"Christopher Pike - The Immortal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

"Hey, I'm here for a week," Helen said. "When do you get off work?"

"When the sun goes down," Tom said. He had been drying glasses as he spoke. He had big hands,
skillful fingers. "I'd love to get together with you ladies later."

"I don't know if you could handle two of us at once," Helen said, her smile forced. "Do you have a friend
for Josie? She's just getting over a heartbreaking affair."

"That I've already forgotten," I murmured. She might have been talking about Ralph, I think, or she might
have simply been talking.

"There's Pascal," Tom said. "Do you remember him? Big? French?"

"I'm not sure," Helen said.

"You may not have met him," Tom said. "His English is only fair." Tom looked at me. "But the ladies all
like him."

"The ladies might not have the same taste as I do," I said.

Helen and Tom narrowed down when and where they would meet. I felt hot from the ride in the sun
23

CHRISTOPHER PIKE

and I was anxious to get in the water. Yet--and I am a horrible friend--I liked Tom. He seemed like a
nice guy. Of course, they all do at first.

We said our goodbyes and went for snorkel equipment. Helen asked me what I thought of him.

"He's cool," I said. "I hope his friend is as nice. But big, French, and can't speak English--what are you
getting me into?"

"We'll have fun," Helen assured me.

The snorkel equipment was inexpensive: the whole works for eight dollars a day. We told them we
wanted it for three. Helen used her credit card this time. I had put mine down when we rented the bikes.
We would figure who owed what later. Neither of us was picky about money.

The water was warm, clean, colorful--I couldn't get over how much I loved it. With our equipment on,
we paddled out to a number of docked sailboats and then swam over to the jetty. I swear, we were in
fifty feet of water and I could see the eyes of the fish on the bottom eating from the long grasses that grew
up from the sand. There was no coral, but plenty of interesting stone. I had a fantasy as I snorkeled that I
would suddenly spot a gleam of buried treasure. But it was just a dream.

The fish, of course, made me feel kind of horny.

We had been snorkeling for close to an hour when I suddenly felt a pain in my chest. It started in the
center and quickly spread in a band across my ribs. The pain was frightening, but not totally unexpected.
I was overdoing it. Ten months earlier, at the end of