Jaws Read Online Free PDF Page B

had been unconscious from an overdose of heroin. He also tracked down the pusher and exposed a fairly large drug ring operating in the Amity area. The story reflected badly on Amity and worse on Brody, who, because several federal violations were involved in the case, wasn't even able to redeem his earlier insouciance by making an arrest or two. And it won Meadows two regional journalism prizes. Now it was Brody's turn to press for full disclosure. He intended to close the beaches for a couple of days, to give the shark time to travel far from the Amity shoreline. He didn't know whether or not sharks could acquire a taste for human flesh (as he had heard tigers do), but he was determined to deprive the fish of any more people. This time he wanted publicity, to make people fear the water and stay away from it. Brody knew there would be a strong argument against publicizing the attack. Like the rest of the country, Amity was still feeling the effects of the recession. So far, the
    summer was shaping up as a mediocre one. Rentals were up from last year, but they were not "good" rentals. Many were "groupers," bands of ten or fifteen young people who came from the city and split the rent on a big house. At least a dozen of the $7,000 -
    $10,000-a-season shore-front houses had not yet been rented, and many more in the
    $5,000 class were still without leases. Sensational reports of a shark attack might turn mediocrity into disaster.
    Still, Brody thought, one death in mid-June, before the crowds come, would probably be quickly forgotten. Certainly it would have less effect than two or three more deaths would. The fish might well have disappeared already, but Brody wasn't willing to gamble lives on the possibility: the odds might be good, but the stakes were prohibitively
    high.
    He dialed Meadows' number. "Hey, Harry," he said. "Free for lunch?"
    "I've been wondering when you'd call," said Meadows. "Sure. My place or yours?"
    Suddenly Brody wished he hadn't called at mealtime. His stomach was still file:///C|/My Documents/Mike's Shit/utilities/books/pdf format/Benchley, Peter - Jaws.txt (12 of 131) [1/18/2001 2:02:21 AM]
    file:///C|/My Documents/Mike's Shit/utilities/books/pdf format/Benchley, Peter - Jaws.txt groaning, and the thought of food nauseated him. He glanced up at the wall calendar. It was a Thursday. Like all their friends on fixed, tight incomes, the Brodys shopped according to the supermarket specials. Monday's special was chicken, Tuesday's lamb, and so forth through the week. As each item was consumed, Ellen would note it on her list and replace it the next week. The only variables were bluefish and bass, which were inserted in the menu when a friendly fisherman dropped his overage by the house. Thursday's special was hamburger, and Brody had seen enough chopped meat for one day.
    "Yours," he said. "Why don't we order out from Cy's? We can eat in your office."
    "Fine with me," said Meadows. "What do you want? I'll order now."
    "Egg salad, I guess, and a glass of milk. I'll be right there." Brody called Ellen to
    tell her he wouldn't be home for lunch.
    Harry Meadows was an immense man, for whom the act of drawing breath was exertion enough to cause perspiration to dot his forehead. He was in his late forties, ate
    too much, chain-smoked cheap cigars, drank bonded Bourbon, and was, in the words of his doctor, the Western world's leading candidate for a huge coronary infraction. When Brody arrived, Meadows was standing beside his desk, waving a towel at the open window. "In deference to what your lunch order tells me is a tender stomach," he said, "I am trying to clear the air of essence of White Owl."
    "I appreciate that," said Brody. He glanced around the small, cluttered room, searching for a place to sit.
    "Just throw that crap off the chair there," Meadows said. "They're just government
    reports. Reports from the county, reports from the state, reports from the highway commission and the water commission. They