Weekend - By Christopher Pike Page 0,31

not to mention the fact that almost all of them had something to hide. And Robin herself was no help. Though anxious to catch the culprit - if there was one - the trauma of her injury had created a mental block against the night. It was finally recorded in the books as an "accident" caused by "one or more intoxicated adolescents mistaking an insecticide for a common beverage and inadvertently mixing it with a glass of beer." No lawsuits were filed, no fingers pointed. Life went on as usual. Except for Robin.

But Shani was often to ask herself,No matter how drunk you were, how could you take a bottle covered with insect sketches and labelled in bold black letters , CAUTION POISONOUS,and pour it in a glass a person was to drink out of, unless you wanted to kill that person ?
Chapter Six
Sitting on his surfboard, Park stared down at his legs dangling in the blue-green bathtub-temperature water and started to worry about sharks. A couple of hours ago Bert had mentioned seeing a few sharks.

But at the time, the waves had been rolling and the tubes curling and the information had not seemed important. Now the sets were well-spaced and he had too much time to think. He could imagine a baby shark, just breaking in its teeth, swimming by and biting off his big toe. The blood would spurt and he would scream and mother shark would hear and come to investigate what her youngster was up to. Then she would smell his blood and bite off his leg. He had read about such tragedies. He had also read that when you started to worry about losing a limb, it was time to get out of the water. He pulled up his legs, resting his feet near the nose of the board and holding the rails to maintain balance. One more wave and he would call it quits.

The beach and conditions were a surfer's dream. Unadulterated golden sand stretched north and south to the horizon. Except for a few white clouds far out at sea, the sky was a cerulean dish whose depth it was easy to believe was infinite. He could feel the warmth of the sun's rays in his blood. He was floating in twenty feet of salt water, but the bedrock was as clear as if it were simply the bottom of a swimming pool. And the waves had ruined him for life. An easy eight-foot or he was a dwarf, an off-shore breeze held their form to the last crucial instant. He was in heaven, but he was exhausted.

"One more and I'm going in!" he called to Bert, a hundred yards to his left. A strong riptide was pulling them south. Several times since sunrise, when they had started, they had had to go ashore and walk back to the house. Once again, the Carlton Castle was a mile up the beach.

"I'm with you! Where's Sol?"

"He went in half an hour ago!" Tired of shouting, Park lay down on his board and paddled towards Bert.

The aroma of his coconut-waxed board filled his head, making him nostalgic for Hawaii. Last summer, Mr. and Mrs. Carlton had sent Robin and him - along with Nurse Porter as an escort - to the islands.

The waves hadn't been nearly as good as today, but he had been happier then, a lot happier.

He pulled up alongside Bert. "Sol said he had a side-ache. Lena probably wore him out last night."

"Did I tell you about the sharks I saw?"

"Yes, and I don't want you to tell me again."

Bert's ears must have been plugged with water. He continued: "One of them was bigger than me. It couldn't have been a sand shark. It looked like that fish in that movie, that one - what was it called?"

"Jaws."

"What?"

"Jaws!"

"Yeah, that one. Are you sure Sol went in?"

Park again pulled up his feet. "You know you're making me pretty damn paranoid. Would you please shut your mouth?"

Bert grinned. He was impossible to offend. "You're afraid of sharks? I thought you didn't like snakes."

"I hate anything that wants to bite me - Oh!" Distracted, he hadn't noticed the approaching set. The first swell looked the killer. He pivoted his board expertly. Bert was also manoeuvring into position. "You go right, I'll go left!" he yelled.

"Gotcha!"

The wave was a monster. On his knees, Park dug hard to gain the necessary speed. A powerful force began to take