A Pair of Lost Socks

"Don't forget the challenge, Maxie," Darren called to Max, who now strode across the carpark, scattering the growing number of seagulls surrounding the young men, hopeful to scab a feed of chips. Max lifted a hand in reply, and Darren and Neil laughed, Darren calling out, "Remember, no mucking about, you have to date her properly!"

Neil yelled, "Little Red Riding Hood, beware of the Big Bad Wolf comin' for ya!" and the friends laughed some more.

Max gave them another dismissive wave, realising the girl probably wouldn't have heard their taunts, yet he grinned to himself, walking between his Torana and the Dodge truck, then climbed up on the truck's running board, peering into the open window.

The girl was sitting with her knees up against the steering wheel, tapping a pencil on a folded newspaper open at a crossword, her fish and chips sitting on the dash. She couldn't have failed to notice him, but if she had, she didn't acknowledge Max at all, and with a grin he said, "G'day."

Without turning to face him, she said, "If ya thought you'd scare me, I saw ya commin' a mile off in the mirror, and heard all your cobbers too. Apparently you're the Big Bad Wolf. Are you gonna try'n blow my house down?"

"Nah, I wasn't commin' over to scare ya. I wanted to say how impressed I am at yer driving this old beast."

"You're easily impressed, aren't ya." She looked up now, feisty and still with a twinkle in her eyes, picking up a chip and blowing on it, steam wafting out the window towards Max.

"Yeah, well, you see, I work on trucks for a livin', and so I know these old girls are a bit of a handful to drive, probably double clutching an all, struggling on the hills, steering like a barn, so I figure you must be pretty skilled to be drivin' her."

"Dad taught me to drive this old Girl when I was ten." She patted the steering wheel with obvious affection. "She's a piece of piss."

"Ahh, a woman after me own heart. I'm Max, if ya don't mind me introducing meself. Maxie Coughlan."

The blond smiled a beautiful heart-shaped smile, melting Max's heart, surprising him, leaving him wanting more, wanting to see her smile again and again. He'd thought of Darren's challenge as a joke, yet now something he didn't understand stirred deep in his ticker, and the young lady stuck her hand through the window to meet his. "Pleasure to meet you, Maxie Coughlan. I'm Yvonne. Most call me Vonnie."

He noted her hands weren't nearly so delicate as he'd expected, and her handshake was quite firm, unexpectedly pleasing him further. "Pleasure to meet you, Vonnie. Do you mind if I get yer number?"

She met his eyes for a moment, pursed her lips as if weighing up whether she should or shouldn't. "Well, Maxie Coughlan, I could give you me number, but I'm not sure if I should. You see, my Father and Brother are bringing our fishing trawler down here to fit some new machinery and should be arriving anytime now. Dad warned me if they weren't here when I arrived, I shouldn't talk to strange young men. Men like you, I presume. And Dad said especially not to give out our number."

"Hmmm, I see," Max said. "Well, I won't tell ya Old Man if you don't."

She smiled again, cheekily. "If I give me number to ya, will ya call me, or are ya muckin' me about to show off in front of ya mates? I know plenty of blokes like you, I wasn't born yesterday."

"You don't know me at all. Not yet, anyhow. I reckon I'll call ya cos I'd be a bloody fool not to."

Yvonne looked at Max in the eye again, and losing her cheek, she spoke in a serious tone, almost disappointed even. "I live up the east-coast at Triabunna and only get to come down here to town a couple of times a year."

Max nodded, immediately understanding what Yvonne was getting at. He thought for a moment. "What's that, about eighty, maybe ninety kays? Fifty or sixty miles?"

"About eighty or ninety, sure."

"No problems, this is me Torana, right here, next to ya truck. She'll eat up the miles in no time."

Yvonne smirked with a snort. "You've already got everything planned to visit me, have you Mad Maxie Coughlan?"

Max smiled. "Too right, Yvonne. It's not every day I come across the most beautiful girl on Earth. Reckon the plague couldn't keep me from wantin' to see ya."

She snorted again, this time without smirking. "I bet ya say that sorta thing to all the girls. Yer really do think I was born yesterday, don't ya."

Max laughed. "Actually, I've never said it to any girl before in me life. Dunno what's come over me."

Yvonne looked across to the large door mounted rear-view mirror on the passenger side of the vehicle. "I believe your cobbers are calling ya, Max. Seems like your fish-and-chips are ready."

