The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-08-30
Chapter IL
On The Beach

On The Beach
(ATURDAY morning we could
- not ride for some reason de-
scribed to me simply as "inspec-
ton. l did not question it too
closely. put In the extra time at
my typewriter, expecting Julia
and half dreading a repetition of
Fridays painful encounter. But
she did not arrive until eleven
O'Clock, and then she did not
come in, just sat in the car out
side my window and honked.
l dropped what was doing and
went out to her. thankful enough
for respite.
Come for drive" she begged,
so / got in beside her.
The car was a Chrysler con-
vertible coupe. She drove If wide
open and burning the wind. NY
hair would be in a thousand
snarls, but did not protest,
knowing that she was running
away from the thought of JEFF.
This is Minis car" she said
presently. dan gave, it to. her
when we first came here. L can
usually have it in the daytime.
Minis moody. Dan goes out. two
or three nights a week TO some
stag affair and she takes her car
and drives for hours by herself"
DO you think she's happy"
ventured. t--s..'.f -.
WHO is?"
She uttered a mirthless laugh.
Which reminds me, we're rev.
cling tonight - beach party.
You're invited. Hope it proves
better than last nights fray,
which was a bore. Oh, and wait
till you see what we've got! It
Just happened in to see its friend
Sandra. and it's too cute for
words.
/ saw what she meant that
night. It was a man. A dark,
thickset man with little mus
tache and a STACEY sort of good
looks. He bowed over my hand
and murmured "Chawmed."
Then he threw back his bath
robe to display his trunk-clad
form and swelled a hairy chest.
We were all visibly impressed.
Julia clasped her hands and gazed
at him with starry eyes. Adam let
his jaw sag in unpleasant resem-
blance to an idiot child. Gerald
Beaufort inhaled until his face
was scarlet and seemed about to
pin his shoulders together in the
back.
'The word is Uirile." said Fee
icia Bridewell iTrepressibly in
my left ear.
Only Sandra, JEFF and the chap
lain seemed unamused. JEFF, in
fact, glowered; or at least I
thought so at the time. He was so
somber normally that it was diff
ficult to tell when he was actually
diSpleaSed. He peeled off his
sweat shirt, rolled it into a tight
ball, tossed it on the sand and
marched deliberately into the
lake. l should not have been sur
priSed to see him wade ous until
his head was immersed. but he
jackknifed suddenly and reap.
peared swimming with vicious
strokes that seemed to reach for
and clutch the far horizon.
thought for a moment that
Julia was going to follow him but
with an effort that was obvious to
me, at least, she turned her back
to TIE lake and began rearranging
the baskets and bottles which we
had unloaded from the cars.
Go on and SWIM" she said to
all offers of assistance 1--WE won't
eat for a long time yet, and I'd
advise everyone to swim before
any casualties.
We had penetrated deep into
the reservation for this party.
Like the messy old Joke we had
turned in at the road marked
OFFICIAL VEHICLES ONLY,
passed the sign that read Wis
1TORS NOT ALLOWED BEYOND
THIS POINT and parked next to
POSITIVELY NO ADMIT
TANCE. Adam had replied vague
ly to my questions. The sign, he
said. had something to do with
summer maneuverS, which were
concluded: but they also pre-
served the reservation from cas-
ual picnickers and resultant brush
fires.
A hundred feet from the road
was the lake, trimmed by a clean
white beach as far as you could
see in either direction, interrupt
ed only. in the immediate fore
ground, by the wreck of an old
coal barge that had been cast up
to the waters edge by one of the
storms that periodically convulse
the Great Lakes.
Perceptibly Nervous
WE CLIMBED onto it when we
w had tired of swimming and
sat, wet and cool and contented,
swinging our legs over the shall
low water that Tapped at the
weatherbeaten hull and Sampling
the contents of one Of the big
thermos bottles.
It was still daylight, though the
sun had gone down behind us and
a big moon had ballooned UP out
of the lake and was already high
In the sky. A heavenly sense Of
well being came over me. Even
the two strange little men beside
me seemed expressly provided for
my amusement.
/ don't know why the chaplain
had let himself get so near to me.
II must have been an oversight,
for he was still perceptibly ner-