Mary and Alvin Ch. 13

The Truth of Tenderness

The dazzling colors of autumn faded into gray November. The last of the leafpeepers had gone home, the summer houses sat empty and the businesses that made their money from the tourist trade were closed up for the winter.

Alvin had pulled the last boat from the water, taken in and stored the platform floats and closed the wharf. The little diner had been cleaned out and shuttered for another season. There were two boats on stands in the yard, wrapped in blue plastic sheeting. Alvin would spend some of his time during the winter doing repair and maintenance work on them. After some nagging, Mary had been able to coax from him the information that between them, the two jobs would bring in over twenty thousand dollars. She was more convinced than ever that she needed to sit down with Alvin and Diana and learn about the family's finances.

In another month, Alvin would be busy transforming the wharf into a Christmas tree lot, as he had done every year since he had been a teenager. For now, though, he did not have much work to do, and he and Mary were able to spend more time together than ever before. She spent as many nights at his house as she did in her apartment, and they began to get a taste of what their life together would be like.

They took turns cooking for each other. Alvin's repertoire was limited, but those things he did know, comfort foods like spaghetti, meatloaf, shepherd's pie, he did well. Mary was more experimental. She tried out many new recipes, and most were successful. But Alvin willingly tried even the most dubious efforts. She was overjoyed whenever she successfully introduced him to something new.

They spent a lot of time curled together, on his couch or hers, watching movies or reading together. Mary liked fantasy novels and contemporary thrillers, while Alvin's tastes ran to classic literature, history and biography, but they would often share passages with each other. That would sometimes lead to long discussions about everything from ancient Greece to the possibility of life on Mars.

On Halloween, they strolled around town, hand in hand, and watched the children trick or treating. Neither said so, but each knew that the other was thinking about someday walking these same streets while their own children scampered from house to house.

And they made love, frequently and passionately. They grew to know each other's bodies intimately, each learning how to anticipate the other's desires and responses.

As the weather grew colder, Mary began to get excited about the prospect of snow.

"Do you think it will snow before my birthday?" she asked Alvin one morning over breakfast.

"Good chance. That's still a couple weeks away. Usually get at least a dusting by the middle of November."

"I'd love it if it snowed on my birthday."

Alvin shrugged. "I've seen a foot or more fall in October, and I've seen years when we got nothing until after the new year. Hard tellin', not knowin'."

"Speaking of my birthday, I'm guessing you've got some surprise cooked up."

"Of course I do."

"Any clues?"

"Pack a bag," he said, shoving the last of a corn muffin in his mouth. Despite Mary's cajoling, that was all he would say.

Just two days later, the forecast called for snow showers. Mary woke up in the morning and immediately went to the window, only to be disappointed. Rather than snow, cold drizzly rain was falling on Londonderry. She was frustrated when she learned on the newscast that just a few mile inland, the precipitation had turned to snow. She thought that she might drive out of town later in the day to take a look, but by the time she finished work, the temperature had climbed, and whatever had accumulated was gone.

Her birthday was on a Saturday, and Alvin had advised her to get a good night's sleep and be ready to get picked up by nine. He was still tight lipped about his plans, so she packed both casual and dressier clothes for whatever trip he had in mind. She looked out her front window at exactly nine o'clock. The street was shrouded in fog, but she saw Alvin's car emerge from the gloom and pull up in front of her building.

By the time she got down the stairs, he was standing on the sidewalk. As she came out of the door, he took her suitcase, and handed her a single red rose.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart," he said, kissing her.

"Oh, thank you, love." Alvin reached into his coat pocket and handed her an envelope. She opened it and took out the card. On the front was a watercolor painting of a sailboat in a forested cove.

"That looks like the place we went on our first date," Mary said.

"It is," Alvin shrugged.

"How did you ever find that?"

"There's a lady here in town makes cards to order."

Mary held the card close to her face and looked at it intently. "This was hand painted? You got me a made to order, hand painted card?"

"Well, yeah. It's your birthday."

She shook her head in disbelief as she opened the card. There was a check inside. Before she looked at it, she read the message he had written in his big, choppy handwriting.

