There was a splash across the river. Rennel and Laura had found a low branch to jump from. Laura came up with gray water streaming from her hair. She strolled up onto the bank and lay down on her back with her arms above her head.

Carlotta wandered over. “Do you want to go rowing with me?”

“No, thanks. I think I’m going now.”

She picked up a dead stick and peeled the bark. “All right.”

“Will you come and see me before you go to New York?”

“If there’s time. Laura’s driving us to the airport. She’ll be staying here to take care of the animals. You can come out and stay, too, if you want.”

She looked out to the water, then headed off toward the brush at the far side of the clearing. She pulled an old blue rowboat out of the brush and slid it down the bank. She climbed in awkwardly and took up an oar from the bottom of the boat.

I jumped up and headed toward her. “Hey! Can you swim?”

She cocked her head. “I was on the school team in Palo Alto.”

I waved at her. She lifted the oars stiffly, spread her legs, and leaned forward with her belly hanging. The oars lifted, her red dress rode up around her thighs, and I could see her cunt and the patch of black hair above it. She steered the boat out into the stream. The boat staggered sideways down the river. She disappeared around the bend.

I hobbled over the sharp rubble, brushed off my feet, and put my boots back on. If the boat went over she would come up belly-first.

Rennel came up out of the water and stalked past Laura, scowling. Laura rolled over onto her belly and murmured intimately to a guy with a big mustache and slender ribs arching in his chest. Rennel ripped up handfuls of dry grass dying near me and rubbed at his flesh. He scraped fiercely at the clinging scum. I assumed he’d seen this work in the movies. He sat down to rub at his feet and looked at me.

“What are you looking so depressed about?”

I suppose I had a lot of nerve to look depressed when he was mad.

“Laura give you a bad time?”

Rennel looked over at her and the mustache guy. He shook his head. “I could break him in two.”

“I doubt that would interest her.”

“Haven’t you heard of evolution? A female naturally wants a strong mate. Not that you’d know anything about it.”

“What a creep you are.”

“What a bitch you are!” He threw down the grass and jogged over to Sam.