Pallid arms reached for meMembranes of... Pallid arms reached for meMembranes of sand
smoked off them in the windThe moon shone
through themI held up the flashlightAnd its barrel was plastic rather than
stainless steel
"You might want a look at this before you go
giving away kisses, though," I said"It came from
the glove compartment of Jack Cantori's carThe
one with Perse inside is locked in Elizabeth's
safe
The thing froze, and when it did, the wind off the
Gulf tore away the last semblance of humanityIn
that moment I was confronting nothing but a
whirling sand-devilI took no chances, however;
it had been a long day, and I had no intention of
taking chances, especially if my daughter were
somewhereand waiting
for her final restI swung my arm as hard as I
could, the flashlight clamped in my fist and Nan
Melda's silver
prada borse bracelets sliding down my arm to my
wristI had cleaned them carefully in the kitchen
sink at El Palacio, and they jingled
I had one of the silver-tipped harpoons stuck in
my belt, behind my left hip, for good measure, but
I didn't need itThe sand-devil exploded outward
and upwardA scream of rage and pain went through
my headThank God it was brief, or I think it
1106
would have torn me apartThen there was nothing
but the sound of the shells under Big Pink and a
brief dimming of the stars over the dunes to my
right as the last of the sand blew away in a
disorganized flurryThe Gulf was once more empty
except for the moon-gilded rollers, marching in
toward shoreThe Perse had gone, if it had ever
been there
The strength ran out of my legs and I sat down
with a thumpMaybe I'd end up
omega olympic watch doing the Crawly-
Gator the rest of the way, after allIf so, Big
Pink wasn't farRight now I thought I'd just sit
here and listen to the shellsThen
maybe I'd be able to get up and walk those last
twenty yards or so, go in, and call WiremanTell
him I was all rightTell him it was done, that
Jack could come and pick me up
But for now I would just sit here and listen to
the shells, which no longer seemed to be talking
in my voice, or anyone else'sNow I would just
sit here by myself on the sand, and look out at
the Gulf, and think about my daughter, Ilse Marie
Freemantle, who had weighed six pounds and four
ounces at birth, whose first word had been dog,
1107
who had once brought home a large brown balloon
crayoned on a piece of construction paper,
shouting exultantly, "I drawed a pitcher
louis vuitton wien of you,
Daddy!"
Ilse Marie Freemantle
22 - June
i
I piloted the skiff out to the middle of Lake
Phalen and killed the motorWe drifted toward the
little orange marker I'd left thereA few
pleasure boats buzzed back and forth on the glasssmooth
surface, but no sailboats; the day was
perfectly stillThere were a few kids in the
playground area, a few people in the picnic area,
and a few on the nearest hiking trail skirting the
waterOn the whole, though, for a lake that's
actually within the city limits, the area was
almost empty
Wireman - looking strangely un-Florida in a
fisherman's hat and a Vikings pullover - commented
on this
1108
"School's still in," I said"Give it another
couple of weeks and there'll be boats buzzing
everywhere"Does that make this the right
place for her,
chanel handbags collection muchacho? I mean, if a fisherman
should net her up-"
"No nets allowed on Lake Phalen," I said, "and
there are few rods and reelsThis lake is pretty
much for pleasure-boatersAnd swimmers, in close
to shore I bent and picked up the cylinder the
Sarasota silversmith had madeIt was three feet
long, with a screw-down top at one endIt was
filled with fresh water, and the water-filled
flashlight was inside thatPerse was sealed in
double darkness, and sleeping in a double blanket
of fresh waterSoon she would be sleeping even
deeper
"This is a beautiful thing," I said
"That it is," Wireman agreed, watching the
afternoon sun flash from the cylinder as I turned
it over in my hand"And nothing on it to catch a
hookAlthough I'd still feel easier about dumping
it in a lake up around the Canadian
prada replica handbags bo