Work Text:
Detective Eugene Holloway,NOLAPD, is played by Keith David, Max Malini on The Cape, and the voice of Goliath on Disney’s Gargoyles. Dr. Loretta Wade is played by CCH Pounder
_______________________________________________________________________
Detective Eugene Holloway, NOPD knocked on the door of Dr. Loretta Wade's door. An attractive, middle-aged Black woman with a matronly figure opened the door only a moment later.
"Woman, you look like you are in need of a Sazeszeracrac," he announced. He was a portly Black man in a three-piece blue suit.
"Gene, O Gene, you are a wise man," she declared. "After the day I've had, after the week I've had," she specified, "A Szerac sounds wonderful. Two sounds even better."
"Hw about I buy two Szeracs, one for each of us, and some dinner to go with them?"
"It sounds wonderful," she agreed.
"Go get a jacket. It's cool by the harbor," he advised.
"As soon as I tell the boys they're on their own tonight."
"Danny, CJ. I have to go out with Det. Holloway. Your dinner's in the oven." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Take it out in 40 minutes. I'm not sure when I'll be back."
"Is it a murder?" CJ asked with youthful morbid glee.
"Why else would a police detective come to fetch a medical examiner?" Loretta asked her foster son lightly.
Gene whispered, "I can think of another reason a tall, dark, and handsome detective," he described himself immodestly, but not inaccurately, "might take out an attractive, intelligent woman."
Loretta grabbed a jacket and kissed her two foster sons on the cheek."Stay out of the soda. Have milk with dinner."
Gene drove through the residential neighborhoods of New Orleans down to where the Mississippi River fed into the Gulf of Mexico. He found a parking spot near the commercial district of the harbor, not far from a replica of a pirate ship. The ship had the name The Saucy Lass painted on the stern.
Gene opened Loretta's car door for her and helped her out. She reached to shut the car door, but he did it for her. He took her arm and escorted her to the ship. He walked her up the gangplank. A cool breeze carried the odor of fish, saltwater, and diesel fuel up to the gangplank.
A maitre d' dressed like an extra from a low budget pirate movie greeted them when they reached the top of the gangplank. "Welcome aboard the Saucy Lass. Table for two?"
"one nodded. Table for two. The name is Holloway."
The maitre d' checked his reservation book. "Yes, sir, I have you in the ship's log. We'll be casting off in about ten minutes. You just have time to stroll through our giftshop before we set sail."
"You made reservations? " Loretta whispered. "What would you have done if I'd said no to your offer of a Sazerac?"
"Called to cancel. But I know how crazy this past week has been. I was willing to take the chance you'd say yes."
He escorted her to a gift shop labelled The Treasure Chest."You promised me a Sazerac," Loretta complained.
"You'll get it," Gene assured her. "We'll just stroll through the jewelry department so I can get an idea as to your taste.By then our table should be ready."
Loretta pouted. "With a reservation it should be ready already."
He couldn't disagree with her. All he could do was take her arm and lead her to the jewelry counter. Rings. bracelets. Necklaces. Brooches. There was a lot of white in the corner - diamonds and earls. To the side there was more color: peridots, emeralds, garnets, rubies, topazes,, amethysts,sapphires.
"Oh, that's cute," she pointed to a blue topaz heart on a golden chain and a matching ring.
"Pretty," but not for you."
"Why not?" she asked.
"Blue topazes are artificial. There's nothing artificial about you, so there shouldn't be anything artificial about your jewelry."
She kissed his cheek.
"What about that one?" He pointed to a gold ring with a flat heart-shaped plate atop it. The heart had four empty prongs, as empty as Mother Hubbard's cupboard, waiting to hold the gem of the buyer's choice.
"As is, no. But with the right stone, it could be gorgeous."
"That design is very popular with people who buy one of our pearls. Have you seen our pearls?" the cashier asked.
"They sell oysters," Gene explained. "A pearl guaranteed, or they give you a second oyster. Then they cook the oyster for you."
Loretta said nothing, but her eyes lit up.
"Let's go see if our table is ready, shall we?" Gene invited. They went back up the stairs to the main deck. The maitre d' approached them and led them to a table next to the port railing.
