Chapter 16
A foghorn was issuing a persistent warning of heavy coastal fog when John shook Ella awake, saying, "Ella get up! Your friends will be here soon."
"She yawned and stretched. Jesus, John, it’s still dark. What time is it?"
"Its 4:30, but if we want to catch abalones, we have to get there early."
Ella, who was still feeling sleepy, got up and dressed in her old clothes, thinking, these rags are as ugly as sin, but I guess they’re good enough for the beach. While John looked for his worn-out shoes, she put on a pot of coffee and washed her face.
She barely had finished dressing when Violet and her husband arrived with a honk of his horn. Violet came through the door without knocking, saying, "Hi everyone, I hope we’re not too late. I want you to meet my latest conquest, but he goes by the name of Pete."
Pete laughed. "I’m not sure who conquered who, but it’s terrific to meet both you guys. Violet told me all about you."
Ella was impressed with his boyish charm, unlike her own husband’s grouchy, old man’s demeanor. She replied, "It’s swell meeting you too. I’ll pour us some coffee and then we can get started.”
After they packed their supplies in the trunk, they crowded in the Nash. Violet and Ella were in the back with Tommy sleeping at their feet. John and Pete were in the front with their faces faintly visible from the dashboard light. As John slowly drove through the swirling fog, Pete clicked his tongue, saying, "Jesus John, this fog is pretty damn dense. How much further is that secret place of yours?"
"What? Oh, it’s not far. It's just on the other side of Fort Ross by the Old Russian cemetery."
"Russians! I wonder what the Russians were doing here," Pete asked rhetorically.
"Oh, I read about that in school," Ella blurted, but she stopped talking, regretting her comment, having learned that John became upset with any mention of book learning.
Violet gave her a sidelong look, asking, “Well, aren't you going to tell us?"
She modestly replied, "Oh, I really don't know that much. All I remember is that they settled here about a hundred years ago. Their presence had something to do with the Monroe Doctrine.” She quickly added, hoping to change the subject, “Once I saw a ball and chain that had been around the neck of a skeleton inside a redwood tree."
Violet snickered. “Oh, come on, Ella. You're teasing. How could that be possible?"
"No, I'm serious. Once a park ranger came to my class and showed us that ball and chain. He said it came from a skeleton found inside a redwood tree. Apparently, a prisoner had tried to escape from Fort Ross, but was shot through his pelvis. After he crawled into a hollowed out redwood tree, he died. The fire damaged tree eventually grew back together, creating a living tomb. The skeleton wasn’t discovered for a hundred years until lumberjacks cut the tree down."
John pointed to the ruined of an old fort looming in the fog, saying, “Look, there's the old fort right there."
Ella relaxed; relieved that John had made a contribution to the conversation, lessening the probability of his berating her for "showing off.”
As they drove past the historic fort, Ella noticed a section of jagged wall still standing. In her mind, she pictured the fugitive as he carried that heavy ball and chain, stumbling, bleeding, desperately looking for a safe place to hide, only to die inside the hollow of a tree. Ruefully, she thought, I once had planned to become a teacher, but that dream had perished, like that fugitive who died so long ago.
The constant swerving of the car, her pregnancy, and the smell of John’s cigarette caused Ella to feel nauseated, but she didn’t complain.
John abruptly slowed down and parked by an over-grown cemetery shrouded with fog. "Well, here we are. This is the place to get abalones."
Ella eagerly got out of the car and felt better inhaling fresh air. After the men shouldered the bulky supplies, they led the way to the cliff’s edge, walking past a neglected cemetery. Ella tried to read an inscription as she passed a crumbling headstone, but only the year, 1825 was discernible.
While they stood overlooking the ocean, a pink strip appeared in the eastern sky. Pete drew in his breath, exclaiming, "My God! What a sight! The ocean has receded with all those huge boulders exposed and covered with seaweed."
John nodded. "That’s what a minus two tide looks like."
"That’s impressive, but how in hell are we going to get down?"
John pointed to a steep trail, saying, “That’s the way down, but it’s kind of dangerous.”
Pete vigorously rubbed his chin, saying, "John, I think getting Ella down there could be tricky. I suggest everyone goes down with our supplies, except Ella and Tommy. Then you come back and get Tommy. After you bring him down, Violet could watch him while you and I climb back up and help Ella down."
Violet kissed his cheek. "Oh Pete. You're such a genius."
Ella bitterly thought, it’s just like John not to think of our safety!
When everyone was safely on the beach, with Tommy still sleeping in his blanket, Ella, limited by her pregnancy, volunteered to build a fire while the others fished for abalones. While looking for firewood, she found a twisted piece of driftwood resembling a whale in motion and decided to keep it.
