as if to shut out a hideous vision. “I hadn’t even thought about that!”
“You’ll learn to dream about it,” Rebecca laughed.
Elaine turned to her husband. “Did you hear that, Brad?”
“I heard.” Brad looked unconcerned. “And I know perfectly well that I’m capable of getting myself spotless in one small pan of hot water. And after I’ve bathed in it, I can shave in it.”
Elaine gaped at him. “You? You’re the one who loves to use up all the hot water with twenty-minute showers.”
“If it’s available, why not?” Brad countered. “But loving to do it and having to do it are two different things. Just give me a couple of quarts of hot water—I’ll be fine.”
“Good,” Elaine said sarcastically. “Then you can boil a gallon at a time and I’ll use what’s left.”
“Before we get too involved in the glories of primitive living,” Glen interrupted, “I have a question. How on earth did you get Harney Whalen to rent you the old Baron house? We tried, and he absolutely refused.”
“Maybe he didn’t want to rent to someone with children,” Elaine suggested.
“That old house?” Rebecca said. “I don’t mean to sound negative—God knows it’s a lot better than this—but still, it isn’t a place children can do much damage to.”
“It was something else,” Glen said. “I’m still not sure exactly what it was. I thought it had something to do with us personally at first, but then I changed my mind I figured he just didn’t want to rent the house at all, especially to strangers. I guess I was wrong.”
“I’m not so sure,” Brad said pensively. “He wasn’t eager to rent to us either. When he finally did he was acting strange, almost as though he was thinking about something else entirely.”
“That is strange,” Rebecca commented.
“This whole place is strange,” Brad offered. “I think I’ll write a book about it.”
“A book?” Glen looked at Brad critically, then shook his head. “Nope. You don’t look like a writer.”
“I’m not,” Brad said. “But I’ve been kicking around an idea for a book for a long time. Now seems like a good time to do it, and Sod Beach seems like a good place. So here we are.”
“Just like that?” Rebecca asked.
“Well, not quite,” Elaine replied. “We have to go back to Seattle and dose up our house. But I should think we’ll be moving out here in a couple of weeks.”
“Two weeks,” Rebecca said, almost under her breath. “I can make it that long.” She hadn’t intended to speak out loud, but everyone in the room heard her. Glen looked embarrassed, but Brad decided to probe.
“I’m not sure what that means,” he said with a tentative smile that he hoped would put Rebecca at her ease.
Rebecca flushed a deep red and tried to recover herself. “Nothing, really,” she began. Then she changed her mind. “Yes, I do mean something by it,” she said. “It’s damned lonely out here and sometimes I’m frightened. You have no idea how glad I am that you’re going to be living just down the beach. I know it may sound strange since I barely know you, but sometimes this place gets to me. Now I won’t be the only one.”
“The only one?” Elaine repeated Rebecca’s last words.
“The only stranger here,” Rebecca said. Then she looked from Brad to Elaine, her expression almost panicky. “You are strangers here, aren’t you? You don’t have relatives in Clark’s Harbor?”
“I see,” Elaine said, leaning back and relaxing. She smiled at Rebecca. “No, we don’t know a soul here except you, and we’re not related to anybody, and,” she added in a rush, “I know exactly what you’re talking about It’s not easy to be a stranger in Clark’s Harbor, is it?”
“It’s terrible,” Rebecca said softly. “Sometimes I’ve wanted to just pick up and leave.”
“Why haven’t you?” Elaine asked.
“Lots of reasons,” Rebecca said vaguely. “We’ve got most of our money tied up here—not that there’s very much of it. If we were to leave now we wouldn’t have anything left.”
“And, of course, there’s Robby,” Glen added quietly.
Rebecca looked almost embarrassed but Brad picked the subject of Robby up with apparent eagerness. “The change in him is almost unbelievable. In fact, if I hadn’t seen him myself, I wouldn’t have believed you. And you don’t have any idea what caused it?”
“Not the slightest.” Glen shrugged. “But we aren’t about to question it either. As long as Robby stays the way he is now, we’ll stay in Clark’s Harbor, come what may.”
“How bad has it