And then they were airborne.
8
He awoke. For a moment he didn’t know where he was. He sat up, blinked, and then remembered he was in Puerto Rico.
This was the Caribe Hilton. The unfamiliar hum in the room was the air conditioner, and the unfamiliar light was the tropical sun filtering through the drapes on the wall-length windows which faced the ocean.
Quietly, so that he would not awaken Eve in the other bed, he rose and went to the dresser. He lighted a cigarette and then tiptoed to the windows and peeked around one end of the drapes. The room was on the sixth floor of the hotel. There was a little balcony outside the window. He and Eve had sat on that balcony last night before going to bed.
The plane had put down at International Airport at 12:30 A.M., Puerto Rican time. They’d disembarked and waited for their luggage, only to discover it was coming down on a later plane, and then caught a cab to the hotel. By the time they’d registered and asked the desk clerk if they couldn’t get something to eat, it was close to 1:45. At 2:00 A.M. a bellhop knocked on their door. He explained that he had got them sandwiches and coffee from the gambling casino, the grill was closed, he hoped they would understand, he hoped it would be all right. Larry had tipped him extravagantly and then wheeled the tray onto the balcony. Ravenously, he and Eve devoured the food and drank the entire pot of coffee. Then, weary and satiated, they had sat back to smoke a last cigarette before turning in, the Puerto Rican sky peppered with stars above them.
Now, at eleven-fifteen in the morning, Larry looked through the window and felt wonderfully glad to be alive.
Far below him, the hotel’s amoeba-shaped pool gleamed a bright indigo in the sun. There were girls around the pool, and sailors in their summer whites, and gaily colored canvas chairs and luxuriant palms. Beyond the pool, directly opposite the vertical façade of the hotel, the white and sprawling beach encircled a calm blue lagoon in a huge overgrown C. Off to the right, where the sea wall blocked the lagoon, the ocean leaped against the boulders in splendid white and green fury.
“Eve,” he said.
“Mmmm?”
“Eve, come look at this.”
“What time is it?”
“Eleven-twenty.”
“Chris, up yet?”
“Wh—?” He grinned. “Yes, I’ve already taken him to the bus stop.”
“Good. Good. Put up the coffee?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Honey?”
“Mmmm?”
“Watch.”
He drew the drapes open quickly, and sunlight splashed into the room. She turned her head away and then blinked and then sat upright, and then rubbed her eyes, smiled foolishly, and said, “Oh. Puerto Rico.” Sleepily, stretching lithely, she put her hands to the back of her neck and then moved them upward, lifting the black hair, letting it fall again in a glittering ebony cascade.
“Come look,” Larry said.
“I haven’t got anything on. Did our suitcases arrive yet?”
“I haven’t checked. Come on.”
“Larry, I’m naked.”
“So what? I’m in my shorts.”
“Did you sleep in those?”
“My pajamas are in the suitcases someplace.”
“Give me your shirt,” she said.
“A lot that’s going to cover.”
“It’ll do. Give it to me.”
He handed her the shirt and then asked, “Do you want the cuff links?”
“Ha-ha,” she said. She buttoned the shirt and went to the window, pulling the drape over her waist so that it hid her legs where the shirt ended. “Oh, it’s beautiful,” she said. “Did you order breakfast?”
“I just got up.”
“All right, call down and order breakfast, and then find out if the airport sent over the bags.”
He snapped a salute at her and said, “Yes, sir, right away, sir!”
“If that sun is as hot as it looks, I’ll die in the skirt I wore down.”
“Why don’t you just go out on the balcony with my shirt?”
“I would, darling, believe me,” Eve said lightly, “but then what would you wear, sweetheart?”
He slapped her on the rump and went to the phone. He watched her while she dressed, talking first to Room Service and then to the Bell Captain. When he hung up, she said, “Well?”
“Breakfast’ll be up in a minute, Puerto Rican time.”
“The bags?”
“They haven’t arrived yet.”
“Well, for Pete’s sake!” she said, and then went into the bathroom. When the breakfast arrived, Larry asked the bellhop to wheel the tray onto the balcony. He signed the check, tipped him, and then went to join Eve, who was already sitting at the table.
“Do you want some coffee first?” she asked.
“Leave it in the pot until I’m ready for it.”
“What did you order?”
“A veritable feast.” He began poking around the tray, lifting napkins and covers. “Orange juice, corn flakes, ahhh, hot corn muffins, coffee.”
“No eggs?”
“I didn’t feel eggy.”
“How’s the juice?”
“Haven’t tasted it yet.”
They raised their glasses, and Larry clinked his against Eve’s. “Here’s to a wonderful stay on the Enchanted Island,” he toasted.
“Is that what they call it?”
“Yes.” He drank some of the juice.
“How is it?”
“Canned.”
“No! Are you joking?”
“I’m serious.”
“Oh, hell.” Eve thought for a moment. “Call down for a grapefruit, will you?”
“Oh, come on, Eve. Drink the juice.”
“Can’t you call down?”
“Sure I can.” He paused. “Do you really want me to?”
“Well, you know how I feel about canned juice.”
“Yeah, but...” He drank a little more of his own juice. “It’s not so terrible. It’s good and cold.”
“Here. You can have mine.”
“You want me to call down?”
“No, never mind.”
“I will if you want me to.”
“No, it’s all right.”
“It’s just that I can’t see getting a bellhop to come up here just to bring a grapefruit.” He paused. “I will if you want me to.”
“No.” She sliced a corn muffin and began buttering it.
“Aren’t you having any cereal?”
“No.”
“Shall I call down for the grapefruit?”
“No. We don’t want to overwork the bellhops.”
“If you’re going to get angry—”
“No, Larry, honestly. By the time he got here, the coffee’d be cold, anyway. Forget it. I’m not angry or even annoyed.” She paused. “But the longer I live with you, the more I think I don’t know you at all.”
Larry narrowed his eyes. In a low, sinister voice, he said, “You think I’m your husband, don’t you?”
“What?” Eve asked.
He laughed evilly and continued to watch her. “I inhabited your husband’s body a long time ago.”
“Oh, Larry...”
“The Martians are afoot,” he said. “And now that you know, you still can’t stop us.”
“I believe you,” she said, shaking her head. “This coffee is strong.”
“But good.”
“If you like it strong.”
“I like strong coffee and weak women.”
“I think I resent your use of the plural,” Eve said. She drank more coffee and then lighted a cigarette. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“I have to make a half-dozen phone calls, people Baxter asked me to see. I don’t imagine I’ll get much else done today. I suppose we can just relax.”
“Oh, good. I was hoping you’d say that. Can we go into San Juan later?”