“What did they get me on?” Roger Davis asked.
He had dropped down from the dock onto the deck in his rope-soled shoes without making any noise and he stood there looking awfully big in a sweatshirt three sizes too large for him and a pair of tight old dungarees.
“Hi,” said Johnny. “Didn’t hear you ring. I was telling Tom I didn’t know what they got you on but that it wasn’t jailbait.”
“Good,” said Roger. “Let’s drop the subject.”
“Don’t be so powerful,” Johnny said.
“I’m not being powerful,” Roger said. “I asked politely. Do you drink on this boat?” He looked at the cabin cruiser that lay with her stern toward them. “Who’s that?”
“The people at the Ponce. Didn’t you hear?”
“Oh,” said Roger. “Well, let’s have a drink anyway even though they have set us a bad example.”
“Boy,” Johnny called. Fred came out of the cabin. “Yes sir,” he said.
“Enquire what the pleasure of these Sahibs is.”
“Gentlemen?” Fred asked.
“I’ll take whatever Mr. Tom is drinking,” Roger said. “He’s my guide and counselor.”
“Many boys at camp this year?” Johnny asked.
“Just two so far,” Roger said. “My counselor and I.”
“My counselor and me,” Johnny said. “How the hell do you write books?”
“I can always hire someone to put in the grammar.”
“Or get someone free,” Johnny said. “I’ve been talking with your counselor.”
“Counselor says he’s quite happy and contented here. He’s hit the beach for good.”
“You ought to see the place,” Tom told him. “He lets me come in for a drink once in a while.”
“Womens?”
“No womens.”
“What do you boys do?”
“I’ve been doing it all day.”
“But you were here before. What did you do then?”
“Swim, eat, drink. Tom works, read, talk, read, fish, fish, swim, drink, sleep—”
“No womens?”
“Still no womens.”
“Sounds unhealthy to me. Sort of unwholesome atmosphere. You boys smoke much opium?”
“Tom?” Roger asked.
“Only the best,” Thomas Hudson said.
“Got a nice stand of marijuana planted?”
“Any planted, Tom?” Roger asked.
“Was a bad year,” Thomas Hudson said. “Rain gave the crop hell.”
“Whole thing sounds unwholesome,” Johnny drank. “Only saving aspect is you still take a drink. You boys gone in for religion? Has Tom Seen The Light?”
“Tom?” Roger asked.
“Relations with the Deity about the same,” Thomas Hudson said.
“Cordial?”
“We are tolerant,” Thomas Hudson said. “Practice any faith you wish. Got a ball field up the island where you can practice.”
“I’ll give the Deity a fast one high and inside if he crowds the plate,” Roger said.
“Roger,” said Johnny reproachfully. “It’s after dark. Didn’t you see twilight fall and dusk set in and darkness come? And you a writer. Never a good idea to speak slightingly of the Deity after dark. He’s liable to be right behind you with his bat poised.”
“I’ll bet he’d crowd the plate, too,” Roger said. “I’ve seen him crowding it lately.”
“Yes sir,” Johnny said. “And he’d step into your fast one and knock your brains out. I’ve seen him hit.”
“Yes, I guess you have,” Roger agreed. “So has Tom and so have I. But I’d still try and get my fast ball by him.”
“Let’s cut out the theological discussion,” Johnny said. “And get something to eat.”
“That decrepit old man you keep to tool this thing around the ocean still know how to cook?” Thomas Hudson asked.
“Chowder,” Johnny said. “And a yellow rice tonight with plover. Golden plover.”
“You sound like a damned Interior decorator,” Tom said. “There’s no gold on them this time of year, anyway. Where’d you shoot the plover?”
“On South Island when we went in to anchor and swim. I whistled the flock back twice and kept knocking them down. There’s two apiece.”
It was a fine night and after they had eaten dinner they sat out in the stern with coffee and cigars, and a couple of other people, both worthless sporting characters, came over from one of the other boats with a guitar and a banjo and the Negroes gathered on the dock and there was some sporadic singing. In the dark, up on the dock, the boys would lead off with a song and then Fred Wilson, who had the guitar, would sing and Frank Hart would fake along on the banjo. Thomas Hudson could not sing, so he sat back in the dark and listened.