Mary,

There are no gifts to match the gift you have been to me. For your birthday I offer you my heart. I trust the truth of your tenderness, and know it will be treated with care. I am honored to spend your birthday with you, and many more birthdays to come.

Love, Alvin

"That's lovely, Alvin, thank you." She kissed his cheek. Then she looked at the check. She thought it seemed odd that, along with such sweet sentiments, he'd give her a check for her birthday. It was made out to L.L.Bean. The amount line was blank.

"We are going down to Freeport, to the main store, and get you fitted out for winter," Alvin said, "I didn't wait all this time for you, just to have you freeze your first winter."

"That's a wonderful gift, Alvin." She hugged and kissed him. "And the rose, and the card. So very thoughtful."

Alvin put the suitcase in the back of the car, while Mary climbed in the passenger seat.

'All right, next stop, Freeport," Alvin said.

"How about next stop, Dunkin' Donuts? I could use a coffee."

"That's a small request on your birthday," Alvin replied.

A few minutes later, they were on the highway, each with a coffee and a doughnut. They were only a few miles out of Londonderry when the fog dissipated and they saw a clear and brilliant blue sky.

"I guess I won't get snow for my birthday," Mary said.

"You never know," Alvin shrugged. "This time of year a sky that clear often means the temperature is about to drop. Could be the cold air brings something with it later on."

They listened to an oldies station from Waterville and watched the scenery go by. Alvin was impressed with how many of the older songs Mary knew.

"My generation grew up listening to your generation's music," she explained.

"Hold the phone, Miss Mary. Chuck Berry is not my generation's music."

"It doesn't matter any more, anyway," she shrugged. "If I hear a song and like it, it doesn't make any difference if it came out last week or fifty years ago."

They got on the turnpike at Augusta, and the Waterville station faded. Mary turned the radio off. She wanted to talk about their upcoming trip to California.

"Honey, I am there for you," Alvin said, "Whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go. I'm the lost little lamb out there, shepherd me around."

"I'm thinking we should fly in on the twenty third, spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the family, then do the touristy thing for a couple of days and come home."

"That's fine with me. Laura and Tim can cover the last couple of days on the tree lot. Are you sure you think that's enough time to appease your mother."

"I think it's enough for me to not strangle her if we stay longer."

"Alright, then I won't strangle her either."

"I appreciate that. But what I want to know is what you'd like to see when we are there. Disneyland? Universal Studios?"

Alvin shook his head. "I'm not much interested in that sort of thing."

"Well, what then?"

He thought for a minute. "I would like to see the Pacific."

"Well, we certainly can. We'll go to Santa Monica. When I was a little girl, I loved Santa Monica Pier."

"Now, that's more like it. I don't care about tourist things. I want to see where you come from."

"Well, you certainly will. My Mom still lives in the same house I grew up in."

"I want to see the room you slept in as a little girl and where you played, where you went to school, all that. I want to have more of a sense of who you were before I met you. I feel like you have that about me."

"I suppose that's true, and I think it's sweet. But, Alvin, it's Los Angeles, one of the biggest and most famous cities in the world. There must be places you'd like to see."

"What about those tar pits? With the prehistoric animals. I'd like to see that."

"La Brea Tar Pits. We can go there."

"Yeah, that would be interesting."

"Whatever you would like, love."

Alvin nodded his head and began singing, off key.

Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia

Tidewater four ten oh nine

Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'

And the poor boy's on the line

"What was that?" Mary laughed.

"A song by Chuck Berry."

"I thought you weren't claiming Chuck Berry."

"I claim all good songs." He looked at her. "But only one good woman."

They turned off at the Freeport exit and drove into the shopping district. Main Street was lined with outlet stores and chain restaurants.

"Here's your Disneyland," Alvin muttered.

Tourist season was in the past and Christmas shopping a few weeks in the future, but the L.L.Bean parking lot was still half full when they pulled in. They parked and walked around to the front of the store. Next to the doors was a giant replica of a Bean boot.

"Yeah, that would fit in Los Angeles," Mary said.

The store was huge, and to Mary's eyes, a bit bizarre. It was styled like a rustic cabin, and in addition to the rows and rows of outdoor clothing and equipment, there were displays of animals, stuffed and mounted; bears and deer and lynx, and most impressively, of two bull moose with their antlers locked in eternal battle. There was an aquarium filled with trout and salmon.

