[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

She puts her hands to her mouth like a megaphone.  GOOD
ONE! she shouts.
When Julie and Sydney turn to head for shore, which appears
in the interval to have come to greet them, Sydney sees
Jeff, still in tennis whites, standing at the water s edge. In his
hand is an empty bottle of Poland Spring, which he waves in
greeting.
Sydney remembers with dismay her sagging tank suit with its
sprung legs, more visible now in the bright sunshine than it was
the night before. Julie leaps out of the water to tell her brother
her good news  a lifelong fear conquered. Well, almost con-
quered. Sydney watches as Jeff hugs his sister, allowing her to
soak his shirtfront.
65
Anita Shreve
* * *
 Who won? Sydney asks when she emerges from the water.
 They did, Jeff says.  Ben is something else.
 I hope it was fun.
Jeff s hair is darker now, pasted to his head with sweat.  Vicki s
changing into her suit. We thought we d go for a swim. How s
the water?
 Ice, Sydney says, wiping her hair from her forehead.
 Sounds good.
 I ll get some towels, Julie offers, running ahead. Sydney
decides, watching her, A child in a woman s body.
 That s a great thing you just did, Jeff says.  No one s been able
to get her to go near the water in years.
Sydney thinks to herself: You can t have been trying very hard.
 Were you there? Sydney asks.  The day of the riptide?
 It was awful. Jeff flips the empty plastic bottle between the
second and third fingers of his right hand.  Did Julie tell you
what she said to my father?
 No.
 When my father reached her, Julie was holding on to the
boogie board. She looked right at him and said  amazingly
calmly, given the situation  We re going to die, aren t we?
 Was your father frightened?
 Yeah, I think he was. He was pretty sure he could get himself
back to shore, but he was afraid Julie would let go of the board,
and he d lose her.
 Incredible.
66
Body Surfing
 I remember when Julie and my dad came back to the house
we were renting then, Julie walked straight up onto the porch
and lay facedown on the floor. No one could get her to say a
word. I m not sure she s ever talked about it before now.
 For a seven-year-old to be convinced she s going to die . . . ,
Sydney begins.
But Jeff is glancing up. Sydney follows his eyes. Victoria 
polished, bikini-clad, and with perhaps the tiniest frown on her
brow  is standing on the deck, gazing down at them.
67
Drinks on the porch. A lowering sun has turned the water
mauve. A candle at the center of the teak table flickers in the
breeze. It will almost certainly go out, Sydney thinks.
Sydney has a light beer, as does Mr. Edwards. Mrs. Edwards
always drinks red wine, about which she appears to be quite
knowledgeable. Jeff looks to be holding a glass of something
stronger, a gin and tonic perhaps, while Victoria is fondling the
stem of a glass of champagne. Sydney might have predicted the
champagne.
Julie has a Coke. Ferris, the recovering alcoholic, a glass of
plain water. Marissa, who has come with Ferris, the Pellegrino.
A strong smell of sea wafts from the shore. The tide is dead low,
revealing a luxurious stretch of beach. The owners of the beach
houses, Sydney decides, must have the sense of possessing more
property at low tide than at high.
Sydney notes that Julie is more dressed up than usual, with a
tank top under her skimpy sweater, the pale blue silk billowing
over her breasts. Her jeans are long and tight. She and Victoria,
68
Body Surfing
beautiful women, represent two centers of gravity on the porch,
the eyes unable to let them be, much to the visible annoyance
of Marissa, a lanky but toned redhead whose investment in her
looks is not paying off tonight. Marissa crosses and recrosses
her pale legs, then slips off her own tiny sweater to reveal her
buff physique. Ben pays attention, but his eyes drift to Victo-
ria, and then, uncomfortably, to Sydney. She is underdressed for
the party in a sleeveless white blouse and a pair of navy shorts.
Avoiding eye contact with Ben is more difficult than she would
have thought, even perched as she is on the stairs, there being an
insufficient number of chairs for the thirteen celebrants of this
spectacular August evening.
Sitting near a couple who have introduced themselves as Claire
and Will, Sydney is asked expected questions. Where do you live?
Do you tutor all year? What were you studying? She answers as
best she can, but there are gaps in her history  years for which
she doesn t want to answer just now  that gradually make the
couple turn away. Will stands and offers to refill Sydney s glass.
When she declines, Claire excuses herself and joins a gathering
that consists of Mr. Edwards, Jeff, and Art. Sydney can hear the
words morning and fishfinder.
Sydney is mildly confused by the lack of physicality between
Jeff and Victoria. Have they known each other for so long they
no longer need to touch in public? Or is Jeff self-conscious in
the company of his parents and his parents friends, a trait that
Victoria  Vicki  might find just the tiniest bit unattractive?
Certainly, they do not look like a couple about to announce an
engagement, which must be something of a disappointment to
69
Anita Shreve
Mrs. Edwards, who is unaccountably clad, given her fifty-nine-
year-old upper arms, in a fuchsia chiffon tank top and black
palazzo pants.
With a sense of foreboding, Sydney watches Ben stand and make
the rounds with a bottle of red in one hand, a bottle of white in
the other.
 You re drinking a beer, he says when he reaches her.
 I am, she answers, also stating the obvious.
 Ready for another?
Sydney would like another drink but is reluctant to be
beholden to Ben, even for something as innocuous as a glass of
beer.  I m fine, she says.
Ben sets the wine bottles on the teak table and takes a seat oppo-
site Sydney on the step. He leans against the railing. Sydney is
immediately aware of her bare legs, one crooked under the other,
in a way she wasn t before.
She is aware, too, that Ben is studying her, and she minds the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]