A House Like A Lotus Part 31

"I won't be," I said. "I'll have to be back at two to help Norine."

"And then, later, we'll have our swim," Vee said.

Zachary picked me up promptly at eleven, in a rented car.

"Do you have your bathing suit?"

"I can get it."

"Do, and hurry. I've made our reservations for lunch at one, and I thought we'd have a swim and a sail first."

He'd rented a cabana for me to dress in and suggested that we swim in the pool.

"No, thanks. I don't like chlorine and I do like salt water."

"All those rough waves-" But we went in the ocean. Zachary swam moderately well.

He did the strokes correctly, but he had no stamina. After a few minutes he splashed into sh.o.r.e. I followed him, and started to tell him a little about the conference staff, but it was obvious that he wasn't interested in the people or the worlds they came from.

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"Do your parents know this mixed kind of group you're with?"

"Of course."

He headed toward the pier. "I've rented us a kayak. All the sailboats were taken, okay?"

"Sure, a kayak's fine." Anything would have been fine with me, even a rowboat.

I.

could still hardly believe that Zachary had come all this way to see me.

The kayak was waiting at the little landing dock. Zachary and the attendant helped me in, and Zachary sat behind, holding the double paddle used for this little play boat. The attendant said something in Greek that I could not quite understand, but I think he was warning us to be careful not to go beyond the white ropes strung from red buoys which enclosed a sizable section of water.

"You're a help to me, Polly," Zachary said. "You help me think clearly. I'd predicated my life on being a corporate lawyer. If I don't want that, what do I.

want? I couldn't be a doctor, I faint at the sight of blood. Listen, Red-" He splashed with the paddle instead of feathering. "I talked with my pop on the phone, and he knows your aunt and uncle."

"He does!"

Zachary nodded. "Not personally. Reputation. He says they're dangerous."

"They're not-"

"Hey, hold it, don't rock the boat, you'll have us in the soup."

"Sorry." My jerky movement had set the little craft rocking, but it stabilized quickly. "Sandy and Rhea-"

"Don't you see, Pop has to think that way? Mega-bucks is the only game he knows, and people who care about people get in his way. If you want to put a high- 278.

way through a village, you can't be concerned about the people in the village whose homes are going to be destroyed."

"Is that your world?" I asked. "Do you really want that?"

"No, Polly, I don't. That's why I wanted to be with you today. I'm glad Dragon Lady gave you at least three hours off." He put the paddle across the thwarts and we drifted gently. "I wanted to tell you that I've decided to stop puddling around Europe. I'm flying home-after we've had our reunion in Athens airport-and I'm going back to college."

"That's wonderful!" Then I looked around us at the softly slapping water.

"We're outside the white ropes."

"That's okay. I went way out this morning. And the sailboats all go out." He pointed to half a dozen colorful sails. "I'll paddle us back in a minute.

Right now I need to talk. The problem is, Polly, I'm going back to college, but I'm not sure I still want to be a lawyer and take over Pop's world."

"Sandy and Rhea are lawyers," I reminded him.

"I'm. not sure I'd have the guts to do what they're doing. I'm learning that I.

do have limitations."

"Sure," I said, "we all do, but given the chance, we can go beyond our limitations."

"Do I want to? At least, do I want to put my life on the line? People like your uncle and aunt are in danger, do you realize that? People like my pop, particularly those with even more money and power than my pop, are pretty ruthless about wiping out people who get in the way. They look down on lawyers who care about human life as stupid sentimentalists."

"Rhea and Sandy aren't sentimental!" I didn't like this conversation. I looked around and all I could see 279.

was water and a couple of sailboats in the distance. The tide, I thought, was going out, and we'd drifted rapidly.

"Zachary," I said, "I don't see the hotel."

He looked around. "Okay, we'll go back." He picked up the paddle. "The thing is, Polly, you've really made a difference in the way I think about things. IVe never been close to my pop, never loved him, but I thought his way of life was a realistic one and that I had every right to inherit power and prestige. But here he is, middle-aged, with ulcers, not happy, and not knowing how to do anything but make bigger and bigger deals. I don't think that's what I.

want to look forward to."

"I'm glad, Zach, very glad." I didn't think I could take much credit for his decision. It must have been under the surface all the time, waiting to break through. But I was glad it had.

He went on. "I want to thank you, Polly. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life, but you've turned it completely around." He rested the paddle again and bent forward to kiss me. It stopped being just a kiss and began to be more, and suddenly I wasn't sure how much I believed of all he'd just said. He drew back slightly, breathed, "Oh, Polly, come-" He put his hand behind my head to draw me closer.

"No, Zach-" The boat started rocking violently. "Watch it!" And suddenly we were in the water. We came up sputtering. I grabbed at the kayak as it began to slip away from us.

"Now look what you've done!" he shouted.

I didn't answer. He was thras.h.i.+ng about, tiring himself. "Here!" I called.

"Here! Hold on!"

He grabbed at the overturned kayak and managed to get a grip. If it had been a canoe, I could have turned it over and got in. It's not so easy with an overturned 280.

kayak. "Tread water for a minute," I said, "and let me try to right the kayak." Without saying anything, he let go, and I got under the gunwales and pushed, kicking as hard as I could, and to my relief the little play boat was light enough so that I could flip it over. The paddle was gone. "Do you think you can climb back in?" I asked.

