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Marguery nodded soberly.  That s the question, isn t it? Anyway, here s the beach. She leaned back to
reach a package in the rear seat of the car.  I picked up a bathing suit for you in the hotel shop; hope it
fits.
 Thank you, he said absently, beginning to unbutton his shirt.
 But you don t undress here, she said quickly.  There are changing rooms for that. I ll meet you when
you come out.
That presented another mystery to solve, but a simple enough one this time. He copied what he saw
other men doing, aware that they were looking curiously at him, as well. He didn t think about it. His
mind was filled with all the questions Marguery had raised and kept on raising.
There were plenty of questions. What was in very short supply was answers.
For twenty years everything had seemed clear to him: He would come back to Earth, as a gift from the
Hakh hli to the human race, and that would be that. He had never considered the possibility of an
 after  either for himself, or for the Hakh hli ship.
When Sandy left the row of cubicles marked  Men he was properly garbed in a pair of bathing trunks
that did, just about, go around his considerable girth. Then the unanswerable questions vanished, because
there was Marguery, waiting for him at the section marked  Women.
He swallowed hard. Marguery Darp in ordinary clothes had stirred his passions. Marguery Darp in a
bikini took his breath away. She had a loose, thin, nearly transparent robe over her shoulders, but it hid
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no more than the bathing suit did.  But you rebeautiful, he told her.
She laughed out loud.  Well, she said,  you re certainly good for a person s vanity, Sandy
Washington. Then she frowned.  I forgot to get you a sun robe, so we d better not stay out too long.
Come on. Let s get our feet wet!
And they did, and the experience of entering the water drove all other thoughts out of Sandy s mind.
He was aware that people were staring at him, but they were smiling encouragingly, taking pictures. He
grinned happily at the other bathers. It was fun! To be almost immersed in a liquid that supported, or very
nearly supported, his weight! It was like flying except that when they waded out to waist depth,
Marguery holding his hand, and he tried lifting his feet off the bottom under her tutelage, he sank.
He got his feet under him and came up, gasping and snorting and laughing.  I m sorry, he said.  I m
afraid I can t swim at all. I think the average density of my body s a lot more than water.
She pursed her lips.  You re pretty solid, at that. Well, that s not a big problem. We ll get you a life
preserver or something, if you want to try. And I ll be right with you, all right?
 Maybe another time, he said cautiously.  Is it all right if we just, what do you call it,  wade for a
while?
 Whatever you want.
He splashed about, thoughtfully.  The water isn t very cold, he said.
She laughed.  It isn t always like this. You should have been here last winter. The whole bay was frozen
over!
Lysander gazed around, perplexed.  You mean  ice ? Frozen water? But why?
 Just because it was winter, of course, she said, and then had to explain what a  winter was.  The old
people never had freezes like this around here, she said with a certain amount of pride.
 But you said it was warmer now, not colder, Lysander said humbly.  How could warming up make
the air colder?
 That cold air around here last winter wasn t any colder than usual, she explained.  It was just in a
differentplace than usual. She frowned up at the hot sun overhead.  But it isn t winter now, she said,
 and I m afraid we re getting too much sun. Let s sit in the shade for a while and dry off.
He followed her up the little beach to where canvas awnings sheltered the bathers from the ultraviolet.
 Be back in a moment, she said, and disappeared in the direction of a refreshment stand. When she
came back she handed him a paper cup with a fizzy soft drink in it.  Do you like it? she asked, watching
him taste it experimentally.  It s called  root beer. 
 Oh, yes, he said, nodding. Like everything else on Earth, it did not taste at all the way he had
expected, but he enjoyed the way it tingled at the back of his nose.  Listen, Marguery, he said.  I
remembered something about winter. When I was little MyThara told me that the Hakh hli once visited a
planet where it was winter all the time.
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He had her sudden full attention.  Really? she said, waiting for him to go on. But he couldn t go very
far.
 I don t remember very much about it, he said.  It was a big disappointment to them for some reason.
The Hakh hli don t like to talk about disappointments I guess they ve had too many of them. But it did
happen, MyThara said. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago. He stopped to think, then shook his head.
 That s all I remember. I could ask ChinTekki-tho about it, next time I talk to him. He d know. Would
you like me to do that?
 Yes, please, said Marguery.  I d like that very much.
When they separated to get dressed again, Sandy discovered the paper in his pocket. He had [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]