"Seems they are. So what d'ya reckon, do I have a chance?"

She smiled. "If you leave me alone I'll think about it."

Though reluctant to leave without Yvonne's number, Max felt he shouldn't push his luck. "I'll be over by the crane if you change yer mind."

Still smiling, she said, "Bye, Max."

He returned her wry smile with a nod, and waved, hopping off the side-board, snorting a chuckle to himself and caressed his hand smoothly over the roofline of his Torana out of habit before walking by the Constitution Dock harbour, back to his mates. As a group, they sat by the old steam crane there, a remnant of the dock's bygone era, and with his characteristic good humour, Max took the ragging his mates gave him for failing to get the young lady's phone number, all of them sharing many laughs while they ate the fish-and-chips.

Giving as good as he got, keeping up with their banter, Max kept his eye on the old Dodge the entire time, and eventually two very tall and tough-looking men jumped off a recently arrived fishing trawler and walked past the group of young men, approaching the old Dodge. One was older with a hawkish face and grey hair springing from the edges of a black beanie, the other man was much younger and broader, with shoulder length red-brown hair.

A break formed in the clouds, a tear low in the north-western sky beyond the town, late afternoon sunlight pouring through the hole, spreading beams across the buildings, casting long shadows, and a sunbeam lit the Dodge up. On the far-side of the vehicle, mostly out of view, Yvonne climbed out, hood down, her sandy hair catching the light, and she appeared to speak with the men while standing next to Max's Torana.

The conversation was short and the two men climbed into the old truck, then Yvonne climbed up on the running board and briefly glanced in Max's general direction, climbing back into the driver's seat, the truck's engine soon roaring to life with a cloud of smoke bellowing from its exhaust.

Mind me Torry, beautiful Vonnie, Max thought, watching the old truck creep in reverse out of the car park, then slowly move forward, turning left and disappearing up the road.

One of the fellas, Domenico, gave a whistle. "There's no way a girl with a face as beautiful as hers could be a fisherman's daughter, Maxie. No way."

"Hey," Marty said with a laugh, "What are you on about, Dom? Fishermen have the best looking kids. And I bet me Dad knows her old man, so maybe I'll get her number, since Maxie here's secretly a poofta because he didn't even try very hard with her. Bloody compensation for the fucking speeding ticket I just received."

Max smiled, shaking his head, not bothering to reply, but disappointment reigned in his heart. Eventually the young men returned to their vehicles, and sensing his friend's disappointment, Darren patted Max on the shoulder. "I think you actually liked her, because I've never known you to be so speechless. But you win some and you lose some, hey Maxie."

"I guess so," Max said with a chuckle, noticing a piece of newspaper under the passenger's side windscreen wiper. He plucked it off, noting a phone number scrawled in black pencil across the print. He smiled as he pocketed the note, looking up at the snow-capped mountain hovering over the town, and said, "I guess so."

~0~

A Pair of Lost Socks

© 2021 Thefireflies, for Literotica

~0~

Hobart, March 2020

Max sat on the Constitution Dock by the old steam crane, looking up to the mountain, grey clouds covering its peak as they often did, no snow in sight this early in the year. Turning his attention to the small harbour, he examined the handful of old timber work boats tied up for display, examples of a bygone era.

All over the little harbour seagulls flew, noisy hordes pestering anyone foolish enough to let their guard down after buying lunch from one of the several fish-and-chip vendors along the waterfront.

Beyond the harbour was the busy main street, and Max noted the grey police car turn out of the traffic into the waterfront carpark, slowly moving between parked cars and seafood vendors. He watched with interest as it turned in his direction, identifying it as a late-model Toyota Camry, slowly driving towards him, coming to a stop.

The passenger door opened and a tall woman dressed in civilian clothes climbed out, her sandy blond hair tied back tightly in a bun. There was a hardness about her, toned upper arms sleaved in tattoos, from her elbows to where they disappeared under her white blouse, and despite her otherwise soft oval face, her straight-edged nose was sharp and angular, like a knife, her lips thin and terse. With a twinkle in her large green eyes, she said, "Max Coughlan, I presume?"

"It wasn't me, officer, I swears..."

"Oh, really, are you sure it wasn't? I think you'll have to come with us for questioning."

"How about I take you to lunch instead, officer? My shout."

"A bribe?"

