The Widow’s Saloon (Part 3 of 7)
In three harsh, ragged breaths, Alistair—a young man hardened by long, grueling shifts at The Trawler—banished his exhaustion. He signaled his fellow players with a sharp, sideways glance. Like people being led by the hand from the mouth of a darkened cave, the guitarist and the harmonica player blinked, their eyes finally focusing on the room around them. On the beat following Alistair’s third breath, the trio exploded into sound. They jumped into a hyper-kinetic dance number traditionally reserved for the launching of a new ship. It was not a planned choice, but rather the instinctive result of pressure meeting familiarity. They could not have known they were ushering in a new tradition for celebrating the most memorable souls of Harbor Side.
At that moment, the atmosphere in the Dotted Ox shifted. The room had been choked by a lingering, piercing remorse, but as the band played, that fallow regret metamorphosed into something else: shared, visceral healing.
Chapter 5
A woman named Yannis Serese reached out and grabbed the hand of the attractive Dr. Geovini, pulling with the full expectation of having to drag him toward the empty space between the ring of chairs and the bar. To her surprise, the doctor rose willingly. Instead of following her lead, he guided her onto the floor where they stomped and twirled together to the frenetic rhythm.
Friends, neighbors, and lovers followed them into the center of the room, their heavy boots thudding against the wood in a collective heartbeat. The band played with bright, reckless energy, their music fueling a whirlwind of emotion that chased away the last of the somber shadows.
Vlorance watched, her heart swelling until she could feel it fluttering beneath her hand. Tears blurred her eyes as she looked at the revelers. Henry had dreamt of a place where Harbor Side’s residents could finally be together in peace. Here it was.
Her breath caught as the crowd parted and Henry appeared, ambling toward her in his easy way. In disbelief, she pulled off her spectacles, wiped the lenses, and settled them back on. Henry was gone, replaced by Robert Elmsly.
People in town called him Bob or Rob, but Henry had always called him Bobby. Even in his wool pants and suspenders, he was a mysterious figure. He sauntered to the bar and snatched off his short-brimmed bowler, crushing it in his hands. His honey-blond hair fell free, almost matching the striking color of his eyes. He tried to meet Vlorance’s gaze, and his words choked in his throat. He looked down at the dusty floorboards, embarrassed.
“Vlo, I...”
He finally found the courage he was looking for. Meeting her eyes, Bobby twisted his hat so hard Vlorance was sure he would rip the felt. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you both. I know Henry wouldn't want you to be left all alone."
He was right, but without Henry, "alone" was all she was ever going to be. Robert could not understand that yet. A woman named Zareen appeared at Vlorance's elbow just then, drying her hands on a grease-stained rag. Vlorance snatched the cloth from her friend's hands, gesturing with a tilt of her head toward the handsome, tanned man in front of them.
"I'm not alone," Vlorance told Bobby. "And neither of you should be, either."
Zareen, known as Zed to her friends, had arrived at the Dotted Ox earlier that afternoon to help Vlorance set up. She smiled at Bobby and an automatic grin broke across his face, but shame quickly wiped it away. Vlorance saw the conflict within the young man and moved to reassure him.
"Go on," she said. "It's alright."
Zed glided over to Robert. He gulped as she drew near.
“Hey,” she said. “Do you want to dance?”
Elmsly lowered his head as he replaced his hat. When he straightened, his eyes were dry and his smile had returned. “Absolutely,” he said, taking her hand.
Vlorance watched the young couple wander onto the floor together. While the room danced, a stranger drifted in from the street. The visitor wore a faded denim jumpsuit, their skin so pale it appeared ash-white in the amber candlelight. Without a word, the stranger lifted a silver trumpet to their lips and played the horn in a way no one in that room had ever heard.
Caught in the current of the music, Elmsly threw his head back and howled like a lonely coyote, long and loud. The rest of the room, Vlorance included, howled in return.
Driven by the impromptu quartet’s music, the celebration surged for hours. From sundown until sunup, at no point did every pair of feet simultaneously touch the ground.
Outside the saloon, two young girls stood with their round faces pressed against the window glass. One of the girls watched Zed dance with the man she would one day love as a father. That night, the image of them leaping into the air and laughing in perfect unison, was etched into the girl’s memory forever.
Beside her, the other girl —named Luciana— stuck her tongue out in a look of pure disgust.
“Oh gross, they’re kissing.”
Young Zareen—who was named after her mom— found the couple her friend was talking about in a corner doing exactly that. She looked away quickly; Lucy was right. Gross.
Luciana’s grandmother called to the girls from in front of the next building over. “Come on you girls,” the older woman said, “your mothers’ll probably shave my eyebrows while I’m sleeping if they learn how late I let you out.”
Both children were slow to respond to the demand. “Come away from that window,” the woman warned again, “or I’ll leave the two of you to the jungle cats.”
The threat captured the girls’ attention. Luciana ran toward her grandmother with her friend a step or so behind.
Inside the Dotted Ox, Zed thought she caught a glimpse of Luciana’s bright orange curls over Elmsly’s shoulder, but the undulating mass of dancers swept them along before she could be sure. He grabbed her hand and held it above her head as she pirouetted. Zed craned her neck to see around him; if that had been Luciana, then Zed knew her daughter would be somewhere close behind.
She stole a glance at the window between the moving bodies, but all she saw were panes of glass, fogged where someone had breathed on them.
See more of Vlorance, Bobby, and the Dotted Ox in Part 4
