Bright Orange for the Shroud by John D. MacDonald

Author:John D. MacDonald
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Crime
ISBN: 9780449133583
Publisher: Fawcett
Published: 1996-02-28T05:00:58.046000+00:00

Ten

AFTER EXPOSURE to Boone Waxwell, the look of Chook and Arthur on the early afternoon beach had the flavor of a great innocence. She was hovering around him, cheering him on with shrill yips. He was braced against an impressive bend in one of the big boat rods. When I beached the Ratfink near the Flush, she hollered to me to come tell them what Arthur was fighting.

I trotted down to where they were. I saw a slow massive boil about a hundred yards out. Arthur, grunting, was trying to horse it enough to get some line back.

"What did you use?"

She held her fingers about eight inches apart. "A shiny little fish I caught, but we think he was dead after Arthur threw him out there a couple of times."

Arthur gave me a strained grin. He and his quarry were in stasis. I waded in and felt the taut line, then felt that slow distinctive stroke, a kind of ponderous convulsion.

"Shark," I said. "Sand shark or a nurse shark, probably. Longer odds on a hammerhead."

"My God!" Chookie cried. "We've been swimming in there!"

"Heavens above!" I said. "And sometimes a bat will fly into a house and bite somebody. Or a raccoon will charge, snarling, into a supermarket. Sweetie, the sharks are there all the time. Just don't swim when the water is all roiled and dirty."

"What'll I do?" Arthur asked in a strained voice.

"Depends if you want him."

"My God, I don't want him."

"Then set the drag tight, aim the tip at him, and back away from the water."

He did. After five strenuous steps, the nine thread line popped, out by the leader swivel. As he reeled in, there was another boil, farther out, as the shark went off to think things out.

"Sharks have no bones," I announced. "Just gristle. They have rows of hinged teeth that straighten up as they open their mouths. They shed teeth from the front row and the other rows move forward. About one third the body weight is liver. The tiny spikes on their hides are tipped with enamel of the same composition as tooth enamel. Their brains are little nubs on the front ends of their spinal cords. They have no intelligence anyone has ever been able to test. They are a roving, senseless, prehistoric appetite, as unchanged as the scorpion, cockroach and other of nature's improvisations which had good survival value. A wounded shark being eaten by his chums will continue to eat anything within reach, even hunks of himself which might happen by. End of lesson."

"Gah," said Chookie. "And thanks a lot."

"Oh, two more items. There is no effective shark repellent. And they do not have to roll to bite. They can lunge up and chomp head-on, but when they bite down, then they roll to tear the meat loose. Now, children, we go into conference, critical variety. Everybody into the main Iounge."

When they were seated and expectant, I said, "I learned that it wasn't Wilma you saw with Boone Waxwell, Arthur. It was a girl who looked a little like her.

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