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.Thank you.""You're welcome.Look at Finky!"Back on shore, Wyatt had taken off his shirt and was doing what looked like't'ai chi.The quick cold slap and pull of the water around us was such a contrast to the slow delicacy of his exercises."Give me a piggyback ride." She bit me on the back of the neck.I bent down and bit her on the arm, then began moving slowly through the water at an old man's pace.It felt good having her around me like that.It had been too long since I'd been with a woman and the press of breasts against my back, warm breath on my neck and ears.Something would have to be done about that when this was over; it was time to find someone who mattered.Besides my masochistic love for Cullen James, the only women I had serious, intimate contact with were those in the Cancer Theater Group.Their needs were very different from mine.When I began working there, I made the mistake of sleeping with one but quickly and painfully learned that pity is not a good substitute for support."Do I feel heavier?""I don't know, Sash, I haven't given you many piggyback rides.""You know -- from the pregnancy.Maybe I just think I float better now.""What did the doctor say about your being pregnant?""He said the conditions were strange but things like this have happened.""How do you feel about it?""If it's Phil's child, I want it.It could only be his! I haven't slept with anyone else since you and I were together in Vienna."I paddled us out a ways.There were so many things I wanted to tell her and Page 75ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmltalk about with her."Weber! Look at that, over there!" She pointed off to our right.Coming up from behind a flipping wave was the large golden head of a dog.It moved fast toward us, head straining hard out of the water.Sasha let go of me and I went for the dog, thinking it must have fallen off some boat and been swimming since."Here, boy!" I tried to whistle but got a mouthful of salty water instead.It saw me but wasn't interested.Sasha called and it saw her too, but no thanks.The dog (it looked like a vizsla or golden retriever) paddled by both of us and kept right on going.We looked at each other and made the same face --What can you do?Treading water where we were, we could only watch."I thought it was drowning!""It sure didn't want _our_ help.The loneliness of the long-distance swimmer."Reaching shore, it trotted right out of the surf, looking supremely successful.One good shake and it was on its way again down the beach.Sasha laughed."I love that! Where did it come from?""Neptune."She beamed."Yes, Neptune's dog.Right!"I moved over and took her in my arms.She hugged me."That's so mysterious! It just came out of nowhere and didn't want to have a thing to do with us.""Mysteries of the deep.""Sometimes they're nice.Let's swim some more.I want another piggyback."When we got back, Wyatt had laid everything out and was on his back sunning, but with an expression on his face like something smelled bad."What's the matter, Finky Linky?""I always like the _idea_ of suntanning, but when I do it I get itchy and impatient."I sat down next to him."Isn't the idea to relax and let the sun do the work?"He sat up, saw how wet I was, and moved away."The idea that people spend hundreds of dollars so they can sit in the sun and _sweat_ is beyond me."Look at what our friend made for lunch."While we ate, Sasha told him about the dog.I'd thought it was a funny, oddball thing that made for a five-minute story.But she was enraptured and couldn't get over what had happened.I think Wyatt saw it my way because he kept encouraging her to go on while looking at me with what-_is_-this? eyes.Hours later I realized she was so starved for something light and good and amusing in her life that a swimming dog was reason enough for wonder.We spent the day at the beach trying as subtly as possible to keep Sasha happy.When she laughed we wanted her to laugh more, louder, longer.We told stories and jokes and moved around as if putting the show on right here.Maybe we were.Sasha was really one of the good ones, a person who deserved every bit of our energy and concern [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]