Chapter 15
Forever hold your peace
An hour and a half later The Gibson House was quiet enough to know who everyone was when they walked in, and Estrelica walked in to find Vic at a table reading a book to himself. Estrelica joined him and asked if he had called the justice of the peace yet.
"Yeah, we ought to go pretty soon."
"Okay, but we have time for at least ONE round." She said going up to the bar and bringing back a vodka gimlet each.
"What do you know about the stars?" Vic asked.
"Why?"
"Well, I’m reading about this one star that was found by two people at the same time, and there’s a huge court case about whether it should be called 51267-Page or 51267-Perrin. I guess neither side is budging." Vic said.
"Oh, I don’t know anything about that. I thought you meant what’s the best season to plant tomatoes or something like that."
"Tomatoes?"
"Sling them inside a warm shed and toss them over the rafters when the summer’s over. You’ll be surprised."
"That’s it?"
"Always works for me."
One of the waitresses, a smooth old cuss of about 52 with yellow wire hair wiped off their table as Vic’s eyes found their way into the cleavage her costume poked up.
"Are those things for hire?" He laughed and asked,
"Well, if business doesn’t pick up soon, they just may be."
They both laughed as Estrelica followed up, "If something doesn’t pick up soon."
"When does that blind guy come in? The one who plays the organ?" Vic asked.
"Oh, not for a few hours," the waitress.
"We have to come back here," Vic nodded to Estrelica.
"Oh, come on: A blind guy?"
"At least he never gets lost. Just wait till you hear him sing."
They finished their drinks and walked down to the offices of the justice of the peace, passing Jason in traffic on the way and convinced him that he should be a witness, with Jason knowing all the time that they were just putting him on. When they got to the offices, Vic thought about Estrelica’s top hat, but kept walking. Estrelica thought of the skirt she was wearing and whistled to herself. Jason wondered how long this little escapade was going to take because he had a bell in half an hour.
After a brief series of introductions and salutations and filling out some forms and listening to all of the things they both figured they’d tell them, they were led into a small room with filing cabinets sagging and rusted, with broken fans in both windows and a little desk that had been pilfered from a local grade school with NIXON NOW, MCGOVERN’S A COW in gigantic red Magic Marker scrawled across the top. The justice sat down on the other side of the desk and flipped open the register, took a gold pen from the stand on the desk, scrawled a few black marks and turned it around for the two of them to sign.
Ash, Estrelica Cheree December 5, 1967
905 18th Avenue 206-
Seattle, Washington 98112
Blacker, Victor Carey February 14, 1964
6125 Sand Point Way 206-526-6507
Seattle, Washington 98115
Estrelica leaned forward to see what he had written.
"Vic, don’t lie to them." she whispered.
"What?"
"Valentine’s Day?" she flinched.
"Must have been a warm night in May."
The justice put war paint on his face, dipped his fingers in a white, sugared mug of coffee, crossed himself with the gold pen, tried turning on one of the broken fans that spat sparks and fell on the floor kicking it’s blades this way and that, patted Estrelica on the head, elbowed Vic in the ribs, used both hands to shake one of Jason’s, wished them all a nice day and left them alone in the room as he went back to work, closing the door behind him.
"Now, wait a minute." Jason muttered. "What did I just see?"
"A passport changing hands," Estrelica smiled.
"And a couple of signatures and numbers." Vic finished.
Estrelica glared at Vic trying not to smile. Vic smiled at Estrelica trying not to glare.
"Well, you knew it had to happen."
"Okay, Jason, you want to take me to the airport?" Vic asked.
"This is all too much." Jason said putting his hand through his hair.
"Oh, shut up and just start the meter." Estrelica laughed.
"Look, are you guys going to be at the Comet tonight?" Jason asked.
"Could be." Vic grinned.
"Well, could we meet up then? I have a bell in about five minutes."
Jason gave them both a hug and left to get back to work as Vic sat up on the registry desk and sighed. Estrelica slowly moved over to him as he opened his knees and she put her hands on his waist.
"It’s all downhill from here, you know," Estrelica murmured putting her lips on Vic’s.
"Downhill and gaining speed," Vic mumbled with both tongues in his mouth.
She knew she couldn’t tell him what she was really like, and he knew he’d have to hide a few addresses deep down in his wallet, but they smacked each other like peacocks anyway, opened one of the windows and left the building laughing.
