Today, however, he was luxuriously able to relax. He
yed it so much that for. well over two hours he simply andered about the city, saying hello now and then to his acquaintances. He had very few friends, and no close ones except Magda.
Eventually, however, he spotted a family climbing towards a hoverhalt carrying beach-gear, off for a swim, and decided on the spur of the moment to join them. The shore would be crowded, of course; today was dry and clear and not unbearably hot. Here on the Cowville side the sand was not as carefully cleansed as over by the towers of Lakonia-still, by current standards, New Lake was outstanding. Few people cared to go to the ocean any more, even if they lived within easy reach. The water was too foul. And as for rivers . . . 1
But in New Lake you could swim without risking instant diarrhoea and pharyngitis, and half a mile from shore you could climb on to a bobbing plastic platform and stare at Lakonia and daydream. Even blacks could daydream.
Besides, they could scoff at cocks who were due for overnight agony and lobster-redness in the morning.
When he scrambled down from the hoverhalt by the lake, one among a hundred all with the same idea, he
headed straight for a rental booth where two dollars obtained you a towel. That was all you had to have. Some fine Sundays they rented five thousand towels. Judging by the length of the line ahead of him, today might top the previous high.
But before he came within ten places of the head of the line, a familiar tingling started at his nape, and slowly spread.
Oh, no! he pleaded silently, and stood fast, trying to disregard it.
Eventually. however, it reached the point where-he knew from experience-he had to respond. or suffer night after night of sleepless worrying, guessing at answers for the question that could never be answered: “Suppose I had…?”
Furious, within a minute of i.° aching the rental booth,
he broke out of the line and stared wildly about him. No
one paid much attention to his behaviour, except the girl
behind him, who was so eager to get in the water she was
undressing already. You got these crazy screwhe~ by the
beach all the time.
He had very little money on him, as usual. He seldom carried more than twenty dollars, enough for car-fare and public toilets. One of the advantages of the beach was that it passed a whole day for next to nothing.
Yet his attention fixed abruptly on something he would never ordinarily have bothered with: a telescope, on a block of concrete overlooking the lake, with an engraved map of the Lakonia towers beside it-out of date by three building-projects-and the usual time-switched coinmachine controlling its shutter.
Yes. That. But why in the name of . . . ?
He sighed and walked towards it. Now, a few people did glance at him. puzzled. When money was so sc2lrce, why waste it on peering through a telescope?
He agreed. He agreed entirely. Nonetheless he pushed his dollar into the slot and closed his eyes, feeling without reference to the map where he ought to point the ‘scope. At once a dozen naked kids, of both sexes, who had doubtless failed to persuade their parents to give them money for the same thing, came rushing to beg a brief glimpse of Lakonia.
He ignored them, even though they tugged at his pants so hard they threatened to pull them down. It wouldn’t
have bothered anyone but him if they’d made it, of course; his balls weren’t anything special to look at.
He re-opened his eyes just as the corroded and badlyserviced timing device on the shutter consented to admit that his coin was, valid. It sprang aside-not all the way, but far enough. A three-quarter circle of brilliant sundrenched sand appeared, backed by the colourful Lakonia towers. On the sand a veetol was standing, dwarfed by the buildings beyond, and its bright blue paint was marked with the symbol of Energetics General, a stylised star transfixed by a lightning bolt.
A man approached it at a stumbling run, mopping his forehead as he went. He looked familiar. But for an agonising instant Danty thought the handerchief he was using would prevent a clear sight of his face. Then, though, he’ shoved it in his pocket as he made to climb the veetol’s steps.