Beautiful Animals by Lawrence Osborne

Author:Lawrence Osborne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2017-07-18T04:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

In the following days the island withered under a heat sweeping in from Africa. Toward midday the sky had the cold fineness of powdered silver, but at twilight it was still light enough that the mainland could be clearly seen, like a brooding foreign country, magnified by the very water that separated it from the wealthier sojourners on the island. When the wind fell in the suffocating afternoons even the coastal villages were lulled and their paths were baked into a dustless hush that made sleep seem inevitable. People sat inanimately in the shade, their eyes wide open as if waiting for the relief of dark and nothing more, and the American girl had eventually, over a number of idle days, formed the strange idea that all cobwebs in the trees had fallen like herself into a suspended animation.

Along the path to Mandraki, she and Amy made their way shortly after eight, as they had done since the first day of their arrival, mother and daughter locked in a private mental duel of their own, a duel that grew more grueling every day. Amy had come to the conclusion that her daughter was losing her focus and vitality; she was slipping into a special summer depression that she had never seen before. It must have to do with the Codrington girl. One day, as they passed the little restaurant above the cove, she asked Sam about Naomi’s father and stepmother. She had not seen them in the port for a while.

“I don’t know about their movements,” the girl said sullenly. “Naomi told me that they go to parties on other islands. They do their own thing.”

“Other islands? I didn’t know there were any other islands, socially speaking.”

Her thwarted snobbery was roused.

“Maybe we don’t understand the whole scene here yet.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to understand, Mom. I’ve given up trying to understand Europeans anyway. It’s exhausting. If you don’t understand them it’s just the same. They behave just like they did before, and so do we.”

“That’s a little defeatist, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think the Codringtons think about us for one second. Not even half of one second.”

“I didn’t say they did. But still—it’s annoying.”

“What’s annoying?”

“The fact that I don’t know about these other islands. I should have done some research.”

“Why don’t you read Tolstoy instead? It’s perfect for that, this place. Just read fucking Tolstoy.”

Amy’s short laugh reached the boys.

When they were settled, and had drunk their first coffee of the morning, Amy asked her if Naomi was really going to be what she called a long-term investment.

“You mean as a friend?” her daughter asked.

“Even as a summer friend. Maybe you’re spending too much time with her. It’s worse than a Greek boy. Now I wish you had a Greek boy. A Greek boy wouldn’t be so mysterious.”

“What’s mysterious?”

“I don’t know. The two of you. You’re not sleeping with her, are you? If you are, you can tell me. I won’t tell your father.”

“Of course I’m not sleeping with her.”

“I’ve got nothing against this girl, Sam.

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