Chapter 3

The early morning rush to complete packing, take showers, eat breakfast and get to the airport precluded any discussion about the previous night. Linda's mother did manage to ask after Tom, and her father wondered how Linda had got into the house and into bed without anyone hearing. Linda was trying to avoid her parents, an intention that went unnoticed in the scramble to catch the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service - Qantas - airliner. Linda made a half-hearted attempt to scribble a note to Tom before she left, but it was no use. She was weighed down with an overwhelming sense of guilt, at the same time feeling shocked and disappointed with him. Each time the incident came into her mind she pushed it away, only to be haunted again and again by the scene in the convertible as well as the low depths to which her parents had sunk.

She didn't ask them about their farewell parties, the only thing said being her mother's comment.

"I swear I'll never mix cocktails and champagne again as long as I live. I don't even remember going to bed last night."

Neither the mother nor daughter noticed the smile on Arnold Spender's face. He was quite used to her pretense that she didn't remember a thing... especially after they had enjoyed a particularly wanton session of lovemaking... and the more uninhibited she had been the night before, the less she pretended to remember.

Linda, however, wondered if her father had also suffered a blackout, if what she had witnessed had been performed while they were both semiconscious under the influence of alcohol. She felt a little relieved at this thought then paled at the remembrance that she, herself, when she kissed Tom's penis, was perfectly sober. She could not lay the blame on drink or drugs, and she was beginning to realize that she couldn't really blame Tom.

They arrived at Honolulu in the early afternoon, allowing time for the three of them to go to the beach before dinner. Linda's parents were pleased to see that she was getting over her dark mood. The poor girl was missing Tom quite badly, they both thought, and went out of their way to indulge her with little gifts, including a color Polaroid land camera. They dined late, taking a long while over the meal, since they were to change to a different flight after midnight. There was plenty of time, explained Arnold Spender, as he didn't have to be in Sydney until Sunday.

"Well, this is only Friday," said Linda. "Why don't we stay in Honolulu another day?"

"Because, Princess, we lose a day when we cross the International Date Line. We leave here early on Saturday morning, and a few hours later we land at Sydney on Sunday morning. Then, on Sunday afternoon we're invited to tea with the Dowlings. He's chairman of the Australian company."

"I don't think I'd want to go visiting, Daddy. Couldn't I just go surfing... we're staying at Bondi Beach, aren't we?"

"Sure you can," her mother said. "Do whatever you please. This is a vacation for you, and we want you to make the most of it. You're only young once, Princess."

Her father called for the check and they left the restaurant to catch a taxi out to the airport. "I think you'll be surprised when we get to Bondi Beach, Linda. The apartment looks right over the beach, and on Sunday they've got a spectacular surf carnival that will be more fun for you than having tea with these dull old business associates of mine."

The plane took off on schedule and landed, after a little over six hours, at Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport. An hour later, the Spenders entered their luxurious apartment overlooking Bondi Beach with the blue Pacific stretching out to the horizon.

Early as it was, the morning sun was already hot, its rays burning down on a crowd of people already swimming in the surf or lying on the beach. It was all so inviting, so temptingly cool, and the surf was just right for shooting; Linda could hardly wait to slip into a bikini. During the long flight she had made up her mind to forgive Tom, a decision that eased some of the shameful guilt nagging her for so long that she'd felt she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Having made that decision and having slept soundly on the plane, she now felt exhilarated, as though she were about to enter a wonderful adventure.

"When do we go to church, Daddy?" she called out.

"Guess we'll skip it this Sunday, Princess. Perhaps we'll go twice next Sunday, to make up," he said teasingly.

Hundreds of cars were moving in to park along the beach front as Linda walked across the broad boulevard to the beach. She copied the local girls who wore nothing except bikini and sandals, noting that there didn't seem to be any obvious difference between Americans and Australians, as far as looks were concerned. Suntanned youths earned boards across clean golden sand down to the surf where the breakers were rolling in. The sights and smell of the sand and sea reminded her more of Hawaii's Waikiki than of Long Beach. At this hour of the morning there were long patches of empty spaces. She dropped her towel and ran into the sea, diving under a breaker then swimming out against the rollers to wait for a big one that would bring her back to shore. The cool salt water washing over her body brought on the animal sensations that always flooded tingling through her body when she lay flat on a board, her pelvis pushing hard down to hold her balance.

If only she had a surfboard to ride these superb waves! After shooting several breakers, she was about to leave the water when an empty board came tumbling towards her and she automatically grabbed it, knowing that its owner would be saved an extra swim from the beach to retrieve it. She was looking around for someone to claim it when suddenly a head popped up beside her, a slightly freckled face under a strange looking red and green cap. A lean and bronzed arm reached over the board and the young man's pleasant voice said, "Thanks, Miss, that's very kind of you to catch it for me."

Linda stared at this handsome apparition, this smiling young man with twinkling blue eyes and the funny cap.

"Hi. Do all Australians wear bathing caps?" she asked laughingly. "Or have you got your curlers in?"

The young man threw back his head and laughed. "Hell no! You must be a stranger not to recognize a Life Saver's cap. Where do you come from?"

"Actually, I only arrived a couple of hours ago," Linda explained. "I'm from California. You know where that is, don't you?"

"Sure thing. It's where they grow oranges and beautiful girls. I bet they don't have beaches like Bondi over there."

"Of course we do. Maybe better than this, though it's hard to imagine a more perfect day than this. Anyway. I do like your cap. It's kinda cute."

Linda was attracted to him despite the fact that he obviously worked as some sort of lifeguard. She was in a mood to flirt, at least to meet some young people, to get away from the presence of her parents for awhile. These was still that disturbing image of them lingering in the back of her mind.

"Is that all you do, save lives?" she asked.

"Hell no! It's only a voluntary job. By the way," he said, lifting his body onto the board, "My name's Hugh. Hugh Watson."

"Hello Hugh. I'm Linda."

"Can you ride a board, Linda?"

"Certainly. Are you offering me yours?"

Hugh smiled. He was offering her his all right. He'd give it to her right up the ass! he chuckled to himself. So far, he'd only been able to see the long blonde hair falling down into the blue-green water and two nice little rounded breasts cupped in a narrow black bikini top.

"Climb aboard and take it away, Linda. It's all yours. I'll wait for you on the beach."

He slid off the board, treading water while she pulled herself up to lie flat and paddle out into the oncoming breakers. Phew! He said to himself, what a luscious piece of ass. Hope she's sixteen or it could mean jail for me. Floating on his back, he watched Linda's ass-cheeks tightening and relaxing as she pushed the board out, noticing that, when she knelt up on it, her golden tan went all the way down to the small cleft between her well-rounded buttocks showing temptingly above the brief bikini pants. He smiled luxuriously to himself, closed his eyes and let the waves float him back towards the beach. He was going to get inside those pants if it was the last thing he did.

Hugh was captain of a Life Saving team from Brisbane competing in the national championships being held at the carnival that Sunday. He was, in fact, a professional, working as an inspector on the beach at Surfer's Paradise in Queensland. It was the only life he knew, having left school early, and now, at the age of twenty-one, he wasn't interested in doing anything else. He'd tried various jobs, driving trucks on the Brisbane- Sydney run and working as a builder's laborer, work that took him away too long from the lazy days on beaches and pleasant nights with girls so easily picked up. At Surfer's Paradise it was holiday time all year round. For Hugh, that was what life was all about - sun, sea and girls - a life his police sergeant father constantly complained about, always unavailingly. Typically Australian, the young surfer detested snobbery and resented being looked down on for his coarse accent - he considered himself as good as anyone.