The Beach by Alex Garland Read Free Book Online Page B

bags,' said Étienne. 'If we have some plastic bags we can tie them so water does not enter. Then... they float. The air inside.'
'Uh-huh. You think it'll work?'
Étienne shrugged. 'I think it will. I saw it on television.'
'On TV?'
'It was The A-Team '
' The A-Team? Oh, that's great. We'll be fine, then.'
I lay back in the water, propping myself up on my elbows.
'I think you are very lucky to have met us, Richard,' Étienne laughed. 'I think without us you could not reach this beach.'
'Yes,' Françoise said. 'But also we are lucky to meet him.'
'Oh, of course. Without your map we could not find the beach either.'
Françoise frowned, then smiled at me. 'Étienne! We are lucky to meet him anyway.'
I smiled back, noticing as I did so that the bad mood I'd been carrying all morning had completely lifted. 'We're all lucky,' I said happily.
Étienne nodded. 'Yes. We are.'
We sat in silence for a few minutes, basking in our luckiness. Then I stood up, clapping my hands together. 'Right. Why don't we go for a long swim now? It could be a practice.'
'It is a very good idea, Richard,' Étienne replied, also standing. 'Come on, Françoise.'
She shook her head and pouted. 'I think I will stay in the sun. I shall watch you two strong men from here. I will see who can swim the furthest.'
Doubt flickered in my mind. I looked at her, trying to see if her words were as loaded as they appeared. She was watching Étienne as he made his way into the sea, giving nothing away.
'That's it, then,' I thought. 'Just wishful thinking.'
But I failed to convince myself. As I waded after Étienne, I couldn't help wondering if Françoise's eyes were now on my back. Just before the water became deep enough to swim I needed to know, and glanced behind me. She had moved up the beach to the dry sand and was lying on her front, facing the land.
Just wishful thinking after all.
Eden
    Sunset was spectacular. Red sky gently faded to deep blue, where a few bright stars already shone, and orange light threw elastic shadows down the beach as people strolled back to their huts.
I was stoned. I'd been dozing on the sand with Françoise and Étienne, recovering from our epic swim, when Sammy and Zeph turned up with half an ounce of grass wrapped in newspaper. They'd spent the day at Lamai hunting for their lost room key and found it hanging on a piece of driftwood, stuck into the sand. They'd bought the grass to celebrate.
'Someone must have put it there knowing we'd come looking,' Zeph had said as he sat down beside us. 'Isn't that such a decent thing to do?'
'Maybe it was a stupid thing to do,' Françoise had replied. 'Someone could have taken this key and robbed your room.'
'Well, uh, yeah, I suppose.' Then he'd looked at Françoise, obviously taking her in for the first time, and given his head a little shake. I think he was clearing a mental image that had just appeared. 'No, definitely. You're right.'
The sun had begun its rapid descent to the horizon as the grass began to take hold. Now we all sat, watching the colours in the sky as intently as if we were watching television.
'Hey,' said Sammy loudly, breaking us out of our reverie. 'Has anyone ever noticed that if you look up at the sky you can start to see animals and faces in the clouds?'
Étienne looked round. 'Have we ever noticed?' he said.
'Yeah,' Sammy continued. 'It's amazing. Hey, there's a little duck right above us, and that one looks like a man with a huge nose.'
'Actually, I have noticed this since I was a small child.'
'A small child?'
'Yes. Certainly.'
Sammy whistled. 'Shit. I've only just noticed it. Mind you, that's mainly to do with where I grew up.'
'Oh?' said Étienne.
'See, I grew up in Idaho.'
'Ah...' Étienne nodded. Then he looked confused. 'Yes, Idaho. I have heard of Idaho, but...'
'Well, you know about Idaho, huh? There's no clouds in Idaho.'
'No clouds?'
'Sure. Chicago, the windy city. Idaho, the cloudless state. Some weird weather thing to do with atmospheric pressure, I don't