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Michael announced that he had a surprise to show Peter They walked to the arun, then to the un into a stand on the floor of the cab and told Peter to get in

"Where are we going?"

"You’ll see"

They drove out of the compound, then turned south on a cracked blacktop that ran parallel with the water A salty wind gusted through the truck’s open s, taking the edge off the heat Peter had seen the Gulf only a couple of tily took his breath away Most entrancing were the waves, long tubes gathering size andin a curl of brown foae He couldn’t take his eyes off them Peter knew he could sit on the sand for hours, just watching the waves

Stretches of the beach were swept clean, while others still bore the evidence of catastrophe on a grand scale:metal twisted into incomprehensible shapes; beached ships of every size, their hulls bleached and pitted or else stripped to the struts, tilted on the sand like exposed rib cages; ridges of undifferentiated debris, pushed inshore on the tide

"You’d be surprised howout the"A lot of it co the coast The heavy stuff’splastic seems to last"

Michael had veered off the road and was now driving close to the water’s edge Peter stared out the"Do you ever see anything bigger?"

"Once in a while Last year, a barge still loaded with big containers washed in The da for a century We were all pretty excited"

"What was in them?"

"Human skeletons"

They cae of a tranquil bay Ahead was a se As Michael brought the truck to a halt, Peter saw that the building was just a shell, although a sign in thestill read, in faded letters, "Art’s Crab Shack"

"Okay, I’ll bite," Peter said "What’s the surprise?"

His friend sesturing to the Browning strapped to Peter’s thigh "You’re not going to need it"

Wondering what his friend had in love co A s, jutted out over the water

"What a?"

"A boat, obviously"

A sently bobbing in the swells

"Where did you get it?"

Michael’s face shone with pride "A lot of places, actually The hull we found in a garage about ten ether or made ourselves"

"We?"

"Lore and uess it’s pretty obvious-"

"You don’t oweit’s not quite what it looks like Well, ether, exactly Lore’s justwell, she’s just like that"

Peter found hi perverse pleasure in his friend’s eh And she obviously likes you"

"Yeah, well" Michael shrugged " ’Nice’ wouldn’t necessarily be the first word I’d choose, if you knohat I mean To tell you the truth, I can barely keep up with her"

As Michael stepped aboard, Peter suddenly becaer the boat looked

"What’s the proble to sail that thing?"

Michael had started busily coiling lines and setting theht you out here? Quit your worrying and get in"

Peter cautiously lowered hiely under hiripped the rail, willing the boat to stay still "And you actually kno to do this"

His friend laughed under his breath "Don’t be such a baby Help h the basics: sail, rudder, tiller, mainsheet He cast off the line, scra to make the sail abruptly fill with air, and suddenly they were off and running, strea speed