Perceptiveness. The trait could be as rare as hen’s teeth and as valuable as gold from time to time. Isaac had it. It’s what made him good up on the stage…that ability to read people with a glance. His father had said he’d make a helluva lawyer someday, pick the good clients, get the sympathetic juries. Course that’s what law really was and, when he caught himself thinking about, Isaac figured he’d have done alright as a lawyer, but he knew he didn’t have the malleable integrity necessary for such a career.
Isaac had always been perceptive; always the quiet one, the one who’d listen first and speak last. He supposed he’d had the trait all along, born with it maybe, but he first remembered it manifesting itself the summer of the year he turned eight. The same summer he’d gotten Delilah, the Bluetick Coonhound. He remembered it like it was just yesterday, the scene so jarring, so obvious when merged with the greater wisdom of adulthood.
“Come along Isaac,” Isaac’s mother chastised as her eldest son fell a step or two behind.
“Coming Mama.” Isaac answered and gave a little tug on the leash he held in his hand. The Bluetick Coonhound had been a gift from his father, a puppy that Isaac was supposed to train and rear into a proper hunting dog when he was old enough to accompany his father in the fall and winter several years away. His father had said the puppy was his but Isaac had never felt right about that. Delilah was alive, a companion, but never a possession. “Come on Delilah.” Isaac drawled, the first hints of that slow, antebellum accent weaving through his voice.
He gave another tug on the leash and the hound came away from whatever interesting scent had gotten its attention to lope happily alongside Isaac as the pair caught up to the matriarch of the Wheeler family. The Dogwoods were in full bloom and the air was still and lazy with summer heat. The buzzing of cicadas accompanied mother and son as they walked through their neighborhood, the multi acre estates set amidst small forests of pine and oak trees.
It was the first week of summer vacation and Isaac’s thoughts had been full of ice cream, swimming holes and cane pole fishing when his mother had summoned him, told him that they were going over to the Redfield’s house several streets over. His mother had baked a pineapple upside down cake and they were going to deliver it. Isaac’s mother didn’t bake their maid and nanny, Auntie, had baked it but Isaac’s mother, like all Cotillion Queens, kept up the facade of housewife and mother.
“You be a good boy and don’t say anything when we get there.” His mother reminded him for perhaps the ninth or tenth time. “And you keep that dog on its leash.” The accent, like most of his mother’s traits, subdued and polished to a high gloss. “Mr. Redfield is still in the hospital and I don’t want you or that dog making a mess for Mrs. Redfield.”
“Yes Mama.” Isaac answered obediently. She had a name but Isaac’s mother wasn’t a fan of dogs…they dirtied the house up, carried fleas and ticks and generally made a mess of perfectly crafted home. Just once Isaac would have loved to hear his mother call Delilah by her name, but to this day he couldn’t remember anything other than that dog.
Isaac remembered his mother saying something about Mr. Redfield having an attack of the heart and that it was very sudden but such things were proved difficult in penetrating the imaginations of a young boy with summer on the mind. He followed dutifully, lagging behind every so often as Delilah tried to explore such a big world with all kinds of smells in it only to have to hurry to catch up before his mother chastised him again. By eight, he was a pro at figuring out just when his mother was about to chastise, the look on her face, the way her shoulders squeezed together just so. He hurried to catch up as they walked up the wide driveway of the Redfield’s.
The house was big, almost as big as the Wheeler’s and done in a similar style with plantation pillars and a wide wrap around porch. The yard was well manicured and the trees towered high above the roof…the place (like so many homes in the neighborhood) looked as if time had simply passed it by, leaving it as a remnant of a bygone era.
“Look at these flowers.” Isaac heard his mother say. “I’ll have to say something at the homeowner’s meeting next week.” She had that disapproving look on her face…like when he and his younger brother, Derrick, had tracked mud across their hardwood floors after playing in the gulch back behind their house. Isaac sensed that his mother almost seemed pleased as he walked past several rows of dying flowers, the heat taking its toll and wilting them at the stems and making them look like wet pieces of rope.
Isaac gave a tug on the leash as his mother shifted the tin foil wrapped cake to one hand and rang the doorbell at the front door of the Redfield’s house. “You be polite now…my little gentleman.” She said to her son, that subtle shift to her public face was like a chameleon changing its color as she turned Isaac into a prop.
“Yes Mama.” Spoken quietly as he stood up straight and put a smile on his face. Well versed, Isaac was forced into this role every Sunday at church and whenever his parents had guests over. Always the well behaved and silent scion, he was the mute prince of the Wheeler kingdom.
It took several moments before Mrs. Redfield answered the door. There was the sound of barking and paws scratching at the inside of the door before it opened and Mrs. Redfield appeared. “Alexandria.” Isaac’s mother exclaimed, a smile on her face weighted down with just the right amount of gravity. “How are you?”
