Garden of Eden Read Online Free PDF Page B

bright sand they saw the ancient Spanish town and the green hills
across the bay and, at the far point, the lighthouse. They stopped the car.
     
    "It's
a lovely place," the girl said.
     
    "There's
a cafe with tables under the trees," the young man said. "Old
trees."
     
    "The
trees are strange," the girl said. "It's all new planting. I wonder
why they planted mimosas.
     
    "To
compete with where we 'ye come from."
     
    "I
suppose so. It all looks awfully new. But it's a wonderful beach. I never saw
such a big beach in France nor with such smooth and fine sand. Biarritz is a
horror. Let's drive up by the cafe."
     
    They
drove back up the right side of the road. The young man pulled the car to the
curb and killed the ignition. They crossed to the outdoor cafe and it was
pleasant to eat by themselves and be conscious of the people that they did not
know eating at the other tables.
     
    That
night the wind rose and in their corner room high up in the big hotel they
heard the heavy fall of the surf on the beach. In the dark the young man pulled
a light blanket up over the sheet and the girl said, "Aren't you glad we
decided to stay?"
     
    "I
like to hear the surf pound."
     
    "So
do I."
     
    They
lay close together and listened to the sea. Her head was on his chest and she
moved it against his chin and then moved up in the bed and put her cheek
against his and pressed it there. She kissed him and he could feel her hand
touching him.
     
    "That's
good," she said in the darkness. "That's lovely. You're sure you
don't want me to change?"
     
    "Not
now. Now I'm cold. Please hold me warm.
     
    "I
love you when you feel cold against me.
     
    "If
it gets this cold here at night we'll have to wear pyjama tops. That will be
fun for breakfast in bed."
     
    "It's
the Atlantic ocean," she said. "Listen to it."
     
    "We'll
have a good time while we're here," he told her. "If you want we'll
stay a while. If you want we'll go. There are plenty of places to go."
     
    "We
might stay a few days and see."
     
    "Good.
If we do I'd like to start to write."
     
    "That
would be wonderful. We'll look around tomorrow. You could work here in the room
if I were out couldn't you? Until we found some place?"
     
    "Sure."
     
    "You
know you must never worry about me because I love you and we're us against all
the others. Please kiss me," she said.
     
    He
kissed her.
     
    "You
know I haven't done anything bad to us. I had to do it. You know that."
     
    He
did not say anything and listened to the weight of the surf falling on the hard
wet sand in the night.
     
    The
next morning there was still heavy surf and the rain came in gusts. They could
not see the Spanish coast and when it cleared between the driven squalls of
rain and they could see across the angry sea in the bay there were heavy clouds
that came down to the base of the mountains. Catherine had gone out in a
raincoat after breakfast and had left him to work in the room. It had gone so
simply and easily that he thought it was probably worthless. Be careful, he
said to himself, it is all very well for you to write simply and the simpler
the better. But do not start to think so damned simply. Know how complicated it
is and then state it simply. Do you suppose the Grau du Roi time was all simple
because you could write a little of it simply?
     
    He
went on writing in pencil in the cheap, lined, school notebook that was called
a cahier and already numbered one in roman numeral. He stopped finally and put
the notebook in a suitcase with a cardboard box of pencils and the cone-shaped
sharpener, leaving the five pencils he had dulled to point up for the next day,
and took his raincoat from the hanger in the closet and walked down the stairs
to the lobby of the hotel. He looked into the hotel bar which was gloomy and
pleasant in the rain and already had some customers and left his key at the
desk. The assistant concierge reached into the mailbox as he hung up the key
and said, "Madame left this for