Just
seventeen steps, is all
That's what I'd tell myself, but I didn't tell
Ilse
A little farther each day, stamping out footprints
behind meBy the time Santa Claus showed up at
the Beneva Road Mall, where Jack Cantori sometimes
took me shopping, I realized an amazing thing: all
my southbound footprints were clearThe right
sneaker-print didn't start to drag and blur until
I was on my way back
Exercise becomes addictive, and rainy days didn't
put a stop to mineThe second floor of Big Pink
was one large roomThere was an industrialstrength
rose-colored carpet on the floor and a
huge window facing the Gulf of MexicoThere was
nothing elseJack suggested that I make a list of
furniture I wanted up there, and said he'd get it
from the same rental place where he'd gotten the
downstairs stuffassuming the downstairs http://www.snluxury.com/categorys_11_Necklace-Pendants_1.html" target="_blank stuff
was all rightI assured him it was fine, but said
I wouldn't need much on the second floorI liked
104
the emptiness of that roomIt called to my
imaginationWhat I wanted, I said, was three
things: a plain straight-backed chair, an artist's
easel, and a Cybex treadmillCould Jack provide
those things? He could and did
From then until the end it was the second floor
for me when I wanted to draw or paint, and it was
the second floor for exercise on days when the
weather closed inThe single straight-backed
chair was the only real piece of furniture that
ever lived up there during my tenure in Big Pink
In any case, there weren't that many rainy days -
not for nothing is Florida called the Sunshine
StateAs my southward strolls grew longer, the
speck or specks I'd seen on that first morning
eventually resolved into http://www.snluxury.com/categorys_14_Damier-Geant_1.html" target="_blank two people - at least, on
most days it was twoOne was in a wheelchair and
wearing what I thought was a straw hatThe other
pushed her, then sat beside herThey appeared on
the beach around seven AMSometimes the one who
could walk left the one in the wheelchair for a
little while, only to come back with something
that glittered in the early sunI suspected a
coffee pot, a breakfast tray, or bothI further
105
suspected they came from the huge hacienda with
the acre or so of orange tiled roofThat was the
last house visible on Duma Key before the road ran
into the enthusiastic overgrowth that covered most
of the island
iv
I couldn't quite get used to the emptiness of the
place"It's supposed to be very quiet," Sandy
Smith had told me, but I had still pictured the
beach filling up by midday: couples sunning on
blankets http://www.snluxury.com/categorys_82_Speedmaster_1.html" target="_blank and slathering each other with tanning
lotion, college kids playing volleyball with iPods
strapped to their biceps, little kids in saggy
swimsuits paddling at the edge of the water while
Jet-Skis buzzed back and forth forty feet out
Jack reminded me that it was only December"When
it comes to Florida tourism," he said, "the month
between Thanksgiving and Christmas is Morgue City
Not as bad as August, but still pretty dead He gestured with his armWe were
standing out by the mailbox with the red 13 on it,
me leaning on my crutch, Jack looking sporty in a
106
pair of denim cut-offs and a fashionably tattered
Tampa Devil Rays shirt"It's not exactly tourist
country hereSee any trained dolphins? What you
got is seven houses, counting that big 'un down
thereWhere there's another
house falling apart, by the wayThat's http://www.snluxury.com/scategory_28_Omega-Watches.html" target="_blank according
to some of the stories I've heard on Casey Key
"What's with Duma, Jack? Nine miles of prime
Florida real estate, a great beach, and it's never
been developed? What's up with that?"
He shrugged"Some kind of long-running legal
dispute is all I knowWant me to see if I can
find out?"
I thought about it, then shook my head
"Do you mind it?" Jack looked honestly curious
"All the quiet? Because it'd get on my nerves a
little, to tell you the God's honest And that was the truth
Healing is a kind of revolt, and as I think I've
said, all successful revolts begin in secret
"What do you do? If you don't mind me asking?"
"Exercise in the morningsSleep in the
afternoonsI may eventually try
painting, but I'm not ready for that yet
107
"Some of your stuff looks pretty good for an
amateur
"Thank you, Jack, that's very http://www.snluxury.com/product_588_Prada-Multicolor-Leather-Fairy-Bag.html" target="_blank k