19

After a brief breakfast and a few moments of silence in the sanctuary, Leo headed out for a brisk stroll. He didn’t encounter too many of the folks he knew, but everyone responded to his waves and nods with perfunctory greetings. It wasn’t anything special but it was good to know that people on Tranquility were not inclined to ignore their fellow man. It reminded Leo of home, and made him feel less isolated than he had before. 

To the left and right of the dock on Main Street, the island sloped down to a rocky shore. Leo hesitated to categorize it as ‘beach’ in his own mind, but he was sure that some people might’ve considered it safe enough to swim off from. He skipped a few stones and watched them slip end around over and over out to sea, sometimes as many as six or seven times each. A seagull hopped down from the brush and surveyed Leo, wondering if he had any leftover fries or a bite or two of burger to share. Seeing none, the bird stared Leo down and flew off to explore the rest of Main Street. 

Grinning from ear to ear, Leo turned back to the ebb and flow of the waves on the rocky shore. The storm hadn’t come yet, but Leo could sense something changing in the water. Off the shore a dolphin lazed by and then another, dorsal fins cutting through the water as they swam by. They weren’t fish, he remembered suddenly, but mammals. Maybe they could sense the storm coming. 

Storm or not, Leo still had a day to deal with before the looming dinner at the O’Rourke estate. He figured he’d swing through town and find out if there were any of the other islanders he hadn’t met yet. It wouldn’t do to be the pastor of the only church in town and ignore half of the congregation. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. The bouncing of a basketball ball broke Leo out of his thoughts as he neared Main Street. Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, were walking by, and the smallest dribbled the basketball between his legs, around his back, and then back through his legs in opposite order. He caught sight of Leo, and held the ball, halfway through the routine. 

“Hey, you’re the new preacher, right?” the boy asked. He brushed his brown bangs out of his face and stared at Leo with unblinking hazel eyes. “My dad says we’ll have to come see if you have anything worth saying this Sunday.”

Leo smiled calmly, taking it all in stride. He replied, “Well, I’m Leo and we’ll see if I have something your dad thinks is worth saying.” 

The two other teenagers were watching Leo warily, and the girl whispered something to the taller boy. Leo saw that they were both muscular, and resembled each other. He figured that the smaller boy must be their younger brother. 

“What are your names?” Leo asked, looking from the smaller boy to the other two. The girl stepped forward, giving Leo the once over that he figured was supposed to put him in his place. “I’m Steph, and this is Steven,” she said, indicating the boy her size. Pointing at the little boy, she said, “That’s Junior.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” replied Leo, trying to keep his tone conversational and light in the face of the teenagers’ distrust. “What are you up to? Do you have school?”

“It’s break for the Annual Migration,” said Junior, shaking his head at Leo’s ignorance. When Leo looked at him blankly, Junior continued, “There’s no school so that everyone can take part in getting ready for the festivities.” 

“We’re headed to shoot baskets at the school,” added Junior, beginning his through the legs, around the back, through the legs again routine. “You want to come?”

“Um,” started Steph, and Steven rolled his eyes. Leo grinned his best smile and said, “Sure, I’d love to!”

Over the next few minutes, Leo walked with Junior who told him all about fourth grade on the island, and how cool it was to be in the same school as his brother and sister. They were twins, Junior revealed, in the tenth grade. Today, they were given the responsibility of watching Junior, although he carefully avoided using the word ‘babysitting.’ 

Behind them, the twins trailed, keeping their voices low and continuing to eye Leo with suspicion. He figured that they hadn’t been around the pastor, and were worried that he was going to report back to their parents. He decided not to tell them that he didn’t have the slightest idea who their parents were. 

At the school, Leo stopped to stare at the building that served as the center of learning for the whole island. It was a stone’s throw from the library, but when he had heard ‘one-room schoolhouse,’ he hadn’t really considered that it was only one room, literally. It did have a half court for basketball, and a tiny cement area set aside for four square. But compared to schools on the mainland, there was barely enough to look at here. 

“Hey, mister, can you shoot?” asked Junior. Leo looked up, and found all three youngsters staring at him expectantly. Steven added, “If you play, we can go two on two.” 

