And now Pitch was talking. Steve heard him telling Tom about their proposed camping trip to Azul Island, the trip he’d planned on taking for several weeks. Yes, Pitch was saying, he was still very much interested in the island in spite of what Tom had told him. He still believed that Azul Island had played a part in the Spanish colonization of the New World. He wanted to look around. Yes, and fortunately Steve, too, was interested in colonial history. He had asked to go. They planned to spend two weeks.…

When Pitch mentioned their intended length of stay upon Azul Island, Tom laughed harder than before, and his chair creaked as though in resentment of the heavy pounds of flesh and bone that made up this man. Finally he sat forward again, his elbows on the table and his fingers digging into the sides of his scalp. “Two weeks,” he said. “Phil, you should know better, even if the kid doesn’t. What in God’s name are you going to do for two weeks on a spit of ground that’s nothing more than a windswept sandbar? You’ll go crazy. You won’t spend two days there, let alone two weeks,” he concluded, bursting into laughter again.

“I plan to do quite a bit of digging,” Pitch said. “And Steve seems very much interested.”

Tom turned to Steve, his black eyes smiling but probing at the same time. “You’re interested?” he asked. “Interested in what?”

Steve’s reply came quickly, instinctively. “Archaeology,” he said. And he wondered why he’d said it and how he had remembered a word he’d never used outside of his ancient-history class at school.

He saw Tom’s brow furrow. Then Pitch said, “You see?”

“No,” Tom returned, sarcastically. “No, I don’t see. Nor can I see you two spending two weeks in that Godforsaken spot!” Pushing back his chair, he rose to his feet, towering above them.

“We’ll stay,” Steve said quietly.

Tom looked at him. “You’ve never been to Azul, and you’re so sure?” he asked contemptuously.

Steve nodded without speaking.

Tom walked around the table, his eyes still on the boy. Then he came to a stop and Steve saw the smile on the thin lips again. Tom said quickly, “Phil told me the other day that you wanted a horse more than anything else when you were a kid. Do you still want one?”

“Yes,” Steve replied, slowly. “I do. Why?”

“Then take a look at those horses on Azul Island and take your pick of any one of them. If you stay two weeks on the island, I’ll give him to you!” Laughing, Tom left the room.