The Infinite Tides Read Online Free PDF Page B

anyway,” he said at last.
    “Well, you seem to be holding up all right, considering.”
    Again he wondered how much she knew about Barb. What she had told her about Quinn. Maybe they had been friends. “Uh, yeah, I’m doing OK,” he said. “Considering.”
    “Where’d she go?”
    “Barb? Uh … she’s in Atlanta. At her mom’s.”
    “Atlanta?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “You were friends?”
    She was quiet for a time, looking at him. “Just neighbors,” she said at last. Once more she turned her gaze toward the open end of the cul-de-sac, saying nothing for a long while, and then turned to him again, this time a smile on her face. “So you’re the astronaut,” she said.
    “That’s right.”
    “Welcome back to Earth.”
    “Well,” he said, “thank you.”
    “Gosh, I probably look a mess,” she said abruptly. “I’m just off to the gym.”
    “Oh, no, you look …” He paused. Then he said, “Beautiful.”
    “Oh, you’re too sweet.” She laughed.
    There was a sense of relief that the conversation had apparently righted itself and he smiled.
    “So you’re probably just here for a few days,” she said.
    “I’m not sure. Maybe longer than that.”
    “Well, let us know if we can do anything for you.”
    “OK,” he said, then added, “I’ll do that.”
    “It’s great to meet you, neighbor,” Jennifer said. She extended her hand and he took it. Her hand was soft and warm.
    He glanced at her cleavage again, an act that was almost involuntary. Her face and chest were tan, her breasts swelling inside the confines of her top. It occurred to him that he was essentially single. It was a thought made strange because he had not arrived at that conclusion before. “Great to meet you too,” he said.
    “I’m sorry about what happened.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I saw it on the news. I’m so sorry.”
    “Oh,” he said. He stopped and then, “That’s … ,” and again fell silent. After a moment he said, simply, “Thank you.”
    “If there’s anything you need, you just come and let us know.”
    “I’ll do that,” he said again.
    She smiled and then the window hummed closed and the car sped to the corner and out of sight.
    He felt aroused and actually thought momentarily of entering the house and masturbating but the idea seemed so pathetic to him that he did not enter the house at all, standing instead for a long moment in the heat next to the rental car and then walking to the end of the cul-de-sac. He stopped at the edge of the sidewalk where the length of chain separated the concrete from the dirt and grass and thistle and stared out across the field to the trees on the opposite side. The ground everywhere radiated with heat. Perhaps too hot even for the great, dark bird. Mouse and lizard and whatever else all huddled in their various dens of cool darkness. Already the chill of the air conditioner had faded and his sweat stuck the NASA polo against his back and beaded on his forehead. He scanned the trees. Their leaves blue and shadows deep and dark. Beyond them: the roofs of houses just like his, one after another, stretching on as far as one could see, distant hills with clusters of neighborhoods and curving streets of identical, earth-toned homes. He wondered momentarily what that bird might see from its widest high circle. A landscape like a huge and multicolored intestine. Self-similar. Fractal. Maybe there were empty fields elsewhere. Eyes searching for death hidden in the close-cropped lawns. Keith looked up, hoping to see the black shape where it spun in a slow-moving orbit against the bright blue of the sky but such a shape did not appear.
    For the remainder of the day he continued masking off the kitchen and the exhaustion he felt was surprising and profound. He had been weak upon his return to Earth—they all had—but there had been six weeks of daily physical rehabilitation and conditioning. And yet he felt completely spent, stepping off the ladder at last to survey