Leo sighed. He wasn’t much of an athlete, but how hard could it be to play with these kids? He rolled up his sleeves, and nodded his head. 

A few hours later, Gillian found Leo sitting on a bench near the basketball court. The teenagers had left in search of lunch, with Junior waving to Leo as they disappeared around a bend. At least one of the youth thought he was “cool,” even if the other two had barely said a word to him while they played, mixing up teams throughout the morning. Now, Leo held an ice pack to the back of his head, and his shoes looked like they had been put through a rock tumbler. If he could be honest, he hurt all over, including in places that he didn’t even know that he had muscles. 

“What happened to you?” she asked, barely containing her own laughter. “Would you like to make a report for the article?”

“I believe I was ‘schooled’ by a trio of basketball-playing youngsters,” he said, wryly. “One of them crossed me over so badly that I slipped and hit my head. Even the youngest one broke my ankles a few times.” 

“So you won’t be signing up for the youth initiative I keep hearing whispers about?” Gillian followed up, laughing openly now. She sat down next to Leo, and winced when she saw the goose egg on the back of his head. 

“Oh the kids are wonderful,” replied Leo. “It’s just that I shouldn’t be involved in any of the sporting activities here.”

Gillian grinned. “Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself. There have to be other things you’re good at, right? Praying, preaching, reading the Bible?”

“Oh yes,” Leo replied, rolling his eyes. “All of the things that young people find impressive and intriguing.” 

“Maybe you just need to work on your jumpshot. You’ll be able to win them over if you stick with it,” replied Gillian. 

Leo groaned. “I’m going to need a few days to recuperate before I think about playing anything again!”

20

Inside the chapel, O’Rourke waited for George and Betty Williams to show up. He had spoken to Betty on the phone while on his last trip to the mainland, but he didn’t really know what to expect. She had seemed competent and knowledgeable about running a youth program, and he knew that if they were going to provide a better future for the young people on Tranquility, that they would need strong leaders. The single-room school teacher could not be expected to do it on her own. When the island council met with her two months prior, she had threatened to quit if they didn’t find a way to support her, or at least curtailing the negative activities of many of the youth in ages K through 12. 

O’Rourke shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the problem that the island was facing. Back when he was a child living on the island, his father’s word was law. If he had stepped outside of what the school teacher back then had said, he would’ve been unable to sit down for a week and probably never seen the outside of his house or the schoolhouse for months. These days, mused O’Rourke, parents wanted to be their child’s best friend and refused to provide any discipline whatsoever. 

The door opened and in walked a couple with a child in tow. O’Rourke’s anxiety rose, even as he stood to greet the Williamses. He shook George’s hand, noting that the man was out of shape but still strong. Apparently, George’s days of playing collegiate basketball were far behind him but he still claimed some of the athleticism and strength that had made him a Big East star. O’Rourke had never had much time or interest in sports, but he understood from several other members of the island council that George Williams had been a force on the court. O’Rourke was more interested in how the man and his wife would use their platform to help the island not fall into a ridiculous state of vandalism and truancy. 

Betty Williams watched O’Rourke carefully as he turned his head to acknowledge Bryan. Bryan was watching the patterns of stainglassed light play across the wall above him, and barely acknowledged the older man. From where O’Rourke was standing, that was just as well. He hadn’t had too much experience with young people in his line of work, and he saw the issues on the island as something to be fixed rather than relationally. He patted the little boy on the head with his giant hand and turned to nod respectfully at Betty. 

The female half of the relationship was quiet and calm, the opposite of her husband’s leadership style. She smiled at Bryan’s interest in the stained glass patterns and nodded to O’Rourke before pulling a coloring book and some crayons out of her purse and putting them down on a pew where Bryan could use them. 

O’Rourke turned to George and asked, “So what are you all thinking about the island so far?” 

George looked at his wife, and responded carefully. “We think it’s a beautiful place to live, and the ride out here was pleasant. We have met a few people in town and haven’t really explained why we’re here. But everyone has been super friendly. We haven’t seen too many young people yet.” 