“Caroline.” Alexandria Redfield answered, an equally weighty smile for Isaac’s mother. He’d heard his mother talk on the rides home from church, heard her gossip about this family and that, what this person was doing and how that person wasn’t a good Christian. Heard it all while his father merely drove in silence, an occasional “uh-huh” just to let her know he was listening. He’d heard her talk about how Alexandria had married for money and how she didn’t belong…whatever that meant.
“We were so sorry to hear about Jeremiah.” Caroline Wheeler said, voice a diabetic concoction of sweetness and pity. “How is he?” She seemed to almost relish the perceived superior position. Her husband wasn’t laid up in a hospital somewhere after all.
Isaac glanced down at Delilah as she strained against the leash, a flash of yellow behind Mrs. Redfield before their Irish Setter, Duke, twisted between the door and Alexandria’s legs to come nose to nose with the Coonhound puppy. They both stood there for a moment, sniffing at each other…trying to figure one another out.
“He is much better.” Alexandria said as she stood straighter, refusing to reveal any sort of family weakness or shortcomings. “The doctors say he is going to be okay.” She looked down to Isaac and the two dogs. “Don’t mind Duke, Isaac…he’s real nice.”
“Oh thank God. I…we’ve all been praying so hard at the church.” Caroline answered, that Stepford smile still pulling at her lips.
“Thank you.” Alexandria said stiffly as Caroline pressed the cake into her hands.
“Just a little gift.” Caroline said. “And I just love your flowers. So very natural looking.” Delilah gave a little growl as she stood nose to nose with Duke.
“Thank you. How’s Jonathan…away on business again?” Alexandria taking the cake to quickly set it inside on a table before crossing her arms over her chest. There was a tone there…something Isaac realized that his mother didn’t like. He saw the bunch of the shoulders. Duke began to growl back as Isaac tugged on the leash to try and ease Delilah back.
“He’s in France actually. The firm is working on some big case with an international conglomerate. Jonathan’s being kept very busy.” The implication that he was also being very well paid obvious in that elitist tone his mother could slip into as fast as a jackrabbit on the run.
“How nice.” Alexandria answered and an uncomfortable silence descended over the porch.
Duke came forward a little, bumped Delilah with his chest. He was bigger than she was and his weight knocked her back on her haunches. Isaac reached down to scratch behind the puppy’s ears.
“S’ok girl…he’s just saying hello.” Isaac tried to calm the Coonhound though he sensed on a level he hadn’t quite learned to access just yet that the animals were picking up on the tension which existed between the two women, that they reflected the unspoken feelings hanging in the air. Dogs could always feel the undercurrents of what people won't say.
Duke growled again as Isaac’s mother crossed her arms and spoke, “Is it true…what’s being said? That Jeremiah was with…”
Delilah gave another growl and came forward to put her paw up on Duke’s shoulder to try and push him back while giving another growl, her puppy teeth coming to nip at Duke’s neck. Duke gave a sudden bark which interrupted Caroline’s veiled accusation of an affair and that’s when the heart attack happened.
Caroline turned to watch as Duke and Delilah suddenly went at one another. The Irish Setter was trying to bite at Delilah’s snout and Isaac cried out, gave a sharp tug on the leash to pull Delilah back who gave a growl while nipping at the Setter’s ear.
Alexandria gave a shout of surprise as Caroline jumped back from the two dogs that were suddenly going at one another with vicious intent. She pulled at Duke’s collar as Isaac pulled at Delilah’s leash to try and separate the two. There was a moment of fierce growls and snarls, snapping teeth and skittering paws before the two dogs were finally separated. Duke was shooed inside as Isaac collected Delilah up in his hands and held her close against his chest. “Shhh…s’ok girl,” He stroked at the back of her head, scratched behind her ears and the puppy seemed to settle almost instantly.
“Well I think it’s time that we left. Do enjoy the cake.” Caroline said as she put her hand on the back of Isaac’s shoulders. “Come along Isaac.” The sweetness was forced, her shoulders were pinched again and her teeth were clinched…Isaac knew he was in trouble. He’d been there plenty of times.
“Thank you for stopping by.” Alexandria said as she shut the door behind her amidst Duke’s scratching and barking, the Setter still ramped up about the presence of the other dog just outside the door. “I’ll make sure to tell Jeremiah you came by. And tell Jonathan I hope his firm wins their big case.” The two women, both proud matriarchs, eyed one another in silence for a long moment.
“Thank you. And he will. Jonathan always gets what he wants.” Caroline Wheeler gave a squeeze to her son’s shoulder as they walked back down the driver. “I told you not to bring that dog, Isaac. It’s nothing but trouble. I’m going to talk to your father when he gets home.”
Isaac fell inward, his mother’s droning sounding less like words and more like the buzz of that wild bee hive he and Derrick had found last summer…got stung to kingdom come trying to get that honey too. Isaac gave a squeeze to Delilah who twisted in his arms to give a lick to his face and suddenly all seemed right in Isaac’s world again.
He didn’t know how short lived that feeling would be.
