Chapter 5

Easter Monday

Kelly Knowles had just taken over from Rose at the reception desk when the three teen-aged girls wearing tennis shoes rode up on bicycles.

Kelly smiled at them in greeting. "Hi, girls. The Marina not good enough for you anymore?"

"No," said Mandy Brooks. "There's a new crowd over there and they're making us feel uncomfortable. Is Tori around?"

"She should just be finishing up in the kitchen. Why don't you girls go to the pool; it's such a beautiful day, I'm sure that is where she'll be headed if she's not there already."

"Thanks."

The girls hopped back onto their bikes and rode off to leave them at the bike stand at the clubhouse. Because of the State's mandatory swim program, the school board had negotiated year-long memberships at the resort for all school-aged children. I don't make any money on the deal but it saves a lot of administrative hassles. Besides, I more than make up for it with the poolside snack bar. We keep a running tab and Rose sends the bill to the parents every month.

"Hi, Marcy. May we have some colas, please?"

"Sure, three sodas, coming right up. Who's paying?"

"I will," said Jennifer Glock.

"Is Tori out yet, we'd like to talk to her," asked Kristen Hollingsworth.

Marcy glanced at the clock. "She should be finished by now, I'll give the kitchen a call."

"Thanks."

A short while later, Tori came out to join them.

"Hi, guys. I thought you'd be making time at the Marina."

"It's no fun, anymore," said Mandy. "There's a new crowd that hangs out there now and they're making us feel icky."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the guys are all wearing board shorts ... nobody does that anymore and they're always staring at us as if we were slugs or something. You know ... like we were gross but fascinating. And the girls..."

"Yeah," said Jennifer. "I've never seen it before. The girls are all wearing full-body leotards, you know, like dancers sometimes wear and over that, they were wearing these flowery cotton hoodies. The only thing they had showing is their hands, their feet and their faces."

"You remember that drown-proofing course we had last session," asked Kristen. "How Coach Wendy said it was important, if ever we were to fall into the water, to get rid of any clothes that could hamper our movements? Well, all I could think of when I saw those girls, was that we had better start carrying knives so that we could cut them free."

"I think I know who they are," said Tori. "Chef Jacques has a friend visiting him from France and he was telling us about these people a couple a weeks ago. You guys remember a few years back, that clown who was always hassling us about the swim courses ... The guy whose son shot Debra with that paintball gun?"

They nodded.

"Well, this gang of the same type ... They're moslems but the real puritanical kind, like the Taliban. He didn't say they were terrorists or anything like that but that they believed that everybody in the world should be like them."

"Well, if they think I'm going to be wearing body armour to go swimming, they can go fuck themselves!"