Nancy knew that was what she had to do.
Confident that no one was watching, Nancy stood up, brushed the sand from her body and picked the seaweed out of her hair. Then she began a slow saunter toward the bonfires, trying to look like she’d been for a solitary stroll along the beach and had decided to rejoin the party.
It was simple, just as she’d thought it would be. The party to nowhere was nothing morethan a fancier version of the parties on the Fort Lauderdale beach. The food was a lot better than hot dogs and potato chips, but other than that, it was really just a bunch of people having too good a time to pay any attention to a single girl striding along the sand.
When Nancy reached the thick of the crowd, she put on a smile and started dancing with no one in particular. As she spun to her left, she spotted three of Lila’s boys. One was wrapping ears of corn to be roasted in the coals, one was stationed at a table, serving drinks, and the third one—handsome “Mr. Friendly,” the maintenance man—was leaning against one of the speedboats, his eyes roving over the crowd. There was no sign of Lila, and Nancy wondered suddenly if she was still on the Rosita.
Spinning again so that her back was to the maintenance man, Nancy realized that she had to do something, fast. If Lila was still on the Rosita, then the boat might be taking off sooner than Nancy had anticipated. Nancy knew she had to get her hands on one of those launches, but there was no way she could slip past the watchful eye of Mr. Friendly. Somehow, she had to make him leave his post.
Suddenly the group she was with began moving toward the water, and Nancy found herself swept along with them until she was knee-deep in the surf. Splashing each otherand laughing as they tried to dance on the shifting sand beneath their feet, they kept moving into deeper water. They were getting farther from the shore and farther, Nancy noticed, from the light cast by the bonfires.
No one was trying to dance anymore; they were all diving under the waves, or swimming lazily. That was when Nancy got her idea. She needed a major distraction, something to get that maintenance man away from the speedboats, and she was going to create it herself.
A wave was rolling in, and Nancy dived under it, surfacing about ten feet from the rest of her group. She checked to make sure no one was paying any attention to her, and then she let out a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream. “Shark!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs, “I see a shark!”
In seconds, everyone had taken up the cry. It didn’t seem to matter whether there really was a shark, all that mattered was getting out of the water.
Screaming and shouting, Nancy’s group started swimming frantically for the island, while the people on shore raced to the water’s edge, yelling for everyone to hurry. When the two groups met on the sand, they all stared out over the dark water, still screaming in fear and excitement.
“I think I see it!” a girl called out. “Look—is that it?”
“It must be!” Nancy answered, not bothering to look. “My gosh, it’s huge!”
While everyone stared at the water, Nancy was checking out the launches, and she saw exactly what she’d hoped to see—no maintenance man, no florist, none of Lila’s boys. The entire party to nowhere was gathered at the shore, craning their necks for a glimpse of a shark.
This is your chance, Nancy told herself, and it might be the only one you’ll get. “There it is!” she shouted, and waited until everyone was looking the other way. Then she turned and raced along the beach toward the speedboats.
When she reached the first one, Nancy ducked behind it and glanced back. The crowd was still at the edge of the water, but no one was screaming anymore, and she knew it would only be a minute or two before they lost interest and started partying again. Two minutes, she thought, that’s all you’ve got.
Her heart pounding, Nancy straightened up
Confident that no one was watching, Nancy stood up, brushed the sand from her body and picked the seaweed out of her hair. Then she began a slow saunter toward the bonfires, trying to look like she’d been for a solitary stroll along the beach and had decided to rejoin the party.
It was simple, just as she’d thought it would be. The party to nowhere was nothing morethan a fancier version of the parties on the Fort Lauderdale beach. The food was a lot better than hot dogs and potato chips, but other than that, it was really just a bunch of people having too good a time to pay any attention to a single girl striding along the sand.
When Nancy reached the thick of the crowd, she put on a smile and started dancing with no one in particular. As she spun to her left, she spotted three of Lila’s boys. One was wrapping ears of corn to be roasted in the coals, one was stationed at a table, serving drinks, and the third one—handsome “Mr. Friendly,” the maintenance man—was leaning against one of the speedboats, his eyes roving over the crowd. There was no sign of Lila, and Nancy wondered suddenly if she was still on the Rosita.
Spinning again so that her back was to the maintenance man, Nancy realized that she had to do something, fast. If Lila was still on the Rosita, then the boat might be taking off sooner than Nancy had anticipated. Nancy knew she had to get her hands on one of those launches, but there was no way she could slip past the watchful eye of Mr. Friendly. Somehow, she had to make him leave his post.
Suddenly the group she was with began moving toward the water, and Nancy found herself swept along with them until she was knee-deep in the surf. Splashing each otherand laughing as they tried to dance on the shifting sand beneath their feet, they kept moving into deeper water. They were getting farther from the shore and farther, Nancy noticed, from the light cast by the bonfires.
No one was trying to dance anymore; they were all diving under the waves, or swimming lazily. That was when Nancy got her idea. She needed a major distraction, something to get that maintenance man away from the speedboats, and she was going to create it herself.
A wave was rolling in, and Nancy dived under it, surfacing about ten feet from the rest of her group. She checked to make sure no one was paying any attention to her, and then she let out a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream. “Shark!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs, “I see a shark!”
In seconds, everyone had taken up the cry. It didn’t seem to matter whether there really was a shark, all that mattered was getting out of the water.
Screaming and shouting, Nancy’s group started swimming frantically for the island, while the people on shore raced to the water’s edge, yelling for everyone to hurry. When the two groups met on the sand, they all stared out over the dark water, still screaming in fear and excitement.
“I think I see it!” a girl called out. “Look—is that it?”
“It must be!” Nancy answered, not bothering to look. “My gosh, it’s huge!”
While everyone stared at the water, Nancy was checking out the launches, and she saw exactly what she’d hoped to see—no maintenance man, no florist, none of Lila’s boys. The entire party to nowhere was gathered at the shore, craning their necks for a glimpse of a shark.
This is your chance, Nancy told herself, and it might be the only one you’ll get. “There it is!” she shouted, and waited until everyone was looking the other way. Then she turned and raced along the beach toward the speedboats.
When she reached the first one, Nancy ducked behind it and glanced back. The crowd was still at the edge of the water, but no one was screaming anymore, and she knew it would only be a minute or two before they lost interest and started partying again. Two minutes, she thought, that’s all you’ve got.
Her heart pounding, Nancy straightened up
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