Page 2 (1/2)

"I better take some details, in that case" She looked up with the pen poised over the page "Naht this through more carefully The mellow sounds of Bob Dylan floated out of the bar’s sound syste eerily close to ho the nain to forain, her brown eyes round and expectant "Surname?"

His eyes slipped fro the name of the bar behind her The Happy Days Beach Bar

"It's Day," he said "I'm Dylan Day"

A few minutes later, as he made his way around the rocky ay that bounded the beach, Dylan caught a first gliirl back at the bar had been reticent about leasing him the boat unseen

The other boats in the bay were obviously either the property of well-heeled owners - gleala men Not this boat No, this boat could never be accused of understated anything This boat oozed personality

It wasn't its size In fact, it was quiteabout it Where white was the order of the day for its bayside counterparts, this boat was bright orange And yellow And green And red And aqua This boat created a faded rainbow all of its own, even though its eye-catching paintwork had definitely seen better days Probably a good thing, Dylan reflected as he slung his bag on deck and stepped aboard If it was this bright now, God only knehat it must have looked like when it was freshly painted On the plus side, it had decent outside deck space and up top there see

That was a good thing He planned on sunbathing

If he'd thought the outside of the boat unusual, it didn't hold a candle to the inside He turned the key, slid the glass side doors open and groaned out loud as he surveyed the interior, glad of his sunglasses even though he was out of the bright daylight

He couldn't live here

The kitchenette he'd stepped into was a canary yellow plastic and chroht down to the discarded roller boots in the corner The ship’s wheel at the helarish decor

It was so down the couple of wooden steps to his left, Dylan surveyed the living area with a slow, sinking feeling

He couldn't live here

Padded seating ran around the periht turquoise scattered with yellow lelass cocktail bar took up one wall, and hanging proud and central froe, in no way understated,silver disco ball Dylan groaned out loud again He didn't want a party boat He cast his eyes around desperately The door to a sly lime bathroom stood open to one side, and that was it Was there even a bedroom?

There were no obvious other doors, and he stepped back into the kitchenette to see if he'd , he leaned his back against the kitchen work surface, pushing his sunglasses up onto the top of his head He really didn't want to sleep on those lurid sofas

And that hen he spotted the faded, ht blue hatch set in the wooden floor, its surface covered in faded, swirly silver writing Dylan hunkered down onto his haunches The motto "Stairway to heaven" had been artistically scribed on it in antiquated metallic paint, surrounded by silver stars and moons He fitted his hand into the curved hatch recess and pulled it up, revealing a steep little wooden staircase Bingo Maybe there was a bedroo It was a small, rickety stairwell, and at six feet two inches, he wasn't a small man

Once below, he blinked to adjust his eyes And blinked again Where upstairs had been a bright and showy pastiche of fifties glamour, down here was definitely made for after hours lovin’