What was it that she had said about destruction? He could not remember that. She’d said it but he could not remember it.
Then he was tired of trying to remember and he looked at the girl and kissed her cheek very lightly and she did not wake. He loved her very much and everything about her and he went to sleep thinking about her cheek against his lips and how the next day they would both be darker from the sun and how dark can she become, he thought, and how dark will she ever really be?
Chapter Four
IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON and the small low car came down from the black road across the hills and headlands with the dark blue ocean always on the right onto a deserted boulevard that bordered a flat beach of two miles of yellow sand at Hendaye. Well ahead on the ocean side was the bulk of a big hotel and a casino and on the left there were newly planted trees and Basque villas white washed and brown timbered set in their own trees and plantings. The two young people in the car rode down the boulevard slowly looking out at the magnificent beach and at the mountains of Spain that showed blue in this light as the car passed the casino and the big hotel and went on toward the end of the boulevard. Ahead was the mouth of the river that flowed into the ocean. The tide was out and across the bright sand they saw the ancient Spanish town and the green hills across the bay and, at the far point, the lighthouse. They stopped the car.
“It’s a lovely place,” the girl said.
“There’s a cafe with tables under the trees,” the young man said. “Old trees.”
“The trees are strange,” the girl said. “It’s all new planting. I wonder why they planted mimosas.
“To compete with where we ‘ye come from.”
“I suppose so. It all looks awfully new. But it’s a wonderful beach. I never saw such a big beach in France nor with such smooth and fine sand. Biarritz is a horror. Let’s drive up by the cafe.”
They drove back up the right side of the road. The young man pulled the car to the curb and killed the iguition. They crossed to the outdoor cafe and it was pleasant to eat by them selves and be conscious of the people that they did not know eating at the other tables.
That night the wind rose and in their corner room high up in the big hotel they heard the heavy fall of the surf on the beach. In the dark the young man pulled a light blanket up over the sheet and the girl said, “Aren’t you glad we decided to stay?”
“I like to hear the surf pound.”
“So do I.”
They lay close together and listened to the sea. Her head was on his chest and she moved it against his chin and then moved up in the bed and put her cheek against his and pressed it there. She kissed him and he could feel her hand touching him.
“That’s good,” she said in the darkness. “That’s lovely. You’re sure you don’t want me to change?”
“Not now. Now I’m cold. Please hold me warm.
“I love you when you feel cold against me.
“If it gets this cold here at night we’ll have to wear pyjama tops. That will be fun for breakfast in bed.”
“It’s the Atlantic ocean,” she said. “Listen to it.”
“We’ll have a good time while we’re here,” he told her. “If you want we’ll stay a while. If you want we’ll go. There are plenty of places to go..
“We might stay a few days and see.”
“Good. If we do I’d like to start to write.”
“That would be wonderful. We’ll look around tomorrow. You could work here in the room if I were out couldn’t you? Until we found some place?”
“Sure.”
“You know you must never worry about me because I love you and we’re us against all the others. Please kiss me,” she said.
He kissed her.
“You know I haven’t done anything bad to us. I had to do it. You know that.”