"What time is it?" she asked, thinking to herself that it was time her parents respected her privacy.
"A little after three. You'd better hurry if you don't want to miss the carnival, though I wonder if anyone can get near the parades, the beach is so packed. There must be a hundred thousand people down there. We'll be back at about seven. We've left the phone number where you can contact us if you need to. 'Bye now, Princess." His eyes furtively lingered longer than was necessary on her ripe young body.
"Bye baby, have a nice time," called her mother as they left the apartment.
Linda looked out the window at the scene on the beach. She had never seen so many people jammed together on a beach. There were squads of life savers, each squad in different colored costumes, marching in a high knee-action along the sand, row after row of tall, bronzed young men. In the front of each squad one of them carried a short pole with a banner proclaiming the name of the surf team. She could pick out the Brisbane team in their green and red; the man in front looked like Hugh, she thought. Again she experienced that strange tightening inside her, an excitement combined with apprehension; she felt it right through her body, a moist heat forming under her naked mound. She unconsciously let her hand caress herself before hurriedly slipping into her bikini. Perhaps she should wear a beach dress, she thought. No, she felt better – freer – in her bikini. She must hurry, not to miss the parade; she put on her sandals, picked up her Polaroid camera, grabbed a towel and rushed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
Damn! She'd forgotten her beach purse and the front-door key. Stepping out of the elevator she looked for a hall porter's office on the ground floor. There was none! Gosh, I'm locked out until seven this evening, she thought, without worrying too much about it.
The street was empty of moving traffic; everything had come to a stop. Linda walked down to the beach and forced her way through the crowd until it became so thick around the parading life savers she could move no further.
"I'll give you a leg up," suggested a leering youth, putting his hand under her ass. A bald, middle-aged man standing nearby laughed. "I'll give you a finger up," he called crudely to her as she pushed away to stand near what appeared to be a respectable family group. Soon there was loud cheering. "That's the end of it. Maraboubra's won again," she heard someone say. Linda walked well away from the main crowd to where she could sit down and watch the life boats being rowed in a race through the surf, a few boats being overturned in the process. She stood up in time to see the green-and-red team's boat nose up in the air, twist sideways and turn over in the foam of a huge dumping wave. That must be Hugh's boat, she thought, and ran along the wet sand. It was the Brisbane boat, swamped and out of the race. He came ashore carrying an oar over his shoulder, grinning as if he'd won. She lifted her camera and snapped.
"Hi there, Linda. Did you see us turn turtle? The steersman's being brought in unconscious so we're out of the race."
"Gee, I'm sorry, Hugh."
"Oh, I'll get over it!" he grinned boyishly. "I'm just going to see if Jim's OK and then how about you and me going to the north end for a swim? It's not so crowded up there."
"I'd like that, if we can actually get there through this crowd."
"Nothing to it. We'll walk along the promenade."
Hugh saw that Jim had come around with nothing worse than a lump on his head. He rejoined Linda, walking her a half-mile or so along the scorching concrete promenade at the back of the beach which was crowded from one end to the other. Linda could see little point in trying to swim anywhere, it was all too unpleasantly packed. Hugh agreed with her. "May as well go home," he suggested, testing to see if she wanted to stay with him. Her answer was promising:
"That's not possible for a few hours. I forgot to bring a door key and my parents are out for the whole afternoon. They won't be back until this evening." She neglected to add that it was to see him that she had rushed out of the apartment in such a hurry.
Hugh tried to appear concerned. "Look, I'll tell you what we'll do if you like. I'll take you to Jenny's apartment. She's my cousin. A terrific girl, you'll like her. She lives just over there," indicating a modern apartment block across the street. "She's very respectable, a top-class model. And anyway I wanted to borrow her board for you. How about it, do you trust me?"
Linda trusted that winning smile and those steady eyes. She could see now that he had removed his cap that his hair was a sandy color, a little too short by modern standards though probably right for a swimmer. That feeling inside her suddenly welled up again. Her heart seemed to beat a little faster. She should refuse the invitation – he was a complete stranger, and she was virtually alone in a strange country, moreover, the phone number her parents left was in the locked apartment… and she wondered if she could trust herself.
"Yes, Hugh, I trust you," she lied. She didn't really… but she found herself wanting to trust him. As soon as she had said "Yes," she regretted it, because she thought she saw a sudden strange glint in his eyes. Even then she couldn't say "No". It would be all right, she told herself. Australians were decent people, the most sports-minded people in the world. Her father admired and respected them very much. "Old-fashioned and old-world people. Pioneer people," she'd heard him describe them. "You never hear of rape cases in Australia," she'd heard her mother tell someone on the phone. "You never hear of muggings in Australian cities…"
With these thoughts going around her mind she found herself walking out of the hot sun into the cool foyer of a building. They were going up in the elevator when she suddenly realized that Hugh didn't have his towel with him, and when he produced a key from a chain around his neck she suddenly felt apprehensive.
"Do you live here, too?" she asked.
"No, I'm just staying here while I'm in Sydney. Don't you believe it's Jenny's apartment? Look at the clothes – do you think I'd wear them?" Linda looked into a bedroom strewn with dresses and a table covered with cosmetics.
"Where's Jenny?" Linda asked.
"Must be down on the beach with a hundred thousand others," said Hugh, laughing. "How about an Aussie Coke?"
"I could drink a gallon, I'm so thirsty," laughed Linda, feeling relaxed again and rather more sure of this stranger in his funny outfit. He was soon back with tall glasses filled with Coke and ice. They clinked glasses.
"One thing I must do," he said, "is take a shower. Jenny gets mad at me for bringing sand and salt into this place. Will you please excuse me for a minute?"
"Of course. Perhaps I should wash the sand off, too," she called after him as he went to the bathroom. She took a long drink of her Coke. It was cold but what a strange flavor… quite different from the Coke at home. Thirstily she drained the whole glass. Hugh was literally a minute taking his shower, returning dressed in blue trunks and a flowered shirt open all the way down the front.
"That was quick," she said.
"Your turn next. Like another Coke before you go?"
"Yes, please, Hugh. I must say your Coke tastes very different from ours. Seems to be a little flatter or something."
"I've never tried yours so I wouldn't know the difference," he said, bringing her another filled glass from the kitchen. "Here's to us," he toasted, draining the glass. "Here's to us," she responded, draining hers.
It was while she was under the shower that she felt the first strong effects of the vodka spiked in her drink: the glassed shower stall seemed to sway; the dizziness passed, but then she felt as though all her strength had drained from her body. She had to get out of the shower. She stumbled to pick up a towel and sat on a stool, drying herself as she wondered what on earth had come over her. Could it have been too much sun? Her father had always warned her of the dangerous rays that particularly affected fair-skinned people. She felt she had to get out of the steamy bathroom before she really did faint, and wrapping the large bath towel around herself dazedly returned to the living room.