On The Beach

"Is that very important?"

He smiled. "We shall have to run submerged for quite a while. I wouldn't like to run out of air, and have to surface in the radioactive area or suffocate."

"Is this a sort of spare set, then?"

He nodded. "We were lucky to get it. They had it over in the naval stores, in Fremantle."

He was absent-minded that evening. He was pleasant and courteous to her, but she felt all the time that he was thinking of other things. She tried several times during dinner to secure his interest, but failed. It was the same in the movie theatre; he went through all the motions of enjoying it and giving her a good time, but there was no life in the performance. She told herself that she could hardly expect it to be otherwise, with a cruise like that ahead of him.

After the show they walked down the empty streets towards the station. As they neared it she stopped at the dark entrance to an arcade, where they could talk quietly. "Stop here a minute, Dwight," she said. "I want to ask you something."

"Sure," he said kindly. "Go ahead."

"You're worried over something, aren't you?"

"Not really. I'm afraid I've been bad company tonight."

"Is it about the submarine?"

"Why no, honey. I told you, there's nothing dangerous in that. It's just another job."

"It's not about a Pogo stick, is it?"

He stared at her in amazement in the semidarkness. "Say, how did you get to hear about that?"

She laughed gently. "I have my spies. What did you get for Junior?"

"A fishing rod." There was a pause, and then he said, "I suppose you think I'm nuts."

She shook her head. "I don't. Did you get a Pogo stick?"

"No. Seems like they're completely out of stock."

"I know." They stood in silence for a moment. "I had a look at mine," she said. "You can have that if it's any good to you. But it's awfully old, and the metal parts are rusted through. It works still, but I don't think it could ever be made into a very nice present."

He nodded. "I noticed that. I think we'll have to let it go, honey. If I get time before we sail, I'll come up here and shop around for something else."

She said, "I'm quite sure it must be possible to get a Pogo stick. They must have been made somewhere here in Melbourne. In Australia, anyway. The trouble is to get one in the time."

"Leave it," he said. "It was just a crazy idea I had. It's not important."

"It is important," she said. "It's important to me." She raised her head. "I can get one for you by the time you come back," she said. "I'll do that, even if I have to get it made. I know that isn't quite what you want. But would that do?"

"That's mighty kind of you," he said huskily. "I could tell her you were bringing it along with you."

"I could do that," she said. "But anyway, I'll have it with me when we meet again."

"You might have to bring it a long way," he said.

"Don't worry, Dwight. I'll have it with me when we meet."

In the dark alcove he took her in his arms and kissed her. "That's for the promise," he said softly, "and for everything else. Sharon wouldn't mind me doing this. It's from us both."

6

Twenty-five days later, U.S.S. Scorpion was approaching the first objective of her cruise. It was ten days since she had submerged thirty degrees south of the equator. She had made her landfall at San Nicolas Island off Los Angeles and had given the city a wide berth, troubled about unknown minefields. She had set a course outside Santa Rosa and had closed the coast to the west of Santa Barbara; from there she had followed it northwards cruising at periscope depth about two miles offshore. She had ventured cautiously into Monterey Bay and had inspected the fishing port, seeing no sign of life on shore and learning very little. Radioactivity was uniformly high, so that they judged it prudent to keep the hull submerged.

They inspected San Francisco from five miles outside the Golden Gate. All they learned was that the bridge was down. The supporting tower at the south end seemed to have been overthrown. The houses visible from the sea around Golden Gate Park had suffered much from fire and blast; it did not look as if any of them were habitable. They saw no evidence of any human life, and the radiation level made it seem improbable that life could still exist in that vicinity.

They stayed there for some hours, taking photographs through the periscope and making such a survey as was possible. They went back southwards as far as Half Moon Bay and closed the coast to within half a mile, surfacing for a time and calling through the loud hailer. The houses here did not appear to be much damaged, but there was no sign of any life on shore. They stayed in the vicinity till dusk, and then set course towards the north, rounding Point Reyes and going on three or four miles offshore, following the coast.