A Flash of Green by John D. MacDonald Read Free Book Online

over the drink table. Kat fixed herself a weak gin and Collins mix and carried it over to where Sally Ann and Carol were, and sat on a redwood bench.
    “We were saying that Sammy and Wilma Deegan have to keep finding new groups because they wear the old ones out,” SallyAnn said. “Remember how they knocked everybody out when they moved into the Estates? My God, we thought they were the most wildly amusing people in the world. And in less than a year, dears, they ran out of material. They have these eight or nine routines they can do, and by the third time around you have found out they’re very dreary little people. They have to have the laughs and the enthusiasm and the admiration, dears. They don’t give parties. They give recitals.”
    “We were invited,” Carol said. “I wanted to go. I think they’re real funny. They keep me in stitches. But Ben had to be at the boat yard. I just hate to go to parties without Ben.”
    Kat said, as casually as she could manage it, “I wanted to talk to you about my house, Sally Ann. They say it’s a better time to sell houses now than a year ago. I thought maybe Burt has said something about how houses are moving.”
    “But you can’t sell out and leave the group!” Sally Ann said.
    “I don’t know. The effort of hanging onto it seems to be more than it’s worth, really. I think that if I could sell it for a good price, I’d move over onto the bay side of the key. There’s a little lot over there I could buy, and I could have one of those little Bender-Bilt houses put on it, and I wouldn’t have anywhere near the taxes and maintenance. It wouldn’t be like moving back into town. I’d be only about a mile from here. And I would have a little bit of bay frontage. I love Grassy Bay. I love to look out at that bay.”
    “Hah!” Sally Ann said.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Katty, dear, up until as recently as a month ago, I wouldn’t have dropped you even a clue, but now I can tell you, don’t plan on looking out at Grassy Bay very long. I’m dropping a hint for your own good, dear. I wouldn’t want to see you make a terrible mistake.”
    Kat said, indignantly, “If you’re trying to tell me somebody is going to fill Grassy Bay, you’re wrong, Sally Ann. We didn’t let it happen two years ago, and we won’t let it happen now, or ever.”
    “Dear Kat, you sound awfully fierce, but there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it. We’re good friends, and I hope we can stay good friends, but you must know by now I don’t go all misty about the birds and the trees and the dear little fish the way you do. We’re going to have a nice big development over there, Kat, and Burt and I are going to have a nice cozy little piece of it.”
    “But it’s such a … a wicked thing to do, Sally Ann.”
    “To warn you about buying a lot over there on the bay?”
    “You know that isn’t what I mean.”
    “Kat, you’re a sweet girl, but you don’t face up to reality. Somebody is going to fill that bay sooner or later and whoever does it is going to make buckets of money. So be glad your friends and neighbors are going to do it.”
    “I can’t be glad anybody is going to try to do it. I’m going to have to spread the word, Sally Ann.”
    “But why bother, dear? It won’t do you any good, you know. You and your conservation buddies will just waste a lot of energy and indignation. It’s gone too far to stop it now. For God’s sake, sweetie, do you think I’d be investing in it if there was any chance it could be stopped? Do me one little favor, though. In return for the favor I’ve done you. Don’t let on where you heard it.”
    “Gee, you know, those kitchens in those little Bender houses are just darling,” Carol Killian said. “I saw one and it made me want to be just married and starting out.”
    Kat Hubble stood up. “Thanks for the drink and the hot tip, Sally Ann.”
    “Now I’m getting nervous about telling you.”
    “I had to find