Pulse of Life

by Janice D. Soderling

Ten years, and nothing had changed. The local ferry had the same berth. The stupid pelicans on the far docks still preened and whispered about him. The family table was booked at Captain's Hideaway. They would order pizza and root beer. It would taste like it always did.

"Same old, same old, same old," Harry thought, watching the incoming sailboat glide toward the dock. The motor went into reverse, and there they were, just like last year. His brother-in-law Bill in the stern, the girls at the ready with the mooring ropes, Greta waving her arms like a castaway on a desert island.

Harry endured brief hugs from his nieces when they stepped ashore. Petra was getting fat, he noted. Pearl seemed the same though. He said, "A pearl of a girl."

"Please, Uncle Harry, she said.

He repeated it, "A pearl of a girl, a pearl of a girl, a pearl...", until he was interrupted by Greta saying, "And aren't you going to give your only sis a big hug too!"

"Good to see you all," Harry said uncertainly, taking a step back and putting on his sunglasses. "I been looking forward to this all week."

The girls' hugs had set off the whispering pelicans. They forgave nothing, "Give Uncle Harry a big hug now, girls. He has come all the way from New York to visit, so he deserves a hug, don't you think? And brought presents too, I'll bet. Come on now, girls, give him a big old Harry-Bear-hug. Then we'll all go out and have some pizza.."

"He stinks," Pearl once said sternly. "He really, really smells bad," Petra said. They began to giggle hysterically, saying, "Phew, Uncle Harry is a old poop."

Back then he had not been afraid to travel. He skipped up the boarding ramp into a transcontinental plane with his nose in the air. He wasn't afraid of anything then, not stupid pelicans, and certainly not stupid airline stewards. One time—and he smiled to remember it—he caused an unscheduled landing in Little Rock. Police officers were waiting to charge him with interference with a flight crew, a federal offense. Who did they think they were, anyway? Bill got him out of that one. Bill had got him out of a lot of scraps back in the old days.

Harry hoped the wind wouldn't die down, so they could go for a sail afterward. They always went for a sail afterward, and he would be sorry the rest of the summer if the wind died down. Died down. Damned pelicans.

"Do you want to go for a sail, Uncle Harry?" his two nieces said almost in unison.

"Now girls," Greta said. "Don't tease Uncle Harry."

"Pulse of life," Harry said, to no one in particular.

"What did you say, Harry?" his pelican asked, her forehead coming closer until it nearly bumped his.

Harry didn't want to be touched. He sidestepped her. "Pulse of life."

"I think it is shameful that a nurse didn't come with you. It's not responsible that they let you go across town alone. I am going to call the manager tomorrow and tell her so."

"Pulse of life," Harry said and began to cry. "Pulse of life, pulse of life, pulse of life."

Bill snapped at Greta, "What did I tell you?" Then in a louder voice, like Harry was deaf, he carefully articulated, "How about some pizza and root beer, Harry? What do you say to some pizza and root beer? You like pizza and root beer, don't you, Harry?"

He let Bill take him by the arm and off they went up the winding path to Captain's Hideaway, the girls way out in front, like when they were little and running away from him.