The Whiskey Sea Read Free Page A

“What are you talking about?”
    “I ain’t getting any younger, and I got a fair price. Fella’s coming by later to pay me off.”
    So it wasn’t sold yet . She pulled in a long breath. “You can’t do this. I won’t let you.”
    Silver shucked another clam. “Good fella. You know him.” His brow furrowed, and he tossed the shell. “Sam Hicks.”
    Incredulous, Frieda asked, “How could you even think of selling the boat? If you don’t want it anymore, give it to me.”
    “I sold it, I said.”
    “B-But . . .”
    “I already made the arrangements. It’s done now.”
    “I-I always assumed . . . you’d let me have it. You know how I love it out there!”
    “I never made no promises. I need to get some money out of her while I still can.”
    Her eyes bore through him, but he was having a hard time looking her in the face. “Are you crazy? How’re we going to live?”
    He edged the knife around another clamshell. “I been putting away money for some time. I got enough to get by. This house is paid for, and I’ll pick up an odd job here and there. Might crew for some fishermen when the weather’s good. After I sell the boat, I’ll have the money so you can go to that secretary school.”
    “I want the boat! I want to be out on the water. You know this.”
    “Like I said already, a life on the water ain’t no life for a woman.”
    Frieda snorted, even as panic started to pummel her. Silver seemed dead set, not budging. “I’m not like other girls. How, how . . . ?”
    “You can marry a clammer if you want.”
    A dreadful realization blanketed her brain. “Oh no you don’t.”
    “He’s a good man, Frieda. Always been a good young man. You might take a liking to him.”
    “How dare you!”
    “I always been looking out for you. Sam Hicks could make for a good husband. And now that he’ll be owning the boat, if you marry him you can still go out from time to time.”
    In that moment she came as close to hating Silver as she’d ever come before, despite the fact they’d always tangled. But arguing was pretty pointless with someone as stubborn as Silver. Trying a different approach, she consciously slowed her breathing and softened her tone. “Please don’t sell the boat.”
    He clearly tempered himself a bit, too. His eyes were a tad bit sad even. “I already done it, Frieda. I’m sure sorry if it don’t suit you.”
    “You can change your mind, can’t you?”
    “No,” he said, and wiped the knife on his overalls. “I gave the man my word.”
    “Puh- lease , Silver!”
    He shook his head and kept on shucking clams, but his rhythm was off.
    “You didn’t even talk to me about it!”
    He pointed at her with the knife. “You won’t see it this way now, but in time you’ll see I’m doing right by you. You ain’t never been out there in the world of men. You need some kind of skill for working indoors, and in time you’re going to want yourself a husband.”
    “Obviously you’ve missed the fact that it’s 1921. Everything has changed. We girls can do anything.”
    “Anything?” Silver squinted up at her. “I don’t want you doing anything . I want you doing something safe, by God.”
    Frieda huffed. “I’m as good as any man on our boat. I figure that if you gave it to me, I’d try some new areas for clamming, and I’d find a way to make more money than all the others. I’d stay out from dawn to dusk and save up every cent for Bea’s future. She loves school, loves her teachers, each and every one. She wants to be a teacher, don’t you know that? And college will take money.”
    “You ain’t never gonna make enough to pay for no college, not as a secretary or by fishing, neither one. Bea’ll be better off marrying a good provider.”
    Rage flaming again, Frieda shouted, “Are you going to pick her husband, too?”
    He looked at her keenly. “You might give the man a fighting chance.”
    “Silver, please don’t do this. The boat has been in your family