The wind blowing in from the Gulf was strong but...
The wind blowing
in from the Gulf was strong but warm, lifting my
sweaty hair back from my brow and templesI decided to walk to the beach and
drink my juice there
I stopped three-quarters of the way down the
boardwalk, about to take a sip of my juiceThe
glass was tipped, and some of it splattered on one
bare foot
Out there on the Gulf, riding in toward shore on
one of the large, wind-driven waves, was a bright
green tennis ball
It means nothing, I told myself, but that wouldn't
hold waterIt meant everything, and I knew it
from the moment I saw itI tossed the glass into
the sea oats and broke into a lunging lurch - the
Edgar Freemantle version of running that year
It took me fifteen seconds to reach the end of the
boardwalk, maybe even chanel white j12 watch less, but in that time I saw
three more tennis balls floating in on the tide
Then six, then eightMost were off to my right -
to the north
I wasn't watching where I was going and plunged
off the end of the boardwalk into thin air, arms
whirlingI hit the sand still running and might
have stayed up if I'd landed on my good leg, but I
didn'tA zigzag of pain corkscrewed up my bad one,
904
shin to knee to hip, and I went sprawling in the
sandSix inches in front of my nose was one of
those damned tennis balls, its fuzz soaked flat
DUNLOP was printed on the side, the letters as
black as damnation
I struggled to my feet, looking wildly out at the
GulfThere were only a few incoming balls in
front of El Palacio, but farther north, near Big
Pink, omega automatic seamaster watch I saw a green flotilla - a hundred at least,
probably many moreShe burned the
picture and she's asleep in her apartment a
thousand miles from here, safe and sound
"It means nothing," I said, but now the wind
blowing my hair back felt cold instead of warmI
began to limp toward Big Pink, down where the sand
was wet and packed and shiningThe peeps flew up
in front of me in cloudsEvery now and then an
incoming wave would drop a tennis ball at my feet
There were lots of them now, scattered on the wet
hardpackThen I came to a burst-open crate
reading Dunlop Tennis Balls and FACTORY REJECTS NO
CANSIt was surrounded by floating, bobbing
tennis balls
905
I broke into a run
xi
I unlocked the door and left my keys hanging in
the lockLurched to sac hermes kelly the phone and saw the message
light blinkingI pushed the PLAY buttonThe
robot's expressionless male voice told me that
this message had been received at 6:48 AM, which
meant I had missed it by less than half an hour
Then Pam's voice burst out of the speakerI bent
my head, the way you'd bend your head to try and
keep a burst of jagged glass fragments from flying
directly into your face
"Edgar, the police called and they say Illy's dead!
They say a woman named Mary Ire came to her
apartment and killed her! One of your friends! One
of your art friends from Florida has killed our
daughter!" She burst into a storm of harsh and
ugly weepingIt was horrible,
that laughI felt as if one of those flying
shards of glass had cut into my face"Call tiffany co jewelry me,
you bastardCall and explain yourselfYou said
she'd be SAFE!"
906
Then more cryingIt was cut off by a clickNext
came the hum of an open line
I reached out and pushed the OFF button, silencing
it
I walked into the Florida room and looked at the
tennis balls, still bobbing in on the wavesI
felt doubled, like a man watching a man
The dead twins had left a message in my studio -
Where our sister? Had Illy been the sister they
meant?
I could almost hear the hag laughing and see her
nodding
"Are you here, Perse?" I asked
The wind rushed in through the screensThe waves
crashed on the shore with metronome-like
regularityBirds flew over the water, cryingOn
the beach I could see another burst-open tennis
ball crate, already half-buried in the saddle christian dior