"It means wicked woman," Lorraine explained.
"If you don't know your Bible, you're in for hell and damnation living with Grandpa," Betty said.
"I know my Bible," I said defensively. "I just didn't understand why Cary would call you that."
"You will, once you get to know him better and he starts calling you that," Betty told me.
I gazed at Cary. He was looking at us with some interest. He didn't smile, but when our eyes met, he seemed to soften and nod slightly.
I continued eating my lunch, answering questions about life in Sewell, West Virginia, the music I liked, movies and TV shows I watched. The girls acted as if I had come from a foreign country.
"You can forget about television as long as you're living with the Logans," Janet said.
"Why?"
"They don't have a television set, right?"
I thought about it for a moment and then was amazed that I hadn't noticed myself. "No, they don't. I wonder why."
"Television is full of sinful acts," Betty quipped.
"Grandpa doesn't even know what the Beatles sang. He still thinks we're talking about insects," Lorraine said. Their laughter attracted the attention of everyone around us. I felt guilty sitting here listening to them mock Cary.
"You shouldn't make fun of him," I said. "He and his family have suffered a great loss."
They all stopped smiling and laughing.
"You mean Laura," Betty said.
"Yes. Did you know her well?"
"Of course we knew her," Lorraine said. They ex-changed glances as they continued to eat. Silence fell over our table and those who had been looking at us, listening and smiling along with them, turned back to their own conversations.
"My aunt is still very upset," I continued, angry at how cruel and insensitive they seemed to be. "It was a terribly tragic accident, wasn't it?"
The three glanced at each other. Janet wiped her lips with her napkin and gulped down her apple juice. Lorraine's eyes shifted quickly from mine, but Betty sat back, stretching.
"Better ask Grandpa about it," she said. The other two looked shocked that she had said it.
"What do you mean?"
She shrugged.
"Just ask him about Laura and Robert. They were using Grandpa's sunfish when they got caught in the sou'wester," she replied as if that explained it.
"Sunfish?"
"It's a shell with one sail on it," Lorraine said.
"Not the sort of boat to be in when bad weather hits," Betty continued. "Grandpa knew that better than anyone. He was born on a wave and came in with the tide."
They laughed again.
"I don't understand. What are you trying to say?"
"We're not saying anything," Betty replied quickly, her smile evaporating. "And don't tell anyone we did."