"Fish of the day, blue-eye trevalla, your favourite."

"Oohh, how'd you guess? I think I could be persuaded."

"Father's know everything, officer."

Heather's lips released their terse tension, forming a heart-shaped smile, softening her face greatly, and Max thought for the umpteenth time in his life, She's so much like her mother.

Heather was Max's proudest achievement, however such a confession would be unfair on her brother, Ryan. Nah, Max was as equally proud of Ryan as he was of Heather, but there's something extra special about daughters in their father's eyes.

And Heather was pretty much the only reason he hadn't given his soul to the eternal nothingness. He'd never tell anyone this dark fact either, but he suspected Heather knew. She seemed to know everything when it came to her old man.

Heather turned, leaning into the car's open door and spoke to her uniformed colleague, Nancy, who'd waved at Max with a grin, then closed the door, and the car slowly drove away over the drawbridge crossing the entrance channel to the dock's harbour.

"Come on, Dad, it's my shout."

"Nah, love, it's always your shout. It's mine today." This back-and-forth could go on for some time, but today he was going to insist, because Heather deserved it.

Eventually Heather relented and held her hand out to her father, assisting him to stand, and Max shuffled along with a prominent limp, balanced on his walking stick as he swung his left prosthesis out. Heather patiently walked at her father's side, heading in the direction of the seafood vendors. "Nancy reckons I shouldn't eat too much fish cos of the possibility of mercury build up."

"Bloody hell," Max said, shaking his head. "Everyone's so cautious these days. Anyway, I thought fish was good for pregnancy? At least back in my day it was. Yer mother never gave up seafood and you turned out all right."

Heather grinned, twitching her head down to her left shoulder with great exaggeration. "Yeah, look, I turned out completely fine, didn't I?"

"I s'pose that's debatable," Max chuckled. "Anyway, what's this business about mercury in fish?"

"It's fine, but some species do accumulate heavy metals more than others. I'm supposed to limit my portions as a precaution, but Nancy's over cautious with these things."

"But she's a..."

"Lesbian, I know. Would you believe her sexuality doesn't mean she doesn't know stuff about pregnancy, Dad? After all, you're a man and you even you know a thing or two about pregnancy..."

"I didn't know much. Yer mother did most of the work."

"That's not totally true. She's told me what a saint you were, supporting her." Then Heather grinned and twitched her head to the side again. "Apparently you sometimes even caught her the fish with all the mercury in it."

Max smiled and said, "Yeah, well, I s'pose there's some truth to it, because we've really done a disservice to this old girl."

"Who, Mum?"

"Not yer Mum, but the world." He gestured with a broad sweep of his hand at the world around them, especially towards the waters of the cove. As if to emphasise his statement, a wafting stench mixture of diesel, fish and bilge water blew across them from a trawler tied up to the nearby dock.

He ignored the smells, and instead focused on the blue-grey waters of the river, two sailing boats racing, one tacking elegantly into the wind, followed by the other, and also the twin-hulled Mona ferry pulling away from the wharf. Looking across the river to the eastern shore, he attempted to pick out Heather's house among the sea of houses spreading up from the water's edge to approximately half-way up the hilly range behind, to where bushland covered the ridge tops. He failed to spot her house, as usual, his eye-sight nowhere near as sharp as it was in his youth.

"Never thought I'd hear you be sentimental about the state of the environment," Heather replied.

"Yeah, well, maybe it's old age speaking."

"Come on, Dad, fifty-seven's not too old." Then Heather sighed. "But yeah, I guess she's now paying us back."

"Huh?"

"Nature. With the virus."

"Not this again, love. You've been watching too much news. I'm sure it's similar to the flu."

Heather stopped and faced Max. "You do know the flu can be deadly, right? Especially to vulnerable people? But we have flu vaccines, but this corona disease is new and we don't know anything about it or how bad it might be. Tim says it's not like the flu, anyhow, and people he works with are taking it seriously."

Max considered Heather's statement. "What did Tim say? Are they telling him anything at work?"

"Not a great deal, but the doctors are saying they're going to have to think about taking additional precautions. You've seen the news about what's happening overseas."

"We'll be right, we're so far from the world here on our little island."

Heather shook her head. "No, Dad, we actually aren't. The world is connected more than ever. Look around, there's tourists everywhere. And they're still letting in cruise ships. One went out earlier and another's due."