"This place is a little crazy," Mary said, thinking that Alvin was right, it was like a Maine Disneyland.

"Should we start from the inside out, or the outside in or the top down or what?" Alvin asked, but Mary was already heading straight for the women's coats. She handed him her purse and jacket and he held them while she started trying on parkas.

"That's lighter than you'll want," Alvin said when she zipped up the first one. She chose a heavier coat, a dark olive parka with a fur lined hood.

"That's more like it," Alvin said.

Mary looked in the mirror. "I look like I'm exploring the South Pole."

"Believe me, in a month or two, you'll be glad of that. Besides, the lining zips out, and the shell can be just a raincoat."

Mary took off the coat, checked the lining, then looked at the price tag.

"What are you doing?" Alvin asked, "Don't look at the price tag."

"Alvin, this coat costs three hundred dollars."

"That's not your concern, it's a gift. Besides, it's frickin' Beans. You'll have that coat for ten years. It's worth it."

Mary draped the parka over the rack and looked at a few more before deciding that she'd chosen the right one.

"Alvin, thank you, that's a wonderful gift."

"You are welcome, sweetheart, now let's go look at boots."

"Really?"

"Well, I guess I could carry you piggyback through the snow, but I might not always be around."

Picking out a pair of snow boots was a much more difficult task than choosing a coat. Mary tried on at least a dozen pair. She was leaning towards a mid calf suede boot, until Alvin pointed out that suede would not hold up well in snow. She found a similar style in leather and was pleased with them.

"You know, you are awfully patient," she told Alvin as they browsed through the store.

"Well, I ain't been shopping with a woman in a long, long time. I can't really guarantee that I'd be excited about doing it all too often."


"That's okay," Mary said, "You can just give me the blank checks and I'll go by myself."

Mary picked out a purple knit hat and a pair of bright red mittens, but drew the line when Alvin suggested that she get a couple sets of thermal underwear.

"No, I'm sorry, I am not going to wear long johns," she said, shaking her head, "Thank you, anyway."

"Oh come on, you can get them in red. Very sexy," he said, surreptitiously squeezing her ass. She elbowed him in the ribs and stepped away.

They made their way to the check out. Alvin picked up a package of women's wool socks and threw them on to the counter alongside their other purchases.

"Give me that check, and go look at the fish or something," he told Mary.

"Why?"

"I don't want you looking at the total and fussing about it."

"You're sweet," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

She wandered about the store a bit while he waited in the check out line. She thought it might be a good idea to inspect Alvin's closets and see what he might need. Maybe she could slip down here for some shopping before their trip to Los Angeles for Christmas. She walked over to the front windows and made note of some of the other stores along the street. She could do a lot of shopping here.

"All set," Alvin said, coming towards her laden with bags. "How about some lunch?"

"Sounds great." They stepped outside into the cold air. Alvin dug in one of the bags and pulled out Mary's new knit hat. She pulled the tag off and put it on.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Good enough to marry," Alvin replied, leaning over and kissing her. They hustled down the street and into the Azure Cafe. It was warm and cozy inside. They sat by the window, but the glass was foggy, obscuring their view.

Alvin cautioned Mary to have a light lunch because he had made special dinner plans, but he would not give her any details. They ordered peekytoe crab cakes and warmed themselves with hot coffee.

After they'd eaten, Mary dug her new boots from one of the bags and put them on. She held one leg straight out and asked Alvin what he thought.

"I think they make those long legs look even longer," he replied.

She put her foot down and leaned against him. "My legs were the first thing that got your attention, weren't they?"

"That's true," he nodded, "but it was your eyes that kept my attention."

"What was it about my eyes?"

"Well," he said, gazing into them, "They are big and brown and there is a softness to them. You know that one of them is a little bit bigger than the other?"

She laughed. "Of course I know that. Did you just notice it?"

"No, I noticed right off. But I didn't want to say anything about it."

"Why not?"

"I didn't want you to think I saw you as anything less than perfect."

She kissed his cheek. "I'm not perfect, baby."