It was a small table, with a white tablecloth, and a cut crystal vase with two chrysanthemums, one yellow, one orange. Gene seated Loretta and pushed her chair in. As soon as he had sat down himself, a waiter brought a tray. To the table. The waiter placed the pewter tray on the table between them. Two drinks and a large shrimp cocktail. Then the waiter placed two plastic menus on the table. "Enjoy your appetizer while you're examining the dinner menu."
Gene nodded.
Loretta took a sip of her cocktail. "Oh, that's good."
Gene picked up his own drink and took a sip. Loretta was right. "Their bartender needs a raise," He pushed the shrimp cocktail closer to Loretta.
"Thanks," she murmured. As a doctor, she knew better than to drink on an empty stomach. She helped herself to a bite of shrimp. She opened the menu and glanced at it. Not surprisingly for a restaurant aboard a mock-pirate ship, their specialty was seafood. "Is there anything in particular you'd recommend?" she asked.
Gene shook his head. "It's only the second time I've been here." He looked at his own menu. "I've always wanted to try octopus"
"I don't recommend it. Octopus tastes and feels like rubber. And the more I read about octopus, the more intelligent they seem to be." Loretta didn't mind eating a steak or a hamburger. Cows were dumb. But if octopi were intelligent, it would be wrong to eat them. Besides, she'd tried it once, and it tasted horrible. Beef was tasty, so she figured the Good Lord intended cows to be eaten.
Alfredo half and half, she read : .A large plate of fettuccine Alfredo, garnished with shrimp on the port side and chicken on the starboard side. Served with a side salad and garlic bread. That sounded good.
"I was thinking about the clam chowder in the sourdough bread bowl," Gene confessed. "Anything look good to you?"
"I was thinking the half and half fettucine," she admitted. She took another bite of shrimp.
"Would you mind if I bought you a pearl?"
She nodded and finished chewing. "No, I wouldn't mind if you bought me a pearl. In fact, I think I'd like it." She changed the nod to a shake. "No, I wouldn't mind at all."
“C”mon.” He led her to a wooden booth on the deck with a sign that said “pearls for Sale. Oysters opened while you wait.”
The attendant at the booth was dressed more like a RenFaire version of a pirate-wench than an actual 17th century pirate maid. Her nametag read Seaweed Sally. She smiled up at them. “Would you like to chance on a pearl?”
“What do you mean ‘take a chance’?” Loretta asked.
“No knowing what you’ll get until the oyster is opened .Might be a rare black pearl. Might be oval-shaped or spherical. Might be pink. Sometimes – not often,” Sally warned,” we find two oysters in one pearl. The last lady who did that had earrings made. Most pearls are roundish and white or off-white. But there’s no telling until I open the oyster.”
‘What if there’s no pearl at all?” Gene asked.
“If there’s no pearl, or if it’s not a good pearl, we open another oyster. Fifteen dollars to take a chance on an oyster,” Sally informed him. “If the pearl isn’t worth at least fourteen dollars, or if there isn’t any pearl at all, we open another oyster.”
“What happens to the first oyster? Do you put it back in the water to give it another chance to grow a pearl?” Loretta asked.
“
“No, we cook it to punish it for lying down on the job,” Sally joked. “Your choice, fried or steamed.” She didn’t bother to mention that cracking open the oyster killed them. That upset some customers.
“One oyster, please.” Gene got out his wallet and handed her a twenty dollar bill. Sally reached for a large wooden bucket on the floor and lifted it up to the table in front of her. Loretta peered over to peek. The bucket was full of water and ugly gray shells. Sally reached a gloved hand into the water, chose an oyster at random, and set it down on a towel on the table. She had a key attached to a plastic bracelet around her wrist. She unlocked a drawer in the table and removed a knife Crocodile Dundee would envy.
First Sally tapped the top of the oyster with the handle of the knife. “Time to wake up.” She took knife and used the blade to force the oyster shell open. She started piercing the oyster’s flesh with the knife, feeling for the pearl. “Aha.” Neither Gene nor Loretta heard or saw anything. They had no idea if Sally had felt the blade touch the pearl or heard it clank against the pearl. Sally set the knife down and pushed her fingers into the sliced oyster. “Ah, there we are.” She pulled out a small white-ish object and rubbed it against the towel. She rolled it in a small container of sand, to work off any flesh still clinging to the pearl. Then she rubbed it on the towel sgsin for a quick clean and polish. She picked up a plastic rectangle with several small round holes and rolled the pearl until she found the hole it fit in. Nine millimeters, almost perfectly round. Cream colored. That’s a twenty dollar pearl, easy,” Sally judged it.
