Jill looked down into the water and saw something floating there. It was a face. Toby’s face, smiling at her, the drowned blue eyes looking up at her. The icy breeze began to blow, gently pushing her closer to the rail.
“I had to do it, Toby,” she whispered. “You see that, don’t you?”
The head in the water was nodding, bobbing, inviting her to come and join it. The wind grew colder and Jill’s body began trembling. Don’t be afraid, the voice told her. The water is deep and warm…. You’ll be here with me…. Forever. Come, Jill.
She closed her eyes a moment, but when she opened them, the smiling face was still there, keeping pace with the ship, the mutilated limbs dangling in the water. Come to me, the voice said.
She leaned over to explain to Toby, so that he would leave her in peace, and the icy wind pushed against her, and suddenly she was floating in the soft velvet night air, pirouetting in space. Toby’s face was coming closer, coming to meet her, and she felt the paralyzed arms go around her body, holding her. And they were together, forever and ever.
Then there was only the soft night wind and the timeless sea.
And the stars above, where it had all been written.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to express my appreciation for their generous assistance to the following motion picture and television producers:
Seymour Berns
Larry Gelbart
Bert Granet
Harvey Orkin
Marty Rackin
David Swift
Robert Weitman
And my deep gratitude for sharing with me their memories and experiences goes to:
Marty Allen
Milton Berle
Red Buttons
George Burns
Jack Carter
Buddy Hackett
Groucho Marx
Jan Murray
THE AUTHOR
Books by Sidney Sheldon
*A Stranger in the Mirror
*Bloodline
*A Rage of Angels
*Master of the Game
The Other Side of Midnight
*The Naked Face