The Other Half of Life by Kim Ablon Whitney

The Other Half of Life by Kim Ablon Whitney

Author:Kim Ablon Whitney [Whitney, Kim Ablon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-375-85355-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2009-08-19T16:00:00+00:00


Chapter Twelve

Since the pool had been put up, they had swum at least once a day. The weather became milder the farther south they traveled. The bruise on Thomas's stomach had faded to a faint yellow, but Thomas still dove right in so that no one would notice. Günther jumped in too, sending up a giant splash that soaked Priska and the benches that lined the pool.

“You're all wet now, so you might as well come in,” Günther called to her.

Priska made a face at him and slid in.

The pool was small, perhaps the size of the sitting room in the apartment in Berlin, and Thomas only had to swim a few strokes to reach Priska. She wore a bathing cap and Thomas missed seeing her curly hair.

Priska splashed Thomas and he splashed her back. A few of the others joined in, and they had a splashing fight until Marianne got water up her nose. Then Priska suggested they dive for coins. Ingrid went to fetch some coins from her mother, who sat nearby reading a book in the shade of a striped umbrella. Thomas and Priska treaded water next to each other.

“Don't splash again,” Priska said.

“I won't,” he promised.

Ingrid reappeared with a handful of coins.

As they swam to the side and pulled themselves out of the water, Thomas whispered to Priska, “I've been thinking more about the Ortsgruppenleiter's cane.” He had been thinking about everything they knew about Holz, going over all the facts. He used a cane but had only a minor limp. His cane was very important to him. He detested Jews and was a Nazi official but didn't seem to care if they had to take the whole ship of them back to Germany. He was a thief.

Priska climbed out of the pool. She wore a red two-piece bathing suit and Thomas could see the real shape of her body. She had a small waist that made him want to put his hands around it. He could also clearly make out the curves of her breasts. He looked away, not wanting his own body to embarrass him in front of everyone.

“Who's diving first?” he asked.

“Let's go by age,” Priska suggested.

“That means I'm first,” Günther pointed out.

“I'll throw,” Thomas said. He tossed in a coin, which landed with a plink.

Günther dove in and promptly resurfaced. “That was too easy.”

Soon they were up to tossing four coins. On Thomas's turn he picked the first three coins off the bottom easily but couldn't find the fourth. His chest ached but he forced himself to keep looking. Finally, at just the moment he couldn't stand it any longer, he saw it. He made one last kick, grabbed the coin, and burst out of the surface, gasping for breath. He climbed out of the pool and stood with his arms folded over his stomach.

Günther threw four coins in for Priska. She dove in neatly, barely making a splash, and was promptly back up with the coins, hardly even out of breath.

“Well done,” Günther said.



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