Sally cleaned off her knife, and put it and the plastic measuring card in the drawer. Before relocking the drawer, she grabbed a small brown plastic box, shaped like a treasure chest. Sally put the pearl into the miniature treasure chest and handed it to Loretta. Then she took the twenty dollar bill out of her pocket, rang it up on her cash register and handed Gene a receipt and his change.
“Would you like this steamed or deep fried?”
Gene turned to face Loretta. “If I get it fried will you nag me about my cholesterol?”
“Not if you share it with me,” she teased.
Sally said, “Our chef dips it in buttermilk and dredges it in spiced cornmeal before frying it in canola oil.”
“May I buy you dinner now?” Gene asked.
“You certainly may. Heck, after this” she opened the plastic chest to look at her pearl again. “Maybe I ought to buy you dinner.”
He escorted her back up the stairs to their table, where the remnants of the shrimp cocktail were still sitting, but the drinks were gone. Gene waved to the waiter, who hurried over.
“Are you ready to order now, sir?”
“I am. Are you, Loretta?”
“Oh, yes, please.” She said.
“We cleared your drinks when we saw your table was empty,” the waiter explained. His nametag said Scott the Shark. “Would you care for two fresh Sazeracs, or would you prefer something else with your dinner?”
“Let me think a minute,” Gene hedged. “I’ll have the clam chowder, and I believe the lady was planning the fettucine Alfredo half-and-half platter?”
“Yes,” Loretta agreed.
“In that case, may I suggest a nice Chablis?” Scott offered. “I’m sorry if you weren’t done with your cocktails, but when a beautiful lady is sitting at the table, it is ship’s policy not to leave drinks unattended, to avoid anyone adding something unwanted to her drink.”
Loretta nodded. “These days you can’t be too careful.” She knew Dwayne Pride tried to keep a close eye on female customers’ drinks. The TruTone had a reputation as a respectable place and Dwayne wanted to keep that reputation.
“Our sommelier has discovered a charming domestic wine that rivals anything out of France. May I bring you a half-liter of Maison Kalawatset?
“Loretta nodded. “Let’s try it.”
They sat and chatted while they waited for the waiter to bring their meals from the galley.
Scott returned sooner than they expected with a plate of fried oyster chunks and a cup of marinara sauce for dipping.
“Rosemary, garlic, and something else I can’t identify.” Loretta tried to identify the spices the oyster had been cooked in by the taste.
“Whatever it is, it’s good,” Gene said.
Loretta nodded.
Gene reached for the mini treasure chest. “You are a very special lady, Dr. Wade.
“I think you’re pretty special, too, Detective Holloway.” She watched as he held the chest above her hand.
“In fact, you’re so special, I’d like to have dinner with you every night … for the rest of my life. Breakfast every morning, too.”
Her eyes went wide as saucers. “Gene, you aren’t –”
“I am, “ he interrupted her. “I love you. I should mention that before I go any further.
Loretta gave a small, very small nod. If Gene was doing what she thought he was doing he had better mention he loved her.
“Imagine just for a moment that I bought that ring with the heart shaped platter on top.
“I’m imagining.”
“Loretta, will you make me the happiest man in the state of Louisiana? Will you marry me and spend the rest of your life with me?”
She leaned over and kissed him.
“What about the boys?” she asked.
“I assumed you were a package deal.”
“We are. They’ve been through so much. I don’t want to turn their lives upside-down again.”
“I was hoping you – and they – would consider me a pleasant addition to your lives.”
“I certainly do. I hope they will, too.” She leaned over and kissed him again. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He picked up his wine glass and saluted her. “To us.”
“To us,” she repeated.
“Let’s finish our dinner and then go downstairs and get your engagement ring?”
“Gene, I don’t want you going broke for one night.”
“Don’t worry, I planned for tonight. I budgeted for this.”
Loretta didn’t want to nag before they were even married, but she knew police officers weren’t overpaid. But it was nice to be treated, even though she knew he couldn’t repeat this on a regular basis. But she planned to enjoy it while she could.
And they lived happily ever after ….