtliness, "Here, ladies, make a yourself a comfortable."
After Juanita sliced homemade cheese, salami, and French bread, she poured strong coffee into slightly chipped mugs, saying, “There’s plenty of cream. Just help yourselves."
Violet Looked at Luigi and said, “You certainly have a beautiful wife."
He rolled his eyes. "She's a not a too bad for an Indian."
"Juanita, are you really an Indian?"
Taking a sip of coffee, Juanita replied, “Yes, I'm the last one of my tribe. My people lived here for thousands of years, but they all died from white man's diseases. Now, even my children don't act like Indians. They run around like wild Wops like this crazy man here!"
When she playfully elbowed his ribs, he howled in mock pain. "Pay a no attention to that woman. She's a supposed to be a psychic or a something a cuckoo like that. I'm a go to the cellar and a get some a wine."
After he left, Ella asked, "Juanita, was he serious about your being a psychic?"
She laughed." I don't know what I'm called. Sometimes I have visions of ancestors."
"Oh, really! What kind of visions?"
Juanita shrugged and handed a slice of cheese to Tommy, replying, “I don't know, just images of their lives. Tommy, do you want to see the little pigs?"
When he shyly nodded, Juanita motioned to a young boy who was standing in the doorway, balancing on one foot. "Sammy, why don't you come here and take your guest to the pigpen?"
He advanced a few steps into the kitchen and said, "If you want to see the little pigs, then come with me. We've got lots of baby pigs."
They ran through the doorway, nearly colliding with Luigi who was returning with a gallon jug of wine, but they continued their dash to the pigpen.
After Luigi poured four glasses of wine, he gave one to Ella, but the sour taste made her mouth pucker.
Gulping the wine and smacking his lips, he laughed and said, “The first drink is to make your a mouth ready. After that, she's a not so bad. Drink up ladies, and I’ll pour you some more."
When Violet finished her thi
rd glass, her eyes were shining and her speech was slurred. "Luigi, this wine tastes wonderful. What do you call it?"
"You call it a Dago Red. I make it myself."
After Ella finished her fourth glass of wine, she got up to leave, saying, "Oh by the way, Luigi, I almost forgot. We want to buy whipping cream for strawberry shortcake."
He looked pained. "What do you mean a pay me? You're not going to pay a me nothing.”
“Ella protested, oh Luigi, you’re too generous. I at least can give you half of our strawberries. We have plenty.”
He called to his oldest son, “Gino, You run and get a quart of cream for this nice a lady."
“Thank you Luigi,” Ella said and went outside to look for Tommy. She found him in the barn, jumping from the loft into a haystack. She laughed. “Tommy what in the world are you doing?”
“I’m having fun! Sammy showed me how!” he said with hay on his clothes.
“I’m glad you’re having fun, but we have to leave now, she said and walked to the car. When she saw the whipping cream along with a jug of wine, a round of cheese and homemade salami in the car, she objected , "Luigi, just look what you've done!” Thank you, but I feel guilty for taking all this food."
He put his arm around Juanita’s waste, grinning a gap-tooth smile and said, "If you need the shirt from my back, you can a have it. That's what a friends are for."
Later that afternoon, after baking a shortcake, Ella heaped whipping cream on the lopsided loafs while Violet sliced strawberries.
Ella licked her fingers and said, "Violet, let’s go abalone fishing Saturday morning. John said there should be a minus two tide."
Violet replied, "That would be fun, but I need to check with Pete to make sure he’s going to be free."
Ella looked outside, and seeing John carrying a heavy box, held the screen door open, asking, “John, what on earth do you have there?"
"Its coffee and lard and peaches and all kinds of good things," he replied, putting an oil-stained box down on the floor.
She looked in the box and wrinkled her nose, saying, Ugh John, they look awful. Where did you get them?"
He washed his hands in the sink and replied, "Last night a freighter cracked up on the rocks in the fog and spilled its cargo into the ocean. We’ve been finding cans washed up on the beaches all day. Do you want to come with me to find some more?"
Everyone climbed into the Nash, eager to find more food. After John drove north on Highway 1 past the Old Rule ranch, he turned on a steep road leading down to the beach. When he parked, Ella shouted, "Oh look, John, there’s a lot of cans down by the water. Tommy, you can’t go down by those nasty oily cans, but it’s all right to play up here by the car."
The trio Worked quickly gathering the oil-smudged cans, leaving them in a huge pile next to the Nash. An old truck rattled down the steep road and shuddered to a stop with frightened-looking children pressing their faces to the side rails in the back. A man with hunched shoulders climbed from the truck and stared at the collection of cans. After a fit of coughing, he yelled in a thin, reedy voice, "I heared that a ship got wrecked, and there's supposed to be food here."
John swept his arm over the shoreline and yelled, "We already picked this beach clean, but the next one up could be pretty good."
Ella whispered, "John, those kids look hungry. Maybe we should give them some of our cans just in case they don’t find any more."
He cleared his throat. "Well, all right, but don't be too generous."
She called to the ragged family, "We have some extra cans. You're welcome to them if you want them."
The children jumped from the back of the truck and raced toward the food, followed by a stringy woman carrying a baby. "Bless you, Honey. We haven't had a decent meal in days!" she called and stumbled.
John watched the skeletal faces of the children, swallowed several times, making his big Adam's apple move up and down. “Hell, you can have all of the cans. We don’t need them," he yelled and got into his car, gesturing to the others to follow.
As he drove slowly back up the hill, Ella looked back at the hungry family frantically pawing through oily cans. "John, you did the right thing, but some of those cans belonged to Violet."
Violet quickly replied, "Hell Ella, that family won’t go hungry tonight. I’m proud of John and we still have that yummy shortcake still waiting for us to eat."