"I suppose..." He thought for a moment. "Daren and Maureen are on a cruise ship right now, they sailed recently out of Sydney..."

"Hmm." Heather was frowning. "Didn't they see the cruise ship off Japan, all over the bloody news?"

Max shook his head. "I still think you're worrying too much, love. It's not going to be like China or Japan down here."

Heather frowned. "We don't know what it'll be like. And I have a baby coming along now...I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm scared because I already don't know what I'm supposed to be doing half the time and now there's the threat of a global pandemic. Who knows how it'll impact my child? Your grandchild!"

"You're doing great, love, plus you've got Tim and I know you'll both easily do this."

"I know, but he's working his arse off and if the disease comes here he's on the front line, and I might be too..."

"And from Monday you'll be on desk duties, and when your little one comes, you'll be on maternity leave, so forget the rest of the world and enjoy motherhood."

Heather pursed her lips, and Max knew he'd made a mistake, but wasn't quite sure where. Fortunately his daughter was rarely angry at him for long, and though she didn't smile like he hoped she would, and her big green eyes continued to burn through him, she eventually nodded.

"Tim and I have discussed things. This virus is already in our country, and we have a handful of cases down here too. Tim says the doctors he's spoken with think things could go from bad to worse in the time frame of a few days, in which case he'll be in the thick of it. He's worried there's a risk he might bring it home to you and me."

"Tim's over reacting, love. He's a nurse and..."

Heather shook her head, clearly frustrated, but kept her voice calm. "No, he's not over reacting."

Max read Heather's face, knowing she was serious. Sometimes he needed to remind himself his daughter was no longer a child, where she was almost thirty-two, and he'd admit with pride she was a whole bunch smarter and wiser to the world than he was, which was why he'd heed her advice. "Okay, okay, so if things get worse, what do we do?"

"Tim said he'd discuss it with colleagues, and if it gets really bad they might get hotel rooms or stay with single colleagues, so they don't put their families at risk. But it's an expensive solution. I suggest taking you away somewhere safe and if my boss thinks it's okay, maybe I could hunker down too, since I don't want to risk my baby. Then Tim could stay at home, since he's going to be an essential worker."

"Where would we go?"

"I dunno. I spoke to Aunty Joan and Uncle Pat, but as you know their house is a mess with all the renos, including their spare room. So I was thinking Mum's, maybe..." Her voice trailed off.

Max nodded. "Of course yer Mother will let you stay, but you two'll argue."

"We don't argue much anymore," Heather replied with a frown "And I don't see why she wouldn't take you..."

"Why would she take me after all these years?"

"She probably will, Dad. She's said if you ever swallowed your pride and asked for help for once, she'd give you anything..."

"She won't."

Heather sighed. "Well, I'll still talk to her."

"And if she says..."

"If she says no, we'll find another option. Nana's place, maybe, but I wouldn't want to pose a risk to Nana either."

"Annie's already said she's going to take care of Mum and there's only two usable bedrooms there these days anyway. She's taking this disease seriously too. Maybe we could use Annie's house while she's stayin' at Mum's...maybe I can have a chat tomorrow when we're down for Mum's birthday."

"At least Aunty Annie has sense, Dad." Finally a slight grin came to Heather's lips. "What if Uncle Greggory pokes his head around Nana's when Annie's there, they'll be at one another's throats, and if you did end up there, you'll be stuck in the middle."

Max chuckled. "It would be like when we were kids, Greggory giving Annie shit all the time and poor Mum'll be the one stuck in the middle. She'll probably ask for me to take her away from them."

Heather chuckled. "Nana's got more sense than to come to you for help."

Max smiled. "She's right, too. Anyway, if Annie lets me use her place near Huonville, perhaps you could hide down there with me if you need to? Otherwise if you ended up heading up the coast to ya Mother's, then if this disease does take off like you think, then we mightn't get to see one another for a bit...I might as well stay here in town and take my chances with Tim."

"I don't know if it's going to take off, I just said it might and we need to be prepared. And you're fifty-seven, Dad, plus you've been smoking for the past however many years, so you're increasingly vulnerable. Seriously, it's probably best to get somewhere out of the city."

"Hey, you said I wasn't all that old before. And I gave up the ciggies and I'm exercising again..."

"Only over the last year."

"If my leg weren't rooted," he said, tapping the prosthetic leg, "I'd be able to outrun this bastard flu."