“The Tualatin. It’s some Indian name. I don’t know what it means.”

“Were there Indians here?”

“Sure. They fished, mostly, I think. Lived in big, crowded bark houses with a hole for the smoke. They made dugout canoes to eat out of at parties. They threw a lot of parties.”

“We’ve been going down there a lot. There’s an old boat I row in just about every day.”

“I think we ought to go skinny-dipping. It’s the Fourth of July.”

She sat up slowly, stiffly. She looked tired. “I can’t take off my dress.”

“No. I won’t take off my clothes, either. I’m too ugly. But I think we ought to go. You’d just wonder for twenty years what went on down there if you didn’t.”

“Aram doesn’t swim well.” She engineered her way to her feet, walked like a newborn thing. I found the goat’s rope and tied it to the knob of the kitchen door.

The river was strange there, near Sam’s house. A half mile away on either side it was just a pleasant river. Deep and slow, maybe fifty feet across most of the time. The water was dark and the trees leaned over. Near Sam’s house the water was gray and the trees on the bank were all dead. Down by the water, the bark paled and the leaves thinned. Moss hung down into the water. The banks were black and muddy. At the top of the hill, the trees were normal. We could hear splashing as we neared. The paths to the water were slippery and steep. I went ahead and Carlotta followed, balancing her belly. Her bare feet left big, splaying prints in the mud.

We couldn’t see the water till we were almost in it. There was a line of thick gray brush and then the short bank. There had once been a dock, but it had sunk into the mud. The bank was full of naked people sitting, lounging. I didn’t know any of them. I hesitated, but Carlotta moved past me. She waded up to Sam’s pale body, waist deep in the water. She crouched and they spoke.

Laura approached me. “What are you smiling at?”

“I’m not used to seeing a lot of people undressed. They all look alike.”

She smiled. “Take off your clothes. It’ll sharpen your discrimination.”

“I’m keeping Carlotta company.”

She shrugged, her tits lifted and fell. Her body was pale and hairless except for a thin, curly triangle at her crotch. She turned away and went to the water. She moved as though she were beautiful, and everyone looked at her as though she were. I sat in a pile of sticks and removed my boots and socks. Stretched out my damp, smelly feet in the sun.