Chapter 44

Catherine had been gone a few days. Ruth and Phil set out for the walk to Mallory Square to watch the sunset. They were permanent residents of Key West, but they would probably never be Conchs in their lifetimes. They were not quite tourists anymore either, but they enjoyed the festival atmosphere and the beautiful sunset. They arrived a little before sunset and got themselves some key lime pie and water and found a good place to sit. Jugglers went by and down a ways palm readers were at work. They ate their pie and watched the people.

“It is good pie,” a familiar voice spoke from behind them.

They looked back and then jumped up in surprise. It was Mr. Joshua Green in a bright shirt with a sunset on it and a cap that said Key West. He had a piece of pie and was happily licking his fork.

“What the hell!” Phil said.

“Hello to both of you. Congratulations on your wedding. I thought you two might get together – eventually. May I sit with you?”

They were too stunned to reply, so they just sat down. Joshua was looking more and more like George, George when they had first met him.

Ruth finally blurted out, “Why are you here?”

“To see the sunset.”

She smirked. “Never a straight answer with you.”

“That’s not fair, Ruth,” he said with a twinkle. “You two know so much about me.”

“Lot of good it did us,” Phil grumbled.

“Oh, I don’t know. Nice retirement you have going here. And it was fun at times, wasn’t it, Phil?”

Phil had to give him a crooked smile. He was right in a way. It had been fun, a lot of the time. More fun than any other job he ever did.

“And here I am Ruth, your intelligent life from outer space.”

“But no one will ever know, will they?”

“Eventually. Eventually. But we need to be careful, as you well know. And the people we care about need to be protected. I want to thank you both for your consideration for Janna and my children. I am not joking around with this. Seriously. Seriously.”

He leaned forward so he could look them both in the eyes.

“Don’t presume to make the virtuous others your allies. Be happy to find in them a place of not hiding and no harm.”

He continued to look at them. Then he leaned back and ate some more pie.

“That’s not one of the best ones, at least not in English. They are important in our culture, like haikus maybe or koans or aphorisms. I just tell you that one to let you know that I am not recruiting you for one of my nefarious plans. Believe it or not, we just want to live and learn. It was almost the case with George. But now I believe it is fully true with you and I believe it will be with Catherine. I can be with you without hiding who I am and it will not harm you and it will not harm me or the ones I love. And for that I am truly happy.”

“If I understand you, I guess we should be honored,” Ruth said.

“Another piece of pie should pay me off.” He lifted his empty plate. “But look.”

The sky was turning color. They all three stood up and watched it go down in silence. The sky and the water and the clouds. When the upper edge of the sun finally went under the horizon, there was clapping and shouting.

Ruth looked over to where Joshua had been. He was gone. She touched Phil’s arm and they both looked around in the crowd. Finally, they just looked at each other and shrugged. They wrapped their arms around each other, feeling their bodies in this place at this time. Ruth looked into Phil’s eyes like a besotted teenager and lightly touched his lips with hers.