The Gin and Chowder Club

“Perhaps you might try a scant two next time,” she said with a smile. Carrying her Bible and a cup of the strong coffee, she went out onto the porch.

Asa packed his cooler with two sandwiches, two Cokes, pickles, cookies, chips, a hard-boiled egg, an apple, and two dog biscuits. He had to rearrange his lunch twice to get the top on. He also filled a jug with ice water. He looked around the kitchen one last time to see if there was anything he had missed and decided he probably had enough. He could always stop and buy a snack if need be. Asa looked at Martha. “Well, are you finally ready?” he asked. She wagged her tail. Asa pushed open the screen door, and Martha followed him out. “I’ll be home for dinner,” he said, leaning down to give Sarah a kiss on the cheek.

“Okay,” she said, reaching up to put her hand on his face. “Have a good day. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Asa headed down the steps with Martha gingerly following along at his heels. When they reached the truck, Asa opened the passenger door. Martha looked up at the high seat and then at Asa, her sad eyes questioning.

“It’s okay,” he said. Martha put her front paws up on the seat, and Asa gently picked up her hindquarters and lifted her in. He tucked her tail safely beside her and kissed her head. “Love you too,” he whispered. He unrolled her window, closed the door, and put his cooler and tools in the back, all the while, thinking about how the only girls he had ever said I love you to were his mother and his dog. Asa shook his head as he got in the truck. “Oh, well, ole girl, oh, well. Such is the life of a solitary man.”

Asa headed out to Route 6 and turned left. As he swung right onto the rotary, Martha put her head out the window and breathed in the salty air, her wet nostrils quivering with excitement, her ears and jowls flapping as she looked at all of the cars waiting to join the circling traffic, making it obvious to everyone who saw her that she was enjoying the ride. Asa looked over and thought to himself, Happy as a clam. He thought of the time he had asked his father where that saying had come from. “When is a clam happy, and how do you tell that it is happy?” he had wondered aloud. “It certainly isn’t happy when it’s about to become chowder!”

His father had chuckled at the question and then asked him, “If you were a clam, you wouldn’t be happy to be in my chowder?”

“No way!” he had replied. “I’d only be happy to stay in the ocean.” Asa smiled at the memory as he made his way off the rotary.

They continued along Beach Road in Orleans, and Martha kept her head out the window the whole way, only pulling it in for an occasional sneeze. Finally, Asa turned onto the long driveway that led up to Nate and Noelle’s house. He looked for signs of life but was disappointed to find none. He parked his truck in the shade, got out, and opened Martha’s door to lift her down. She licked his nose, wagged her tail happily, and wandered off to see what interesting smells she could find. Asa put his lunch and ice water under a tree and opened the garage to get the drop cloths. He surveyed the front of the house and decided to wait on the back windows. He would work on all of them at once.

The drop cloths were heavy as he gently draped them over the shrubs to protect them from paint scrapings. He set up the stepladder, pulled off his T-shirt, turned his baseball cap around, and got to work. Asa preferred painting to scraping but was determined to do a thorough scraping job on this, one of his favorite houses. He worked diligently all through the morning and, by lunchtime, was growing weary of the monotonous work. He had devoured one of his sandwiches early in the day, but he was hungry again and decided to break when he had finished around the door.

Martha was lying in the shade next to the cooler when Asa walked over. She looked up at him. “C’mon, girl, let’s go up by the pool.” She slowly got to her feet and moseyed after him, her internal clock telling her that it must be time for a snack. Asa sat down at the table under the umbrella and dug into his cooler. He opened a Coke and looked around. The crystal-clear water certainly looked inviting, and he wished he had brought his suit. He would have to remember to bring it next time, along with a towel and a radio. He ate his lunch slowly and gave Martha both of her treats and one of his cookies. He filled up a little bowl he had brought with some of his ice water, and she took a drink and ate an ice cube. Asa leaned back. It was hot, even in the shade. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Honeybees hummed around the lilies that peered over the fence, and hummingbirds squeaked and buzzed around the bee balm. The summer air was heavy with the scent of mint and mown grass.

Asa noticed a crumpled towel on the ground next to the lounge chair on the other side of the pool. He walked over and picked it up. It was dry. He looked around again. It certainly is private up here, he thought. He knelt down and felt the water as a bead of perspiration trickled down the side of his cheek. What the heck, he decided, standing up and walking back to his chair. He kicked off his sneakers as he unzipped his shorts, looking around one last time. He quickly pulled off his shorts and boxers in one smooth motion and waded into the pool. The water was refreshing, and he dove under to cool his head. He floated around for a while, luxuriating in the freedom of no clothes. As he lay back in the water, he began to feel aroused by his own nakedness in this setting. He closed his eyes and wondered what Noelle would think if she came home right now. He opened his eyes, half hoping she would be standing there, and was disappointed when she wasn’t.

Asa got out of the pool, reached for the towel, and slowly dried himself off. As he gingerly pulled his shorts up, he remarked, “Someday, Martha, we’re going to make some woman very happy,” and then added, “That is, if we’re not leading the reclusive life-that would certainly be an obstacle.” Martha thumped her tail agreeably.

“Okay, ole girl, back to work.” Asa hung the towel over the chair, put his hat on, picked up his cooler and water jug, and walked toward the gate. Martha followed faithfully.

11

Thankfully, the afternoon seemed to pass more quickly than the morning. Asa glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost four o’clock. He wanted to be completely finished scraping before he cleaned up. As he moved the ladder again, he heard Martha barking and looked up to see her trotting toward the driveway. He watched Noelle’s Bel Air pull up to the house, and his heart started pounding. Martha greeted her happily and escorted her to the front of the house. Noelle was wearing her nurse’s uniform and cap, and her hair was pulled back. After a long day, though, some wisps of her hair had come loose and now fell lightly over her cheeks.

“It’s a lot of work, isn’t it?” she remarked sympathetically. “You must be tired.” Despite herself, Noelle found her eyes drawn to Asa’s torso and realized she had not seen him without a shirt in several years. He was no longer the wiry, skinny boy she had first met while caring for Annie. Instead, his chest had broadened, and his tan shoulders and arms were smooth and hard.

Asa smiled. “Yeah, but I’m making progress,” he answered, looking around for his shirt.

Noelle was touched by his modesty. “I’m glad you’re still here. I hate coming home to an empty house. I picked up a few things at the store. Would you like to stay for supper?”

Asa was surprised by the invitation. “I can’t,” he answered, obviously disappointed. “I told Mom I’d be home for supper. Thanks, though.”

“Well, how about some peach cobbler, then? I still have some left.”

“That sounds good,” Asa replied, finally locating his shirt, turning it right-side out, and pulling it over his head. “I just want to finish this last part and clean up.”

“Okay,” Noelle said. “Come in when you’re done.” She turned to walk up the path, and Martha followed, hoping there might be a snack in the bag for her.

Half an hour later, Asa quietly pushed open the screen door and found Noelle sitting on the porch, reading a book, with Martha asleep at her feet. He glanced down at the book. It had a worn cover, and he couldn’t make out the title. Hearing him come in, Noelle looked up and smiled.

“All done?”

He nodded.

She put the book down, stood, and turned to go inside. She had changed out of her uniform and looked cool and comfortable in khaki shorts and a sleeveless white blouse. Her hair was pulled up with tortoiseshell combs, and the earrings she wore matched the necklace that fell between the open buttons of her blouse. Asa picked up the book she had been reading and followed her into the kitchen.

“What would you like to drink? That’s one thing I forgot to get, so I don’t have much. Let’s see,” she said,