I couldn't have gone far before I touched bottom, but it seemed to take forever. My head, heart and lungs felt pregnant with ice. I couldn't see anything. It was muddy from all the rain and overflow from melting ice. I crawled along the bottom like a crab.
I wanted to swim to the surface, but somehow couldn't make myself do it. It took all my concentration to breathe from the respirator, keep in mind where I was, what I was doing, and that air and daylight were not too far above my head.
It came to me eventually that I was looking for a car. That struck me as funny. A car in the river. Cars belonged on the highway. I had a car once. I had a truck now, but I had a car once. Leonard had a car. Lots of people had cars. Or did cars have people? It was an interesting thing to think about. If I'd had a pad and pencil, maybe I'd have taken a note to consider that later. No, I couldn't see well enough to take a note, and paper wouldn't do so good down here. I'd have to remember about the cars and sort it out later.
I felt a tug, as if wires were attached to me. I couldn't figure it.
Leonard pulling the rope?
No. That was the other direction.
Did I have another rope on me?
No, I didn't think so.
The suck hole. I was near that and it was pulling at me.
Had to think. Okay. Underwater. Got oxygen. Cold as the tip of a penguin's dick. Looking for a car. Honk, honk.
The suck hole was pulling at me. My arms were weak, and I didn't feel as if I could swim. I went with the suction. It wasn't bad, but it was enough to pull me. It seemed important that I do something, but I couldn't think what it was.
Then the river bottom went away and there was water and tugging. I was over the suck hole. I had swam over and into suck holes and out again in my time, but I wasn't this cold then. Beer would keep good in this water, but you'd want to drink it in a warm place. In front of a big fireplace would be nice. Maybe something to eat with it. I really preferred my beer with food.
Something was keeping me from going down.
The rope. It had gone taut. Leonard had me. Seemed to me that was supposed to be good, but I couldn't be sure.
But wait a minute. I was in the suck hole and my feet were touching something.
This wasn't a very deep suck hole. I wondered how wide it was. Maybe I could put a picnic table down here and have that beer and a sandwich on it. But I'd have to wait until summer. Wait a second. You can't drink beer underwater. Sure can't eat a sandwich. It would get flimsy. And taste like the water. The water was dirty, too.
It was so goddamn dark. Had I been down here so long it was night?
What were my feet touching?
The rope was tugging at me. Leonard was pulling me up.
Hold on here. I didn't ask to be pulled up. I'm thinking down here, goddammit.
I got hold of the belt and unfastened it and let it go. The rope wasn't pulling me anymore.
I bent forward and touched with my hands what my feet had been standing on. It was something flexible. I got hold of it with both hands and held on to it and my feet floated straight up. What I was holding came loose and I began to float up.
Let's see, did I want to float up?
Now something had me, had me hard. I wanted to fight against it, but I was holding this thing in my hands and I didn't want to lose it.
Why didn't I want to lose it? I could let it go and fight back.
I thought about that, but by the time I decided to let go I was on the surface and Leonard had his arm under my chin and was pulling me toward shore. The sun was very bright. It wasn't so cold. I could see trees and sky between their limbs. My hands felt numb. I was still holding my prize. I thought I should let it go. All I had to do was have my brain tell my fingers, 'Let go, you sumbitches.'
I let go. I was lying on my back. What I let go of was on my chest. A monster bent over me. No, Leonard. He pulled back his mask. He took the respirator out of his mouth. He was calling my name, but it sounded as if it were coming from far away. He was calling someone else too. A person named Shadhad. No, wait a moment. That was shithead. Could he mean me?
'Answer me, shithead. Are you all right?'
'I think so,' I said.
'You took off the belt and the rope.'
'Did I?'
'You did.'
'Couldn't think clear.'
'The water, smartass. I told you. Too cold. We haven't got top equipment here and we don't really know what we're doing . . . You're okay?'
'Uh-huh. But you can forget finding any car down there.'
