‘fins.’ It’s all part of an arcane lore which you can only pick up a bit at a time. How long are you staying?”
“I expect to be at the Alithia Hotel for about a week. I’ve already lost track of the time. I think I’ve been here two or three days now.”
“You should take off your watch, Mr Cooperman. How do you expect the place to take root in you? Watches and telephones are the enemy. Even as a working girl, I try to stay away from both as much as I can.”
“Right. I’ve already had a run-in with street thieves.”
“They’re getting rarer. But I didn’t mean that . You remind me of my brother. Half-brother. He’s so uptight about being on top of everything. Even at the Faculty Club he forgets to enjoy himself.”
“Are you attached to the university?”
“It’s only a small branch of the Miranam National University. I have about seventy students, half from here, the rest from all over.”
“Have you got time for a beer or coffee or something?”
“Sure.” She looked at me again. Could I be trusted to move up to the next level of intimacy? I seemed to have passed the test, because she recommended a little place halfway up the bank. “I could use a drink right about now. There’s a place called Tam’s, but I don’t think there’s a sign in English. A lot of unsavory, but English-speaking, characters hang out there.”
“Sounds fine.” I grinned, but suddenly her face fell. “What’s wrong?” She stopped walking.
“I’ve got to tell somebody at the university about the squid, before it has initials carved all over it, and feed an albatross that a friend of mine found. He’s done a wonderful job of mending her broken wing. It won’t take me long. There’s a beat-up awning with scruffy sun-bleached beer drinkers under it. I should warn you: Tam’s is a notorious hangout for boozy dive masters. Don’t take any guff from them. They’re harmless. It’s not far.” She pointed the way. We didn’t bother with a formal farewell, since we were to meet again almost immediately. She went off along the beach, where a string of coastal shacks skirted the rising hill facing the water. I watched her out of sight, but she didn’t look back. I turned and began walking along the beach in the direction that Lisa, or whatever her name was, had pointed.
The tide was now out a long way. I tried to remember the name of the sea, but couldn’t. It wasn’t one of the well-known names, so I didn’t kick myself for forgetting. When I checked my guidebook, I found that I was looking at the Andaman Sea. Never heard of it. It needed a press agent to spread the name around more. Why shouldn’t it be at least as well known as the Red, the Dead, and the Black? I started looking for a mnemonic device to fix it in my brain. Sand Man. And-a-Man.
On the face of it, it looked like a tip-top sea to me. It did tides, I was told; it had that rancid salty smell that reminded me of our medicine chest at home. No doubt it provided colorful changing tides regularly. One or two a day. Since I was facing west, the sunsets here had to be nothing less than spectacular. Not having had much experience of seas, apart from what I glimpsed at Miami Beach once, I’m sure the Andaman Sea gets top marks in Baedeker . I took another salty sniff of the water before beginning my climb up the beach. When I hit pavement, I emptied my shoes and continued looking for the place Irene, or Iris, had told me about.
Tam’s café wasn’t much of a challenge to find. Most of the other places along that rising hill were warehouses or ships’ chandlers in large and small wares. I saw everything from tiny grommets to half-ton anchors on display. The smell of oakum was powerful on the slight breeze off the water. Tam’s wasn’t much to write home about: from the outside it looked like an imitation French café, like the ones higher up the hill, but it was made of second-hand or cast-away materials. It reminded me of a place back home
“I expect to be at the Alithia Hotel for about a week. I’ve already lost track of the time. I think I’ve been here two or three days now.”
“You should take off your watch, Mr Cooperman. How do you expect the place to take root in you? Watches and telephones are the enemy. Even as a working girl, I try to stay away from both as much as I can.”
“Right. I’ve already had a run-in with street thieves.”
“They’re getting rarer. But I didn’t mean that . You remind me of my brother. Half-brother. He’s so uptight about being on top of everything. Even at the Faculty Club he forgets to enjoy himself.”
“Are you attached to the university?”
“It’s only a small branch of the Miranam National University. I have about seventy students, half from here, the rest from all over.”
“Have you got time for a beer or coffee or something?”
“Sure.” She looked at me again. Could I be trusted to move up to the next level of intimacy? I seemed to have passed the test, because she recommended a little place halfway up the bank. “I could use a drink right about now. There’s a place called Tam’s, but I don’t think there’s a sign in English. A lot of unsavory, but English-speaking, characters hang out there.”
“Sounds fine.” I grinned, but suddenly her face fell. “What’s wrong?” She stopped walking.
“I’ve got to tell somebody at the university about the squid, before it has initials carved all over it, and feed an albatross that a friend of mine found. He’s done a wonderful job of mending her broken wing. It won’t take me long. There’s a beat-up awning with scruffy sun-bleached beer drinkers under it. I should warn you: Tam’s is a notorious hangout for boozy dive masters. Don’t take any guff from them. They’re harmless. It’s not far.” She pointed the way. We didn’t bother with a formal farewell, since we were to meet again almost immediately. She went off along the beach, where a string of coastal shacks skirted the rising hill facing the water. I watched her out of sight, but she didn’t look back. I turned and began walking along the beach in the direction that Lisa, or whatever her name was, had pointed.
The tide was now out a long way. I tried to remember the name of the sea, but couldn’t. It wasn’t one of the well-known names, so I didn’t kick myself for forgetting. When I checked my guidebook, I found that I was looking at the Andaman Sea. Never heard of it. It needed a press agent to spread the name around more. Why shouldn’t it be at least as well known as the Red, the Dead, and the Black? I started looking for a mnemonic device to fix it in my brain. Sand Man. And-a-Man.
On the face of it, it looked like a tip-top sea to me. It did tides, I was told; it had that rancid salty smell that reminded me of our medicine chest at home. No doubt it provided colorful changing tides regularly. One or two a day. Since I was facing west, the sunsets here had to be nothing less than spectacular. Not having had much experience of seas, apart from what I glimpsed at Miami Beach once, I’m sure the Andaman Sea gets top marks in Baedeker . I took another salty sniff of the water before beginning my climb up the beach. When I hit pavement, I emptied my shoes and continued looking for the place Irene, or Iris, had told me about.
Tam’s café wasn’t much of a challenge to find. Most of the other places along that rising hill were warehouses or ships’ chandlers in large and small wares. I saw everything from tiny grommets to half-ton anchors on display. The smell of oakum was powerful on the slight breeze off the water. Tam’s wasn’t much to write home about: from the outside it looked like an imitation French café, like the ones higher up the hill, but it was made of second-hand or cast-away materials. It reminded me of a place back home
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