Equipped with tire irons, John, Pete and Violet dressed in old clothes and shoes carefully climbed over large slippery boulders towards the ocean. When Violet stepped into the water she cried out, "Oh Jesus, it's so damn cold!"
Suddenly, a wave broke over her head and knocked her off her feet. When she got up, shaking the wet hair from her face, she howled, “John, I'm frozen half to death!"
He laughed. "Don’t worry. You’ll get used to the cold, but watch out for the ninth wave. It’s usually a killer."
"John, what should we do if a big one comes?" Pete nervously asked.
John gripped a handful of seaweed and yelled, "Here comes one now! Grab the seaweed, hang on like hell and let your body float."
A large wave swept over the trio, but they kept their heads above water by following John's example. After the wave passed, he continued his instructions. "Good, you didn't fight the wave that time. Now, feel along the bottom of these rocks. That's where you'll find the big ones. Here, I'll show you how. Oh, I've got one. You put your iron under the shell like this and pry like hell. There, I've got it!"
He held it up for inspection. After examining the abalone, Violet said, “It looks like a shallow bowl with a rough outside, but the fleshy underside feels nasty."
“That’s the mussel. It’s the good part to eat,” John said and dropped the abalone into a gunnysack, resuming the hunt.
Soon, Violet yelled, "Oh, I've got one!"
"So have I!" Pete shouted.
While the fishermen groped in the ocean, Ella sat by a crackling fire, thinking, They looked like strange waterbirds, stooping up and down for food. Reaching for more firewood, she saw three milky colored stones and picked them up. She like their satin feel and dropped them in her pocket.
John yelled, "Hey Ella, look at that whale."
Ella looked in amazement at a baby whale. It abruptly turned around and swam back briskly to the open sea.
Pete screamed. "Help, an octopus has my leg!"
John quickly felt around the younger man's ankles and guffawed. "Hell, Pete, it's just seaweed."
As the three fisherman collected abalones, Ella watched John moving expertly through the water, giving directions to the others. She thought, in polite society he’s inept, but here, he’s the one in charge, telling the others what to do, I haven’t seen this side of him before.
The sun broke through the fog, sending shafts of sunlight streaking across the beach. The tide began to reverse. The fishermen returned from the ocean with their shoes squishing and clothes dripping, shivering from the cold. Pete held his blue hands over the fire, saying, "God damn it, it’s so damn cold, but I smell fresh coffee! Hey Ella, a cup of that Java would sure hit the spot."
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Ella removed the percolator from the coals, replying, “You poor creatures. I made coffee for all of you.”
John removed a whiskey bottle from a brown paper bag and poured a shot in each cup. “All right, Pete! I’ll put some of this in your coffee. It'll warm you up in a hurry."
While the fishermen huddled around the fire, drinking their laced coffee, Ella examined the lumpy sacks they had dragged from the ocean. "Hey, you guys. You got a lot of abalones!" she yelled, dumping the gunny sacks on the sand.
John finished his coffee and said, "We’re allowed 25 apiece including Tommy. I doubt if we got our limit, but we don't want anything under seven inches or we could be fined."
After he used a ruler to measure the abalones, he returned the undersized ones to the ocean. Coming back to the fire, he said, "We have 95 good ones left, but I could go out and get some more."
Pete laughed. "Hell no John. We have plenty. Let’s not waste any more time. We need to get into dry clothes."
While they quickly changed out of their wet clothes behind big boulders, Ella got out their supplies, yelling, "Is there anyone here hungry?"
"I’m starving!” Violet yelled. “I’ll help you get breakfast,"
John began to slice the abalones while Pete pounded the filets on rocks. After Ella dipped the thin slices in melted butter, Violet rolled them in flour and fried them until they turned golden brown.
After their breakfast of abalone steaks and scrambled eggs, they sat by the fire, smoked and drank Irish coffee. While covertly comparing John to Pete, Ella thought, John is the real man. Pete looks like a mere boy. When she noticed Tommy poking baby crabs in a tidal pool, she yelled, "Tommy, leave those crabs alone or they’ll pinch you."
She picked up one of the discarded shells and said, “I like how the inside has so many colors.”
Pete replied, "The Italians carved these shells into cameos and set them in gold. They’re really quite pretty."
John added, "I don’t know about jewelry and shit, but they’re good to be used as ashtrays. The digger Indians used them as bowls by plugging up the holes with pitch and ashes. When they needed arrow heads, they traded them for flint with the Lake County Indians."
While they drank, smoked and chatted amiably, the ocean inexorably returned closer to the beach. Finally, John stood up and said, "We will get wet if we stay any longer. It’s time to go."
Safely on top of the cliff, Ella glanced back at the ocean that was rapidly reclaiming the beach. She watched John carrying heavy sacks to the car and suddenly felt a rush of warmth for the man she intended to marry.