Read Crooked Man: A Hard-Boiled but Humorous New Orleans Mystery (Tubby Dubonnet Series #1) (The Tubby Dubonnet Series) for Free Online

day. The family had gone for a picnic on the Bogue Falaya River, a sleepy little stream north of Lake Pontchartrain. They had towed the boat behind them across the Causeway while the morning fog was still clinging to the water. They got to the boat launch just when the sun broke through, a fuzzy yellow ball. Wisps of mist like smoke curled around the cypress knees by the bank and the pilings of the piers. When they got everybody packed, precariously, into the boat, along with their barbecue grill, lawn chairs, and ice chest, they puttered upstream to a low-water island. Collette jumped in, waist deep, and pulled them onto the beach. With the girls splashing around, and Mattie trying to keep her shorts dry, they got everything unloaded. Mattie set about arranging the camp to her liking, and Tubby started the fire in the grill. The girls all got back in the boat, and after fighting over the wheel, let Debbie take them downstream toward the deep water where they could go fast and ski.
    Once the coals were lit and smoking, and the chairs were all set up, he and Mattie settled down to relax. They had about an hour to kill, and Tubby was thinking idly about trying to interest Martie in a little roll on the blanket she had spread out on the sand. The setting was warm and very serene. He dipped into the ice chest and popped open a can of beer.
    “You’re drinking a little early,” Mattie said, lighting a cigarette.
    “Hey, it’s Saturday. It’s a picnic.”
    “I don’t want you falling asleep.”
    “Mattie, I’m not about to fall asleep.” She had made him uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Is anything bothering you?” he asked.
    She took a big pull on her cigarette and then held it with her lips while she lifted up her hips and used both hands to tug her shorts into a more comfortable position. A brown hawk soared lazily overhead.
    “Why do you always ask if something’s bothering me? Just because I ask about your drinking?”
    Tubby took a stab at changing the subject. “Can you see that turtle over there on that log?” He pointed across the stream. “Do you know that they’re called ‘tarpins’ in north Louisiana? They make it sound like the name of the big fish.”
    She didn’t say anything, just dragged on her cigarette. Tubby tried to feel serene again, but couldn’t.
    “This is special, Mattie,” he attempted. “What a beautiful place. Clean air, birds, old live oak trees with moss hanging off them like a pirate’s lair, nothing to do but cook hot dogs, three gorgeous girls doing healthy things and baking like cookies on our very own boat. It’s pretty nice, huh?”
    “I hate it when you talk like that,” she said quietly.
    Tubby was annoyed. Could she be joking? “Are you nuts? What’s the problem today, hon?”
    “Nothing. It’s just not enough. Anybody can lay out on the river, guzzling beer, and say isn’t this great, but it’s so common. There’s more in the world than this, don’t you think? There’s more to it than being a turtle, sunning yourself on a log without any more to do than eat a bug.”
    “Like what?” Tubby asked.
    “God, Tubby, like everything. Like Paris, stimulating people for a change, like cultural surroundings, like using your talents to their fullest.”
    “Jesus, Mattie. I didn’t know you were so dissatisfied.”
    “I’m not dissatisfied. I feel like I’m in some kind of a vault I need to break out of.”
    “Maybe we should take a trip,” he offered.
    She was quiet for a while. Finally she said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be all right.”
    But he did worry about it, even after the girls came back in a storm of laughter and shouting about how each had done on the water skis and who from school they had seen out on the river. And it wasn’t all right. It had just kept getting worse, and Tubby had felt more and more lost in his marriage until one day Mattie told him if he didn’t move out and give her some space, she was going to go crazy. She