In addition to the stuff on view, Eastlake had...
In addition to the stuff on
view, Eastlake had found various eating utensils
four cups he claimed were "Italianate"a box of gears (whatever that might
mean)and nails without numberHe had also
663
found half a China ManNot a Chinaman; a China
ManIt wasn't pictured, at least not that I could
seeThe story said Eastlake had been diving on
the eroded reefs west of Duma Key for fifteen
years, sometimes to fish, often just to relaxHe
said he had found all sorts of litter, but nothing
of interestHe said that the Alice (he called it
that) had generated some remarkably big waves, and
they must have shifted the sand inside the reef
just enough to reveal what he called "a dumping
field
"He doesn't call it a wreck," I said
"It wasn't," Wireman saidHe
didn't find one, and neither speedy bag louis vuitton did the dozens of
people who helped him try to recover the bodies of
his little girlsThey would have
found a wreck if there was a wreck to find; the
water on the southwest end of the Key is no more
than twenty-five feet deep all the way out to what
remains of Kitt Reef, and it's pretty clear now
Back then it was like turquoise glass
"Any theories about how it came to be there?"
"SureThe best is that some boat close to
foundering came blowing in a hundred, two hundred,
664
three hundred years before, shedding shit as it
cameOr maybe the crew was tossing stuff
overboard to stay afloatThey made repairs after
the storm was over and went on their wayIt would
explain why there was a swath of detritus for
Eastlake to find, and also why none of it was
particularly replica tiffany jewelry valuableTreasure would have stayed
with the ship
"And the reef wouldn't have ripped the keel out of
a boat that got blown in here back in the 1700s?
Or 1600s?"
Wireman shrugged"Chris Shannington says no one
knows what the geography of Kitt Reef might have
been a hundred and fifty years ago
I looked at the spread-out lootThe smiling
middle daughtersThe smiling Daddy, who was soon
going to have to buy himself a new bathing costume
And I suddenly decided he hadn't been sleeping
with the nannyEven a mistress would have
told him he couldn't have a newspaper photo of
himself taken in that old thingShe would have
found a tactful reason, but the real one was right
in front of me, after all these years; even with
less-than-perfect vision in my right eye, I could
665
see itOnly he didn't see colourful louis vuitton bag it, and
his daughters didn't see it, eitherLoving eyes
did not seeSomething there, wasn't there? Some A
that practically demanded a B
"I'm surprised he talked about what he found at
all," I said"If you happened on stuff like this
today and then blabbed to Channel 6, half of
Florida would show up in their little putt-putts,
hunting for doubloons and pieces of eight with
metal detectors
"Ah, but this was another Florida," Wireman said,
and I remembered Mary Ire using the same phrase
"John Eastlake was a rich man, and Duma Key was
his private preserveBesides, there were no
doubloons, no pieces of eight - just moderately
interesting junk uncovered by a freak stormFor
weeks he went down and dived where that debris was
scattered on the floor of the Gulf - and it was
close vintage gucci watch in, according to Shannington; at low tide,
you could practically wade to itAnd sure, he was
probably keeping an eye out for valuablesHe was
a rich man, but I don't think that vaccinates a
man against the treasure-bug"I'm sure it doesn't
"The nanny would have gone with him on his
treasure-hunting expeditionsThe three still-athome
girls, too: the twins and ElizabethMaria
and Hannah were back at their boarding school in
Bradenton, and big sis had run off to Atlanta
Eastlake and his little ones probably had picnics
down there
"How often?" I began to see where this was goingMaybe every day while the debris field was
at its richestThey wore a path from the house to
what was called Shade BeachIt was half a mile,
if that
"A path two adventurous little girls could follow
on their tiffany and co earrings o