Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“I've watched you the past few days and I don't think I've ever seen you this relaxed.
And maybe you're right. Maybe we can't afford to buy a place down here.”
He took a long gulp of his drink and flashed his most winning smile.
“But let's give it a helluva try.”
☼ ☼ ☼
We were at the realtor's office at nine the next morning. It didn't open until ten, and the
proprietress didn't arrive until ten-thirty.
Her name was Suzanne. She wore baggy shorts and a black tank top. Her blonde hair
was scraped back in a greasy ponytail.
“Hey boys,” she mumbled wearily, switching on the lights and rolling up the louvered
windows. “Where you from?”
“D.C.,” we replied in unison.
She looked us up and down in a not-too-friendly fashion.
“We've had a lot of you people lately.”
We weren't sure if “you people” meant D.C. residents, gay couples, or some other cat-
egory of undesirables that hadn't even occurred to us yet, so we held our tongues.
“We're interested in buying a house,” I hazarded after a few moments.
“Are you now?” she said, and all but rolled her eyes.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
“We love the island.”
“Sure you do,” she replied. “Everyone does. Except the people who actually live here.”
It was hard to know quite how to respond to this. Luckily the phone rang as I was rack-
ing my brain for a suitably clever riposte.
“Yup,” she barked into the phone with all the charm of a longshoreman. A protracted
silence followed. “Yup,” she repeated after a while. More silence. Michael shuffled his feet.
“Look,” she said, fiddling with a jumble of papers on her desk, “I've got people here.
Just put some ointment on it. That usually does the trick.”
With a minimum of formalities she concluded the call.
“My cousin in Maryland,” she remarked.
While I was mentally flipping through the
Physicians' Desk Reference
, in search of
maladies that call for ointment, she suddenly turned to us.
“Hey, isn't Maryland up in your neck of the woods?” she exclaimed.
“Actually, I work in Maryland,” Michael replied.
“I thought you were from D.C.,” she countered suspiciously.
“They're very close,” Michael explained in his most reasonable (that is to say, condes-
cendingly factual) way. “Just a few miles. You've never been there?”
She emitted a short yap of a laugh.
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