"Perfect for me," he said.

"Do you want to know the first thing I noticed about you?" she asked.

"Sure."

"The way you walked. Sort of confident, but not cocky. Like the sheriff in some old western movie."

"That's part of my arresting charm."

"You're not as funny as you think you are."

"I'm curious," he said, "what do you consider my best features?"

Mary thought for a minute. "Your arms are sexy as hell. And you've got a very cute butt."

Alvin laughed at that.

"Seriously, you do. But you know one thing I like? I mean, I don't know if I'd say it was your best feature, but I love the little flecks of gray in your hair. They make you look distinguished,"

"Well, here's good news, darlin', it's likely more of them will come along."

They finished their coffee and headed back to the car. Mary skipped a little as they went, delighted by her new boots.

"Where to now?" she asked as Alvin started the car.

"We've got a room and dinner reservations down to Portland."

Rather than return to the Interstate, Alvin took Route One down the coast into Portland. They crossed into the city at Martin's Point and circled Back Cove. Alvin showed Mary the city. They drove through Deering Oaks Park and along Congress Street. Mary was excited to see so much bustle on the streets. Even on a chilly November afternoon, there were pedestrians everywhere, people of all colors, dressed in every fashion. She saw a more diverse population in the few blocks between the statue of Longfellow and Monument Square than she had in all the months she'd been in Maine. Portland seemed to somehow be old fashioned and hip simultaneously. Mary chuckled at the sight of so many young women dressed in fashionable outfits but wearing knee high rubber boots.

They parked on the eastern Promenade and looked out across the islands of Casco Bay.

"You remember soon after we met, when I sailed down to Newport?" Alvin asked.

"I do. I thought, hey we just met and he's sailing off."

He stared out across the water. "I dropped anchor out there the first night. Off the far side of Peak's Island. I was going to call you. I thought about it, but I didn't. I know you were wicked pissed that I didn't."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"I sat out there and thought about the past and about what the future might be like. I suppose I knew already then that you were going to change my whole life."

"Which one is Peak's Island?"

Alvin pointed it out to her.

She thought about him sitting out there alone, in the dark, thinking of her. "Maybe next summer we can sail down here," she said, "maybe we could anchor at that same spot."

"Sure, we can do that."

They drove into the Old Port and, despite the chilly wind, strolled along the busy streets, window shopping and people watching. Portland was a small city, but a city nonetheless, and Mary felt buoyed by the urban energy.

They roamed the streets until dusk began to fall. "Time for your birthday supper," Alvin said. Holding Mary's hand, he led up to a small brick front restaurant.

She looked up at the sign. "Bao Bao Dumpling House?"

"Best Chinese dumplings in New England," Alvin said.

It was blessedly warm inside the little restaurant. There was a copper sculpture of a dragon on one wall and the ceiling was festooned with Chinese lanterns. The air was filled with delicious aromas.

They were shown to a table near the back, where they ordered a pot of ginger peach tea.

"I know how disappointed you been about not having good Chinese in Londonderry," Alvin said.

"I'm excited, this is going to be a real treat."

Alvin grinned, looking very pleased with himself.

"I might have to come up with a treat for you later," Mary said. Alvin's grin widened.

They shared a bowl of Taiwanese beef noodle soup. It was salty and rich. Alvin wound long strands of noodles around his chopsticks and raised them to his mouth.

"You don't really know how to use those things, do you?" Mary asked him.

"The food got to the face, that's all that matters," he said.

After sipping up the last of the broth with their porcelain spoons, the waitress brought them two plates of fried dumplings, stuffed with pork and lamb and vegetables. Alvin used one chopstick to stab a dumpling and pop it in his mouth.

Mary laughed. "I knew you didn't really know how to use chopsticks."

"Show me."

Mary picked up a dumpling between her chopsticks and held it out to Alvin. He took a bite from it, and she ate the rest. He tried to mimic her technique, but dropped the dumpling into the bowl of dipping sauce.

"Maybe you want to stick with what works for you, honey." Mary said.

"Should we have a dessert?" she asked when they finished the last of the dumplings.

Alvin shook his head.

"Oh, you already arranged something, didn't you?"