sounds of letters and the spelling of simple words. But when Harry went off to the bushes of our designated toilet area, I stopped the lesson.
“Remember what you said to me a couple of days ago?” I asked her. “My mind was wandering and you warned me. `People get killed on freeways all the time,’ you said.”
To my surprise, she saw where I was headed at once. “Damn you,” she said, looking up from the paper I had given her. “You don’t sleep sound enough, that’s all.” She smiled as she said it.
“You want privacy, I’ll give it to you,” I said. “Just let me know, and I’ll guard the camp from someplace a short distance away. You two can do what you want.
But no more of this shit when you’re on watch!”
She looked surprised. “Didn’t think you said words like that.”
“And I didn’t think you did things like last night.
Dumb!”
“I know. Fun, though. He’s a big strong boy.” She paused. “You jealous?”
“Zahra!”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “Things took me by surprise last night. I…I needed something, someone. It won’t be like that no more.”
“Okay.”
“You jealous?” she repeated.
I made myself smile. “I’m as human as you are,” I said. “But I don’t think I would have yielded to temptation out here with no prospects, no idea what’s going to happen. The thought of getting pregnant would have stopped me cold.”
“People have babies out here all the time.” She grinned at me. “What about you and that boyfriend of yours.”
“We were careful. We used condoms.”
Zahra shrugged. “Well Harry and me didn’t. If it happens, it happens.”
It had apparently happened to the couple whose water we had saved. Now they had a baby to lug
north.
They stayed near us today, that couple. I saw them every now and then. Tall, stocky, velvet-skinned, deep- black man carrying a huge pack; short, pretty, stocky, light-brown woman with baby and pack; medium brown baby a few months old— huge-eyed baby with curly black hair.
They rested when we rested. They’re camped now not far behind us. They look more like potential allies than potential dangers, but I’ll keep an eye on them.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2027
Late today we came within sight of the ocean. None of us have ever seen it before, and we had to go closer, look at it, camp within sight and sound and smell of it. Once we had decided to do that, we walked shoeless in the waves, pants legs rolled up.
Sometimes we just stood and stared at it: the Pacific Ocean— the largest, deepest body of water on earth, almost half-a-world of water. Yet, as it was, we couldn’t drink any of it.
Harry stripped down to his underwear and waded out until the cool water reached his chest. He can’t swim, of course. None of us can swim. We’ve never before seen water enough to swim in. Zahra and I watched Harry with a lot of concern. Neither of us felt free to follow him. I’m supposed to be a man and Zahra attracts enough of the wrong kind of attention with all her clothes on. We decided to wait until after sundown and go in fully clothed, just to wash away some of the grime and stink. Then we could change clothes. We both had soap and we were eager to make use of it.
There were other people on the beach. In fact, the narrow strip of sand was crowded with people, though they managed to stay out of each others’
way. They had spread themselves out and seemed far more tolerant of one another than they had during our night in the hills. I didn’t hear any shooting or fighting. There were no dogs, no obvious thefts, no rape. Perhaps the sea and the cool breeze lulled them. Harry wasn’t the only one to strip down and go into the water. Quite a few women had gone out, wearing almost nothing. Maybe this was a safer place than any we’d seen so far.
Some people had tents, and several had built fires.
We settled in against the remnants of a small building. We were always, it seemed, looking for walls to shield us. Was it better to have them and perhaps get trapped against them or to camp in the open and be vulnerable on every side? We didn’t know. It just felt better to have at least one wall.
I salvaged a flat piece of wood from the building, went a few yards closer to the ocean, and began to dig into the sand. I dug until I found dampness. Then I waited.
“What’s supposed to happen?” Zahra asked. Until now she had watched me without saying anything.
“Drinkable water,” I told her. “According to a couple of books I read, water is supposed to seep up through the sand with most of the salt filtered out of it.”
She looked into the damp hole. “When?” she asked.
I dug a little more. “Give it time,” I said. “If the trick works, we ought to know about it. It might save our lives someday.”
“Or poison us or give us a disease,” she said. She looked up to see Harry coming toward us, dripping wet. Even his hair was wet.
“He don’t look bad naked,” she said.
He was still wearing his underwear, of course, but I could see what she meant. He had a nice, strong-looking body, and I don’t think he minded our looking at it. And he looked clean and he didn’t stink.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2027
Late today we came within sight of the ocean. None of us have ever seen it before, and we had to go closer, look at it, camp within sight and sound and smell of it. Once we had decided to do that, we walked shoeless in the waves, pants legs rolled up.