The older man nodded, staring up at the ceiling for a few silent moments. “It’s true,” he said, sighing. “We don’t have too many but the ones we have either end up running away as soon as they can or they seem to get taken away because they make life decisions that negatively impact the rest of us on the island. Graffiti, petty theft, underage drinking. I’m sure those are all acceptable coming-of-age things on the mainland, but here, that’s not really what we’re going for–”

Betty Williams interrupted. “Those aren’t acceptable things, anywhere. But sometimes we have to consider what’s causing the youth to choose to do those things. Sometimes we have to consider what their options are and what they’re being encouraged to do that gives them options outside of those things.”

O’Rourke was startled initially that Betty had been the one to rebuke him. He expected that the Williamses had a different perspective because you’d have to if you were willing to work with youth full-time. But their perspective would need to be remarkably different from anyone else’s on the island because what they had been trying wasn’t working. 

Maybe he would need to listen to something completely different if they were going to get anywhere good.

21

Fred wiped down the bar at Ocean’s Breeze for what felt like the thousandth time already that day. This was one of the days when Fred was sorry he had agreed to buy the Ocean’s Breeze on a whim a few years before, wishing he had never set foot on this island out in the middle of nowhere. 

Today, Fred was tired, and it was showing. He was tired, tired of getting drinks for people who thought that everything they did was ‘all-included’ even if the island businesses weren’t paid a dime by the cruises themselves. He was tired of dealing with little old island people who had lived on the island for most of their lives and couldn’t be bothered to vote for things like credit card machines or the internet. 

Seriously, why would anyone want to live somewhere that was a step above a Third World country, when all of the amenities and technology of the world could be had just about anywhere else? Why would anyone settle for this?

Another cruise ship couple came teetering up to the bar. Fred smiled at them grimly, the emotions conveyed by his lips not traveling north to his eyes. The couple was too enamored by looking at all of the nautical acoutremon attached to the walls, and the fish tank that Fred begrudgingly kept stocked with local aquatic life. They were looking around, while also blocking a stream of cruise ship employees who actually wanted to order alcohol, something Fred was happy to supply them with for exorbitant prices. 

“Excuse me, young man,” started the older woman, pushing her glasses up on her nose, as the frames fought against the seashell-encrusted glasses strap that looked like it weighed ten pounds. “I’m deathly allergic to seafood, so I’m assuming you have a grill that is free and clear of all of those nasty wildlife.”

Fred shook his head, keeping the smile plastered on his face. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he replied, towering over the little woman. “We don’t have that kind of capability here.”

“I knew it, Herbert,” the woman said, sighing. She turned away from Fred dismissively. “Let’s go find somewhere worthy to eat in.”

Herbert was turning red, as he labored to swing his extremely large stomach up to the bar. “This is unacceptable!” the man snapped, slamming his ring-encrusted hand down loudly on the bar. The early hour meant the bar was only half-full, and no one had turned the jukebox on yet. The slap on the bar was loud, but the bowl of peanuts that Herbert sent flying knocked over a few island daiquiris farther down the bar. 

“Ow!” cried Herbert, attempting to pull his hand back hastily. One of his oversized rings had become stuck on the engraved railing, and no matter how he jerked backward, the ring didn’t budge. Fred felt his anger rising, but he locked eyes with one of the cruise ship workers he knew and realized that everyone was laughing at the man, not at Fred. 

As one of the waitresses walked by out of the kitchen, Fred swiped a bowl of half-melted butter off of her tray. He shoved the bowl under the railing, where Herbert’s finger submerged in the liquid ooze. He kept yanking spastically, and finally jerked his hand free, falling backward into the crowd waiting to buy beer. 

This only caused the crowd to laugh louder, as Herbert’s wife tried to drag him to his feet. Herbert was still working to gain his footing, and accidentally caught ahold of his wife’s glasses strap. With a pop, seashells joined the peanuts everywhere, and Herbert slipped getting up. Someone else’s legs were taken out from under them, and a pile of people hit the floor. 

When the dust settled, Herbert and his wife fled the scene, angry and embarrassed, while Fred called another waitress over to help take the abundant orders of beer for a midday rush. As he walked away, he glanced down at the ring he had palmed as he slid it off the finger of Herbert’s immobilized hand. 

It would certainly pawn for more than a day’s wages at the Ocean’s Breeze, thought Fred, and he smiled genuinely for the first time that day.

Chapters 22-24 coming April 12!