"I doubt it. I'm not the athletic type. Do you want to try? Then maybe you can pull me in. I'll hold on and try to keep it level for you."

Even without the paddle, we'd be better off in the boat. Zachary's stamina was not going to last long. But when I tried to pull myself up over the gunwales, Zachary lost his grip. "Zach! Hold on!"

He splashed back to the kayak, and grabbed at the side, almost overturning it again. This was not going to work. I looked around for the sailboats, but although I saw a couple, they weren't in hailing distance, and they were too far off for anybody to notice us. We couldn't stay in the water for several hours till Norine missed me and someone came to look for us.

Zachary realized this, too. "If I let go and dog-paddle again, do you think you can get in without my help?"

"I'll try." I didn't say it would be easier without his 'help.' I was almost in the kayak when suddenly he grabbed at it and I lost my balance and slid back into the water. Fortunately, the boat did not overturn again. But the little boat was made for the quiet waters around the dock, within the boundaries of the ropes, not for the open sea. I didn't think Zachary knew much about boats. Left to myself, I could have managed to clamber in without overturning it, but Zachary was in a silent panic, and whatever I did, he was going to undo by grasping at the sides, or letting go and risk being swept away by the undertow.

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"I can't see the hotel," he said. I'd already told him that.

"Listen, Zach." My voice was urgent. "Let me try once more to climb in. Tread water, but make sure you don't drift away."

"I'll try."

He let go and began to dog-paddle. I put one hand on either gunwale for balance and had almost heaved myself in when I heard him cry out. He had already drifted two lengths of the boat. I dropped back in the water, still holding the kayak with one hand, because it would be madness to lose it, and kicked as strongly as I could in his direction. "Zachary! Swim! Try to swim toward me!" The distance between us began to widen, and I could see that he was floundering, moving arms and legs aimlessly and futilely. I was going to have to let the kayak go in order to get him, and then what? We could never make it back to the kayak together; he simply didn't swim well enough. And we certainly couldn't even think of trying to make it to sh.o.r.e against the tide.

I wasn't ready to die.

But I couldn't save myself and let Zachary drown.

Why not? If I didn't save myself, we'd both drown, and what good would that do?

"Polly-"

"Don't thrash, Zachary," I shouted. "I'm coming." I let go of the kayak.

"Polly!"

I had one arm around Zachary and was kicking to keep afloat. He was pulling me down. I couldn't go on holding both of us up for much longer.

"Polly!"

It wasn't Zachary calling me. Zachary was an exhausted, dead weight.

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"Polly!"

"Here!" I shouted. "Here, Omio, here!"

"Keep calling, so I don't lose you."

"Here! Here, Omio, here!"

And suddenly I saw a rowboat, a lovely, solid rowboat, with Omio at the oars.

He saw us and pulled the boat to us with strong, sure strokes.

"Get Zachary in first," I said.

Omio rested the oars, reached out one strong arm, then both, as he realized that Zachary could do little to help himself. Somehow or other, Omio pulling, me pus.h.i.+ng, we managed to get him into the rowboat. Then Omio's hands were stretched down to me, and with his help I heaved myself up, and flopped into the bottom of the boat, panting. "The kayak-" I whispered.

"Forget it," Omio said fiercely. Then he turned to Zachary. He let out a long stream of invective in Bakian. If I had thought Bashemath's anger could be terrifying, I was not prepared for Omio's.

"I'll pay for the kayak," Zachary said.

"And could you have paid for Polly's life? Do you know if I had been five minutes later you'd both have been dead? Would you have made everything right by paying for the funeral?" He was an avenging angel in his anger.

I was still gasping for breath. "How did you-how did you know?"

"I was worried. And Vee said she smelled danger, and told Frank, and he went with us to the hotel, and we were told you'd gone out in a kayak. But there weren't any kayaks in the roped-in area. So Frank suggested I take the rowboat.

He and Vee will be waiting for us." He was rowing with strong, smooth strokes.

Even so, it seemed a long time before we could see sh.o.r.e and the 283.

hotel. "Where did you think you were going?" Omio asked Zachary.

Some of Zachary's confidence had returned, though his face was pallid. "I was thinking of emigrating to Syria with Polly. It was farther than I realized."

"It is not funny." Omio still sounded enraged.

"Oh, come on," Zachary said. And then, with one of his lightning switches, "I was an arrogant fool, and I'm beyond apology." "I would not have any harm come to Polly," Omio said.

Vee and Frank were waiting at the landing dock, their faces lighting in relief as they saw us.

Omio drew the rowboat skillfully up to the dock, and the attendant helped me out.

"Thank G.o.d you're safe," Vee said.

"What happened?" Frank asked.

Zachary spoke swiftly, before Omio could say anything. "I misjudged the tide and lost my bearings."

Omio burst out, "And lost the kayak. Polly was holding him up in the open sea.

They couldn't have lasted much longer."

I discovered that I was trembling. Frank put out a hand to steady me.

"We'll take you home," Omio said.

"Polly is having lunch with me," Zachary said.